Kenny Hallaert is no stranger to the WSOP Main Event final stages and with just 20 minutes left on Day 6, the 2016 November Niner put himself in prime position to make the final table once again.
Hallaert picked up aces and got it in against queens and jacks in a massive three-way all-in pot worth more than 36 million chips. The aces held, and the Belgian tournament director bagged 36,950,000 to take the chip lead into Day 7, where 57 players remain.
"It doesn't feel real," Hallaert said after bagging. "I've been in this position before, obviously made a final table. I've been 64th even before, so I've already topped that result... Getting aces and having two people go all in before you also helps to make it as a chip leader."
Despite being in pole position, Haellaert isn't getting ahead of himself just yet.
"People have started in this position as the chip leader and not made it to the final three tables."
"When you've been playing poker for 20 years, I've seen it all happen in the past. Been there multiple times in tournaments when you have all the chips and all of a sudden you're out."
Eric Afriat (31,200,000), who held the chip lead for much of the evening, now sits second in chips. He vaulted to the top earlier in the session after winning a huge three-way all-in worth over 20 million chips. Afriat made a king-high straight to crack Benjamin Williams’ aces and Bruno Furth’s flopped set of queens.
Afriat is also no stranger to deep tournament runs. The Canadian has three World Poker Tour titles to his name, tied for third most all time, but the World Series of Poker has never brought him that same marquee success.
His only WSOP final table came in 2018, when he finished fifth in the $1,500 Closer for $154,660. Until now, that result made up more than half of his lifetime WSOP earnings. But that will certainly change, as Afriat’s deep run in the 2025 Main Event has already secured him a new personal best.
Afriat was all smiles after bagging one of the biggest stacks calling today "one of the best days of my poker career," reflecting on how everything seemed to fall into place from the moment he took his seat.
"Today was just magical," he said. "Everything was nice and smooth, the table changes, the cards. I sat down and did my thing."
Despite his success on other tours, Afriat didn’t hesitate when asked if he’d trade it all just for a seat at the WSOP Main Event final table.
"One hundred percent. People might say I’m crazy, but I’d swap it all just to make the final table here," he said. "My first WPT title in 2014, that was magical. Maybe, this is the second magic that’s going to happen."
Also still in the mix is four-time Poker Players Championship winner Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, who bagged 19,725,000 chips for third place. The seven-time bracelet winner added a chunk to his stack late in the day thanks to a great call with pocket sevens that was a baby flush on a scary-looking board.
Mizrachi said the Main Event run is bringing back memories of 2010. “It seems like a repeat,” he said. “But this time we’re gonna win it, no more fifth place.”
As mentioned, Mizrachi pulled off a crafty hero call with pocket sevens on a paired and four-heart board. “I bet small on the river to induce,” he explained. “I knew he didn’t have a hand, and when he tanked for five minutes, I was 100 percent sure he was gonna bluff. Everything went exactly as planned.”
Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenny Hallaert | Belgium | 36,950,000 | 246 |
| 2 | Eric Afriat | Canada | 31,200,000 | 208 |
| 3 | Michael Mizrachi | United States | 19,925,000 | 133 |
| 4 | Daehyung Lee | South Korea | 18,675,000 | 125 |
| 5 | Chad Power | United States | 18,575,000 | 124 |
| 6 | Richard Freitas | Brazil | 18,500,000 | 123 |
| 7 | Joey Padron | United States | 16,675,000 | 111 |
| 8 | Adam Hendrix | United States | 16,125,000 | 108 |
| 9 | Braxton Dunaway | United States | 15,725,000 | 105 |
| 10 | Muhamet Perati | Italy | 14,950,000 | 100 |
Merson Still Alive, Margets Last Woman Standing Again
Among the Day 6 survivors is 2012 Main Event champion Greg Merson, the last remaining Main Event champion. More than a decade after winning $8,531,853, Merson is still chasing title number two. He’ll return with 3,025,000 chips.
Tomas Szwarcberg also advanced to Day 7 for the second consecutive year. Szwarcberg finished 30th in 2024.
Also looking to make it to Day 7 for the second year in a row was Yong Han. Last year marked Han's Main Event debut, and he made it count, finishing in 59th place. He managed to pull off his best Mark Newhouse impression and somehow finished in the same spot, bowing out in one of the final hands of the night.
Leo Margets is once again the last woman standing in the WSOP Main Event. The Spanish bracelet winner first did it back in 2009, when she made it to the final three tables before finishing 27th for $352,832.
With Esther Taylor, Thi Xoa Nguyen, Heather Hardie, and Lindsey McDougall all eliminated on Day 6, Margets stands alone once more. She’ll head into Day 7 with 6,400,000 chips, good for 43rd on the leaderboard.
Day 6 Action
Day 6 got off to a wild start thanks to Will Kassouf, who found himself on the right side of a massive cooler. His aces held against kings, sending his stack soaring past 10 million early in the day.
But with the chips came delays. Kassouf had the clock called on him 23 times throughout the session, eventually leading to a rare penalty that gave him just ten seconds to act per decision. That restriction was lifted during the final level. However, Kassouf ended the day with only 2,850,000 chips, and is now near the bottom of the counts.
Andrew Wilson, Farid Jattin, and Romain Locquet were among the early eliminations. Hallaert, meanwhile, began his steady rise up the leaderboard and never looked back.
Later in the day, Jarod Minghini briefly climbed into the top three after rivering a set of aces to beat Arsenii Karmatckii’s flopped set of jacks in a 163 big blind pot. But it didn’t take long for the chips to shift again. Minghini lost a 140 big blind pot to Derek Sudell, who made a gutsy hero call with pocket queens to knock him back into the middle of the pack.
By the dinner break, the field had been cut from 202 to 95 players. Eliminations slowed afterward, with only 38 more busting before bags came out.
Among those to fall short of Day 7 were bracelet winners Francis Anderson and Colin Robinson, as well as Dillon Ott, the brother of 2017 Main Event runner-up Daniel Ott. Had he made the final table, the Otts would have been the first siblings to do so.
Plan for Day 7
Day 7 will feature another five levels of play and kicks off at 12 p.m. local time. The action resumes with Level 30, where blinds will be 100,000/200,000 with a 200,000 big blind ante.
Players will get a 20-minute break after each level, and a 75-minute dinner break is scheduled after Level 32. Everyone remaining has secured at least $165,000 in prize money. The next pay jump to $200,000 comes when 53 players remain.
Keep it locked on PokerNews for continued coverage of the 2025 WSOP Main Event.
