Hand #60: In the very first hand of the day, Kenny Hallaert pushed all in first to act for 19,000,000 and it folded to Michael Mizrachi in the big blind. He peeked at his cards for a brief moment and then snap-called.
Kenny Hallaert: A♥Q♣
Michael Mizrachi: K♦J♦
The 10♠5♠4♠ flop changed nothing, but the J♣ turn vaulted Mizrachi in the lead. Hallaert needed a queen, king, or ace to double up, otherwise he would be out. The 9♠ river did bring another seat open in the very first hand, just like on the previous day.
Hallaert bowed out in fourth place for $3,000,000 and Mizrachi extended his lead over his final two opponents.
Michael Mizrachi has all the chips with four players left in the 2025 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. Okay, not technically all the chips. But he'll enter the $10,000 buy-in tournament's last session on Wednesday with over 75% of all chips in play.
"The Grinder," a seven-time WSOP bracelet winner, will return to Horseshoe at 2 p.m. (3 p.m. livestream on PokerGO) with 445,500,000 chips, good for 178 big blinds. Two players — Braxton Dunaway and Kenny Hallaert — have 10 or fewer big blinds. John Wasnock, second in chips, has 94,500,000.
Christian ZetzscheThe Final Four: Braxton Dunaway, Kenny Hallaert, Michael Mizrachi, and John Wasnock
Will history be made today inside of the Horseshoe Event Center? For the first time, the title in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship and the WSOP Main Event could belong to the same person during the annual summer poker activities in Las Vegas. It is the final day of the 2025 World Series of Poker and all eyes will be set on Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi who holds more than three quarters of the chips in play with four players still in contention.
If it was up to the runaway chip leader, the tournament may have very well concluded yesterday when Mizrachi stormed to the top of the leaderboard as he jokingly replied, "One hour," when asked what it takes to win during the interview after a very short-lived first part of the final table. By then, the third-largest WSOP Main Event in history had seen a field of 9,735 entries cut down from nine to four in just one and a half levels and it would be a massive upset if Mizrachi weren't to claim WSOP bracelet number eight and the $10 million top prize out of the gargantuan prize pool of $90,535,500.
Seat Assignments for the Final Day
Seat
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Kenny Hallaert
Belgium
19,000,000
8
2
Braxton Dunaway
United States
25,500,000
10
3
John Wasnock
United States
94,500,000
38
4
Michael Mizrachi
United States
445,500,000
178
His 445,500,000 in chips represent 178 big blinds out of the 234 big blinds in play, but anything can happen. After all, that is the beauty of the game of poker. Mizrachi has already surpassed his fifth place finish from 2010 and the same also applies for the only other contender with a previous Main Event final table appearance. Belgian poker pro and tournament director Kenny Hallaert was the chip leader on Day 6 and 7 but plummeted to the bottom of the final four after paying off Mizrachi in a big pot to bag up a mere 19,000,000 - eight big blinds worth.
"Bit of a weird feeling because obviously, you are prepared for the long haul. You are prepared sort of for like not the worst case scenario but you know, it could be a 12 hour day if nobody gets eliminated for whatever reason or the pace of play is a little slow. But it was a bit of a mayhem today," Hallaert said after the early end of play yesterday evening.
The Belgian was second in chips with five players remaining, but then lost a big pot to the very aggressive Mizrachi with top pair against two pair, which further shifted the momentum towards Mizrachi. Hallaert will bring eight big blinds into the final day and a ton of experience from more than 20 years of poker under his belt.
"Unfortunately it didn't go my side, but it is what it is, that's poker. I am still in, I am still one of four people that will fight for the Main Event title. I mean, I might not be the favorite, but I'm never gonna doubt myself. I have always believed that it is possible. I have been in this situation multiple times where I am a short stack four-handed or where I have seen it happen where somebody down to almost nothing still managed to come out on top, so why could history not repeat itself?"
Kenny Hallaert
The other short stack is Braxton Dunaway from Texas, who will have a large crowd for support and is aware that he will, "Need a few Hail Mary's," for the final showdown to overcome the big chip deficit. Dunaway was among the big stacks for many tournament days prior, but will find himself on ten big blinds with his stack of 25,500,000.
"It's been a tough day for me personally. I'd like to have more chips obviously and maybe made a pair or two but you know, overall I am just happy to still be here. There have been some crazy hands happening, and big hands ... so, ultimately, I am gonna get some rest tonight and regroup and try to come in firing away tomorrow."
Second in chips by some margin with 94,500,000 is John Wasnock, who was the chip leader heading into the nine-handed final yesterday. He increased his tally at the start of yesterday's action and had the opportunity to reach half of the chips in play when he had Mizrachi at risk with pocket kings versus ace-king preflop. However, the ace on the river set the stage for what is now a commanding lead for Mizrachi instead, and that shapes the entire scenario for the four-handed finale.
All four hopefuls have locked up at least $3 million for their efforts and each elimination will secure a seven-figure pay jump all the way to the top prize of $10 million and a spot in WSOP history.
2025 WSOP Main Event Final Table Results and Remaining Payouts
Rank
Winner
Country
Prize (in USD)
1
$10,000,000
2
$6,000,000
3
$4,000,000
4
$3,000,000
5
Luka Bojovic
Serbia
$2,400,000
6
Adam Hendrix
United States
$1,900,000
7
Leo Margets
Spain
$1,500,000
8
Jarod Minghini
United States
$1,250,000
9
Daehyung Lee
South Korea
$1,000,000
The final day is set to commence at 2 p.m. on the main feature stage inside of the Horseshoe Event Center and the returning blinds for Level 41 will be 1,000,000/2,500,000 with a big blind ante of 2,500,000. Whether or not the prediction of Mizrachi will come true and the conclusion of the 2025 WSOP Main Event is a short affair remains to be seen, but all of the action can be followed right here on PokerNews. The hand-for-hand coverage will follow the one-hour delay of the cards-up coverage and commentary on the PokerGO stream.
