The 2025 World Series of Poker $10,000 no-limit hold’em main event is now down to just 202 players. That means that just over 2 percent of the initial field of 9,735 is left with a shot at the championship gold bracelet and the top prize of $10,000,000.
Day 5 ended with Germany’s Sebastian Schulze putting 12,745,000 (255 big blinds) in the bag. Schulze shot up the leaderboards in a hurry thanks to a pair of back-to-back hands against Michael Hawker, who held the chip lead going into the dinner break. Schulze won the first massive clash with aces full of fours besting Hawker’s nines full on a four-flush board.
Soon after that, Schulze raised from the cutoff with J♣9♣ and Hawker called with K♥6♠ from the small blind. The flop came down 8♣7♣5♣ and Schulze bet 90,000 when checked to. Hawker check-called and the 9♦ turn gave him a nine-high straight. He bet 210,000 and Schulze raised to 700,000 with his flopped flush. Hawker moved all-in and Schulze made the call. The river was the J♠, and just like that Hawker was out in 296th place, while Schulze had surged into the lead in the tournament. He ended the night as the only player above the 10 million chip mark.
“Yes, it was insane,” said Schulze when asked about the two back-to-back hands by PokerGO’s Jeff Platt.
“I think he got a bit too down on himself,” he offered about Hawker’s reaction after the first loss.
Schulze has more than $574,000 in prior earnings, including a win in a 2024 European Poker Tour Barcelona €2,700 side event for $362,526. He’s now set to add to that tally in a major way with a deep run in the third-largest WSOP main event ever held.
Chad Power Soars In Main Event Return
Chad Power
A pair of Americans sit just behind Schulze in the chip counts. Chad Power, who has a pair of top-100 finishes in this tournament already, is second with 9,540,000. He’s followed closely by Braxton Dunaway, with 8,600,000. Dunaway won the 2023 WSOP monster stack in 2023 for $1,162,681, outlasting a field of 8,317.
For Power, this is his first WSOP main event appearance since 2019, when he finished 89th. In fact, Power said this is the first live tournament he’s played since that event.
After climbing towards the top of the chip counts earlier in the tournament, Power’s stack took a dip before he surged up to second, bit by bit.
“I dipped down below 2 million, and then I had a lot of hands,” Power recalled. “I was pretty active. The craziest hand I played for sure was blind versus blind. I limped in at, I think, 20,000-40,000. The flop comes deuce, four, ace. I have jack-six offsuit. I check, the big blind checks behind. The turn’s a king. I check, the guy bet 80,000, and I call, thinking jack-high is probably the best hand. The river is a six.
“I check, and he over-bets around 475,000 into 150, 200,000-ish. I ended up snap-calling him. That hand was fun, and that got me started. Otherwise, a lot of small ball, no all-in pots.”
More Notables With Big Stacks Heading Into Day 6
Several notable tournament veterans are among the top 50 heading into day 6, including Will Kassouf (6,900,000), Arnaud Mattern (5,840,000), Kenny Hallaert (5,745,000), Eric Afriat (4,250,000), and seven-time bracelet winner Michael Mizrachi (4,025,000), who took down his fourth $50,000 Poker Players Championship earlier this series.
Bracelet winner and two-time Super High Roller Bowl champion Isaac Haxton sits directly in the middle of the pack, in 100th place. One of the winningest tournament players of all time with $57,916,359 in recorded earnings, Haxton largely sticks to high rollers and super high rollers these days.
But for the second time in his poker career, and the first time since he finished 94th back in 2007, the first time he ever played it, Haxton’s put together a run in the WSOP main event.
“Playing the main is super different from most of the stuff I play,” said Haxton. “I mean, one thing, adjusting to no shot clock, being willing to take my time when the situation calls for it. Focusing a bit more on looking at my opponents, guessing what they have and what they’re going to do. Thinking a bit less about, you know, just trying to make the computer play at every node. It’s been a fun challenge, I’m enjoying it, and it continues to go well, which is sweet.”
With the elimination of bracelet winner Lara Eisenberg in 210th, five women remain in contention in the 2025 WSOP main event. Leo Margets of Spain, the most recent woman to win an open bracelet event in Las Vegas, leads the way with 2,810,000. She’s joined by recent $50,000 Poker Players Championship third-place finisher Esther Taylor (2,100,000), France’s Thia Xoa Nguyen (2,000,000), Heather Hardie of Australia (925,000) and American Lindsey McDougall (420,000).
There are 20 bracelet winners remaining in the 2025 WSOP main event field, among the final 202 players. There are three multi-time winners among the bunch: recent PPC winner and seven-time total winner Mizrachi, 2012 WSOP main event champion and Player of the Year Greg Merson, and Bruno Furth.
