There are now just 57 players remaining in the 2025 World Series of Poker no-limit hold’em main event, which drew 9,735 entries to become the third-largest ever held.
While all left have their eyes on the championship bracelet and the top prize of $10,000,000, the payouts have already grown quite large. Those still in have all locked up at least $165,000, with the $200,000 payout level beginning at 53rd place. Those who make it to the final table on Sunday night will lock up at least $1,000,000.
The chip leader heading into day 7 is Kenny Hallaert, with 36,950,000. He has a lot of history in the WSOP main event, having finished 6th in 2016 for $1,464,258. What’s impressive is that over a three-year stretch, Hallaert finished 123rd in the 2015 WSOP main event, 6th in 2016, and 64th in 2017. Now, he’s back deep once again.
During the last level of the day, Hallaert stack shot up to the top in an absolute dream scenario, with pocket aces holding in a three-way all-in against pocket queens and pocket jacks. Hallaert flopped top set and held from there to score two eliminations while soaring into the outright chip lead. “Having two people go all-in before you with queens and jacks helps,” Hallaert said. “[But] people have started in this position as chip leader and not made it to the final three tables. I’ve been playing poker for over 20 years. I’ve seen it all happen in the past, and I’ve been there multiple times as well.”
“But it’s obviously better here to have the most chips than to have the least chips,” he concluded.
Afriat Scores Own Double Knockout To Soar Towards The Top
Three-time World Poker Tour champion Eric Afriat sits in second place with 31,200,000. He won a massive pot late on day 6, coming from behind on the river with a big combo draw to score a double knockout of his own.
Afriat kicked off the action with an open to 250,000 holding J♦10♦ and he received a call from two-time bracelet winner Bruno Furth, who held Q♥Q♣, smooth called on his left and short-stack Benjamin Williams shoved for 1,400,000 with A♥A♣ from middle position. Afriat called and Furth came along.
The flop came down Q♦3♦2♥ and Afriat led out for 1,000,000 on the side with his flush draw. Furth just called with his top set of queens and the 9♥ rolled off on the turn. Afriat fired another 3,000,000 after having picked up an open-ended straight draw to go with his flush outs. Furth moved all-in for 8,140,000 and Afriat made the call. The river brought the K♠ to give Afriat the nuts, sending Furth and Williams to the rail with $115,000 each.
Double KNOCKOUT! 🤯 @EricAfriat rockets into the chip lead at the @WSOP Main Event.
Watch LIVE on https://t.co/2RQh5ROjQG pic.twitter.com/dbt7i8kvJ4
— PokerGO (@PokerGO) July 12, 2025
“I think that was one of my biggest hands ever,” Afriat told Card Player at the end of day 6. “I still haven’t won the tournament, but yea, that was a turning point. Technically, I shouldn’t have played that hand. But I felt lucky.”
Afriat recounted how he got himself deeper and deeper into the hand, and ultimately ended by saying, “for guys playing the main event, don’t play jack-ten of diamonds like that. Don’t get involved.”
Beyond having a significant stack going into day 7 of the WSOP main event, Afriat’s spirits are understandably high.
“I’ve never felt better,” Afriat said. “When this ends, that’s when you’ll need a few days off to cool off. But as long as you’re in here, this is what we play for. I’ve won three WPTs, I’ve been in the limelight, but nothing like this. This is the moment. This is worldwide.”
Mizrachi Headlines Other Big Names Remaining
Behind them in third is Michael Mizrachi. The recently crowned four-time WSOP Poker Players Championship winner and seven-time WSOP bracelet winner bagged 19,925,000. He’s been here before as well, having finished fifth in the 2010 WSOP main event.
Other notables among the big stacks include Adam Hendrix (16,125,000), 2023 WSOP monster stack winner Braxton Dunaway (15,725,000), 2024 WSOP Paradise $100,000 pot-limit Omaha super high roller winner Lautaro Guerra (11,700,000), and 2013 WSOP $111,111 One Drop high roller winner Tony Gregg (10,250,000).
2012 WSOP main event champion Greg Merson is on to day 7 as well, though he’ll need to rally. With 3,025,000, he’ll have just over 15 big blinds to start the day.
WSOP bracelet winners Chris Dombrowski, Maksim Pisarenko, Leon Sturm, and Nick Pupillo are all still in the mix.
William Kassouf, who became infamous for his constant chatter and frequent tanking during a run to 17th place in the 2016 WSOP main event, bagged up 2,850,000. Day 6 featured plenty of drama for the UK native, who set an unofficial record according to the PokerGO broadcast when he had the clock called on him ten times in a single level.
The situation came to a head in one hand where Kassouf got out of his seat, ostensibly to ascertain how deep his opponent, bracelet winner Leon Sturm, was. Floor person Bob Smith ,who had been hanging around the area given how often his services were needed, saw Kassouf more than an arm’s-length away from his cards and declared the hand dead.
You cannot abandon your hand while facing action for any reason. You want to see chips call the floor. He was on the other side of the dealer past the 9 seat. Hands dead
— BOB SMITH (@PokerAmbassador) July 12, 2025
Kassouf wound up with the clock being called so many times that tournament staff implemented a 10-second limit per decision for the duration of one level. That penalty was lifted for the next and final level of the night.
Margets Claims Last Woman Standing Title A Second Time
Leo Margets, the most recent female champion of an open bracelet event in Las Vegas, is now the last woman standing. The champion of the 2021 WSOP $1,500 no-limit hold’em event dubbed ‘The Closer’ finished day 6 with 6,400,000.
This is the second time Margets has been the final female player standing in the main event. She also managed the feat in 2009, finishing 27th for $352,832.
