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Event #81: $10,000 WSOP Main Event World Championship
Day 5 Completed
2025 World Series of Poker
Event #81: $10,000 WSOP Main Event World Championship
Day: 5
Event Info
2025 World Series of Poker
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 5
Buy-in
$10,000
Prize Pool
$90,535,500
Total Entries
9,735
Level
41
Blinds
1,000,000 / 2,500,000
Ante
2,500,000
Entries
522
Players Left
202
Players Left 1 / 9,735
Filter
Level 24
: Blinds 25,000/50,000, 50,000 ante
It was moving day in the 2025 World Series of Poker $10,000 WSOP Main Event No-Limit Hold'em World Championship and another four and a half levels brought the 9,735 entry field one step closer to crowning a champion, yet the conclusion is still one week away at the Horseshoe and Paris, Las Vegas, with the biggest slices of the $90,535,500 prize pool still up for grabs.
After the tense bubble period and ensuing cacophony of eliminations on Day 4, the atmosphere was different. For once, the entire field came back to just one tournament area inside the Horseshoe Event Center with all three live stream tables in play. The eliminations were still coming at a rapid pace and never really slowed down, but the excitement in the room was not only by the players, but also the growing rail certainly had another vibe.
Only 522 hopefuls returned, all with at least $32,500 locked up for their efforts, but that figure was cut by more than half, with 202 players bagging up chips at the end of Level 24. All of them have boosted their guaranteed payout to $60,000, with each upcoming pay jump becoming more significant.
The honor of chip leader after Day 5 belongs to Austria-based Sebastian Schulze, who skyrocketed to the top of the ranking right after the dinner break in exhilarating fashion. Michael Hawker had won a massive pot prior to taking the lead, but lost all of the chips in back-to-back hands against Schulze. The first clash was a setup when both held a full house, then Hawker turned a straight to run smack dab into a flopped flush. Guy Leathley then lost with ace-jack against the ace-queen of Schulze, who cemented his top spot and bagged up 12,745,000.
Not far behind, albeit not with an eight-figure stack yet, are Chad Power (9,540,000), Braxton Dunaway (8,600,000) and Sergio Veloso (8,200,000). The overnight top ten also features one of Brazil's top online players in Pedro Padilha, who advanced with 6,835,000 in chips. Each contender in the current top ten has more than 100 big blinds at their disposal for the next tournament day, showcasing once again the very deep structure of live poker's annual flagship event.
End of Day 5 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sebastian Schulze | Germany | 12,745,000 | 212 |
| 2 | Chad Power | United States | 9,540,000 | 159 |
| 3 | Braxton Dunaway | United States | 8,600,000 | 143 |
| 4 | Sergio Veloso | Portugal | 8,200,000 | 137 |
| 5 | Richard Buckingham | United States | 7,625,000 | 127 |
| 6 | Albert Calderon | United States | 7,365,000 | 123 |
| 7 | Muhamet Perati | Italy | 7,010,000 | 117 |
| 8 | Will Kassouf | United Kingdom | 6,900,000 | 115 |
| 9 | Pedro Padilha | Brazil | 6,835,000 | 114 |
| 10 | Michael Garner | United States | 6,505,000 | 108 |
During the first hour of play, two former champions were sent to the rail, both of whom made pivotal steps towards their title at the King's Resort in Rozvadov. Max Neugebauer lost a portion of his stack in a flip with pocket jacks against ace-queen, and the 2023 WSOP Europe Main Event champion couldn't recover from that. During the global covid pandemic, Damian Salas won the live final table of the hybrid Main Event in the Czech Republic back in 2020 before defeating Joseph Hebert in Las Vegas but he couldn't spin up his shorter stack either.
The 2019 WSOP Europe Main Event winner Alexandros Kolonias was fighting a short stack until the end of the second break before he was sent to the payout desk, which left Greg Merson as the only Main Event champion still in contention. More than one decade after his win in 2012, Merson finds himself in the middle of the pack with 2,960,000.
Several former Main Event finalists are still in the mix to try and follow into the footsteps of Merson, such as PokerStars ambassador Kenny Hallaert (5,745,000), Michael Mizrachi (4,025,000), Alex Lynskey (1,575,000), and Zhen Cai (1,475,000). Mizrachi was one of several top pros to win his seventh gold bracelet during the ongoing festival and further etched his name into the WSOP history books with his fourth triumph in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship.
Add to that a vast array of WSOP gold bracelet winners, poker pros and enthusiasts from all over the world, the son of Celine Dion, Rene-Charles Angelil (3,165,000), and the always talkative Will Kassouf (6,900,000), as well as Eric Afriat (4,250,000) to provide plenty of exciting stories for the next few days.
Speaking of Kassouf, he was talking up a storm throughout the day and jumped to more than two times the average during the final hands of the night when he five-bet preflop against David Swift including minutes of chatter before flashing the ace of hearts only. The Brit ended the night with a knockout when he looked up the severely short-stacked Jonathan Azoulay with trey-deuce versus ten-nine, flopping a pair and rivering a straight before giving up the final hand of the night to bag up a nice stack of more than double the average.
Surrounded by the Winamax production crew, Leo Margets advanced with an average stack of 2,810,000 and she will joined by PPC third-place finisher Esther Taylor (2,100,000), Thi Xoa Nguyen (2,000,000), Heather Hardie (925,000) and Lindsey McDougall (420,000) as the last five women remaining.
