Jon "Pearljammer" Turner raised to 4,500 in middle position and Phillip Mighall raised in the hijack to 15,000 which saw only Turner continue.
On the flop Q♠3♦5♥, Turner checked over to Mighall who bet 12,000 and Turner called.
Turner took the betting lead on the Q♦ turn and sized up to 26,500 which Mighall called.
The river peele off a 7♠ and Turner jammed all in for 51,000, effective and Mighall folded. Turner raked in the pot while wearing a shirt for the band Pearl Jam.
Corey Wright made it 4,500 to go from under the bug before Denis Strebkov three-bet to about 13,000 from the button. After the blinds folded, Wright four-bet to 31,500, which Strebkov called.
Wright continued with a bet of 25,000 on the 4♣8♠K♠ flop. Strebkov took a little while, but eventually called.
Two checks followed the 8♣ turn to see the 3♣ roll off on the river. Wright checked for the last time, and Strebkov fired out 42,000. Wright took some time to decide what to do, but in the end, he chose to fold and surrender the pot to Strebkov.
Drew Gonzalez opened from the cutoff before Milad Oghabian jammed for 36,500 from the small blind. In the big blind, 2024 WSOP Super Main Event champion Yinan Zhou called all in with the smaller stack for 29,500, and Gonzalez folded quickly.
Yinan Zhou: Q♠Q♣
Milad Oghabian: A♦10♦
Zhou woke up with a premium at the right time. Nothing changed on the 6♠6♥5♠ flop until the 10♠ turn gave Oghabian some additional outs. However, the river was the 6♦ and Zhou held on to more than double as he looks to make another deep run in his young career.
Robert Kim raised to 5,000 with the Q♣J♦ and was called by both players in the blinds including Sean Perry in the small blind and Anton Jancaj out of the big blind with the 3♦2♦. The A♥K♣10♥ flop was checked to Kim and he bet 12,000. Perry called and Jancaj folded.
After the 7♣ turn, Perry checked again and Kim pushed all-in with the marginally covering stack.
"Jesus Christ man ... how much is it?" Perry asked more table chatter of Perry followed.
"You know why I am thinking about calling you? Because I can't lose in sports recently, I am up over a million the last couple of weeks. I am just giving you a gift," Perry concluded and called.
Sean Perry: A♣3♣
Robert Kim: Q♣J♦
Perry needed a club to survive but found none on the 6♥ river to bow out in the last level of the night.
"Gee Gee buddy, couldn't have lost to a better person. Now I got my wish too and gonna get a cold shower," he said on the way out of the live stream table.
Doug Polk just arrived in the Bronze section for the last hour of the night, and immediately, Table 619 was where all the noise was coming from. Polk attempted to sneak in a couple of raises to no avail as he continuously got three-bet and was forced to fold.
However, Polk attempted a raise to 4,000 again in middle position and Randall Emmett called on the button. The action was on Nicholas Sena-Hopkins in the big blind who was lost in the shuffle and posed a dangerous question.
"What are we doing here?" he questioned as the dealer mentioned it was 4,000 to go.
"We're playing who can three-bet Doug? And you're all winning!" Polk responded.
Sena-Hopkins called and they went three ways to a flop of K♥8♣4♦. Polk continued with a bet of 4,500 and both Emmett and Sena-Hopkins paused for a moment before releasing their cards.
"It's that hard to win, guys?! You have jack-high. Just fold!" Polk pleaded with the table.
San Kim raised to 5,000 in middle position. Caleb Ralston called in the small blind, and Timothy Lee defended his big blind. The flop fell Q♥A♣K♥. Ralston checked to Lee, who promptly piled in his remaining 22,500 chips.
Kim called, causing Ralston to get out of the way.
Timothy Lee: A♥9♦
San Kim: J♠10♥
Kim had flopped the nuts, but Ralston turned some outs on the 7♥. The 6♣ river did not bring a heart, however, and Lee shook his head as he departed the tournament area, seeing Kim sit on a massive stack of over 400 big blinds.
Action was picked up in a pot between three players with Luiz Antonio Silva Constantino in the small blind, Jesse Kertland under the gun, and David Jackson in middle position.
Constantino checked the flop of Q♠7♦5♠ over to Kertland who bet 7,000, prompting Jackson to raise to 25,000. Constantino moved all in for 54,500 and both Kertland and Jackson called.
Kertland checked the 6♣ turn, which saw Jackson bet 80,000 and Kertland folded.
Luiz Antonio Silva Constantino: A♠4♠
David Jackson: 7♠7♣
The river 6♠ did give Constantino a flush, but it was no good against Jackson's sevens full and the WSOP bracelet winner took down the pot.
