button in SafariValentin Oberhauser Leads Final 33 in $1,500 Freezeout No-Limit Hold'em
Just 410 players of the initial 2,617 entrants came back for Day 2 of Event #65: $1,500 Freezeout No-Limit Hold'em at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, battling through ten levels of play with a cash finish and a Day 3 berth on the line. By the end of the night, only 33 players remained with a shot at WSOP gold.
Leading the way is Valentin Oberhauser, who bagged a commanding stack of 5,500,000 — the only player to finish the day above the five-million mark. The Frenchman is relatively new to the live tournament scene, with his recorded cashes dating back to 2024. Oberhauser already has several WSOP cashes to his name but is still searching for his first final-table appearance. However, he now sits in pole position not only to reach the final table but also to make a run at capturing his first gold bracelet.
Sitting in second position is Kyle Lin with 4,845,000. Lin soared up the leaderboard about halfway through Day 2 and looked to be the runaway chip leader before getting edged out by Oberhauser in the final level of play. Like Oberhauser, Lin will also be chasing his first WSOP final table appearance and gold bracelet.
End of Day 2 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Valentin Oberhauser | France | 5,500,000 | 92 |
| 2 | Kyle Lin | United States | 4,845,000 | 81 |
| 3 | Jan Sanchez | United States | 4,175,000 | 70 |
| 4 | Ciro Gonzalez | Mexico | 3,420,000 | 57 |
| 5 | Brandon Hamlet | United States | 3,310,000 | 55 |
| 6 | Micheal O'Neill | Ireland | 3,150,000 | 53 |
| 7 | Leonardo Alves | Brazil | 3,120,000 | 52 |
| 8 | Juan Vecino | Spain | 3,080,000 | 51 |
| 9 | Ryan Julius | United States | 3,070,000 | 51 |
| 10 | Julian Eibel | Germany | 2,625,000 | 44 |
Other notables further down the counts include Day 1 chip leader Shawn Puri (1,200,000), 2014 Main Event Champ Martin Jacobson (1,180,000), Nick Palma (1,135,000), and Antoine Labat (830,000).
Day 2 Action
Of the 410 players who returned, 393 were set to make the money. Unsurprisingly, it took less than a level of play before the field reached hand-for-hand action, with just two eliminations separating the players from a min-cash. Brandon Sunshine, who was sporting a full Batman costume, met an unheroic end after being forced all-in from the small blind with five-deuce against Ben Yu, who held ace-five in the big blind. The runout failed to improve Sunshine, sending him to the rail just two spots shy of the money.
A few rounds later, Chris Dilts shoved for his last few big blinds from early position with ace-ten and was called by Eric Wu in the big blind holding eight-six. The runout paired Wu's eight — eliminating Dilts on the stone bubble and guaranteeing everyone remaining a $3,020 payout.
A wave of eliminations predictably followed the bubble, and among the notables who had to settle for a min-cash were Yu, Shawn Buchanan, Davide Suriano, Ryan Laplante, Aaron Massey, Phillip Hui, Athanasios Polychronopoulos, and Jason Wheeler.
While many players hit the rail, Jordan Bamford managed to fade elimination and get a massive boost to his stack early on in one of the most dramatic hands of the day. In the hand, Bamford ran ace-queen in aces in what looked to be a standard cooler; however, Bamford went runner-runner to crack Alan Helfenstein's rockets. Bamford ultimately busted in 117th, but not before laddering several pay jumps as a result of the bad beat.
Paulina Loeliger, who was fresh off a fourth-place finish in the $3,000 No Limit Hold'em 6-Handed event, saw her solid summer continue by securing her seventh cash of the series. Unfortunately for Loeliger, her run came to an end after she got caught bluffing most of her stack against Andrew Rosen only to be eliminated shortly thereafter.
By the time dinner break arrived, just 86 players remained with several familiar faces boasting formidable stacks, including Jorge Ufano, Jared Jaffee, Nick Palma, Martin Zamani, and 2014 Main Event champion Martin Jacobson. However, despite entering Day 2 with a modest stack, Lin became the man to beat late in the day, thanks in part to scoring a double knockout against Jeffrey Slayton and Quirin Heinz. Once Lin crossed the seven-figure mark, he never looked back, successfully applying big-stack pressure and getting value from his strong hands to end the day with the second largest stack.
It wasn't until the final level that Oberhausen overtook the lead, and while Jacobson and Palma managed to find a bag, Zamani, Ufano, and Jaffee all saw their runs come to an end before the curtain closed on Day 2.
With just 33 players left, everyone has secured a minimum cash of $14,250 from the $3,474,067 prize pool. However, the focus now shifts to tomorrow's finale, where the remaining contenders will chase the $449,067 top prize and WSOP gold bracelet. Here's a look at the remaining payouts:
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize | Place | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $449,067 | 8 | $54,926 |
| 2 | $299,218 | 9 | $42,801 |
| 3 | $220,399 | 10 -11 | $33,677 |
| 4 | $163,838 | 12-13 | $26,759 |
| 5 | $122,923 | 14-17 | $21,474 |
| 6 | $93,091 | 18-26 | $17,405 |
| 7 | $71,167 | 27-33 | $14,250 |
Players will return tomorrow at 1 p.m. local time and play down to a winner. Action will resume on level 26, which features 30,000/60,000 blinds with a 60,000 big-blind ante.
With the finish line now in sight, plenty of notables eager to win a bracelet, and pay jumps rapidly increasing, Day 3 is shaping up to be an action-packed finale. For all the latest updates, stay tuned to PokerNews throughout.