With just 11 players still in the hunt for gold in Event #54 of the 56^th annual world Series of Poker (WSOP), not one but two PokerStake players are hoping to seal a brilliant bracelet victory tomorrow in Las Vegas. Both Matt Vengrin and Giuseppe Pantaleo have chips in the $1,500-entry Pot-Limit Omaha event, but which if either will win the gold? We plot the pairs course through another popular mixed game event at the WSOP.

Bumper Field Reduced Early

There were a total of 1,564 total entries on Day 1, with a prize pool of over $2 million built up. Just 114 players survived the day, however, with the German PokerStake player Giuseppe Pantaleo top of them all with a massive stack of 1,105,000 – the only player to surpass a million chips.

While other big names bagged Day 2 stacks such as Michael Monroig (893,000), Leonid Yanovski (878,000), Jason Stockfish (615,000) and Bryce Yockey (593,000), Matt Vengrin wasn’t far behind, ending the opening day in 20^th place on a stack of 591,000 chips. Other big names hovered a little lower, with the dangerous and experienced Thai player Punnat Punsri on 385,000 chips.

Day 2 featured 10 levels during which both Vengrin and Pantaleo survived, but this time it was Vengrin who grabbed the chip lead before play ended for the day. The American ended the penultimate day of the event on 7,620,000 chips, good for a healthy lead over Punnat Punsri (5,305,000) with just 10 players between Vengrin and his debut WSOP title.

One of those is, of course, Pantaleo, as Vengrin’s PokerStake stablemate also made it through to the third and final day, stacking up 2,460,000 chips. Pantaleo was joined in the end of day counts by Matthew Beck (4,790,000) and Bryce Yockey, who will take 4,645,000 chips into the final day as the players bid to win the $306,791 top prize and the WSOP bracelet.

Vengrin Chasing Maiden Title, Pantaleo Pushing for Second Bracelet

While Matt Vengrin is chasing the elusive first WSOP title of his career, Pantaleo is after his second title after winning the 2018 Tag Team Event#55 with the Indian Game of Gold star Nikita Luther. Pantaleo, who has won $2.2 million in live tournaments in his career, has claimed four titles, all of which were in WSOP events. That Tag Team bracelet win for Pantaleo was added to by a WSOP Circuit ring in 2024 in Las Vegas, while Pantaleo has won two WSOP Circuit online events too, in 2022 and 2023.

Vengrin, of course, is no slouch and is perhaps even more of a Pot Limit Omaha specialist. Winning over $1.9 million in live events in his career, the Red Hook native has one more ranking title than Pantaleo with five, with four of those events coming in mixed games in Las Vegas. The outlier is, bizarrely, also a team win like Pantaleo’s Tag Team WSOP Win. Vengrin won the Aussie Millions team event in 2007 alongside Mark Roland.

Of the two men, which has had the most profitable trip to Vegas so far this summer? Well, Vengrin’s five cashes in Events #8, #15, 318, #36 and #43 total $112,700. Pantaleo, meanwhile, has cashed just once for $3,022 in Event #52 of this series, in a NLHE Freezeout event before his deep run in the PLO event, but also came 12^th in a PLO event at the Wynn Summer Classic for $9,672.

Here are how both men stand before the final day in Event #54.

WSOP 2025 Event #54 $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Chip Counts:
Rank	Player	Country	Chips
1st	Matt Vengrin	United States	7,620,000
2nd	Punnat Punsri	Thailand	5,305,000
3rd	Matthew Beck	New Zealand	4,790,000
4th	Bryce Yockey	United States	4,645,000
5th	Jason Lang	United States	3,280,000
6th	Jacob Snider	United States	3,050,000
7th	Tomer Daniel	Israel	2,900,000
8th	Giuseppe Pantaleo	Germany	2,460,000
9th	Jason Stockfish	United States	1,905,000
10th	Qiaonan Liu	China	1,705,000
11th	Antti Marttinen	Finland	1,700,000

Jon Kyte Flies High in Event #47

Norwegian player Jon Kyte has a lot to be proud of and scored his fourth cash of the WSOP when he came fifth in the $2,500 Limit Omaha 8 or Better/Stud 8 or Better, otherwise known as Event #47. The event was widely reported because Phil Hellmuth finished third in the event, narrowly missing out on his 18^th WSOP title.

With Kyte’s result of $56,327 in fifth proving most profitable, the Norwegian pro is now up to four cashes totalling $71,500. On the back of winning the 2925 EPT Monte Carlo PokerStars Open for $387,000 earlier this year, Jon is rolling along nicely for 2025 and could be set for the best year of his career in poker to date.

Want to back Jon, Matt or Giuseppe, as well as a host of other stars in Las Vegas? Simply head to the WSOP PokerStake staking page and pick your player. If they win, you win, it’s as simple as that, so register today and don’t miss the next deep run from your poker favorites.