It was a year ago that Jared Bleznick was crowned the $50,000 High Roller champion during the 2024 WSOP. It was at that time the biggest version of this event that had ever run as 178 of the game’s best and brightest came out to compete and vie for the title of High Roller.
With the 2025 WSOP nearing its conclusion, the record for this particular event was broken as a total of 194 came out to play over the first ten levels of play today. With registration open into tomorrow, time will tell just how big this field ends up growing.
Leading the way is Japanese player Masashi Oya, who ended his day with 1,956,000. The WSOP bracelet winner found himself in many big pots today, good and bad, even busting his first bullet to Daniel Negreanu.
It was his second bullet where he found success after eliminating Daniel Rezaei to soar into the lead. For the next two levels of play, he never relinquished it. First on Japan’s all time money list with over $9 million in lifetime earnings, Oya looks to be the first from his country to cross the eight-figure-mark in lifetime earnings, and a deep run in this event could very well do that.
Martin Kabrhel (1,514,000) made his presence known in the tournament as the WSOP Player of the year race nears its end. Shaun Deeb (374,000) currently sits in the lead and will be looking to hold on to that lead. Others that bagged included Brek Schutten (1,762,000), Sam Soverel (1,504,000), previous High Roller champion Alex Kulev (1,361,000), Philip Sternheimer (982,000), Kristen Foxen (852,000), Alex Foxen (741,000), Joe Cada (688,000), and Negreanu (532,000). Each of them will be looking to deepen their own WSOP legacy.
End of Day 1 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Nationality | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Masashi Oya | Japan | 1,956,000 | 122 |
| 2 | Viktor Ustimov | Russia | 1,900,000 | 119 |
| 3 | Brek Schutten | United States | 1,762,000 | 110 |
| 4 | Martin Kabrhel | Czech Republic | 1,514,000 | 95 |
| 5 | Sam Soverel | United States | 1,504,000 | 94 |
| 6 | Christopher Nguyen | Germany | 1,415,000 | 88 |
| 7 | Alex Kulev | Bulgaria | 1,361,000 | 85 |
| 8 | Pavel Plesuv | Moldova | 1,359,000 | 85 |
| 9 | Andrew Pacheco | United States | 1,349,000 | 84 |
| 10 | Leonard Maue | Germany | 1,340,000 | 84 |
Not all were able to secure a pathway into day two. Many of the games’ greats fell with players like Chance Kornuth, Alejandro Lococo, Danny Tang, Aliaksandr Shylko, Artur Martirosian, and Adrian Mateos finding themselves firing both of their allotted shells into the tournament. Defending champion Bleznick also fired two shells in today’s tournament, leaving the door open for a new champion to rise. These will all have to wait until the next stop for a WSOP high roller bracelet.
The 78 surviving players will return at noon on Thursday, at Level 11 with blinds at 8,000/16,000 with a 16,000 big blind ante. Registration will remain open until the end of Level 12 and the subsequent break, around 2:15 p.m. Play will continue until there are just five players left, with a 60-minute dinner break after Level 18 around 6:30 p.m.
Be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews for all of the exciting updates.