Main Event Dream Ends For Hundreds
Day 5 started with 522 contenders remaining. Among the 320 players that were eliminated were 2023 WSOP Europe main event winner Max Neugebauer (466th), Nadya Magnus (449th), Joseph Cheong (440th), World Poker Tour champion Josh Reichard (433rd), JJ Liu (430th), bracelet winner and WPT champ Asher Conniff (388th), Andrew Neeme (382nd), Brad Owen (373rd), Matt Affleck (336th), Tom Middleton (329th), bracelet winner Safiya Umerova (286th), recent $250,000 and $100,000 high roller event final tablist Thomas Boivin (273rd), two-time bracelet winner Denis Strebkov (261st), high-stakes online poker legend and burgeoning tournament star Viktor Blom (260th), and six-time bracelet winner Brian Hastings (215th).
One of the two former WSOP main event champions who made day 5, did not last long. Damian Salas, the 2020 WSOP main event champion who also made the final table in 2017, came into the day short-stacked. He did not build back, and Salas ultimately went out in 469th place. That left Merson as the only prior winner of this event still in contention. Merson bagged up 2,960,000, putting him inside the top 100.
With just 15 minutes left in Day 5 of the Main Event, @GregMerson is the last Main Event winner in the field and he’s still got a decent stack in front of him.
Last reported at 1.9M (38bb) in the 25K/50K (50K) level.#wsop2025 pic.twitter.com/ubXIoN1dzj
— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) July 11, 2025
Chidwick Bounced In Double Knockout For Haxton
One of the most successful players in poker tournament history was also among those to fall before the bags were brought out. Two-time bracelet winner and two-time Card Player Player of the Year award winner Stephen Chidwick was sent packing in 350th place. A failed bluff attempt with five high left him with fewer than 25 big blinds. He dwindled even further from there, and eventually jammed his last 12.5 big blind from the button with 5♥5♦ only to find himself involved in a three-way showdown. Jeremy Kottler, who was also short after he attempted a multi-street bluff into the full house of Yuchen Chen, called all-in with A♥J♥ for less and Haxton woke up with K♦K♣ in the big blind. Haxton called to put both Chidwick and Kottler at risk.
Haxton flopped top set, while Kottler picked up the nut flush draw, after the dealer fanned the K♠6♥3♥. The 9♥ turn filled Kottler’s flush, only for the 6♦ river to improve Haxton to a winning full house. Chidwick earned $45,000 for his latest deep run. He now has nearly $70.2 million in recorded tournament scores to his name, the second most of any player in the game.
Three way all-in! 😱 @Ikepoker wakes up with pocket kings and Stephen Chidwick is at risk.
Watch LIVE on https://t.co/2RQh5ROjQG pic.twitter.com/vfzOBbLdVh
— PokerGO (@PokerGO) July 11, 2025
The final 202 players will return for day 6 at noon on Friday, July 11 with blinds of 30,000-60,000 with an 60,000 big blind ante for level 25. The average stack of 2,891,584 represents 48 big blinds when play resumes. All remaining players have locked up at least $60,000 for their efforts.
Here is a look at the top ten chip stacks heading into day 6:
| Rank | Name | Chips | Country |
| 1 | Sebastian Schulze | 12,745,000 | Germany |
| 2 | Chad Power | 9,540,000 | USA |
| 3 | Braxton Dunaway | 8,600,000 | USA |
| 4 | Sergio Veloso | 8,200,000 | Portugal |
| 5 | Richard Buckingham | 7,625,000 | USA |
| 6 | Albert Calderon | 7,365,000 | USA |
| 7 | Muhamet Perati | 7,010,000 | Italy |
| 8 | Will Kassouf | 6,900,000 | U.K. |
| 9 | Pedro Padilha | 6,835,000 | Brazil |
| 10 | Michael Garner | 6,505,000 | USA |
Remaining payouts up for grabs in the 2025 WSOP main event:
| Place | Payout |
| 1 | $10,000,000 |
| 2 | $6,000,000 |
| 3 | $4,000,000 |
| 4 | $3,000,000 |
| 5 | $2,400,000 |
| 6 | $1,900,000 |
| 7 | $1,500,000 |
| 8 | $1,250,000 |
| 9 | $1,000,000 |
| 10-11 | $750,000 |
| 12-13 | $560,250 |
| 14-17 | $450,000 |
| 18-26 | $360,000 |
| 27-35 | $300,000 |
| 36-44 | $240,000 |
| 45-53 | $200,000 |
| 54-62 | $165,000 |
| 63-71 | $135,000 |
| 72-80 | $115,000 |
| 81-89 | $100,000 |
| 90-98 | $85,000 |
| 99-161 | $70,000 |
| 162-224 | $60,000 |
