Alex Keating raised from early position to 45,000. The table folded to Congya Zhang in the cutoff, who opted to go all in for her final 155,000. Keating gave it some thought before he decided on a call to put Zhang at risk.
Congya Zhang: A♣7♣
Alex Keating: K♥J♠
Zhang held the slight edge preflop with ace high, and the flop did not compromise that as it came 4♥6♦6♥.
The 3♥ gave Zhang unnecessary outs to a straight with the leading hand, and the A♠ on the river punctuated the hand in Zhang's favor to award the double.
Preston Mcewen opened the hand with a raise to 55,000 from early position. Leo Lombardozzi chose to raise it to 140,000 from the big blind.
This raise sent Mcewen into the tank, as he thought over his situation. Mcewen eventually opted to raise all-in for 675,000 total. Lombardozzi could not get the chips in quickly enough to send them to a showdown with Mcewen at risk.
Preston Mcewen: A♠Q♥
Leo Lombardozzi: A♦A♣
Lombardozzi had the best starting hand in the game and had Mcewen on the ropes for piles of chips.
Mcewen was given some life when the flop came J♣Q♠8♠.
The turn was an ominous one as it came the 9♠ to give Mcewen flush outs as well as the remaining queens in the deck.
Lombardozzi's opportunity at building a huge stack was shattered when the 6♠ hit the river to save Mcewen and gash Lombardozzi.
Dylan Lambe raised to 61,000 from early position, and Yu Zhang three-bet to 115,000 from the big blind. Lambe moved all in for the last 321,000, and Zhang called.
Dylan Lambe: 9♠9♣
Yu Zhang: A♣K♥
The dealer laid out 7♦Q♥5♦A♦7♣, and Zhang won the hand with the better two pair.
Cary Katz raised to 33,000 from late position only to face a three-bet from Richard Pyne on the button to 80,000. Katz went into the tank for a short while and then called.
The flop came 10♦K♦4♠, and Katz check-called Pyne's 50,000 continuation bet, and the dealer dropped the 7♣ as the turn card. Katz checked again, and now Pyne bet out for 125,000. Katz called.
Both players checked the 5♣ river, "King-six" said Pyne, and Katz turned over A♦K♥ for top-top and was pushed the monster pot.
The hand began when Tudor Purice raised to 29,000 from the cutoff. He faced some opposition when Huabao Chen opted to raise to 85,000 from the big blind. Purice gave it some thought before he called to send them to a flop.
The flop came 10♣6♥8♠ before Chen fired 86,000. Purice chose to raise to 220,000, and Chen jammed for 466,000. Purice called to send them to a showdown.
Huabao Chen: A♦J♥
Tudor Purice: 9♦9♠
Purice was ahead after the flop, and the 9♥ eliminated several of Chen's outs, but Chen was still alive with a straight draw. The J♦ river was not the out he needed. When the dealer counted out the chips it, it turned out Purice just barely had Chen covered by a single 1,000 chip with a total of 467,000 to eliminate Chen from the tournament.
For the past hour, Duncan Horst has been jumping out of his chair to stretch, claiming he is prepping for his race.
Ramon Pessoa raised from the cutoff to 24,000, and Horst, on the button, moved all in for 276,000 as he sang, "Come Sail Away." Demetrius Campbell four-bet all in from the big blind with the superior stack. Pessoa folded, and Horst had his race.
Duncan Horst: 7♦7♣
Demetrius Campbell: A♦J♦
Campbell stated, "Oh no, I forgot you stretched for this".
The board came out with 5♠3♣9♠K♦5♦, and Horst's sevens won the pot with two pair.
Justin Lapka raised from under the gun to 40,000, and Preston McEwen put most of his chips in, except it was deemed an illegal raise. He then deposited the entire amount of $87,000 from the cutoff. Lapka made the call.
Preston McEwen: K♠K♥
Justin Lapka: A♣A♥
The board worked out exceptionally well for McEwen with 2♦9♥K♦4♦K♣, and quads would crush the aces.
Welcome to Day 2 of Event #83: $2,500 Freezeout No-Limit Hold’em at the 2025 World Series of Poker (WSOP), hosted at Horseshoe and Paris, Las Vegas.
After 12 levels of late registration on Day 1, a total of 1,299 entrants generated a massive prize pool of $2,890,275. Only 247 players bagged up on Day 1 after 15 levels of play and are set to continue in Day 2 and battle it out for their share of the prize pool, the coveted WSOP gold bracelet and a first-place prize of $449,245.
All players will be chasing Noel Rodriguez, who enters Day 2 with 840,000 and the overall lead. Vitor Dzivielevski is second with 568,000, and Yu Zhang rounds out the podium starting Day 2 in third place with 558,000 chips.
Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chips
Big Blinds
1
Noel Rodriguez
United States
840,000
140
2
Vitor Dzivielevski
Brazil
568,000
95
3
Yu Zhang
China
558,000
93
4
Bijan Shapouri
United States
535,000
89
5
Graeme Newman
United Kingdom
481,000
80
6
Tamao Kobayashi
Japan
480,000
80
7
Ben Fan
China
470,000
78
8
Filipp Khavin
United States
467,000
78
9
Dohyeok Kim
South Korea
464,000
77
10
Congya Zhang
China
449,000
75
A plethora of top-name notable players are still in the hunt and will be looking to leverage their experience to build their stacks throughout the day and make a run at the final table and a shot at the WSOP Bracelet. Just a few names to keep eyes on are Shawn Daniels (395,000) with over $3,000,000 in lifetime earnings and shooting for his second WSOP bracelet; Phillip Hui (370,000) with over $4,000,000 in lifetime earnings and looking for his fifth WSOP bracelet; and Alex Keating(305,000), who has over $4,500,000 notched up in earnings and will be looking to add to his current jewlery collection of one bracelet.
Shawn Daniels
Numerous 25K Fantasy Draft players are also still in the hunt and will be looking to add to their poker resumes as well as bag some big points for their teams. Names such as Cary Katz(134,000), Danny Wong(120,000), Renan Bruschi (109,000) and PokerNews podcaster Mike Holtz (59,000) are all still in the running.
Mike Holtz
A total of 195 players will be paid with a minimum payout of $5,010 awarded, but all remaining players will be eyeing up the first-place prize of $449,245 and the coveted WSOP Gold Bracelet. The nine players who reach the final table will be guaranteed a minimum payout of $37,860, with the top five players all guaranteed a six-figure payday.
Day 2 is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. at Level 16 and the blinds will be 3,000/6,000 with a 6,000 big blind ante. They will play ten 60-minute levels with a 15-minute break every three levels. A 60-minute dinner break is scheduled after Level 21 at approximately 7:30 p.m.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for live and exclusive coverage of the 2025 World Series of Poker!
