With 6,000 in the middle on a board of 4♦9♠A♠5♣, Jesse Mull checked from the small blind and Ren Lin put out a pot-sized bet from middle position. After a few moments, Mull made the call.
The J♣ rolled off on the river, and Mull decided to check again. Lin fired out a big bet of 18,400, prompting Mull to go into the tank. After thinking for multiple minutes, Mull folded and allowed Lin to pull in the pot.
It has been somewhat of an unspoken tradition for many years that the last Day 1 of the World Series of Poker $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em World Championship features the far largest attendance and the 2025 edition was no different. All tournament areas at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas were filled to the brim. Once the chips were bagged up, the tournament info screens showed a total of 4,997 entries for Day 1d of the 2025 WSOP Main Event to bring the overall tally to 8,694.
That is certainly shy of last year's record figure of 10,112 entries, but late registration remains open for the first two levels on each of the two Day 2 flights, which are set to take place on July 6 and 7, 2025. In 2024, more than 800 players took advantage of the extended registration period to start their journey with 75 and 60 big blinds, respectively. A similar figure can be expected for the latest installment.
Top Ten Day 1d Chip Counts
Place
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Riva Arthur
United States
401,200
502
2
Hung-Wei Shiue
Taiwan
317,000
396
3
Andrew King
Ireland
302,400
378
4
Nan Li
United States
299,500
374
5
Romain Locquet
France
296,000
370
6
Vytautas Semaska
Lithuania
290,600
363
7
San Kim
United States
283,000
354
8
Bijan Motamedi
United States
281,000
351
9
Jessie Bryant
United States
275,000
344
10
Bogdan Chornyy
Ukraine
271,500
339
The 2025 WSOP Main Event is already the fourth-largest in history, destined to surpass the 8,773 entries of 2006 when Jamie Gold claimed the then-largest top prize of $12 million. Gold was one of the most notable casualties today, along with Phil Ivey. More than $83.5 million in prize money has already been generated for the world's largest live poker tournament of the year in Sin City.
WSOP Main Event
2024
2025
Day 1a
915
923
Day 1b
831
1,096
Day 1c
2,528
1,678
Day 1d
5,014
4,997
Day 2abc
206
tba
Day 2d
618
tba
Total
10,112
8,694
Almost one quarter of the Day 1d field was knocked out, with an unofficial 3,778 players punching their ticket for Day 2d on Monday, July 7, 2025. Similar to the previous three flights, there were several casualties in the first level, and the unfortunate honor of the first player being eliminated belonged to Kacper Pyzara this time. Just over half an hour was played when he turned kings full only to run into the flopped quads queens of Hisashi Yamanouchi.
Hundreds of other dreams were crushed thereafter, with nearly ten percent of the field already on the rail by the time the dinner break kicked off at the end of Level 3. Pyzara certainly wasn't the only one to suffer a horrendous beat, as Jared Bleznick saw his pocket aces cracked in a six-bet pot by Romain Locquet on the live-stream table when the Frenchman made quads nines. According to the WSOP+ app, Locquet advanced with 296,000 and will enter Day 2d as one of the largest stacks.
Riva Arthur was among the early chip leaders in Paris and steadily built her stack to advance with 401,200, slightly ahead of Day 1c chip leader Andriy Lyubovetskiy one night ago. Irish player Andrew King started his rise towards the Top 10 for this flight in the last level after he scored a large double to bag up 303,000, closely followed by Nan Li (299,500) and Vytautas Semaska (290,600).
Andrew King
Other notables to advance with very healthy stacks were Nick Pupillo (263,500), Cliff Josephy (254,500), Roberto Romanello (240,900), Greg Mueller (226,500), Eric Afriat (160,100), two-time 2025 WSOP bracelet winner Blaz Zerjav (156,800), Esther Taylor (140,000), and PokerStars founder Isai Scheinberg (115,000).
Among the former champions, Huck Seed (77,100), Joe McKeehen (64,600), and Ryan Riess (17,900) all advanced. Defending champion Jonathan Tamayo enjoyed a successful start for his potential path to repeat victory and bagged up an nearly identical 103,700 as if any further deja vu was needed. Last year's runner-up Jordan Griff also participated on Day 1d but bowed out during the final level of the night,
Jonathan Tamayo
While many poker pros joined the action today, thousands of enthusiasts from all over the world also joined the fray along with numerous celebrities. Belonging into the latter category is certainly football striker Sergio Aguero from Argentina, who has already competed in multiple WSOP tournaments. This time, the end for Aguero came in Level 5 when his king-nine suited couldn't beat the pocket tens of Andrius Mazurkevicius.
Hundreds of other hopes to claim the title of world champion were crushed with more than 1,200 players departing today. Many more will follow within the next two weeks as the eyes of the global poker community are once again firmly set on the grandest of spectacles. The 2025 WSOP Main Event bracelet was also revealed to the public today and presented by American magician and illusionist Criss Angel on the stage of the Horseshoe Event Center.
Criss Angel Main Event Bracelet Reveal
As previously mentioned, the overall field size is not set in stone just yet. The following two days will show whether or not a five-figure tally can be reached for the third year in a row. The respective survivors of each of the four opening flights will return to their seats at noon local time and play another five levels of two hours each. Day 2abc will feature those having advanced from the first three starting days while Day 2d includes all those who have bagged up chips tonight.
The action will resume with Level 6 at blinds of 400/800 with a big blind ante of 800, and each level lasts two hours. With the start of Level 8 on Day 2d this upcoming Monday, July 6, 2025, the late registration will officially close, and the annual flagship tournament is set to conclude on July 16 in Las Vegas.
As usual, the PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor to provide all the action until a champion has been crowned, and the same also applies to all other remaining 2025 WSOP gold bracelets as well.
