As the hand-for-hand announcement was made, Mitchell Hynam raised to 18,000 in middle position. Jesse Simon called in the cutoff, after which Roi Sabag three-bet to 100,000 in the big blind.
Hynam gave it some thought before mucking his hand, but Simon back-raised all in, covering Sabag's above-average stack of 600,000. Sabag immediately called off, and the cards hit their backs.
Roi Sabag: Q♥Q♦
Jesse Simon: 7♠7♦
Sabag had a big lead over Simon's sevens, and he remained ahead on the 2♣4♦5♠ flop and 2♦ turn. Simon was left with two outs, but he hit one of them on the 7♣ river, making a full house.
Esther Taylor started screaming for the media to come over, and the table was soon crowded with cameras.
Both stacks were carefully counted, and once it was confirmed that Simon covered Sabag, the latter dropped his chips into the middle before he took a depressing exit.
With about 85,000 in the pot, Ibrahim Senoussi bet 38,000 on the 6♣7♥A♦3♦ turn from the big blind. Isaac Haxton called on the button, after which the 5♦ river completed the board.
Senoussi spent a while in the tank before betting 80,000. Haxton made a quick call, and his A♥6♠ won the pot when Senoussi tabled Q♣8♦ for queen-high.
Roi Sabag raised in 16,000 in the hijack, Esther Taylor three-bet to 48,000 on the button, the blinds folded and Sabag called.
The flop came A♥5♥Q♦, and both players checked. Sabag decided to lead on the 7♣ turn for 40,000 and the 6♥ river for 90,000, Taylor quickly called both bets.
Sabag tabled 10♣7♥ for a pair of sevens, but could not beat the top pair of Taylor with A♣K♥.
Francis Anderson was seen calling the clock, apparently having done so multiple times already due to players at his table stalling.
The floor ruled that his entire table would be put on a five-second clock for the duration of the money bubble, which Anderson applauded.
With 1,472 players remaining and 1,461 getting paid, eleven players still need to be eliminated before the money bubble bursts. Hand-for-hand is not yet in play.
Darren Elias won the first pot of the day with a raise of 18,000 on the button.
Elias opened to 18,000 again the next hand as the table (very slowly) folded around to Gonzalo Jose in the big blind. He three-bet to 53,000, and Elias instantly shoved forward a tower of chips to move all in.
Jose took a few minutes before folding as Elias took down another pot.
The highly anticipated money bubble is just on the horizon as 1,476 players will return to their seats for Day 4 of Event #81: $10,000 WSOP MAIN EVENT No-Limit Hold'em World Championship. Last night, or early into the morning, players bagged up their chips for the conclusion of Day 3, and the short stacks were forced to get a wink of sleep knowing that they would be coming back for one of the most important days of summer camp at the Horsehoe and Paris, Las Vegas.
With just 1,461 places getting paid and a min-cash worth $15,000, it is expected to be a slow start to the day as the short stacks attempt to maneuver their way through an additional 15 eliminations. There will be a point in the first level where the tournament staff will commence the hand-for-hand process, which always brings plenty of drama to the biggest tournament of the year.
Despite that, many big stacks in the room will be looking to feast on the passive short stacks during the money bubble. Leading the way into Day 4 is Japan's Shotaro Kobayashi, who bagged the chip lead with 1,971,000 chips. Max Neugebauer is sitting not far behind and knows what it's like to run deep in a Main Event, having won the WSOP Europe version in 2023. Sam Jakubowicz, Juliet Hegedus, and Thomas Eychenne are others near the top of the leaderboard to keep an eye on.
Day 4 Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Shotaro Kobayashi
Japan
1,971,000
246
2
Max Neugebauer
Austria
1,928,000
240
3
Sam Jakubowicz
France
1,800,000
225
4
Juliet Hegedus
United States
1,745,000
218
5
Tomas Szwarcberg
Mexico
1,709,000
214
6
David Alvarez
Spain
1,629,000
204
7
Thomas Eychenne
France
1,618,000
202
8
Brandon Harris
United Kingdom
1,616,000
202
9
Luke Chung
United States
1,606,000
201
10
Chad Power
United States
1,546,000
193
There are only two WSOP Main Event champions still in the field, hoping to repeat as champions for only the fifth time in history. Greg Merson (2012 champion) and Damian Salas (2020 champion) will be returning with 560,000 and 480,000, respectively. Neither player is any danger of being eliminated before the bubble bursts, but they will have their sights set on building a stack good enough for days down the road.
Many other familiar faces will also be returning for the fourth day of this event and they join the list of ones to watch as the tournament progresses. Keep your eyes on high-stakes pros Viktor Blom, Sergio Aido, and Chris Hunichen, old school legends Phil Laak, Liv Boeree and Jason Mercier, content creators Ashley Frank and Brad Owen, and poker media's Donnie Peters, Tim Duckworth, Terrance Reid and Jack Bittker.
Liv Boeree
Another five 120-minute levels are on the schedule for today, with a 20-minute break after each level. The players will be returning to Level 16 with the blinds at 4,000/8,000 and an 8,000 big blind ante. The cards will go back in the air at noon local time with the action wrapping up after midnight. There will be a 75-minute dinner break slotted in after the third level of the day.
This year's edition of the Main Event is the third-largest in history, with a total of 9,735 entries and a prize pool of $90,535,500. While most players will be walking away today with a min-cash of $15,000, every single one of them still has hopes and dreams of making it to the end, where the winner will pocket an even $10,000,000.
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
Follow along with the PokerNews live reporting team for all of the updates throughout the day, including exclusive Main Event bubble coverage to start your day!
