Two Dozen Players Remain; One Will Become the 2025 WSOP Main Event Champion
Two dozen dreams, hopes and stories are to be told with as many players remaining in the 2025 World Series of Poker Main Event out of a field of 9,735 entries, all vying to become the next World Champion in the most prestigious live poker tournament of the year. The largest individual slices of the $90,535,500 prize pool are still up for grabs when the action resumes at 1 p.m. local time inside of the Horseshoe Event Center and Day 8 of Event #81: $10,000 WSOP Main Event No-Limit Hold'em World Championship is scheduled to play down to the final nine players.
Leading the way for the second day in a row is Belgian poker pro and PokerStars ambassador Kenny Hallaert with a stack of 63,600,000, after he was near the top of the leaderboard for most of the previous day. Behind him are two players separated by only two big blinds: Braxton Dunaway (51,100,000) and Italy's Muhamet Perati (50,100,000). Dunaway already knows what it feels like to conquer a large field at the WSOP after he took down the $1,500 Monster Stack No-Limit Hold'em in 2023 for a seven-figure payday.
Another semi-finalist to keep an eye out for is Leo Margets, who has made history already by becoming the last woman in contention for the second time. All the way back in 2009, she finished in 27th place for $352,832 and she has already locked up a larger payout by making it to the final 24 players in the third-largest WSOP Main Event in history. The Winamax sponsored Spanish pro has a WSOP bracelet and sits in the middle of the pack with a stack of 17,800,000.
Top Ten Chip Counts After Day 7
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenny Hallaert | Belgium | 63,600,000 | 127 |
| 2 | Braxton Dunaway | United States | 51,100,000 | 102 |
| 3 | Muhamet Perati | Italy | 50,100,000 | 100 |
| 4 | Adam Hendrix | United States | 39,500,000 | 79 |
| 5 | Luka Bojovic | Serbia | 33,900,000 | 68 |
| 6 | Richard Freitas | Brazil | 32,500,000 | 65 |
| 7 | Joey Padron | United States | 29,900,000 | 60 |
| 8 | Daniel Iachan | United States | 28,100,000 | 56 |
| 9 | Ruben Correia | Portugal | 26,700,000 | 53 |
| 10 | Daehyung Lee | Korea, Republic of | 25,600,000 | 51 |
The list of notables still in the mix doesn't stop there, as many eyes will also be on Alaska's number one on the all-time money list Adam Hendrix (39,500,000), Tony Gregg (22,500,000), Maksim Pisarenko (18,900,000) and four-card specialist Lautaro Guerra (18,000,000). Add to that the legacy of four-time Poker Players Championship winner Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi (11,400,000) and it will be a show not to be missed today. Mizrachi won his seventh bracelet this year and finished fifth in the 2010 WSOP Main Event for $2,332,992 — a result he will aim to improve upon.
All remaining 24 players will return to their same seats at 1 p.m. local time on the feature table stage with the hopes of making it one step closer to the finish line. The action resumes with Level 35, blinds of 300,000/600,000 and 600,000 big blind ante. The contestants have locked up $360,000 for their efforts thus far, but making it one day further will guarantee a seven-figure prize while the eventual champion can look forward to the top prize of $10,000,000 and the WSOP Main Event bracelet.
2025 WSOP Main Event Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000,000 |
| 2 | $6,000,000 |
| 3 | $4,000,000 |
| 4 | $3,000,000 |
| 5 | $2,400,000 |
| 6 | $1,900,000 |
| 7 | $1,500,000 |
| 8 | $1,250,000 |
| 9 | $1,000,000 |
| 10-11 | $750,000 |
| 12-13 | $560,250 |
| 14-17 | $450,000 |
| 18-24 | $360,000 |
All PokerNews updates will be published on a one-hour delay in sync with the cards-up coverage and commentary on the PokerGO platform, which will stream Day 8 until the nine-handed final table has been set.