Brzeski Leads the Final 25 Players After Day 2
Entrants played a total of 10 levels on Day 2 of Event #83: $2,500 Freezeout No-Limit Hold’em at the 2025 World Series of Poker held at the Horseshoe and Paris. Las Vegas. A total of 247 players returned for Day 2, vying for a piece of the $2,890,275 prize pool with their eyes set on the $449,245 top prize. By the end of the day, only 25 remained with their hopes alive to snag the WSOP bracelet.
Successful online grinder Pawel Brzeski finished atop the standings with a strong finish to the evening, bagging a total of 5,555,000. Brzeski entered the final three-table redraw with a mountain of chips after he busted Dohyeok Kim to cross the five-million mark. He continued to surge after the redraw, winning several skirmishes to separate himself from the rest of the pack. Brzeski is one of many players in the field still searching for their first WSOP bracelet.
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pawel Brzeski | Poland | 5,555,000 | 111 |
| 2 | Breno Drumond | Brazil | 3,955,000 | 79 |
| 3 | Vitor Dzivielevski | Brazil | 2,820,000 | 56 |
| 4 | Cary Katz | United States | 2,495,000 | 50 |
| 5 | Simon Lindell | Sweden | 2,445,000 | 49 |
| 6 | Michael Jozoff | United States | 2,420,000 | 48 |
| 7 | Razvan Belea | Romania | 2,175,000 | 44 |
| 8 | Preston McEwen | United States | 2,055,000 | 41 |
| 9 | Jaehoon Baek | Korea, Republic of | 1,975,000 | 40 |
| 10 | Gary Hasson | Belgium | 1,965,000 | 39 |
Breno Drumond is one of two Brazilian players in the top three of the chip counts, as he finished second in chips with 3,955,000. Drumond also had a successful final push towards the end of the evening, picking up several small pots to continue to chip up.
Fellow Brazilian Vitor Dzivielevski finished Day 2 with the third-most chips, concluding play with 2,820,000. Dzivielevski already has one WSOP bracelet to his name and is looking to add more hardware to his resume. Dzivielevski punctuated his evening when he knocked out Abhishek Paul to climb up the charts.
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize | Place | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $449,245 | 8 | $48,860 |
| 2 | $298,690 | 9 | $37,860 |
| 3 | $213,800 | 10-11 | $29,750 |
| 4 | $155,010 | 12-13 | $23,710 |
| 5 | $113,860 | 14-17 | $19,170 |
| 6 | $84,730 | 18-25 | $15,720 |
| 7 | $63,910 |
Notable Cary Katz was not to be denied a Day 3 as he finished Day 2 fourth in chips with 2,495,000. Katz is still searching for his first WSOP title, but he has been no stranger to the high roller scene, amassing over $40,000,000 in career earnings. Katz has twelve WSOP final table appearances and earned a second-place finish in 2023 in the $100,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold'em 8-Handed event. Katz will look to finish the deal this time as he enters the final day.
The tournament began with unexpected festivities as Duncan Horst, clad in American flag apparel, sang the National Anthem to the crowd before he sat down to play. Horst's antics did not end there, as he continued to sing various famous songs and danced his way to an 86th-place finish, which earned a payout of $6,000.
Notables Alex Keating ($9,490), Phil Hui ($5,580), and Shawn Daniels ($8,490) all made it to the money, but were unable to make it to the final day of play.
Play will resume at 1 p.m. local time with Level 36, with blinds at 30,000/60,000 and 60,000 big blind ante. Levels remain sixty-minutes long and the plan is to play until a winner is determined.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for updates on this and all bracelet events at the 2025 WSOP!