Christopher Nguyen Leads the Final 17 into the Final Day of the $50,000 High Roller
The final High Roller of the 2025 World Series of Poker returned to the Horseshoe Event Center today for Day 2 action. 78 survivors from yesterday’s field were joined by 58 new entrants today in Event #88: $50,000 High Roller as the official field of 252 hopefuls was finalized.
This is a record-breaking event for the WSOP. The previous record for a $50,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament was set last year in this event with 178 runners. That mark has been shattered with an incredible turnout, creating a prize pool of $12,159,000 with the winner set to receive $2,686,913.
After ten sixty-minute levels, just 17 players remain in contention for the title.
Leading the pack into the final day is Christopher Nguyen, who finished with 13,035,000. The young German was dominant from start to finish as he seeks his first WSOP Bracelet.
Coming back in second place is none other than Martin Zamani. The eccentric America splashed around throughout the day, but he showed up with the goods when it mattered most on his way to a bag of 9,200,000.
Rounding out the podium in third place is Khoi Le Nguyen, who found some momentum late in the night to finish with 7,370,000
End of Day 2 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Christopher Nguyen | Germany | 13,035,000 | 109 |
| 2 | Martin Zamani | United States | 9,200,000 | 77 |
| 3 | Khoi Le Nguyen | Vietnam | 7,370,000 | 61 |
| 4 | Sergio Aido | Spain | 5,925,000 | 49 |
| 5 | Sam Soverel | United States | 5,470,000 | 46 |
| 6 | Manuel Fritz | Austria | 4,950,000 | 41 |
| 7 | Jun Obara | Japan | 4,300,000 | 36 |
| 8 | Matthew Wantman | United States | 4,090,000 | 34 |
| 9 | Fahredin Mustafov | Bulgaria | 4,000,000 | 33 |
| 10 | Vinny Lingham | United States | 3,695,000 | 31 |
| 11 | Philip Sternheimer | Germany | 3,305,000 | 28 |
| 12 | Alexandre Reard | France | 2,800,000 | 23 |
| 13 | Mathew Frankland | United Kingdom | 2,530,000 | 21 |
| 14 | Masashi Oya | Japan | 2,520,000 | 21 |
| 15 | Leonard Maue | Germany | 1,075,000 | 9 |
| 16 | Jovan Kenjic | Serbia | 1,030,000 | 9 |
| 17 | Kyle Julius | United States | 260,000 | 2 |
The Day’s Action
A star-studded cast returned for Day 2, with Masashi Oya, Viktor Ustimov, and Brek Schutten the only three to return with over 100 big blinds.
The first two hours of the day were akin to a game of musical chairs, as players gambled to build a stack or utilized their single rebuy. After the first two levels of play, late registration closed, with over 30 players joining at the last possible second with 15 big blinds, so a full redraw of the tournament was necessary, as has become custom in high-roller events.
Daniel Negreanu was an early casualty on the day after he called off his stack with king-queen against a jam from Michael Moncek’s ace-three. Moncek’s ace-high held to the end as the Poker Hall of Famer hit the rail early.
Phil Hellmuth also made a Day 2 appearance, but he busted both of his bullets in quick succession as he was not able to gain any momentum. Phil Ivey had max-late registered and fell short as well.
A slew of bustouts would follow in quick succession as the short stacks got their chips into the middle, and the soft bubble followed shortly thereafter.
The infamous Martin Kabrhel came into Day 2 with the fourth biggest stack, but his luck would quickly run out after losing several all-ins. The final nail in the coffin occurred when he got his last chips into the middle with ace-five against the nine-seven of Shoichiro Hamada. A nine would fall on the flop, and the Czech joker was eliminated well short of the money.
Not before long, the bubble was upon the players. Two spots from the money, the floor announced that play would continue hand-for-hand until two more players were eliminated. However, it would take just one hand to lose both players.
Johannes Straver was all-in with ace-king for a single 5,000 chip, and he lost to the flopped set of fours of Michael Macchia.
At another table, Tom Fuchs jammed 11 big blinds from the small blind with ace-jack, but he ran into the kings of Jovan Kenjic in the big blind. Fuchs could not pair his ace, and the remaining 38 players celebrated being in the money and guaranteed a minimum cash of $102,024.
The eliminations would come quickly following the burst of the money bubble, as several notables such as Alex Foxen (38th), Punnat Punsri (35th), Benny Glaser (34th), Jesse Lonis (33rd), and Kristen Foxen (29th) all received the minimum payout of $102,024.
Among those in the next payout group of $107,125 included Masato Yokosawa (26th), Alex Kulev (25th), Hustler Casino Live boss Ryan Feldman (23rd), and Hustler Casino Live regular Xiaoyao Ma (21st), better known as Jasper.
In a crazy hand, Player of the Year front-runner Shaun Deeb fell to Martin Zamani in 19th place. Zamani would cold four-bet with ace-king before Deeb five-bet all-in for 66 big blinds with ace-queen. Zamani held on to eliminate Deeb and take a commanding chip lead over the field.
Late in the night, Christopher Nguyen flopped a straight flush against Leonard Maue. The board ran out with five hearts as Nguyen fired on all three streets and got paid on the river as he tabled the absolute nuts.
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | $2,686,913 |
| 2 | $1,791,267 |
| 3 | $1,242,660 |
| 4 | $879,939 |
| 5 | $636,279 |
| 6 | $470,036 |
| 7 | $354,901 |
| 8 | $274,023 |
| 9 | $216,467 |
| 10-11 | $175,048 |
| 12-15 | $144,985 |
| 16-17 | $123,068 |
Play resumes tomorrow, Friday, July 11 at 1 p.m. local time in the Horseshoe Event Center. Action will commence in Level 21 with blinds at 60,000/120,000 with an average stack of 4,447,000, or 37 big blinds.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for all updates regarding Event #88: $50,000 High Roller and all other events here at the 2025 World Series of Poker, including the ongoing Main Event World Championship.