Eric Afriat opened to 90,000 in early position and Rohit Mariwalla three-bet jammed a stack of around 800,000 in the big blind. Afriat gave it some thought and folded.
Rohit Mariwalla: J♠J♥
Eric Afriat: Q♠Q♣
Mariwalla was pipped and couldn't improve as the board ran out A♣10♦8♣10♥Q♥ to improve Afriat to queens full as Mariwalla was sent to the rail.
In a preflop confrontation Yves Hallague was all in for 240,000 from the big blind and up against Jason Mann who covered him from early position.
Yves Hallague: 2♠2♣
Jason Mann: J♦J♣
Hallague was in trouble with a dominated pocket pair and found no help on the 8♠6♥5♦ flop or K♦ turn. The 2♦ river improved Hallague to a set and he doubled up through Mann who was left with under ten big blinds.
From early position, William Pengelly opened to 80,000 and was three-bet to 280,000 by Thomas Eychenne in the next seat. Oliver Entine then four-bet to 1,380,000, leaving himself just 40,000 behind. Action folded back to Pengelly, who went deep into the tank before ultimately folding.
Eychenne rechecked his cards and called, mistakenly thinking Entine was already all in. He tabled pocket aces prematurely, then quickly apologized to the dealer and Entine upon realizing his mistake.
The dealer spread the flop of 2♠6♦J♣, prompting Entine to joke, “I have one big blind, please let me keep it?” But Eychenne put him all in, and Entine made the call.
Oliver Entine: Q♠Q♣
Thomas Eychenne: A♠A♦
Entine needed to find a queen to crack the aces of Eychenne and remain in the tournament. The 4♦ turn and 8♥ river didn't help Entine, and all of his chips were sent over to Eychenne.
In a battle of the blinds, David Wintersberger had checked the A♣7♣3♣ flop and Murly Manokharan moved all-in with the marginally covering stack. That sent Wintersberger into agony and he even apologised to the rest of the table while remarking "sorry guys, I really don't know what to do" before staring at the ceiling and back at the table.
Wintersberger ended up folding and then pushed all-in with a shorter stack of around eight big blinds soon after. Pedro Padilha was the one to call out of the big blind.
David Wintersberger: A♠7♦
Pedro Padilha: Q♦10♦
The 10♥7♠3♥ flop gave both players a pair and Padilha took the lead. Nothing changed with the K♣ turn and the 9♥ on the river sealed the fate of Wintersberger.
One moment you're chip leader in the biggest poker tournament on Earth. The next, you're out the door, shell-shocked and wondering how it all went wrong.
That’s the brutal reality Michael Hawker faced on Day 5 of the 2025 World Series of Poker Main Event. After going into the dinner break with a field-leading stack of 6,090,000 (152 big blinds), Hawker was eliminated within twenty minutes of returning, watching his dream unravel in sickening fashion.
Gregor Sverko raised A♦Q♠ from under the gun to 80,000 and David Swift called in the small blind with 7♦7♣. Will Kassouf was in the big blind and called holding A♠2♥.
They saw a flop of 3♥6♥J♠ and when it checked to Sverko, he bet 70,000. Swift then check-raised to 205,000, Kassouf folded, and Sverko's cards also hit the muck.
An interesting situation happened a few moments later when Michael Garner raised to 80,000 from middle position with K♥Q♠ and when it was on Kassouf in the small blind, Sverko realized he had three cards in the big blind.
The floor were called and they ruled that Sverko's hand was dead and the hand could continue. But Kassouf wanted to make a point.
"It's a misdeal. We would all not have had these cards. It's not like he got an extra one as the last card." said Kassouf.
The floor were firm and said the action could continue, but Kassouf still wasn't done.
"Ah, it's only the $10k Main Event, it's only 10 million dollars. If one of busts, you know? I don't know if I want to play this hand. That's the ruling, we have to go with it," explained Kassouf to the floor.
"Neither of us would have had these two cards, none of us would have had the cards we got dealt. That's a bizarre one," were Kassouf's final words before he eventually folded.
Nate Silver raised it up on the button and Daniele Primerano called from the big blind. The flop came Q♦9♦5♥ and Primerano check-called bets from Silver on the flop as well as the 7♥ turn which created a pot of 1,300,000.
The river was the 4♣ and Primerano checked one more time. Silver pushed all in for 1,090,000 and Primerano asked for a count. After thinking for a couple of minutes, Primerano looked him up. Silver turned over K♦J♦ for a missed combo draw while Primerano held K♥Q♠ for top pair.
