2025 WSOP Day 36: Phil Hellmuth Closes In On 18th WSOP Bracelet
Phil Hellmuth put himself in contention for his 18th WSOP bracelet victory on Day 36 while Michael Wang completed a comeback for the ages.
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The 2025 World Series of Poker (WSOP) continued at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas on July 1, the 36th day of this exciting festival. Six events played out while a wind and dust storm engulfed Sin City. When that dust had settled, literally, two players had captured gold bracelets, while four other bracelet-awarding events edged closer to awarding theirs.
You’ve heard of the poker phrase “a chip and a chair,” right? Well, what about two-thirds of a big blind and a chair? Michael Wang was down to such an amount after doubling up Erik Seidel. Despite being all but guaranteed to be eliminated, Wang embarked on an epic comeback and ultimately came out on top to take down Event #74: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship for $1,394,579 and his third bracelet.
Event #76: $2,500 Mixed Big Bet also crowned its worthy champion. All eyes were on Daniel Negreanu, who had reached his fifth final table of the series. Negreanu was hunting his eighth bracelet, but it wasn’t meant to be. The GGPoker ambassador fell in fourth place, and Aaron Kupin eventually defeated Marco Johnson heads-up. Kupin collected $206,982, his first bracelet, and plenty of valuable points in the $25K Fantasy Draft.
Phil Hellmuth Reaches Day 3 of the $10,000 Stud Hi-Lo Championship
Event #77: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship is down to only 15 players, and the legendary Phil Hellmuth (906,000) is among them. Hellmuth has racked up nine cashes and two final tables at this summer’s series, and now has another shot at capturing his 18th WSOP bracelet.
Fourteen talented opponents stand between Hellmuth at that 18th piece of WSOP hardware. Only Qinghai Pan (1,581,000), Jordan Siegel (1,245,000), and Andrey Zhigalov (1,135,000) have more chips than the “Poker Brat” but there are others hot on his heels.
Luke Schwartz (774,000), Viktor Blom (674,000), Alex Livingston (594,000), Tomasz Gluszko (590,000), and Christopher Claasen (421,000) are among the returning players hoping to spoil a Hellmuth party.
Play resumes at 1:00 p.m. local time on July 2 and continues until a champion gets their hands on the bracelet and the $411,051 top prize.
Event #77: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Bets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Qinghai Pan | United States | 1,581,000 | 32 |
| 2 | Jordan Siegel | United States | 1,245,000 | 25 |
| 3 | Andrey Zhigalov | Russian Federation | 1,135,000 | 23 |
| 4 | Phil Hellmuth | United States | 906,000 | 18 |
| 5 | Luke Schwartz | United Kingdom | 774,000 | 15 |
| 6 | Timothy Frazin | United States | 766,000 | 15 |
| 7 | Paul Zappulla | United States | 754,000 | 15 |
| 8 | David Lin | United States | 703,000 | 14 |
| 9 | Viktor Blom | Sweden | 674,000 | 13 |
| 10 | Alex Livingston | Canada | 594,000 | 12 |
Martin Kabrhel is in the Mini Main Event’s Final Five
Only five players remain in contention in Event #75: $1,000 Mini Main Event, where a bracelet and $843,140 await the eventual champion. Czech star Martin Kabrhel (166,500,000) returns second in chips and could become a four-time WSOP champion.
Kabrhel is the most accomplished player in the final five, with three bracelets and almost $15.2 million in live tournament earnings. Love him or loathe him, there is no denying his poke ability.
Only Alexander Yen (189,500,000), the 2022 WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open champion, has more chips than Kabrhel going into the final day; his narrow lead is only five big blinds.
Belarusian Vadzim Lipauka (156,000,000), who you may recall finished eighth in the $25,000 WSOP Paradise Main Event for $1 million in December 2024, is third, John Ishak (85,000,000) is fourth, with Poland’s Bartlomiej Swieboda (50,500,000) bringing up the rear.
The final five return to the action from 1:00 p.m. local time and will battle for the bracelet and an $843,140 top prize.
Event #75: $1,000 Mini Main Event Final Day’s Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alexander Yen | United States | 189,500,000 | 38 |
| 2 | Martin Kabrhel | Czech Republic | 166,500,000 | 33 |
| 3 | Vadzim Lipauka | Belarus | 156,000,000 | 31 |
| 4 | John Ishak | Hungary | 85,000,000 | 17 |
| 5 | Bartlomiej Swieboda | Poland | 50,500,000 | 10 |
PokerNews Deepstack Championship Attracts Massive Field
Day 1 of Event #78: $600 PokerNews Deepstack Championship drew in 5,667 entrants, a 9.8% increase on last year’s impressive 5,110 total. All those $600 buy-ins resulted in a $2,856,168 prize pool and a first-place prize of $302,165.
Only 635 of those starters had chips requiring bagging and tagging when time was called shortly after the money bubble had burst and the 17th level was done and dusted.
Prasad Vemulapalli (1,542,000) sits proudly atop the chip counts, one of only three players to cram seven figures worth of chips into their overnight chip bag. Caleb Levesque (1,156,000) and Thanh Ha Duong (1,057,000) are the other chip millionaires.
Some 20 bracelet winners progressed from Day 1, including Qiang Xu (761,000), Konstantin Puchkov (394,000), Kathy Liebert (182,000), Tommy Nguyen (152,000), Darren Rabinowitz (118,000), and Ismael Bojang (96,000).
