Khoi Le Nguyen raised to 160,000 from under the gun and Masato Yokosawa three-bet to 480,000 in the cutoff. Action folded back to Nguyen who bet 2,100,000 of his 2,195,000 stack, prompting Yokosawa to jam for the rest and Nguyen called.
Khoi Le Nguyen: J♥J♦
Masato Yokosawa: A♥K♥
The board ran out 10♣9♣10♥3♠7♦ and the jacks and tens were good for Nguyen to take down the pot.
Matthew Wantman opened the cutoff to 160,000 before Ryan Feldman jammed for 1,175,000 from the small blind, and Wantman snapped it off.
Ryan Feldman: A♦Q♣
Matthew Wantman: A♠A♣
Feldman was in very rough shape against the aces of Wantman but he found some life on the Q♥3♦2♠ flop. However, he could not find any additional help on the 3♣6♠ runout as Wantman eliminated Feldman in 23rd.
Alexandre Reard opened the hijack to 160,000 before Shaun Deeb three-bet to 475,000 from the cutoff. In the big blind, Martin Zamani cold four-bet to 1,200,000 and Reard quickly folded.
"How much are you playing, Martin?" Deeb inquired.
Zamani laughed and replied, "I don't know," before Deeb jammed for 5,275,000, and Zamani called as the covering stack.
Shaun Deeb: A♥Q♠
Martin Zamani: A♣K♦
"I just can't fold to you," Deeb admitted as the 5♦5♣3♥ flop brought some chop-outs for Deeb. However, it was not meant to be as the board ran out 4♠10♥ and Deeb was eliminated by Zamani who has vaulted himself into the chip lead.
Action picked up on the river to a completed board of 4♣2♠2♥4♥3♦ with a little over 1,000,000 in the middle in a hand between Khoi Le Nguyen from the small blind and Sam Soverel from the big blind.
Nguyen led with a bet of 1,000,000 and Soverel called fairly quick. He got the bad news as Nguyen tabled 4♠4♦ for turned quads, as Soverel showed the 2♦ as he had a full house himself in a cooler scenario.
Jun Obara attempted to raise from the small blind, but put in only a single chip, meaning that the action was deemed a call, Martin Zamani then checked his option in the big blind.
Action was picked back up on the turn, with 650,000 chips in the pot. The board read J♣A♣Q♥3♠ and Obara bet out, only to see Zamani shove with a hugely covering stack. Without much thought, Obara made the call.
Jun Obara: A♦10♦
Martin Zamani: Q♦3♦
Zamani was way in the lead, but didn't see his stack cross the eight-figure mark as the A♥ river gave his opponent trips, saving Obara in the event.
Matthew Wantman raised under the gun, and when action got back to Kyle Julius in the big blind he opted to shove. Matthew Wantman made the call to put himself at risk.
Matthew Wantman: K♣K♥
Kyle Julius: A♣K♦
The 4♠K♠8♥ flop all but sealed Julius' fate, and he couldn't find running aces as the board ran out 9♥Q♦. Wantman broke the 60 big blind barrier, whereas Julius went down to less than two.
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.
Martin Zamani
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.
Daniel Negreanu
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.
Martin Kabrhel
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.
[Removed:554] 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.
Tom Fuchs
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.
Xiaoyao Ma
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.
Shaun Deeb
Late in the night, Christopher Nguyenflopped 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.