Thousands of poker enthusiasts returned to their seats across the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas for Day 2 of the 2025 World Series of Poker $10,000 Main Event. This included all 3,776 survivors of the final starting flight, and they were joined by hundreds of last-minute contenders, who provided a significant boost to the attendance. Once the late registration had closed, a five-figure figure for the third year in a row was missed, but the 9,735 entry strong turnout represents the third-largest attendance in the history of the WSOP. The number of Day 2 entries was significantly higher than one year ago, but another record was a tall task with a significantly lower turnout for Day 1c.
Upon completion of another five levels of two hours each, the 4,553 participants for Day 2d were reduced by more than half, and the 2,133 survivors will join their 1,320 compatriots of the previous day to battle for the gargantuan $90,535,500 prize pool. Only the top 1,461 spots will get paid at least $15,000 for their efforts, and in more than a week from now, all eyes will be firmly set on the $10 million top prize that awaits the eventual champion on July 16, 2025. All finalists will have locked up a seven-figure payday, and the following final table payouts have been announced.
2025 WSOP Main Event Final Table Payouts
Place
Prize
1st
$10,000,000
2nd
$6,000,000
3rd
$4,000,000
4th
$3,000,000
5th
$2,400,000
6th
$1,900,000
7th
$1,500,000
8th
$1,250,000
9th
$1,000,000
When the dust had settled at the end of the night in Sin City, San Kim topped the leaderboard with a stack of 799,000 and will be second in chips for Day 3 when the field combines all of the survivors across the Day 2 heats in pursuit of cash prizes. Fernando Rodriguez followed not far behind with 749,000 to his name, and French pro Romain Locquet retained his run-good of Day 1 with a very healthy stack of 673,500. Start-of-the-day chip leader Riva Arthur was also near the top of the leaderboard for most of the day and advanced with 607,000 in chips.
Riva Arthur
Event #81: $10,000 WSOP Main Event World Championship Day 2d Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
San Kim
United States
799,000
320
2
Fernando Rodriguez
United States
749,000
300
3
Romain Locquet
France
673,500
269
4
Nazar Buhaiov
Ukraine
633,500
253
6
Ibrahim Senoussi
France
625,000
250
5
Daniyal Gheba
United States
625,000
250
7
Kevin Javier
Canada
620,000
248
8
Kotaro Shoda
Japan
619,500
248
9
Kyle Grupp
United States
618,000
247
10
Riva Arthur
United States
607,000
243
Other big stacks to end the night were Nazar Buhaiov (633,500), Daniyal Gheba (625,000), Ibrahim Senoussi (625,000), Pot-Limit Omaha specialist Miltiadis Kyriakides (547,500), the "world-famous" Pat Lyons (467,500) and former WSOP Player of the year Josh Arieh (448,500).
For the former WSOP Main Event champions in contention, it was a rough day at the tables as defending champion Jonathan Tamayo was the only one to survive. He bagged up a below-average stack of 158,500 but still has a chance to retain his title and unlock another eight-figure payday. Not as fortunate were the likes of Joe McKeehen, Hossein Ensan, Huck Seed, WSOP Online champion Stoyan Madanzhiev, and Ryan Riess. As recalled by the other players at the tables, McKeehen had his pocket aces cracked by the flopped set of queens of Brett Feder in the penultimate level of the night.
Joe McKeehen
An exit via bad beat was also reserved for popular vlogger Alexander "Wolfgang Poker" Seibt when his pocket queens were cracked by ace-queen. Doug Polk was more fortunate and survived the day with a short stack of 85,000 while another showman in Randall Emmett entered alongside boxer Ryan Garcia and could not be knocked out en route to bagging up 180,000 in chips.
The always talkative Will Kassouf may take over the speech play once again, nine years after his deep run in the 2016 WSOP Main Event, in which he finished in 17th place for $338,288. His stack of 430,000 is certainly in the higher echelons of the finishers tonight, and he will be back at noon local time on July 8, 2025, when the race towards the money bubble commences.
In previous years, the money bubble was reached towards the end of Day 3 or early on Day 4, and the same can also be expected in the 2025 edition as well. With 3,453 hopefuls still in the mix - nearly one-third of the field - it will still be a journey to reach the money stages. Another five levels of two hours each are scheduled on July 8, with a 20-minute break every level and an extended dinner break of 75 minutes after completion of level 13. Recommencing blinds will be 1,000-2,500 with a big blind ante of 2,500 in level 11.
As usual, the PokerNews live reporting team will be back on the floor to provide as much of the action as possible, and PokerGO will also live-stream cards-up coverage and commentary for the entire 2025 WSOP Main Event until a winner has been crowned in eight days from now.
