Phil Hellmuth has been resting his eyes in between hands, with his head slumped into his arms on the ledge of the table. When the action folded to him in this particular hand, he awoke to put in a raise on the button to 1,400.
Yukako Hiroi, in the small blind, responded by three-betting to 6,400, and Hellmuth chose to call.
Both players checked the 5♦J♥2♥ flop, moving swiftly onto the turn.
Hiroi checked for a second time on the 5♣ turn, which gave Hellmuth the green light to take over the betting lead. He placed a bet of 7,000, which Hiroi promptly called.
The 2♣ river saw Hiroi check for a third time, but Hellmuth wasn't done yet. He placed another bet, this time for 8,000, and after a moment of thought, Hiroi called.
Hellmuth rolled over Q♠Q♣, which was good enough to beat Hiroi, who mucked her hand.
The pot was pushed in Hellmuth's direction, who stacked his chips and returned to his slumber.
Michael Mizrachi and Petko Tsakov had gathered around 10,000 in the middle when the 6♠K♥K♣ flop hit the felt. Mizrachi checked to Tsakov, who bet 2,000. Mizrachi flicked in a call before he led out for the minimum of 600 on the 2♣ turn.
Tsakov called to the 5♠ river, where Mizrachi made another tiny bet of 1,500. Tskaov instantly mucked his cards as Mizrachi added more chips to his mountainous stack.
Mike Matusow and Thomas Lee went heads-up to the river on a completed board of 4♥2♥3♦10♥K♠. According to Matusow, Lee had bet "really small" on the flop, then 3,500 on the turn from the hijack as Matusow called in the small blind.
Lee bet another 9,000 on the river and Matusow raised enough to put Lee all in. Lee called for 25,000 more with K♥8♥ for a flush, but Matusow had A♥5♥ for the nut flush to score the knockout.
Sanchez Gervin raised in early position to 1,500, and the two players to his direct left, Evan Clark and Noah Goldman, both called. Action then folded to Travis Hartshorn, who put in a three-bet to 7,000.
Gervin and Clark both folded, but Goldman called a second time.
The dealer put out a monotone 8♦9♦2♦ board, and when Goldman checked, Hartshorn continued with another 7,000 bet. Goldman took the aggressive approach in his response, moving all in for 25,400. Hartshorn made the call, and, although the stacks were very similar, it was he who was at risk.
Just as the players flipped their cards, Goldman claimed that he "Just wanted to go home anyway.”
Travis Hartshorn: K♠K♥
Noah Goldman: 10♠7♠
While Goldman may have wanted to go home, the deck had other designs for his near future, as the turn rolled off the 6♦, improving him to a straight.
The river 7♥ was unable to rescue Hartshorn, with the chance of a split pot unforthcoming, and he gathered his belongings and headed to the exit.
Gustavo Barbero raised to 1,200 from late position, and was called by John Hennigan in the cutoff and Ioannis Pentefountas in the big blind. It checked to Hennigan on the 3♣5♠5♦ flop, who elected to bet 1,500.
Pentefountas called, prompting Barbero to get out of the way. The 9♥ turn then checked through to the 3♦ river. Pentefountas bet 4,000 on the double-paired board, and Hennigan immediately tossed in a call.
"Nothing," Pentefountas said as he was reluctant to show his hand. Hennigan tabled A♥10♠, and Pentefountas' cards hit the muck as the pot was shipped to the Hall of Famer.
Gary Benson opened to 1,600 from middle position. Joseph Molitor three-bet to 4,200 from two seats over, then Daniel Zadok shoved for 23,600 from the hijack. Benson called, Molitor moved all in for approximately 29,000 and Benson snap-called.
Daniel Zadok: K♥K♠
Joseph Molitor: A♣A♥
Gary Benson: A♠A♦
Zadok with kings started to stand up as the flop ran out 3♣7♣3♥, but he was lucky enough to hit the K♣ turn to triple up after the J♠ river.
Niklas Astedt busted in the closing moments of Day 1b, and his vanquisher Luka Bojovic filled in the details.
According to Bojovic, Astedt had three-bet to 6,000 in the big blind before Bojovic four-bet to 16,000. Astedt moved all in for around 50,000 and Bojovic called.
Astedt showed two kings, but Bojovic had two aces and the board provided no help to the Swedish online legend as he was sent to the rail.
"He played incredible. He folded kings against aces and queens. I had quads against him and he folded," tablemate Katie Berens added.
In 2010, Michael Mizrachi pulled off the incredible double of winning the $50,000 Poker Players Championship and making it to the World Series of Poker Main Event final table. Fast forward 15 years later, and Mizrachi again is the owner of the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy for a record fourth time and is already poised to challenge that magical summer’s deep Main Event run
Mizrachi ended topping the counts with 297,000 as 798 players bagged up at the end of the night. It’s already been a triumphant summer for “the Grinder,” whose 11 cashes include the $50,000 PPC title for his seventh career bracelet, putting him on a direct path to making it to the Poker Hall of Fame. He’s followed by Dakota Baggett (270,400), Raoul Kanme (270,000), Ladies Event finalist Juliet Hegedus (267,000), and Adrien Guyader (259,700).
