The opening day of the 2025 World Series of Poker Main Event Final Table will likely be talked about in poker circles for years to come. An electric crowd at the Horseshoe and Paris casinos in Las Vegas bore witness to hand after hand of excitement, and it took just 59 hands to reduce the field to the final four.

The man to beat already has one of the most prestigious bracelets in this year’s series; the $50,000 Poker Players Championship, an event he already had won three times. Now, Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi and his monster chip stack are just three eliminations away from achieving a feat that is unlikely to ever be matched; Poker Players Champion and Main Event Champion in one year. 

Two Bustouts on First Orbit

The final table had barely gotten settled when the first hand spelled the end for Daehyung Lee. An early position min-raise by Lee was called by John Wasnock, and Wasnock check-raised a continuation bet from Lee. This prompted a three-bet shove from Lee holding top pair, top kicker, but Wasnock was waiting with bottom set, and no miracle came for the man from South Korea to end his final table experience in a single hand.

Six hands later, former pro snowboarder Jarod Minghini raise-called off his nearly fifteen big blind stack on the button with , and was flipping against Kenny Hallaert’s . No sweat would come for Minghini on a runout, and Minghini had to settle for the $250,000 pay jump for finishing in eighth place. From there, Wasnock began picking up chips at a steady pace, climbing to nearly a third of the chips in play before one of the most memorable hands of the tournament took place.

River of Dreams Delivers Mizrachi the Chip Lead

The fateful hand started innocently enough, with Braxton Dunaway opening to 4 million in the cutoff. Wasnock three-bet to 10 million on the button, and Mizrachi responded with five pumps of his thumb up in the air, a possible homage to an Humberto Brenes raise from the start of the poker boom. Mizrachi then four-bet to 30 million, and after Dunaway folded, Wasnock took a minute, asking Mizrachi for a count.

“A lot,” Mizrachi responded.

Before Mizrachi could finish finding a number, Wasnock shoved for 71.7 million effective and Mizrachi snap-called with . Wasnock had it once again, this time with , and a flop kept Wasnock in control. The prompted some cheering from The Grinder’s rail, giving him a gutshot to go with his ace outs. Wasnock could only wince as the peeled off on the river, sending a cheering Mizrachi into his frenzied rail, as Mizrachi went from nearly out the door in seventh to the chip lead in the tournament with a single river card.

Margets Falls Just Shy of Enright’s Record

Just three hands after Mizrachi’s miracle, Leo Margets limped in from the small blind, and was faced with a jam from Kenny Hallaert in the big blind. Margets took count of her nearly 20 big blind stack, then chose to call it off with . It was a flip, as Hallaert held the , and he held on to his lead on a flop. Margets leapt into the arms of her supporters when the fell on the turn, producing a wry smile from Hallaert. 

Hallaert had picked up a flush draw with the turn, and that turned out to be what sealed Margets fate; the fell on the river, giving Hallaert his flush. Margets looked up at the monitors and realized she had been bested on the river, and Hallaert ran to give her a hug, as did the rest of the final table.  Margets ended her amazing run in seventh place, just two spots shy of Barbara Enright’s fifth-place performance in 1995 (albiet in a much smaller field of just 277).

The Grinder Tears Up the Table

Mizrachi would be the next to score a knockout, after he four-bet jammed with and Adam Hendrix called off his last 28 big blinds with . Hendrix held on the flop but Mizrachi drilled the on the turn to take a commanding lead. The river ended the tournament for Hendrix, who can take consolation in leaping into elite territory as the 165th member of the eight-figure winnings club on Hendon Mob, with over $10.1 million in lifetime earnings.

From this point, Mizrachi threw a brick on the gas pedal and went to the streets, seemingly winning every pot of significance for the next few orbits. On hand 54, Mizrachi min-raised to 4 million in the cutoff, and got called by both the blinds. The action checked to Mizrachi on a flop, and he continued for 5.5 million. Only Hallaert in the small blind made the call. Hallaert check-called a hefty 21.5 million chip bet from Mizrachi on the turn, and the fell on the river. Hallaert checked again and Mizrachi emptied the clip with a bet of 60 million. Hallaert tanked for a minute before calling with , but Mizrachi turned the best hand with and now held over 70% of the chips in play.

Bojovic Last to Fall on Day 9

Luka Bojovic started the day in the middle of the pack, and slowly slid down the counts while earning a few key ladders up the payout chart. His luck came to an end one hand after Mizrachi’s monster pot with two pair. Bojovic jammed for just over eight big blinds in the cutoff with , and Wasnock looked him up with in the big blind. A flop gave Wasnock a flush draw, but it was the turn that spelled disaster for Bojovic. No help came on the river, and Bojovic turned out to be the final elimination of the day. Play ended for the day at the end of the level with four players returning for Day 10 of the WSOP Main Event.

