What started more than a week ago as a room full of hopeful dreamers has been whittled down to just 202 players who begin Day 6 today at noon local time, with a chance at becoming the 2025 World Series of Poker $10,000 WSOP Main Event No-Limit Hold'em World Championship champion.
The voice that looms louder than all of them is Will Kassouf, the verbose Brit whose non-stop table chatter has attracted his fair share of detractors but also fans who find his act entertaining amid a sea of stoic opponents. Kassouf, who made a memorable run to the verge of the final table in 2016, begins the day inside the top 10 with 6,900,000 as he tries to do it over again.
Sebastian Schulze used two big hands yesterday to take a commanding chip lead with 12,745,000 heading into Day 6. Chad Power, who has made two runs inside the top 100 of the Main Event within the past decade, is in second place with 9,540,000, while 2023 Monster Stack champion Braxton Dunaway (8,600,000) follows in third place. Sergio Veloso (8,200,000) and Richard Buckingham (7,625,000) round out the top five.
Day 6 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 |
The rest of the leaderboard is littered with seasoned pros, online qualifiers, and consummate grinders hoping for their shot at poker’s biggest prize. They include 2016 November Niner Kenny Hallaert (5,745,000), Johan Schumacher (5,200,000), bracelet winner Maksim Pisarenko (4,415,000), Adam Hendrix (4,345,000), three-time WPT champion Eric Afriat (4,250,000), and French high roller Thomas Eychenne (4,000,000).
Then there is Michael Mizrachi, the four-time PPC champion who is aiming to replicate his feat from 15 years ago when he not only won the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy but also finished fifth in the Main Event. “The Grinder” begins the day with 4,025,000. Other top stacks include Nick Pupillo (3,930,000), Anthony Gregg (2,950,000), Bruno Furth (2,735,000), Lautaro Guerra (2,695,000), Isaac Haxton (2,580,000), and Leon Sturm (2,300,000). Further down the leaderboard are Farid Jattin (1,715,000), 2018 finalist Alex Lynskey (1,575,000), 2019 finalist Zhen Cai (1,475,000), PokerGO’s Donnie Peters (1,430,000), and Francis Anderson (725,000).
Greg Merson is the only past champion still in the hunt as he starts the day with 2,960,000. Rene-Charles Angelil, the son of Celine Dion and Rene Angelil, is making a name for himself with his Main Event run and takes 3,165,000 into the day. Dillon Ott (1,265,000) has never made a deep run in the Main Event, but his twin brother Dan has when he was runner-up to Scott Blumstein in 2017. The Otts can make history as the first set of brothers to each make the Main Event final table if Dillon can last the next few days.
Five women still have a chance at ending the 30-year drought since Barbara Enright made the Main Event final table. Leo Margets leads the group with 2,810,000, followed by Esther Taylor (2,100,000), Thi Xoa Nguyen (2,000,000), Heather Hardie (925,000), and Lindsey McDougall (420,000).
The action on Day 6 resumes on Level 25 with blinds of 30,000/60,000 and a 60,000 big blind ante. The 202 remaining players have already locked up $60,000, with the next pay jump to $70,000 coming when only 161 remain. The plan is to play five two-hour levels, with a 75-minute dinner break at the end of Level 27.
They’ve already outlasted more than 9,000 opponents, and the dream is very much alive for the players who’ve made it to Day 6. A run to the final table is starting to feel like it could become reality, so stay tuned throughout the day as PokerNews brings you all the action.
