WSOP 2025 – Victoria Livschitz Ends Day 1 in the Top 10 and Keokham Wins First WSOP Bracelet of the Summer
The second day’s action in Las Vegas, Nevada saw the first gold bracelet of the 2025 World Series of Poker (WSOP) awarded to American player Phovieng Keokham. Taking home $64,369 and the gold in the $500-entry Industry Employees Event #2, Keokham won the only gold of the day, as three other events enjoyed exciting Day 1s for a number of PokerStake players.
Keokham Wins First Bracelet of 2025
Event #2, the $500 buy-in Industry Employees event, concluded on Wednesday night as an all-American heads-up showdown saw Phovieng Keokham beat Christopher Zollo to win the first WSOP bracelet of the 2025 World Series. After 138 players started the second and final day, early eliminations such as Chad Holloway (101st for $1,006) and Justin Kalvari (62nd for $1,244) were followed by two female players, as Alyssa Hennager (14th) and Xia Wang (13th), both fell just short of the final nine but took home $2,514.
At the final table, PokerNews reporter Connor Richards (7th for $8,301), Mark Kawamoto (5th for $15,207) and Shaun ‘The Dealer’ Colquhoun (3rd for $29,850) got close but Phovieng Keokham made two pair on the river to bust Colquhoun’s top pair on the flop, taking a crucial lead heads-up.
Just a few hands into the final duel, Zollo shoved with nine-six and was called by Keokham with ace-queen for over 88% of the chips in play. A nine on the flop gave Zollo hope only for a queen on the turn and a deuce on the river to end matters in Keokham’s favor as he won his debut bracelet and the first of 100 to be won at the felt in Las Vegas this summer.
| WSOP Event #2 $500 Industry Employees NLHE Final Table Results: | |||
| Rank | Player | Country | Prize |
| 1st | Phovieng Keokham | United States | $64,369 |
| 2nd | Christopher Zollo | United States | $42,886 |
| 3rd | Shaun Colquhoun | United States | $29,850 |
| 4th | Michael Coombs | United States | $21,126 |
| 5th | Mark Kawamoto | United States | $15,207 |
| 6th | Pedro Green | Dominican Republic | $11,138 |
| 7th | Connor Richards | United States | $8,301 |
| 8th | Rick Muniz | United States | $6,299 |
| 9th | Francois Truong | United States | $4,867 |
Victoria Livschitz Claims Top 10 Spot
In the first $5,000-entry event of the WSOP, Event #3, a $5,000 No Limit Hold’em 8-Max event, saw 558 total entries reduced to just 205 players, with 137 places being paid at some point tomorrow on Day 2. With a massive $2.6m prize pool sure to grow with late registration open until the end of the second level on Day 2, it was Jake Schwartz (538,000) who ended Day 1 with the chip lead.
It was a superb day for two of PokerStake’s finest, with Victoria Livschitz ending the day on 346,000 chips, good for seventh place on the leaderboard, marginally ahead of Renji Mao, whose stack of 278,500 saw him end up in 12th place. Others to feature in the upper limits of the chipcounts included Nicholas Go (492,500) and Shawn Daniels (402,000), both of whom ended the day inside the top 10.
While some stars survived, others fell by the wayside, with Viktor Blom, Erik Seidel, Nick Schulman, Landon Tice, Chris Moorman, Niall Farrell, Chino Rheem, and Joao Vieira all unable to survive Day 1.
| WSOP Event #3 $5,000 NLHE 8-Max Final Table Results: | |||
| Place | Player | Country | Chips |
| 1st | Jake Schwartz | United States | 538,000 |
| 2nd | Nicholas Go | Hong Kong | 492,500 |
| 3rd | Thomas Cazayous | France | 462,000 |
| 4th | Pavlin Karakikov | Bulgaria | 421,500 |
| 5th | Shawn Daniels | United States | 402,000 |
| 6th | Frank Lagodich | United States | 368,500 |
| 7th | Victoria Livschitz | United States | 346,000 |
| 8th | Joseph Frei | United States | 325,000 |
| 9th | Leonardo Rizzo | Brazil | 300,000 |
| 10th | Antonio Galiana | Spain | 298,500 |
Mystery Millions and Omaha 8 or Better Events
Two more events took place on Day 2 of the 2025 WSOP, as Day 1b of the $1,000-entry Mystery Millions Event #1 and Day 1 of Event #4, the $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better event, played out.
