Jeffrey Tanouye raised from the hijack to 1,400 and was met by a three-bet to 4,200 from Marte Sandberg, on the button. The action folded back to Tanouye, who made the call.
The dealer spread a 7♠9♣5♦ flop, which Tanouye checked, in flow. Sandberg continued with a bet of 1,400, and Tanouye made the call.
Tanouye then decided to take over the betting on the 6♠ turn, leading into his opponent for 5,000. Sandberg wasn't standing for it, though, putting in a raise to 12,000, which again, Tanouye called.
The river 4♦ saw Tanouye check and Sandberg snap check back.
Tanouye rolled over 10♠10♥ for an overpair, but Sandberg revealed the river had come to her rescue, as her K♣3♣ had improved to a straight.
On a full board of 3♠8♦7♣3♣9♣ and with around 80,000 in the pot, Lander Lijo jammed from under the gun for Simon Higgins' remaining 34,000.
Higgins went deep into the tank and began talking to Lijo. The two engaged in a brief conversation, but in the end, Higgins folded and revealed 8♣6♣ for a flush. Lijo turned over an inferior hand with A♥3♥ for trip treys as he dragged in the pot.
James Bechtel had put in 7,000 preflop, after which Brian Borst moved all in for 19,500. William Zgorski went in over the top for 20,200, and Bechtel asked for both stacks to be counted before committing a call.
Brian Borst: A♣Q♠
William Zgorski: K♦K♣
James Bechtel: 2♠2♣
The entire table was left stunned as the 5♠7♦8♠2♦ turn made Bechtel a set. The A♠ river did not change anything, and Borst and Zgorski silently left the table.
“You’ve just missed one of the craziest hands on a Day 1,” a player at Table #479 told PokerNews. According to him, with help from others at the table, Scott Kahler opened from the cutoff and Bin Weng three-bet to 6,000 from the small blind.
Weng checked the 7♥6♦4♠ flop and Kahler bet 4,500. Weng called, then check-called again for 21,000 on the 4♥ turn.
After Weng checked the A♥ river, Kahler moved all-in for roughly 120,000. Weng tanked for a long time before making the call and say: “You guys don’t know who I am!”
What stunned his tablemates was that Weng called with 7♦3♦ for two pair. But it turned out to be the right call, as Kahler only held KxJ♥. He was eliminated and quickly left the room.
With about 20,000 in the pot, Allen Shen and Eric Bunch arrived on the 2♥J♣5♦6♥10♦ river. Shen bet 18,000 from under the gun, which Bunch raised to 57,000.
Shen spent some minutes in the tank before he laid his hand down, still unsure whether it was the right decision.
The most anticipated poker tournament of the year continued today, with players from around the world descending on the Horseshoe and Paris, Las Vegas, for Day 1c of EVENT #81: $10,000 WSOP MAIN EVENT No-Limit Hold’em World Championship.
The third of four starting flights began with 1,114 entries, with the attendance increasing to 1,678 by the end of the night after five two-hour levels, at which point 1,249 players remained.
Day 1c Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Andriy Lyubovetskiy
Ukraine
392,400
491
2
Bin Weng
United States
336,000
420
3
Eric Bunch
United States
309,300
387
4
Brendon Kaufman
United States
256,500
321
5
Igor Picone
Belgium
256,000
320
6
Colin Beveridge
United States
237,400
297
7
Braxton Dunaway
United States
234,800
294
8
Randall Lack
United States
232,200
290
9
Paul Taylor
United States
232,200
290
10
Ray Medlin
United States
230,400
288
Two-time bracelet winner Andriy Lyubovetskiy finished the night at the top of the counts with an impressive 392,400 chips, worth 491 big blinds going into Day 2.
Just behind Lyubovetskiy is Bin Weng, who ended Day 1c with 354,800. Weng soared up to the top of the leaderboard late in the night after making an epic hero call against Scott Kahler. With over nine million in career tournament earnings and three seven-figure scores under his belt, Weng has been crushing large-field no-limit hold’em tournaments for the past seven years and will be a force to be reckoned with going into Day 2.
Bin Weng
The 2023 Monster Stack Champion Braxton Dunaway bagged one of the largest stacks of the day with 234,800. Dunaway began rapidly ascending the counts in the last two levels of the night after getting three streets of value with pocket queens on a jack-high runout.
Braxton Dunaway
Day 1c Action
Despite the Main Event’s slow structure, Yueqi Zhu wasted no time scoring the first elimination of the day in the first half-hour. Zhu was on the right side of a classic cooler, holding pocket aces over Thomas Henshaw’s pocket kings. With both players flopping an overpair in a four-bet pot, Henshaw check-called the flop, led the turn and shoved the river on a queen-high runout. Zhu correctly called to put a hasty end to Henshaw’s Main Event.
Another brutal cooler took place shortly after Henshaw’s elimination. In what can only be described as the ultimate action flop, Tam Ho flopped top set, Paul Vupis flopped middle set, and Zack Marshak flopped the second-nut straight. A raising war ensued that saw Marshak fold the best hand before Vupis called Ho’s all-in. Vupis hit his one out on the turn to make quads and Ho was out the door after failing to produce a one-outer of his own on the river.
Vanessa Selbst made a rare appearance in today’s starting flight. Despite retiring from professional poker in 2018, the three-time bracelet winner showed little rust as she navigated through today’s Main Event field. Selbst picked up a big pot with pocket kings midway through the day and was able to ride that momentum en route to bagging a respectable 155,200 by the end of the night.
Vanessa Selbst
Some notables to make it through Day 1c include Calvin Anderson (230,200), Jon Kyte (206,200), Lucas Greenwood (193,600, Michael Addamo (92,600), Philip Sternheimer (91,900), Boris Angelov (82,500) and Jack Sinclair (72,900). All players who made it through the day will join the Day 1a and Day 1b survivors for Day 2abc on July 6.
Among those to see their Main Event aspirations come to an end today were Xixiang Luo, Julien Martini, Punnat Punsri, Vlad Darie and Ryan Bambrick.
Full chip counts for Day 1c will be posted as soon as they become available. Day 1d kicks off Saturday, July 5 at noon while late registration remains open until the end of Level 7 on Day 2.
Stay tuned to Pokernews for all your live coverage needs for the 2025 WSOP Main Event.
