Event #97: $1,500 The Closer Day 1a | 2025 World Series of Poker

Player	Chips	Progress
Julien Vanpelt	2,765,000 2,765,000	2,765,000

Leo Lombardozzi	2,545,000 2,545,000	2,545,000
Zhen Cai	2,300,000 2,300,000	2,300,000
Najeeb Elkamand	2,165,000 2,165,000	2,165,000
Jakob Miegel	1,655,000 1,655,000	1,655,000
Chad Lipton	1,420,000 1,420,000	1,420,000
Frank Stepuchin	1,350,000 1,350,000	1,350,000
Lukas Zaskodny	1,335,000 1,335,000	1,335,000

Dylan Lambe	1,330,000 1,330,000	1,330,000
Nicholas Funaro	1,240,000 1,240,000	1,240,000
Kevin Schulz	1,225,000 1,225,000	1,225,000
Nikolai Tulin	1,200,000 1,200,000	1,200,000
Hitesh Patel	1,190,000 1,190,000	1,190,000
Dragana Mackelprang	1,170,000 1,170,000	1,170,000
Safiya Umerova	1,145,000 1,145,000	1,145,000

Kyle Julius	1,115,000 1,115,000	1,115,000

Justin Arnwine	1,100,000 1,100,000	1,100,000
Upeshka De Silva	1,045,000 1,045,000	1,045,000

Matthew Land	1,045,000 1,045,000	1,045,000
Jaegeol Cho	1,035,000 1,035,000	1,035,000
Kyle Riley	1,035,000 1,035,000	1,035,000
Devon Sturges	1,035,000 1,035,000	1,035,000
Jason Bral	1,030,000 1,030,000	1,030,000
Suresh Doshi	970,000 970,000	970,000
Lukas Hafner	945,000 945,000	945,000

Player

Chips

Progress

2,765,000

2,545,000

2,300,000

2,165,000

1,655,000

1,420,000

1,350,000

1,335,000

1,330,000

1,240,000

1,225,000

1,200,000

1,190,000

1,170,000

1,145,000

1,115,000

1,100,000

1,045,000

1,045,000

1,035,000

1,035,000

1,035,000

1,030,000

970,000

945,000

The 2025 World Series of Poker (WSOP) is almost over, and many players have returned home, yet that did not prevent Day 1a of Event #97: $1,500 The Closer from attracting 1,793 entrants. Of those starters, only 128 survived the fast-paced opening flight's structure. As is always the case in poker tournaments, some fared better than others.

Frenchman Julien Vanpelt (2,765,000) bagged up the largest stack. He was one of four players who turned their 50,000 starting stack into more than two million chips. Leo Lombardozzi (2,545,000), Zhen Cai (2,300,000), and Najeeb Elkamand (2,165,000) were the others.

Jakob Miegel (1,655,000) progressed in fifth place. Miegel busted from the $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed championship in 13th place and decided to almost immediately hop into this event. The German's dedication to the grind could reap the rewards because he has put himself in a decent position for another deep run and his 12th cash of an impressive summer.

Event #97: $1,500 The Closer Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts

Rank	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	Julien Vanpelt	France	2,765,000	92
2	Leo Lombardozzi	France	2,545,000	85
3	Zhen Cai	United States	2,300,000	77
4	Najeeb Elkamand	United Kingdom	2,165,000	72
5	Jakob Miegel	Germany	1,655,000	55
6	Chad Lipton	United States	1,420,000	47
7	Frank Stepuchin	United States	1,350,000	45
8	Lukas Zaskodny	Czech Republic	1,335,000	45
9	Dylan Lambe	United States	1,330,000	44
10	Nicholas Funaro	United States	1,240,000	41

_{Big blinds based on players returning on Day 2 on Level 23}

A dozen bracelet-winners navigated their way through the choppy Day 1a waters and will take their seats on Day 2. Czech star Lukas Zaskodny (1,335,000) is the best-placed of them; he finished the night in eighth place.

Safiya Umerova (1,145,000), Kyle Julius (1,115,000), and Upeshka De Silva (1,045,000) will return with seven-figure stacks while Anthony Zinno (840,000), Jason Wheeler (600,000), Howard Mash (575,000), Dimitar Danchev (410,000), Brett Shaffer (395,000), Aram Zobian (362,000), Kenneth Kim (305,000), and Axel Bayout (249,000) will add some star quality to Day 2's proceedings.

Before we can see these heroes in action again, Day 1b needs to take place. Day 1b shuffles up and deals at 10 a.m. local time on July 15, with a crowd of more than 2,000 grinders expected to take their seats. Although PokerNews' traditional coverage of this event starts on Day 2, we will have a recap of the action for you shortly after the close of play.

Planning on playing Day 1b of this event? PokerNews activates MyStack for every WSOP event, regardless of that tournament's buy-in, allowing you to directly adjust your chip counts in our live reporting.

MyStack is a free poker tool that puts you in control of your chip counts on our live reporting pages. Once you have created a free PokerNews account, you can use MyStack to update your chip counts in real time; hopefully, your stack will continue increasing throughout the event!

Tags: Anthony Zinno Aram Zobian Axel Bayout Brett Shaffer Chad Lipton Dimitar Danchev Dylan Lambe Frank Stepuchin Howard Mash Jakob Miegel Jason Wheeler Julien Vanpelt Kenneth Kim Kyle Julius Leo Lombardozzi Lukas Zaskodny Najeeb Elkamand Nicholas Funaro Safiya Umerova Upeshka De Silva Zhen Cai