Day 1b Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Michael Mizrachi
United States
297,000
371
2
Dakota Baggett
United States
270,400
338
3
Raoul Kanme
Netherlands
270,000
338
4
Juliet Hegedus
United States
267,000
334
5
Joseph Ozimok
United States
265,000
331
6
Eric Thompkins
United States
264,000
330
7
Adrien Guyader
France
259,700
325
8
Michael Hager
United States
254,800
319
9
Kestutis Jungevicius
Lithuania
248,600
311
10
Brian Tolley
United States
247,400
309
A total of 1,096 players came out on the second of four starting flights, but only one of them was accompanied by a rock ‘n roll band (featuring Dan “Jungleman” Cates on guitar). Phil Hellmuth, whose will-he-or-won’t-he participation in the Main Event has been a topic of discussion for months, finally settled the matter when he showed at 5 p.m. local time to the tune of AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell,” remixed to “Highway to Hellmuth.” Hellmuth took his seat at the main feature table, complete with an ‘80s hair band wig, and ended the day with 85,000.
Phil Hellmuth Main Event Entrance
While Hellmuth arrived late, Daniel Negreanu made it a point to show up for the first hand as he’s done every year since 1998. Negreanu more than doubled his starting stack on Day 1b, finishing with 122,500. Other players to bag big today included Espen Sandvik (240,000), Jeremy Wien (221,300), 2019 finalist Nick Marchington (217,300), 2023 WSOP Europe champion Max Neugebauer (193,300), and 2015 November Niner Max Steinberg (180,000).
Further down the leaderboard are Yuri Dzivielevski (161,300), Kevin Rabichow (119,600), UFC fighter Colby Covington (94,500), Nick Rigby (92,900), Jason Mercier (78,700), and Eric Baldwin (69,200). Those who ended up with less than a starting stack included Olga Iermolcheva (59,700), John Hennigan (53,200), and Stephen Chidwick (51,600).
In addition to Hellmuth, three past Main Event champions took to the felt today, and all three made it through to Day 2. Qui Nguyen leads the trio with 94,500, followed by Johnny Chan (57,800) and Greg Merson (51,600).
"This is The Biggest Stack I've Had After Day 1 in Almost 15 Years"
Mike Matusow’s record in the Main Event is almost without parallel. Twice he’s made it to the final table, including a ninth-place finish at the height of the poker boom in 2005. He’s also cashed twice in the last four years. Matusow understands that the event is a grind and a long marathon. He shot out of the blocks today, bagging up 158,200.
Mike Matusow
“This is the biggest stack I’ve had after Day 1 in almost 15 years,” he said at the end of the day. “I’m very mentally balanced this year, and I’m really in a good mental frame. I know in this tournament that Day 1 means nothing. Day 2 means nothing, and Day 3 means nothing. You have to get through the minefields.”
Matusow got a late-night boost when he was on the right side of a massive cooler. Thomas Lee had bet 9,000 on the river and Matusow moved all in. Lee called for 25,000 more with a king-high flush, but Matusow had the nut flush to score the knockout. He was just happy to grind through what he described as a slow table where big pots were seldom seen. That hand was a nice little bonus.
“I had a table today that wasn’t tough, but nobody was putting chips in the pot. So you were going to have to earn them and pick your spots. I thought I did that really well to chip up to about 65K at dinner. Nobody was playing hands. You could only pick up 1,200 in blinds so often,” he said. “So I came back from dinner and I made some good hands with bad hands. Defended five-deuce of spades and made a full house. Defended five-six suited and made a full house. And then the big pot when I just called with ace-five of hearts and flopped the world. To finish with 160,000, almost a 3X stack on Day 1, knowing how deep this is and knowing how, if you can get some good table draws, how you can chip up.”
With several deep runs already on his career record, Matusow has fine-tuned a strategy that seems to work perfectly in this event. “You’re never pressed for chips. You just have to be patient. He who’s patient wins. This is the only tournament where you could fold for two and a half hours and your chip stack goes down this much. If I have the patience, and I’m focused, you just have to give yourself a chance,” he said.
“Listen, I’ve been playing with confidence the whole summer. I really thought I was going to win the 50K, I’m not going to lie. I was locked in. I didn’t make any mistakes. But everything happens for a reason, I keep telling myself. I had three or four days off, and maybe I’ll have a deep run. You never know."
The Main Event Dream Dies For Some Notable Names
The poker world gathers anew every year for the most prestigious title in the game, and each year is always different than the last. George Dolofan found that out the hard way today.
Dolofan ended Day 1b as chip leader last year on his way to cashing in 1,084th place. Today, he was the first player out when he hit a set of eights, but James Gorham turned a straight. Shane Martin was also eliminated on one of the first few hands when he flopped the nut straight, but Eben Kurtzman rivered a full house.
Niklas Astedt
Other notables to have their dream end too soon include Nick Schulman, Artur Martirosian, Chino Rheem, and Felipe Ramos. Swedish online legend Niklas Astedt made it all the way to third place last year, but he won’t be repeating that run in 2025 after running kings into Luka Bojovic’s aces in the closing moments of the day.
The 1,096 entries recorded today far exceeded the 831 from last year. Combined with Day 1a yesterday, the field currently stands at 2,019 with two more starting flights to go. Late registration also remains open for the first two levels of Day 2. The survivors from the first three opening flights will return on Sunday, July 6 for Day 2abc.
A new crop of hopefuls will gather inside the Horseshoe and Paris, Las Vegas, for Day 1c tomorrow at noon, and PokerNews will be back providing live updates throughout the day.
