Leo Margets First Woman to Make WSOP Main Event Final Table in 30 Years
Leo Margets First Woman to Make WSOP Main Event Final Table in 30 Years

After enduring a particularly dramatic – and loud – Day 7 of the WSOP Main Event, the final 24 players resumed normal operations on Day 48 of the 2025 World Series of Poker. A total of 15 eliminations were needed to bring the field down to the final table of nine, with four-time Poker Player’s Championship winner Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, last woman standing Leo Margets and 2016 November Niner and start-of-the-day chip leader Kenny Hallaert headlining the final three tables.

Margets Makes History, Mizrachi and Hallaert Advance

Thirty years ago, Barbara Enright made it to the WSOP Main Event final table, falling in fifth place for $114,180. Three decades and many close calls would occur, including one last year when Kristen Foxen busted in 13th place, before Leo Margets etched her name in the history books and made it to the official final table of the 2025 World Series of Poker Main Event. Margets, an accomplished pro from Barcelona, already secured her largest payday to date with the million-dollar guaranteed payout at the final table. But with over $2 million in lifetime tournament earnings and one WSOP gold bracelet in another large field event, 2021’s $1,500 The Closer, under her belt, Margets and her fifth-place stack are well-prepared to break down another barrier; the first woman to win the Main Event.

Not to be outdone, 2025 and four-time Poker Players Championship bracelet winner Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi also shone bright, surviving a whirlwind of a day that saw him immediately drop to just over three big blinds before spinning up a monster stack of 93 million, good for second in chips behind Washington’s John Wasnock. A summer that contains both the PPC and the Main Event bracelets would be one for the history books as well; the summer of Grinder indeed. 

Just below the Grinder is Braxton Dunaway, no stranger to WSOP gold with his victory in the 2023 $1,500 Monster Stack tournament. 2016 November Niner Kenny Hallaert is making his second trip to the Main Event final table, and “SpaceyFCB” will look to avenge his sixth place finish. Serbia’s Luka Bojovic, Alaska’s all-time-money leader Adam Hendrix, South Korea’s Daehyung Lee and short stack Jarod Minghini round out the final table of nine.

Day 5 Chip Leader Schulze Among First to Fall

The first elimination would come almost three-quarters of the way through the first level of play. Richard Freitas, who started the day sixth in chips, never got anything going before his top pair, king-kicker was pipped by the top pair, ace-kicker of Joey Padron. Sebastian Schulze, the Day 5 chip leader, would get caught trying to steal Muhamet Perati’s big blind a short time later, and couldn’t connect with his 8s7s to bust in 23rd. Stefan Nemetz and Tomas Szwarcberg would bust their short stacks in quick succession before the end of the first level.

2013 bracelet winner Chris Dombrowski was felted by Leo Margets in 20th place shortly after break, and she wasn’t done yet, besting Diego Ponce with her queens besting Ponce’s jacks to bring the field down to two tables. The final player to collect $360,000 for their efforts was Perati, who ripped 21 big blinds over a Kenny Hallaert open with AhQh. Hallaert had the goods with AcKd, but a Qs7d3h flop spelled disaster for Hallaert. The Jd turn gave Hallaert a few more outs, but it was the Kc river that left Perati heartbroken and surged Hallaert back up the counts. The next bust out halfway through the next level happened when Daniel Iachan lost a flip to Luka Bojovic to bust in 17th for $450,000. Shortly after, one of the most pivotal pots of the entire tournament took place.

Margets Gets a Miracle

After opening with a min-raise to 2 million from the hijack, Margets was faced with a hefty three-bet shove for 32.7 million from Sergio Veloso in the small blind. Margets made the call, one that left her with just 3.6 million (or 3.6 big blinds) were she to lose. Margets held JdJc and was flipping against Veloso’s AdKh, and the scales tipped heavily for Veloso when the AcQc9s flop paired his Big Slick. While Margets’ rail frantically chanted “Jota! Jota! Jota!” for a jack, she instead found the 3c to turn a flush draw. The entire room erupted when the 2c hit the river, sending Margets into the arms of her supporters and leaving Veloso shaking hands with his now former tablemates, as he exited the Main Event in 16th place.

Lautaro Guerra would hang on a bit longer, finally succumbing to Adam Hendrix’s Big Slick shortly after the onset of Level 38. Ruber Correia would soon follow, also busting to ace-king but with John Wasnock doing the dirty work and getting lucky in the process; Joey Padron folded a pair of jacks and would’ve had a double knockout had he made the call. A severely short-stacked Maksim Pisarenko then found himself at risk for just over five big blinds with a weak ace, but Jarod Minghini’s sevens held firm to send Pisarenko home, albeit as the first player to reach the half-a-million payday marker with his $560,250 in prize money for 13th place.

Three Final Bustouts End Day 8

Joseph Ozimok never really got much traction going on the day, and his final ten-and-a-half blinds went in with ace-ten. Wasnock was waiting with ace-queen, and he flopped top pair and held to eliminate Ozimok three spots shy of the official final table. 2013 $111,111 One Drop High Roller bracelet winner Tony Gregg was the next to go, finally unable to continue spinning the short stack when his ace-four of diamonds was dominated by Michael Mizrachi’s ace-jack of spades. Gregg was dead once Mizrachi hit a flush on the turn, and the final ten combined to one table to see who the final casualty of Day 8 would be.

The final ten still had a fair amount of play even with the blinds increasing to a 1.6 million big blind; Padron held the shortest stack but still had 13 big blinds to work with, while everyone else had at least 24. On the final hand of Day 8, Wasnock opened to 3.2 million from under the gun with 8s8h, and Bojovic just flatted with AhKd. Padron made a move with his Ac6d at the wrong time, jamming for 12.6 million from the button, and Wasnock and Bojovic both called. The Jh5h5c9sJs runout was checked down, and Wasnock won the pot and took over the chip lead heading into Tuesday’s Day 9 action.

 

WSOP 2025 Event #81: $10,000 Main Event Championship Final Table Leaderboard

Place Player Country Chips
1st John Wasnock USA 108,100,000
2nd Michael Mizrachi USA 93,000,000
3rd Braxton Dunaway USA 91,900,000
4th Kenny Hallaert Belgium 80,500,000
5th Leo Margets Spain 53,400,000
6th Luka Bojovic Serbia 51,000,000
7th Adam Hendrix USA 48,000,000
8th Daehyung Lee Korea, Republic of 34,900,000
9th Jarod Minghini USA 23,600,000