Notable casualties throughout the day included Scott Margereson, Viktor Blom, Matt Affleck, 888poker streamer Aaron Barone, Henrik Hecklen and Josh Reichard.
Isaac Haxton sent Stephen Chidwick and Jeremy Kottler to the rail when his pocket kings improved to a full house. Nate Silver saw his hopes vanish with a missed combo draw while the start-of-the-day chip leader Harold Lam was coolered via set versus straight.
In the final level of the night, Brian Hastings turned top pair with ace-queen but was drawing dead against the flopped set of sixes of Braxton Dunaway, propelling the latter to one of the top stacks.
Day 6 will feature opening blinds of 30,000/60,000 with a big blind ante of 60,000 – the same amount of chips everyone began with on Day 1, to put things in perspective, except only two percent of them are still in. They will play at least four two-hour levels, starting at noon local time, then another three tournament days remain to reach the nine-handed final table with a seven-figure payday on the horizon.
As usual, the PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor to provide all of the action and cards-up coverage will also be available on the PokerGO platform.
Level 24
: Blinds 25,000/50,000, 50,000 ante
Level 24
: Blinds 25,000/50,000, 50,000 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
12,745,000
445,000
|
445,000 |
|
||
|
9,540,000
1,540,000
|
1,540,000 |
|
8,600,000
350,000
|
350,000 |
|
||
|
8,200,000
2,400,000
|
2,400,000 |
|
7,625,000
925,000
|
925,000 |
|
7,365,000
2,990,000
|
2,990,000 |
|
7,010,000
1,010,000
|
1,010,000 |
|
6,900,000 | |
|
6,835,000
1,435,000
|
1,435,000 |
|
6,505,000
145,000
|
145,000 |
|
6,500,000
2,000,000
|
2,000,000 |
|
6,500,000
1,000,000
|
1,000,000 |
|
6,330,000
245,000
|
245,000 |
|
6,305,000
1,805,000
|
1,805,000 |
|
6,080,000
420,000
|
420,000 |
|
6,000,000
2,300,000
|
2,300,000 |
|
5,970,000
2,490,000
|
2,490,000 |
|
5,840,000
1,335,000
|
1,335,000 |
|
5,745,000
2,535,000
|
2,535,000 |
|
||
|
5,720,000
720,000
|
720,000 |
|
5,665,000
340,000
|
340,000 |
|
5,650,000
650,000
|
650,000 |
|
|
||
|
5,520,000
295,000
|
295,000 |
|
5,280,000
550,000
|
550,000 |
|
5,220,000
720,000
|
720,000 |
Level 24
: Blinds 25,000/50,000, 50,000 ante
Play for Day 5 of the 2025 World Series of Poker Main Event has concluded. Stay tuned here at PokerNews for a recap of today's action.
Level 24
: Blinds 25,000/50,000, 50,000 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
|
||
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
Level 24
: Blinds 25,000/50,000, 50,000 ante
Kenny Hallaert raised to 110,000 from the button and was called in the big blind by Giorgiy Skhulukhiya.
Skhulukhiya checked the flop of K♣8♣5♠ before Hallaert bet 80,000. Skhulukhiya called to send them to a turn.
A round of checks occurred after the Q♥ turn, which led to the J♦ river. Skhulukhiya checked before Hallaert bet 580,000. Skhulukhiya did not think long before he folded to award Hallaert the pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
4,200,000
380,000
|
380,000 |
|
|
3,210,000
1,690,000
|
1,690,000 |
|
|
||
Level 24
: Blinds 25,000/50,000, 50,000 ante
Brian Devany was all in from middle position in a three-way pot against Rahul Deevara in the big blind and Kohei Arai in the cutoff on a board of Q♠4♣3♠5♣.
Deevara checked on the turn and Arai bet 350,000. Deevara called. Deevara then bet 650,000 on the 7♠ river and Arai folded.
Deevara showed Q♣9♣ for a pair of queens and it was good to beat the ace-high of A♣10♣ as both players missed their flush draws.
"I thought I wanted a club!" said Deevara as Devany was sent to the rail.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
4,500,000
900,000
|
900,000 |
|
3,200,000
640,000
|
640,000 |
|
Busted |
Level 24
: Blinds 25,000/50,000, 50,000 ante
Giorgiy Skhulukhiya made it 100,000 from early position and only Kenny Hallaert called from the big blind.
Hallaert check-called a bet of 50,000 by Skhulukhiya on the 9♠5♠6♦ flop.
The 8♥ appeared on the turn, and Hallaert led out for 180,000. Skhulukhiya flicked in the call.
Hallaert led out again when the 3♣ fell on the river, this time for 425,000. Skhulukhiya stared Hallaert down, while deliberating for quite some time. In the end, Skhulukhiya tossed his cards into the muck.
Hallaert had told Skhulukhiya that he would show his cards even if Skhulukhiya folded, and he was a man of his word as he proudly revealed A♥4♦ for a complete bluff.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
4,900,000
400,000
|
400,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
4,580,000
220,000
|
220,000 |
Level 24
: Blinds 25,000/50,000, 50,000 ante
In a preflop confrontation Jonathan Azoulay was all in for his last 210,000 from the big blind and up against Will Kassouf who had him covered from the hijack.
Jonathan Azoulay 10♣9♠ 
Will Kassouf: 3♣2♠
The 5♣Q♠3♠4♥6♥ runout gave Kassouf a six-high straight to eliminate Azoulay.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
6,900,000
265,000
|
265,000 |
|
|
Busted |