In the Mystery Millions, Veerachai Vongxaiburana topped the leaderboard with 2,975,000 chips, some way clear of Jason Dewitt with 2,000,000. As 1,833 total entries were chopped down to 83 survivors, $25K Fantasy Draft player and team owner Didier Guerin (1,495,000) chips closed play inside the top 10 along with former bracelet winner Samuel Bernabeu (1,230,000). Other poker legends Martin Zamani (1,075,000), William Kopp (955,000), and AP Garza (820,000) found a bag along with the reigning world champion Jonathan Tamayo, albeit with just 200,000 chips as the Main Event winner scraped into Day 2.
| WSOP Event #1 $1,000 NLHE Mystery Millions Day 1b Chipcounts: | |||
| Place | Player | Country | Chips |
| 1st | Veerachai Vongxaiburana | United States | 2,975,000 |
| 2nd | Jason Dewitt | United States | 2,000,000 |
| 3rd | Xingyu Liu | China | 1,810,000 |
| 4th | Vicken Touzjian | United States | 1,560,000 |
| 5th | Didier Guerin | Australia | 1,495,000 |
| 6th | Jiaming Zhao | China | 1,260,000 |
| 7th | Tuan Pham | United States | 1,235,000 |
| 8th | Samuel Bernabeu | Spain | 1,230,000 |
| 9th | Sihao Zhang | Luxembourg | 1,210,000 |
| 10th | Tom Thomas | United States | 1,190,000 |
Scott Seiver survived Event #4 with just 50,000 chips, as 224 players remained in seats from 910 total entries over Day 1 of the $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better event buy-in event. The reigning WSOP Player of the Year and $25k Fantasy Draft pick saw his pocket kings shot down late as his bid to end the events of both Ismael Bojang and Hyonku Chun doubled them up at the six-time bracelet winner’s expense instead.
David Shmuel led the field after Day 1 with 249,000 chips but he was closely followed by PokerStake’s Jon Kyte, the Norwegian bagging up 247,000 on the opening day of the event. Another seller on the site excelled in the shape of Alex Livingston (215,000), with the 2020 online WSOP Main Event winner Stoyan Madanzhiev (179,000), Mike ‘The Mouth’ Matusow (172,000), streamer Brad Owen (154,000), Chris ‘Big Huni’ Hunichen (141,000), Michael Moncek (80,000) and Ari Engel (76,000) all surviving to Day 2.
While those players all remain in the hunt for the $205,333 top prize, last year’s event winner James Chen was ousted early, while stars such as Daniel Zack, Allen ‘Chainsaw’ Kessler, Huck Seed, Matt Glantz, Josh Arieh, and Brian Rast will all focus on upcoming events after drawing a blank here.
| WSOP Event #4 $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Day 1 Chipcounts: | |||
| Place | Player | Country | Chips |
| 1st | David Shmuel | United States | 249,000 |
| 2nd | Jon Kyte | Norway | 247,000 |
| 3rd | Jason Bral | United States | 225,000 |
| 4th | Chuning Tran | China | 225,000 |
| 5th | Joe Ford | United States | 224,000 |
| 6th | Joseph Bertrand | United States | 224,000 |
| 7th | Richard Mirin | United States | 219,000 |
| 8th | Jeremy Trojand | Germany | 218,000 |
| 9th | Douoglas Lorgeree | United States | 217,000 |
| 10th | David Thurston | United States | 216,000 |