We are also delighted to report that several PokerNews qualifiers navigated through the shark-infested Day 1 waters. Tanner Martinelli (439,000), Waheed Feda (323,000), Danette Mason (260,000), Lucas Jumalon (200,000), and Una Kelly (66,000) all won their entry to this event via the PokerNews Daily Deepstacks promotion that ran earlier in the series.
Play resumes at 11:00 a.m. local time on July 2, with the plan to play another ten levels.
Event #78: $600 PokerNews Deepstack Championship Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Prasad Vemulapalli | United States | 1,542,000 | 154 |
| 2 | Caleb Levesque | United States | 1,156,000 | 116 |
| 3 | Thanh Ha Duong | Viet Nam | 1,057,000 | 106 |
| 4 | Kajetan Renke | Poland | 961,000 | 96 |
| 5 | Gregory Teboul | France | 958,000 | 96 |
| 6 | Alex Todd | United Kingdom | 935,000 | 94 |
| 7 | Mohit Vasudeva | United States | 907,000 | 91 |
| 8 | Zhan Xi Guo | Taiwan | 892,000 | 89 |
| 9 | Jason Li | Canada | 865,000 | 87 |
| 10 | Dorian Rios | Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) | 845,000 | 85 |
Arthur Morris Claims Early $100,000 PLO High Roller Chip Lead
Arthur Morris (4,055,000) is the early pace-setter in Event #79: $100,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller after the 88 entrants were reduced to only 36 over the course of ten levels. Late registration remains open in this event until the start of the third level on Day 2, so those numbers will increase, but Morris’ name will remain at the top of the leaderboard.
Unsurprisingly, the 36 players who progressed to Day 2 read like a who’s who of the poker world. Maxi Lehmanski (2,945,000) and Daniel Negreanu (2,800,000) make up the podium places, while the likes of James Chen (2,270,000), Eelis Parssinen (2,015,000), and Sam Soverel (2,015,000) bagged top ten stacks.
Lower down the chip counts you find suprstrs such as John Hennigan (1,655,000), Bryce Yockey (1,355,000), Santhosh Suvarna (1,305,000), Christopher Frank (1,260,000), Alex Foxen (1,210,000), Lou Gara (1,190,000), Seth Davies (1,145,000), Jason koon (955,000), Isaac Haxton (760,000), Jeremy Ausmus (680,000), Nick Shulman (630,000), and Ben Lamb (540,000).
These Goliaths of poker return to their seats at 1:00 p.m. local time on July 2 to play another ten levels.
Event #79: $100,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arthur Morris | United States | 4,055,000 | 162 |
| 2 | Maxi Lehmanski | Austria | 2,945,000 | 118 |
| 3 | Daniel Negreanu | Canada | 2,800,000 | 112 |
| 4 | Sergio Martinez Gonzalez | Spain | 2,705,000 | 108 |
| 5 | Lautaro Guerra | Spain | 2,400,000 | 96 |
| 6 | James Chen (US) | United States | 2,270,000 | 91 |
| 7 | Richard Gryko | United Kingdom | 2,220,000 | 89 |
| 8 | Yosuke Miki | Japan | 2,200,000 | 88 |
| 9 | Eelis Parssinen | Finland | 2,015,000 | 81 |
| 10 | Sam Soverel | United States | 2,015,000 | 81 |
What to Expect on Day 37 of the 2025 WSOP
Day 37 is the day everyone in poker has been waiting for; Event #81: $10,000 WSOP Main Event World Championship finally shuffles up and deals. “The Big Dance” kicks off with the first of its four flights at noon local time, with entrants hoping to navigate through five 120-minute levels in what is one of the best-structured tournaments on the planet.
Last year’s Main Event started with 915 entrants on Day 1a, with 10,112 players buying in over the four flights. Jonathan Tamayo ultimately came out on top on Day 10 and walked away with the title of poker’s world champion and a $10 million score.
Event #78: $600 PokerNews Deepstack Championship’s Day 2 starts at 11:00 a.m. local time, and sees 635 players return to the tables. Ten 60-minute levels are scheduled, and our reporters will bring you all of the action.
Event #75: $1,000 Mini Main Event resumes at 1:00 p.m. local time. Only five players remain in contention for the title; this tournament will conclude on July 2.
The final 15 in Event #77: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship will also crown its champion. Will that champion be the one and only Phil Hellmuth? Find out from 1:00 p.m. local time.
Also resuming at 1:00 p.m. local time is Event #79: $100,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller. Late registration remains open for the first two levels of the day, slamming shut as Level 13 begins. Find out who registers fashionably late and who comes out on top after another ten levels of intense action by keeping your browsers locked to PokerNews.
Two more events begin on July 2. First, Day 1a of Event #80: $800 Summer Celebration shuffles up and deals at 10:00 a.m. local time. Day 1b starts at the same time on July 3, with PokerNews’ traditional coverage starting on Day 2 on Independence Day, July 4.
Fans of mixed games should open Event #82: $10,000 Eight-Game Mixed Championship from 2:00 p.m. local time. Mixed games have proven extremely popular during the 2025 WSOP, and that trend should continue with this championship event.
Matthew Pitt hails from Leeds, West Yorkshire, in the United Kingdom, and has worked in the poker industry since 2008, and worked for PokerNews since 2010. In September 2010, he became the editor of PokerNews. Matthew stepped away from live reporting duties in 2015, and now concentrates on his role of Senior Editor for the PokerNews.
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