All eyes are on Event #81: $10,000 WSOP Main Event World Championship and last night saw a slew of former champs battle the masses as 2,681 day 1 survivors were joined by 265 late entrants.
Phil Hellmuth got off to a flier on the very first hand, as Murai 4-bet jammed and the Poker Brat eventually called, after being prodded out of his tanking by the clock being called.
Takahiro Murai: A♣ K♣
Phil Hellmuth: Q♠ Q♥
Flop: 10♥ 9♥ 2♦
Turn: J♥
River: J♣
Not all of the former champions were having such a good time, with three among those who hit the rail, as well as some well-known others…
Busted!
Qui Nguyen (2016 champ)
Scott Blumstein (2017 champ)
Robert Varkonyi (2002 champ)
Other notables included Martin Kabrhel, Billy Baxter, Bobby Baldwin, Jonathan Little, Michael Addamo and Natasha Mercier. Kabrhel’s exit will please and dismay fans in equal (or not!) measure…
Casino RoyOUT!
— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) July 7, 2025
Unfortunately, @martinkabrhell ended his Main Event run today when he failed to double up against Franklin Machado…
GGs Martin! #WSOP2025 pic.twitter.com/vW7GqW6eLn
There was better news for many others, Hellmuth joined in day 3 by several of his peers…
Bagged!
Greg Raymer (2004 champ)
Damian Salas (2020 champ)
Greg Merson (2012 champ)
Johnny Chan (1987 & 1988 champ)
Other notables who made it through a tough day’s play included Daniel Negreanu, struggling at times but doubling near the close of play…
Daniel Negreanu: A♦ A♣
Troy Wallace: 6♦ 8♦
Amit Zulkowitz: :kx: :qx:
Flop: J♦ K♦ Q♦
Turn: 9♦
River: 5♠
DNegs was joined by 7-time bracelet winner Mike “The Grinder” Mizrachi, 5-time winner Calvin Anderson, Mike Matusow with 4 bracelets and Viktor “Isilidur1” Blom, who somewhat surprisingly has no bracelets.
There was also a long list of females who made it through, led by top 10 chip count Juliet Hegedus, followed by all-time winningest female Vanessa Selbst, Katie Lindsay, former Ladies Championship winner Lara Eisenberg and Marte Sanberg
Currently leading the pack in Day 2ABC is Marte Sandberg with an impressive stack of 583k! #WSOP2025 pic.twitter.com/TMjAcGnf0o
— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) July 7, 2025
Ukraine’s Oleksii Kravchuk ended the day way out front, closing in on 1million chips, equivalent to 375 big blinds. With just day 2d and late registration to come, the 8959 entries so far for this year’s biggie may yet top last year’s total of 10,112 entrants. We’ll be back with all the best of today’s play so be sure to check in regularly.
Day 2abc Top Ten Chip Counts
1 | Oleksii Kravchuk | Ukraine | 937,500 |
2 | Randall Lack | USA | 762,500 |
3 | Nicholas Bond | USA | 724,500 |
4 | David Polop | Spain | 704,000 |
5 | Ryuta Nakai | Japan | 648,000 |
6 | Thomas Eychenne | France | 644,000 |
7 | Eric Bunch | USA | 632,500 |
8 | Juliet Hegedus | USA | 627,000 |
9 | Kajetan Renke | Poland | 600,000 |
10 | Kohei Arai | Japan | 597,000 |