The Spanish player is still in with a shot at becoming the first woman since Barbara Enright to make the WSOP main event final table. Enright finished fifth in 1995. Several women have since come painstakingly close, falling one spot shy of the official final table with 10th-place showings: Barbara Samuelson (1994), Susie Isaacs (1998), Annie Duke (2000), and Gaelle Baumann (2012). Five-time bracelet winner and woman’s money list leader Kristen Foxen finished 13th in 2024, the highest showing recorded after Baumann’s run a dozen years earlier.
As for the other four women who made day 6 this year, they finished as follows: Lindsey McDougall (200th), Thi Xoa Nguyen (171st), Heather Hardie (165th), and Esther Taylor (152nd).
Taylor set the record for the deepest run by a woman in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship with her third-place finish just a handful of days before the main event began. She earned a career-best score of $595,136 for that impressive performance. Taylor’s last stand was a classic preflop race, pitting her 10♠10♣ against the A♣Q♣ of bracelet winner Bradley Jansen. An ace-high runout sent Taylor to the payout desk to collect $70,000, which puts her career tournament earnings at nearly $3.1 million.
Shortly after her elimination, Taylor took to social media to give Margets a vote of confidence.
I believe in YOU. ❤️🔥❤️🔥 https://t.co/eRAANz3pGI
— E-TAY (@e_tay) July 11, 2025
In addition to Taylor, plenty of other notable players were also eliminated on day 6. The list includes plenty of bracelet winners, such as Brandon Wong (173rd), WPT champion Alan Sternberg (162nd), Michael Gagliano (148th), Samuel Rosborough (142nd), two-time Super High Roller Bowl champion Isaac Haxton (99th), Francis Anderson (94th), Bradley Jansen (92nd), and Colin Robinson (75th). Other noteworthy losses along the way include former main event final tablist Alex Lynskey (186th), Farid Jattin (168th), longtime poker media member Donnie Peters (163rd), and Rene-Charles Angelil (123rd).
The final 57 contenders will return to blinds of 100,000-200,000 and a big blind ante of 200,000 for level 30. The average stack of 10,247,368 will represent just over 51 big blinds when cards get back in the air at noon on Saturday, July 12 for day 7.
Here is a look at the complete chip counts heading into day 7:
| Rank | Player | Chip Count |
| 1 | Kenny Hallaert | 36,950,000 |
| 2 | Eric Afriat | 31,200,000 |
| 3 | Michael Mizrachi | 19,925,000 |
| 4 | Daehyung Lee | 18,675,000 |
| 5 | Chad Power | 18,575,000 |
| 6 | Richard Freitas | 18,500,000 |
| 7 | Joey Padron | 16,675,000 |
| 8 | Adam Hendrix | 16,125,000 |
| 9 | Braxton Dunaway | 15,725,000 |
| 10 | Muhamet Perati | 14,950,000 |
| 11 | Juan Carlos Vecino | 14,575,000 |
| 12 | Ihab Ali | 14,550,000 |
| 13 | Michael Garner | 14,000,000 |
| 14 | Diego Ponce | 14,000,000 |
| 15 | Mitchell Hynam | 13,650,000 |
| 16 | Nadav Barash | 12,775,000 |
| 17 | Octavian Voegele | 12,775,000 |
| 18 | Ruben Correia | 12,100,000 |
| 19 | Murilo Milhomem | 12,000,000 |
| 20 | Lautaro Guerra | 11,700,000 |
| 21 | Sergio Veloso | 11,700,000 |
| 22 | Tomas Szwarcberg | 11,500,000 |
| 23 | Kyle Grupp | 11,425,000 |
| 24 | Nazar Buhaiov | 11,200,000 |
| 25 | Tony Gregg | 10,250,000 |
| 26 | Sebastian Schulze | 9,700,000 |
| 27 | Johan Schumacher | 9,000,000 |
| 28 | Pedro Padilha | 8,575,000 |
| 29 | Joseph Ozimok | 8,125,000 |
| 30 | Jarod Minghini | 7,925,000 |
| 31 | Stefan Nemetz | 7,900,000 |
| 32 | Yuchen Chen | 7,750,000 |
| 33 | Chris Dombrowski | 7,525,000 |
| 34 | Stephen Hesse | 7,475,000 |
| 35 | Paul Gibbons | 7,475,000 |
| 36 | Mikhail Prokopchuk | 7,225,000 |
| 37 | Thomas Eychenne | 7,200,000 |
| 38 | Maksim Pisarenko | 6,950,000 |
| 39 | Ramon Pessoa | 6,925,000 |
| 40 | Luka Bojovic | 6,900,000 |
| 41 | Leon Sturm | 6,875,000 |
| 42 | Daniel Iachan | 6,825,000 |
| 43 | Leo Margets | 6,400,000 |
| 44 | Giovanni Pupo | 6,300,000 |
| 45 | John Wasnock | 5,525,000 |
| 46 | Adrien Zychowski | 5,075,000 |
| 47 | Kosaku Akashi | 4,900,000 |
| 48 | Kohei Arai | 4,100,000 |
| 49 | Albert Calderon | 4,050,000 |
| 50 | Joshua Beckenstein | 3,925,000 |
| 51 | Theo Tran | 3,250,000 |
| 52 | Greg Merson | 3,025,000 |
| 53 | Nick Pupillo | 2,975,000 |
| 54 | Will Kassouf | 2,850,000 |
| 55 | Maxim Babko | 2,550,000 |
| 56 | Charles Lee | 2,050,000 |
| 57 | Ben Jackson | 1,100,000 |
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 |
Photo credits: PokerGO / Antonio Abrego, Enrique Malfavon.
