The first of two second days of the 2025 WSOP Main Event is now over. All 2,681 players who survived Days 1a, 1b and 1c returned on Sunday to contest Day 2abc, including 106 from the UK.
Players who did not play in any of the starting days can buy-in during the first two levels of the Day 2s and on Day 2abc, 265 new entrants exercised that option. This brought the total number who participated in the day up to 2,946, of which 1,320 booked their seats into Day 3. Over half of the Brits still had stacks by the time play ended, 58 progressing to the next day of the tournament.
Day 2d takes place on Monday and on Tuesday all the remaining players will return when the field finally merges into one at the start of Day 3. By then the bubble will be looming, but players will still not quite have reached the prize money.
Full chip counts of all surviving UK players from Day 1d can be found further down this article.
Josh Boulton Leads the Brit Pack after Day 2abc
Joshua Boulton ended the day with the largest stack of the British players who made it through Day 2abc. His chip stack of 446,000 was the 42nd biggest of those who made it through to Day 3.
High roller Matthew Belcher is not far behind on 420,000, with Samuel Wilkinson (415,000) and Guy Leathley (404,000) being the only other Brits to bag stacks of over 400,000. Guy Leathley made it to the half-million chip mark, but fell back a little during the last level of the day.
Riding High
Cruising into Day 3 with 392,000, is Rohit Mariwalla who bagged the 5th biggest stack of the surviving British players. Rohit has had a good series so far, cashing in 14th place in the $3,000 No Limit Hold’em for $39k.
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A little further back, also with well above average piles are Seun Oluwole (380,500), Richard Sheils (367,000) Daniel Carney (359,500) and Jonathan Wong (347,500). Paul Gibbons, Stacey Ceragioli, Paul Hizer and Feng Yu are the other UK players who ended the day with enviably high stacks of 300,000 or more.
Rocking Along
Those comfortably into Day 3 with well above average stacks include Nick Eastwood (283,500), Darius Samual (219,500), Andrew Hulme (212,500) and Grosvenor Poker’s Jamie Nixon on exactly 200,000.
Bracelet winner Harry Lodge (123,000), Paul Newey (123,000) and Jack Hardcastle (120,000) all made it through with their heads just above the average stack parapet.
Also through with an above average stack is London resident Dan Spataru, on 196,500. The Moldovan made a late decision to head to the World Series of Poker after winning the Mystery Bounty Main Event of the Beer Poker Tour London, where he scooped almost all the big bounties, as well as taking the £11,800 first prize.
Also finishing the day with decent stacks were Nikolay Ponomarev (172,500), Kevin Williams (172,500) Jamie Walden (150,000) and Stephen Chidwick (144,000). Other bracelet winners Harry Lodge (123,000) and Jack Sinclair (120,000) ended with stacks just above the average for the flight, which was 107,000.
Swinging Low
Brits amongst those in the lower echelons of the Day 2abc survivors list include Paul Newey (62,000), Callum Gordon (41,500) and Bamdad Garzin, the lowest stacked of the 58 Brits who survived, on just 37,000.
Dream Over for Mad Turk
Turkish UK resident Yucel “Mad Turk” Eminoglu’s dream of a deep run in the Main Event is now over. He’s had his fair share of heartache during the trip and that run of bad luck sadly continued for him on Day 2abc. He returned for Day 2 with 72,000 chips to his name, but was vanquished half-way through.
The unavailability in Las Vegas of his favourite tipple, J2O, was not a factor in his demise. What ended it was a ten on the river, which gave his opponent a straight holding A♠7♦ versus Yucel’s A♣K♣.
Chariots Coming Home
Taxis were also ordered for Adam Owen, Gary Blackwood, Mitchell Johnson and Kully Sidhu during the first level of the day. As the session progressed, more of the UK’s best bluffers bluffed their way to the rail, composing their exit stories for social media as they took their walks of shame.
The next batch of departed players included Ian Simpson, James Dempsey and Jamie Brown. Philip Sternheimer’s Main Event also ended on Day 2abc, as did that of Sebastian Crane, Jake Cody, Nick Marchington and Robert Boon.
