Sunday at the WSOP was anything but a day of rest. Big fields and big buy-ins always mean big stories, and so it proved.
The $250K Super High Roller is the biggest buy-in of the series, drawing famous faces and a packed rail of fans to watch them. Elsewhere, one of the cheapest events has packed in the players, with the $500 Salute to Warriors attracting 3,937 players for its single starting flight.
Up in the nosebleeds, the Super High Roller was naturally the tougher field, but one considerably easier for tournament organizers to get seated. 46 entries on Day 1 have built a prize pool of — so far — $11,379,250. By the end of the day’s play there were 38 still in, but with registration open until a level into Day 2, nothing is final just yet.
The tournament allows a single re-entry for those who can afford it, so Daniel Negreanu won’t be firing 14 times in this one, as he did in an online event over the weekend. ‘Kid Poker’ will start the second day of play with just a little under a starting stack.
Chip leader heading into Day 2 is the ever-watchable Martin Kabrhel (above) — more on him here — and as you’d expect the chasing pack is filled with many of the most successful players you’ll find anywhere at the WSOP this summer. Ben Tollerene, Isaac Haxton and recent $100K High Roller winner Joao Vieira all have big stacks. Expect sparks to fly.
In the packed $500 Salute to Warriors, the 3,937 players who packed the tables played down to 625, just 34 places shy of the money bubble. That $500 buy-in will turn into a $187,937 payday for whoever wins it.
The name of the game
If ‘Big’ was the theme of the day, for one event it was literally the name of the game — or at least, part of it. Day 2 of the $10K Big O Championship reduced the field to 26 of the 402 who entered, and the familiar face of Viktor Blom is once again present near the top of the overnight counts.
The Swede already has five cashes and three final tables at this year’s series, including a runner-up finish in the $10K Limit Hold’em Championship just days ago. He currently sits third in chips, but will be looking to bag a first bracelet — and the $784,353 winner’s prize — after running so hot in the first weeks of the WSOP.
The man with the incredible backstory as an online poker behemoth still plays with a fearless determination and seems locked on in his pursuit of a WSOP bracelet to add to his legend. In his way are the likes of Phil Hui, Erik Seidel and Nick Schulman, so there remains plenty of work to be done.
ODB wins Seniors for biggest WSOP cash
David Baker, known as ‘ODB’ (the ‘original David Baker’, to distinguish himself from namesake David ‘Bakes’ Baker), was reduced to tears following his victory in the $5K Seniors High Roller NLH.
He’s the very same ‘ODB’ you might recognize from the ODB Fantasy League with which we’ve partnered for our own PokerOrg Fantasy Freeroll, and the win was his fourth at the WSOP, but the biggest yet in terms of money won.
Baker defeated Chuanshu Chen to take down the $646,845 first-place prize, his biggest ever WSOP score, and his second highest payday after a $1M+ win at the WPT in 2019. “I’ve never played heads-up poker like I did today versus Chen," Baker told PokerOrg.
“It’s about the bracelet,” said Baker, adding a refreshingly honest take, “but it’s also about the money. This was a big prize.”
Other big prizes were also won by Carlos Leiva, who scooped $237,852 for victory in the $1K Pot-Limit Omaha, and Allan Le, who beat Shaun Deeb heads-up to take down $126,363 and a second bracelet in the $1,500 Razz.
We’ll have plenty more big prizes, big names and big stories tomorrow, as PokerOrg brings you daily updates right from the heart of the 2025 World Series of Poker.
