Busy Opening Schedule Kicks Off Week 1 at the 2025 WSOP
The 56th annual WSOP is almost upon us. Las Vegas, Nevada is the only place to be over the next seven weeks as the Horseshoe Las Vegas and Paris casino both play host to thousands of gold hunters. With 100 bracelets in live events up for grabs, the first dozen WSOP events kick off during a bumper opening week.
Mystery Millions Raises Curtain
Last year’s Mystery Millions was the biggest yet, with an astronomical 18,409 entries meaning two million-dollar bounties were claimed by Ukrainian Valentin Shabelnyk and American DJ Buckley. At the time, they were both so stunned they barely reacted but Welsh Wizard Roberto Romanello went nuts when he won $500,000! You can read about the Triple Crown winner’s WSOP loves right here.
Also winning a cool $1,000,000 was the overall event winner, Malcom Trayner. The young player from Australia became his country’s 24th WSOP bracelet winner about beating favorite Carson Richards heads-up. With a $16.2m prizepool, it was the sixth-largest WSOP Event in poker history and players such as Eric Zheng, Giuseppe Pantaleo and Lexy Gavin-Mather are already selling to the event on the official PokerStake WSOP page.
One PokerStake player has a very good record in this particular event. Matt Glantz won the million-dollar bounty in 2022 after his pocket tens beat his opponent’s pocket jacks, earning him a bounty ticket which he drew to win $1,000,000 in a memorable moment from that year’s WSOP. Glantz paid his victim $5,000 as a thank you to make up for the bad beat.
This year, such is the popularity of the $1,000-entry Mystery Millions that it kicks off the 56th annual WSOP. Who knows where the first seven-figure bounty will go and whose life it will change.
Heads-Up Crown Up for Grabs
Event #7 is the $25,000-entry Heads-Up Championship. In 2024, this event was taken over by British players. With 64 entries – that’s the cap for 2025 too – four of the final eight players involved hailed from Great Britain. Two semi-finalists and the winner were from the United Kingdom too, as underdog Darius Samual won the $500,000 top prize, beating fan favorite and poker coach Faraz Jaka to the WSOP gold bracelet, denying Jaka his first bracelet by taking it for his own debut title at the World Series of Poker.
Every year, there are several big names who go for the Heads-Up Championship in a big way. A lot of those come from the PokerStake stable in 2025, with Brock Wilson selling to the event at a markup of 1.03, Jeremy Ausmus on offer at 1.07, and Stephen Song available at a markup of 1.03, those shares are sure to go fast.
Another three players already have action on sale in the same event on PokerStake, with Justin Saliba (1.02), David Chen (1.06) and Nick Yunis (1.00), meaning that 9% of the field is guaranteed to be making money for PokerStake investors if they make it into the money places. Such is the caliber of the players involved in this event that it is always unmissable in the latter stages and so it proved in 2024 as Faraz Jaka was denied at the last by the debut winner Darius Samuel.
Mystery Bounty ‘Championship’ Event Guarantees Drama
This year’s plethora of WSOP events feature several with a $10,000 buy-in. These ‘Championship’ events naturally have a higher prizepool to go with the entry fee and are frequently won by big players on their way to successful series. Once again, it is an event that several of PokerStake’s most successful ever players are taking on.
Stephen Song, whose results in $10,000-entry events is spectacular, is selling at a markup of 1.10 to the 11th event of the 2025 WSOP, while Alex Livingston (1.10), Cherish Andrews (1.10) and the 2024 WSOP Main Event world champion Jonathan Tamayo (1.01/1.02) are all offering action to the event too.
With Jonathan Little (1.02), Matt Glantz (1.02), Max Pescatori (1.30/1.35), Vivian Saliba (1.35), Blake Bohn (1.00), David Tarbet (1.10), Ky Nguyen (1.05/1.10), Nevan Chang (1.10), Ricky Mao (1.10) and Mike Matusow, whose recent fall from a ladder to rescue his cat – we’re not joking – may have dented his back but not his confidence ahead of the latest WSOP.
With a dozen events this week, which PokerStake player is your pick? Sign up today and put your money where you motormouth is.
World Series of Poker 2025 – Week #1 Events:
| Date | Time | # | Event Details | Buy-In |
| Tue May 27 | Noon | 1 | Mystery Millions | $1,000 |
| Tue May 27 | 2pm | 2 | Industry Employees No-Limit Hold’em | $500 |
| Wed May 28 | Noon | 3 | 8-Max NLHE | $5,000 |
| Wed May 28 | 2pm | 4 | 8-Max Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better | $1,500 |
| Thu May 29 | Noon | 5 | 8-Max Pot-Limit Omaha | $5,000 |
| Thu May 29 | 2pm | 6 | Seven Card Stud | $1,500 |
| Fri May 30 | Noon | 7 | Heads Up NLHE Championship* | $25,000 |
| Fri May 30 | 2pm | 8 | 6-Max Dealers Choice | $1,500 |
| Sat May 31 | 2pm | 9 | 8-Max Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Champ’s | $10,000 |
| Sat May 31 | 10am | 10 | NLHE Deepstack | $600 |
| Sun June 1 | Noon | 11 | 8-Max NLHE Mystery Bounty | $10,000 |
| Sun June 1 | 2pm | 12 | 7-Max No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw | $1,500 |
*capped at 64 players in 2025