Event #97: $1,500 The Closer
Day 1b Started
2025 World Series of Poker
Event #97: $1,500 The Closer
Day: 1b
Event Info
2025 World Series of Poker
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 1b
Buy-in
$1,500
Prize Pool
$4,687,273
Entries
4,297
Level
43
Blinds
1,500,000 / 3,000,000
Ante
3,000,000
Entries
2,504
Players Left
189
Players Left 1 / 4,297
Filter
(1)
Welcome back to PokerNews, the official media partner of the 2025 World Series of Poker, bringing you live updates from every bracelet event.
Today marks the start of Day 1b of Event #97: $1,500 The Closer No-Limit Hold'em, a two-day tournament that allows unlimited reentries. Day 1b starts at 10 a.m. local time on July 15. Players sit down armed with 50,000 chips and play 30-minute levels throughout. Twenty-minute breaks are scheduled every four levels, and a 75-minute dinner break is pencilled in after the 12th level (around 4:40 p.m. local time). Late registration remains open until the end of the dinner break.
Payouts begin on Day 1 when the field is down to about 15 percent, so all players returning for Day 2 will be in the money. Day 2 begins at 11 a.m. local time on July 16 and continues until only one player remains. Breaks will be every two hours, and they'll take a dinner break before the final table begins. Traditional PokerNews coverage begins on Day 2.
Ching Da Wu, a software engineer, outlasted 3,214 opponents in the 2024 edition of this fast-paced event. The Taiwanese grinder banked $525,500 and his first WSOP bracelet.
On Day 1a, 1,793 players bought in, but only 128 had chips requiring bagging and tagging after 22 levels. Julien Vanpelt (2,765,000) bagged up the largest stack, followed by Leo Lombardozzi (2,545,000) and Zhen Cai (2,300,000).
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 |
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Translated from Japanese by Grok:
The remaining WSOP events are only the $1500 Closer and the $1000 Super Turbo.
In the 907th episode of the PokerNews Podcast, Chad Holloway, Kyna England, and Mike Holtz are joined by PokerNews Pennsylvania Ambassador Keith Becker at Level 9 Studio in Las Vegas to discuss the latest news and highlights from the World Series of Poker (WSOP), including how a gold bracelet from 2011 found its way onto eBay, where it sold to an unknown buyer. As it happens, Chad knows the original owner of the bracelet, so he reached out and got the full scoop. It's an intriguing story you don't want to miss.
Plus, Chad talks to Nick Schulman, who was this year's inductee into the Poker Hall of Fame, and the crew discusses the 2025 WSOP Main Event bubble along with Josh Reichard's impressive call on it. Other stories include why a player went off-the-rails tilt crazy, the return of the WSOP Paradise from Dec. 4-18, and a huge $330K pot from the recent Venetian Poker Live $100/$200 NLH cash game.
Finally, Chad did a joint interview from the floor of the WSOP with the WSOP Free-to-Play App Marketing Director Nimrod Avron & Ambassador Samantha Abernathy, the latter of whom recently had her avatar debut on the app! Get a look at what it looks like, along with all the latest from the WSOP Free-to-Play app!
A new PokerNews Podcast will drop twice a week during the 2025 WSOP every Thursday and Sunday at 8a PT / 11a ET / 4p UK time. Remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you do not miss an episode!
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