Unlike last year’s fairly evenly stacked final three, Mizrachi holds a monstrous chip lead over the remaining players, with his 445.5 million chips more than triple the other three combined. Wasnock (94.5 million) still has some playability left in his stack, while Dunaway (25.5 million) and Hallaert (19 million) will need a double (or two) in the early going to fight back into contention. 

Will Mizrachi Make Poker History?

Johnny Chan’s back-to-back Main Event victories. Phil Hellmuth’s 17 bracelets. Stu Unger’s miraculous third Main Event title. The Moneymaker Effect. These are some of the stories we tell at the poker tables when talking about greatness.

We already knew that ‘The Grinder’ was great; his four PPC titles and seven total bracelets, $19 million in total live earnings (which will go up considerably tomorrow), and two World Poker Tour titles, among other accolades, tell us that. But winning his record-breaking fourth PPC, then bouncing back from three big blinds on Day 8 of the Main Event, from being one card from elimination on Day 9, to completely steamroll the competition on his second appearance at the Main Event final table?

Those are the stories of greatness that you tell forever. 

It’s up to an investment banker from Washington, an oil and gas industry worker from Texas, and a poker pro and tournament director from Belgium to rewrite what, at the moment, seems like destiny waiting to be fulfilled for Michael Mizrachi.

WSOP 2025 Event #81: $10,000 Main Event World Championship Final Table Leaderboard
Place	Player	Country	Chips/Prize
1st	Michael Mizrachi	United States	445,500,000
2nd	John Wasnock	United States	94,500,000
3rd	Braxton Dunaway	United States	25,500,000
4th	Kenny Hallaert	Belgium	19,000,000
5th	Luka Bojovic	Serbia	$2,400,000
6th	Adam Hendrix	United States	$1,900,000
7th	Leo Margets	Spain	$1,500,000
8th	Jarod Minghini	United States	$1,250,000
9th	Daehyung Lee	South Korea	$1,000,000

 

Soverel Speed-Runs $10k 6-Max For Third Bracelet

A bonus day of poker for Event #94: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed Championship didn’t even last long enough to watch an episode of The Simpsons, as Sam Soverel needed less than 20 minutes to dispatch the final three short-stacked opponents standing between him and his third career WSOP gold bracelet. 

Soverel started in style, flopping the nut straight on hand number one and getting Klemens Roiter to put it in with just chop outs. Klemens bricked out and settled for fourth place, and Isaac Kempton followed him a few hands later. Kempton got it in good with a pair of jacks, but Soverel’s weak ace found a mate on an ace-high flop, with no jack coming to save Kempton. Soverel had a 5:1 chip lead at the start of heads-up action, but quickly whittled Vicente down to crumbs. Vicente got his last chips in with nine-high, but Soverel’s jack-ten held on to eliminate the Spaniard in second.

WSOP 2025 Event #94: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed Championship Final Table Results
Place	Player	Country	Chips/Prize
1st	Sam Soverel	United States	$986,337
2nd	Daniel Vicente	Spain	$649,925
3rd	Isaac Kempton	United States	$437,276
4th	Klemens Roiter	Austria	$300,521
5th	Eric Wasserson	United States	$211,068
6th	Leonard Maue	Germany	$151,567

Hall of Fame Field Remains in $25k H.O.R.S.E.

With a few late entrants joining the party, Event #98: $25,000 High Roller H.O.R.S.E. saw a total of 150 entrants in the mix for the last mixed game event on the 2025 WSOP slate. Only 14 will return for the final day of action, with Toby Lewis (3.455 million) well in front of the pack. Ryan Miller (2.2 million) and Nacho Barbero (2.125) fill out the remaining podium positions. Four Poker Hall of Famers remain in the field as well; Phil Ivey (2.1 million), John Hennigan (1.935 million), David Oppenheim (1.875 million) and Brian Rast (1.165 million). 

Josh Arieh, Phillip Hui, Shaun Deeb, Martin Kabrhel, Benny Glaser, and Phil Hellmuth were all part of the early casualties. Daniel Negreanu, Gus Hansen, Jesse Lonis, and co-bubble boys Bryce Yockey and Erick Lindgren also failed to record a cash. Eric Wasserson (23rd – $51,020) was the first to collect a payday, and Jason Mercier (21st – $51,020), Elior Sion (17th – $51,020) and Yuri Dzivielevski (15th – $53,571) joined the rail before night’s end.

WSOP 2025 Event #98: $25,000 High Roller H.O.R.S.E. Leaderboard
Place	Player	Country	Chips
1st	Toby Lewis	United Kingdom	3,455,000
2nd	Ryan Miller	USA	2,200,000
3rd	Nacho Barbero	Argentina	2,125,000
4th	Phil Ivey	USA	2,100,000
5th	Tomasz Gluszko	Poland	2,015,000
6th	John Hennigan	USA	1,935,000
7th	David Oppenheim	USA	1,875,000
8th	Robert Wells	United Kingdom	1,470,000
9th	Chris Hunichen	USA	1,455,000
10th	Brian Rast	USA	1,165,000