If you blinked you may have missed it, but the final nine players in the 2025 WSOP Main Event battled down to four at breakneck speed, leaving Michael Mizrachi with the lion's share of chips for the final day of the summer's flagship event.
Mizrachi is well ahead of the pack with John Wasnock in a distant second. After that, Wasnock has some space of his own ahead of the two short stacks, Braxton Dunaway and Kenny Hallaert.
It was a wild day and we said goodbye to a few of the friends we made along the way. Daehyung Lee dipped on the first hand and Jarod Minghini wasn't far behind in eighth. Leo Margets suffered a bad beat in seventh and Adam Hendrix couldn't finish the story in his sixth-place run. Finally, Luka Bojovic bowed out in fifth to leave us with our final four players.
They'll return on Wednesday to try and stop Goliath, but the trailing three have their work cut out for them. Let's meet the final four.
Michael Mizrachi, United States (445,500,000 — 223 BB)
Mizrachi's dominant position is thanks to a run of great cards, starting with a clash with chip leader Wasnock that left The Grinder with a massive pile.
He had four-bet to 30M when Wasnock shoved with 
. Grinder called it off with 
and his tournament at risk.
The theme, however, has been all Grinder. A board of 
brought the classic ace on the river and Mizrachi joined his rail in a state of delirium. He went on to eliminate Adam Hendrix before he grabbed a big pot at the end to put Hallaert on the ropes.
"I knew when I had two big blinds yesterday it was just all meant to be," Mizrachi told us after the final four players bagged up. "I just feel like everything's going my way at this point. I lost an all-in, and now I've made up for it, so I can't complain. That ace on the river is the biggest card of my life, for sure."
The Grinder isn't shy about his strategy for the final day, either. He told Jeff Platt it should take about an hour. He told us how he plans to do it.
"I'm going to apply the pressure against the two small sacks because it's a million-dollar jump. I feel like they're just going to fold, and they're going to fight for third place, both of them, and then I can attack. I have the best seat, and I'm in the greatest spot right now, so I'm not even worried."
John Wasnock, United States (94,500,000 — 47 BB)
Wasnock entered the day as the chip leader, and an unlikely one at that. The 50-year-old amateur card player is an investment consultant by day, and now he's a millionaire at the WSOP. He returns second in chips with the best chance to stop Mizrachi.
"Still in it," he told us at the end. "Took a pretty bad beat there on the river. Didn't let it deflate me. It's back to work once that happened."
Wasnock looked like a seasoned pro after Mizrachi pulled an ace out of his hat on the river. What might have sent inexperienced players into a spiral seemed to harden Wasnock's nerves.
"I wasn't in danger at that point. I still had more chips than I started with. So lots of room to play. I feel like I've played good. I feel like I've been out maneuvering these guys at times. So I'm still confident."
Can he catch The Grinder? He still thinks so.
"It's going to come down to whether or not he catches a hand or not because the way he plays, he's going to be super aggressive and push and push and push. And if you're catching cards at the right time, it's not that difficult to come back."
Braxton Dunaway, United States (25,500,000 — 13 BB)
Dunaway's rail was out in full force, and they brought giant heads with them. He would need their support.
"I've got family, my girlfriend, daughter, and a lot of poker friends. I'm exhausted and I'm starving. It's been a rough day, but I'm still happy that I'm here."
It was a rough day, yes, but not as rough as it was on a few others. Dunaway couldn't really get anything going, and he had to bail out of a few large pots when chips started flying around.
The Midland, Texas, native will return with a lot of work to do, but he thinks he can do it.
"I'm going to try and make some hands early and get a few chips so I can at least have a fighter's chance."
Kenny Hallaert, Belgium (19,000,000 — 9.5 BB)
2016 Main Event finalist Hallaert entered the final table with a healthy chip stack, but a few bounces got away from him, and he will return as the low man on the list.
"I'm one of the fortunate people to have made it (to Day 10)," he shared with us. "Short day and an intense day. Five people got knocked out, and I was lucky not to be one of them."
Hallaert floated along for most of the day until he ran into trouble against a supercharged Mizrachi, who had opened to 4M from the cutoff. Hallaert called with and Dunaway came along with 
to see a flop of 
.
Mizrachi fired 5.5M and Hallert called before Dunaway bailed. The turn was the and Hallert was open-ended. He check-called a 21.5M bet from Mizrachi, and the river 
was a blank. Mizrachi fired 60M and Hallaert called, losing to The Grinder's two pair.
It was a major setback, but Hallaert has been here before.
"It's still a dream. As we say in poker, a chip and a chair. I've been in many situations where I had this amount of chips with four players left, and I still managed to come out on top. We'll see what's going to happen."
2025 WSOP Main Event final table results
| Rank | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000,000 | |
| 2 | $6,000,000 | |
| 3 | $4,000,000 | |
| 4 | $3,000,000 | |
| 5 | Luka Bojovic | $2,400,000 |
| 6 | Adam Hendrix | $1,900,000 |
| 7 | Leo Margets | $1,500,000 |
| 8 | Jarod Minghini | $1,250,000 |
| 9 | Daehyung Lee | $1,000,000 |
The final four players will return to the Horseshoe Event Center at 1.30pm Vegas time to play down to a winner. Each of them is guaranteed at least $3,000,000 and one of them will take home $10,000,000. Join the PokerOrg team once again Wednesday for all the best vibes from the floor.