Main Event Numbers Tracker
It looks very much like the 2025 WSOP Main Event will not be another record breaker, but at worst will be the 3rd biggest Main Event of all-time.
The number of new entrants at the start of Day 2abc was 265, up by 59 on the 206 who entered at this point in 2024. There have now been 8,959 entries in the 2025 WSOP Main Event.
But it would require over 1,154 to enter on Day 2d for the record to fall. Last year there were 618 who entered on Day2d, but while that looks certain to be exceeded, it would require a huge lift to set a new attendance record and that seems unlikely. The final number of entries will probably be around 9,750-9,800.
| Starting Day | 2024 | 2025 | Y-O-Y | 2025 Brits Through |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1a | 915 | 923 | +8 players (+0.9%) | 24 |
| Day 1b | 831 | 1,096 | +265 players (+32%) | 30 |
| Day 1c | 2,528 | 1,678 | -850 players (-33.6%) | 52 |
| Day 1d | 5,014 | 4,997 | -17 players (-0.3%) | 143 |
| Day 2abc | 206 | 265 | +59 players (+28.6%) | 57 |
| Day 2d | 618 | ? | ? | ? |
| Totals | 10,112 | ? | ? | ? |
2025 WSOP Main Event Day 2abc UK Survivors
| Player | Chips |
|---|---|
 Joshua Boulton | 446,000 |
| Matthew Belcher | 420,000 |
| Samuel Wilkinson | 415,000 |
| Guy Leathley | 404,000 |
| Rohit Mariwalla | 392,000 |
| Seun Oluwole | 380,500 |
| Richard Sheils | 367,000 |
| Daniel Carney | 359,500 |
| Jonathan Wong | 347,500 |
| Paul Gibbons | 347,000 |
| Stacey Metz Ceragioli | 339,500 |
| Paul Hizer | 333,500 |
| Feng Yu | 300,000 |
| Robert Bickley | 288,500 |
| Nick Eastwood | 283,500 |
| Daniel James | 265,000 |
| Jason Wong | 258,000 |
| Oystein Kristoffersen | 256,500 |
| Jamie O’Connor | 255,000 |
| David Gee | 253,500 |
| Matthew Hunt | 247,000 |
| James Bullimore | 223,000 |
| Darius Samual | 219,500 |
| Andrew Hulme | 212,500 |
| Jamie Nixon | 200,000 |
| Dan Spataru | 196,500 |
| James Mackenzie | 194,000 |
| Nikolay Ponomarev | 193,000 |
| Laith Edris | 191,000 |
| Kevin Williams | 172,500 |
| Stephen Kurland | 163,500 |
| Jiaze Li | 162,500 |
| Oghenovo Constare | 153,000 |
| Jamie Walden | 150,000 |
| Fahir Han | 149,500 |
| Stephen Chidwick | 144,000 |
| Matthew Waterfall | 142,000 |
| Mohammad Iqbal | 139,000 |
| Henry Fewster | 139,000 |
| Christopher Guertin | 134,500 |
| Jack Hardcastle | 129,500 |
| Jamie Harding | 129,000 |
| Harry Lodge | 123,000 |
| Jack Sinclair | 120,000 |
| Mark Rubbathan | 118,000 |
| Paul Ephremsen | 115,500 |
| Oliver Braddock | 114,500 |
| Charles Combes | 102,000 |
| Daniel Myers | 98,500 |
| Mark Remnant | 92,000 |
| Kevin Frame | 91,500 |
| Boutros Awad | 78,500 |
| Steven Alper | 74,000 |
| David Hudson | 66,500 |
| Paul Newey | 62,000 |
| Sachin Joshi | 59,000 |
| Callum Gordon | 41,500 |
| Bamdad Garzin | 37,000 |
What a Fold!
Guy Taylor was on the TV table on Day 1d, sharing the table with Ren Lin. He played a hand against the charismatic Chinese player, which has wowed the internet, folding A♦K♠ to a four-bet. Lin had A♣A♠ and the commentators were wowed, describing the fold as“next level,” proclaiming they want to book lessons from Guy, who is a poker coach with his own site, Taylormadepoker.
* Photos courtesy of PokerNews, WSOP , Guy Taylor and Yucel Eminoglu
