Keven Stammen Bags Top 20 Stack on Day 1b of the Summer Celebration
Day 1b of Event #80: Summer Celebration, held at the 2025 World Series of Poker (WSOP) inside the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, saw another 4,024 players buy in, taking the total attendance to 7,078. Of those Day 1b starters, only 193 progressed to Day 2. Canada's Darrin Oremba (2,475,000) claimed the overnight chip lead, followed by Zizhu Zhao (2,285,000) and Shawn Pilot (2,190,000).
Nine of the surviving players have previously tasted success at the WSOP, including Keven Stammen (1,490,000), who bagged up enough chips to place him 19th on day 1b. Stammen won his bracelet in 2009 in the $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em event. He has just shy of $7 million in recorded live tournament earnings. Stammen has just the two cashes this summer, but looks like a contender to go all the way in this event.
Day 1b Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Darrin Oremba | Canada | 2,475,000 | 62 |
| 2 | Zizhu Zhao | Canada | 2,285,000 | 57 |
| 3 | Shawn Pilot | Canada | 2,190,000 | 55 |
| 4 | Ionannis Panagopoulos | Greece | 2,040,000 | 51 |
| 5 | Marat Shafigullin | Russia | 1,965,000 | 49 |
| 6 | Julien Montois | France | 1,950,000 | 49 |
| 7 | Yann Boussaton | France | 1,845,000 | 46 |
| 8 | Mikolaj Zawadzki | Poland | 1,845,000 | 46 |
| 9 | David Vu | United States | 1,800,000 | 45 |
| 10 | Aftab Patni | United States | 1,780,000 | 45 |
Kenneth O'Donnell (1,415,000), Rob Wazwaz (1,360,000), Joseph Roh (1,355,000), and four-time bracelet winner Asi Moshe (1,010,000) punched their Day 2 tickets from this flight. Chris Hunichen (730,000) is the $25K Fantasy Draft's sole survivor, while Jimmy Setna (430,000), Jack Duong (400,000), and Lara Eisenberg (355,000) are hunting their second bracelets.
Day 2 begins at 11 a.m. local time on July 4, with 361 players returning to their seats. The plan is to play until a champion is crowned, so keep your browsers locked and loaded to PokerNews to discover who that champion is.