The Main Event of the 2025 WSOP is now halfway through the opening flights, although the big field starting days are still to come. Several other bracelet events are running side-by-side with the Main Event, although they mostly take a back-seat until after the Day 2s have been completed. But there’s a further flurry of bracelet events on the schedule in the last week of the series.
2025 WSOP Main Event Day 1b UK Survivors
A further 30 players from the UK made it to the end of the second of four starting days in the 2025 WSOP Main Event. Nick Marchington bagged the largest of these stacks, with 217,300, just ahead of Kevin Williams on 213,200.
Two of the UK’s former bracelet winners made it through, Paul Hizer 113,500 and Stephen Chidwick on a more modest 51,600. Another British bracelet winner Hector Berry also played today, but failed to make it to the end of the day.
Others who sadly saw their tournament lives end in tatters included Deborah Worley Roberts, Conor Beresford and Callogero Morreale.
Grosvenor Poker ambassador Jamie Nixon started the day well, soaring over 100k in the opening level of the day, but fell back, ending on 43,300 when play concluded.
| Position | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 21 |  Nick Marchington | 217,300 |
| 23 | Kevin Williams | 213,200 |
| 44 | Daniel Carney | 175,000 |
| 70 | James Mackenzie | 158,200 |
| 75 | Feng Yu | 156,000 |
| 96 | Daniel James | 139,000 |
| 119 | Robert Douras | 132,100 |
| 127 | Gary Franks | 129,300 |
| 140 | Ryan Mandara | 122,800 |
| 179 | Paul Hizer | 113,500 |
| 203 | Hussni Alkhuzai | 107,800 |
| 206 | Nikolay Ponomarev | 107,100 |
| 245 | David Vanreyk | 97,200 |
| 283 | Ian Hamilton | 90,500 |
| 296 | John Adderley | 88,400 |
| 305 | Kuljinder Sidhu | 87,700 |
| 342 | Robert Bickley | 81,900 |
| 368 | Charles Combes | 78,000 |
| 387 | Paul Otto | 76,300 |
| 451 | Daniel Myers | 65,800 |
| 512 | James Reid | 59,400 |
| 553 | Fahir Han | 52,200 |
| 558 | Stephen Chidwick | 51,600 |
| 613 | Sebastian Crane | 43,600 |
| 616 | James Nixon | 43,300 |
| 627 | Jack Moore | 42,200 |
| 700 | Oliver Braddock | 32,000 |
| 752 | Jamie Brown | 21,200 |
| 769 | Konstantinos Patsourakis | 17,500 |
| 781 | Ka Lau | 15,000 |
Main Event Numbers Tracker
Will the 2025 WSOP Main Event be a record breaker? After the opening flight, with 923 entries, it was still too early to say. That was just eight more than the 915 who took their seats on Day 1a in 2024.
Day 1b’s 2024 total was 831 and this year’s second starting flight smashed that number out of the overpriced bottled water park, as 1,092 players began their assault on the biggest title in poker.
This puts the event well on course to be the biggest ever, with the last two starting days expected to be enormous and late registration open on Day 2.
| 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 | ? | ? | ? |
| Day 1d | 5,014 | ? | ? | ? |
| Day 2abc | 206 | ? | ? | ? |
| Day 2d | 618 | ? | ? | ? |
| Totals | 10,112 | ? | ? | ? |
Luke Schwartz 3rd in Seven Card Stud Hi Lo
Luke Schwartz is a player who has been absent from the latter stages of WSOP events since 2019, but has now returned to the winner’s enclosure, not with a second bracelet to add to the one he scooped in 2019, but with a podium 3rd place finish for $188,105. He was one of four players who returned for the extended final day of Event #77 $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better, returning 3rd in chips.
Luke started the day well, moving up into clear second place within a few hands of the restart. However that was as good as it got for the Londoner, whose reappearance at the series is a welcome reminder that Martin Kabrhel is not the only polarising player when it comes to amusing table chat and antics. While Schwartz is somewhat more chilled than he was a couple of decades ago, he’s still interesting to watch.
Roberto Romanello 8th in Wynn Summer Classic Main Event
Welshman Roberto Romanello made the final table of the Main Event at the Wynn Summer Classic, banking $274,139 for 8th place. He was the short-stack of the last nine who returned for the final day in the 1,537-runner event, which awarded over $2.2m to the winner.
Tim Kenyon Wins $1,100 Daily at Wynn Summer Classic
Another Brit has tasted success in the daily $1,100 at the Wynn Summer Classic. This time it was Tim Kenyon who obliged, scooping the $50,688 first prize. Kenyon is the 6th Brit to win an event at the Wynn Summer Classic. Most of them were reported in earlier editions of this report, but in case some slipped by, these are the UK’s Wynn winners for the 2025 Summer Classic (so far).
| Date | Event | Winner | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 26th May | $1,100 Pot Limit Big O | David Tarbet | $33,248 |
| 28th May | $600 NLH Turbo | Ryan Passey | $20,471 |
| 6th June | $1,100 Pot Limit Big O | Ted Spivack | $50,067 |
| 14th June | $1,100 NLH Turbo | Stuart Taylor | $38,011 |
| 17th June | $1,100 NLH Turbo | Brandon Sheils | $41,764 |
| 1st July | $1,100 NLH Turbo | Tim Kenyon | $50,688 |
Other Bracelet Event News
Event #78 $600 PokerNews Deepstack Championship
Three British players made it to Day 3 of the cheap and cheerful PokerNews Deepstack, which attracted 5,667 entrants. Xizhe Yuan, with 6.3m, had the 4th largest chip stack of the 55 players who remained, when the day began. Timothy Joyner with 2.64m and Felix McPeake on 1.5m were also still in at this stage.
However none of them made it onto the final table, with Xizhe Yuan going the furthest, taking $18,669 for 13th place. Felix McPeake finished in 23rd for $12,060 while Timothy Joyner was 30th for $9,818.
Event #80 $800 Summer Celebration
A further 4,024 players entered Day 1b of the $800 Summer Celebration, however, its coincidence with the new Trump Big & Beautiful bill that stabs poker players in the back, taxing losses, seems somewhat ironic. What’s the celebration for? Summer? In Las Vegas? Really? It’s simply part of the annual seasonal cycle caused by the Earth’s rotation around the sun, which happens every year, without fail. A raindance event might be more fitting, given the dryness of the Nevada desert.
Six Brits made it through to Day 2, Jun Li posting the largest stack of 825,000, still only the 89th biggest of the 193 who made it through the flight, with Robbie Bull not far behind on 715,000.
| Position | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 89 | Jun Li | 825,000 |
| 100 | Robert Bull | 715,000 |
| 106 | Yousif Mirjan | 685,000 |
| 116 | Tiffany Williamson | 585,000 |
| 134 | Stephen Lockwood | 495,000 |
Event #82 $10,000 8-Game Mixed Championship
Three players from the UK were among the 75 who returned for Day 2 of the $10k 8-Game Championship. Familiar names indeed, with Robert Wells having the largest stack of these three on 181,000. Jon Shoreman had 100,000 and Benny Glaser was hanging on in with 50,500.
But all three missed the money, as did Patrick Leonard and Luke Schwartz, who made entries at the start of Day 2. Jon Shoreman went the furthest, exiting in 40th, ten places shy of a payout.
Event #83 $2,500 Freezeout
Nine players from the UK made it into Day 2 of the $2.5k NLH Freezeout, including Matthew Davenport and Brandon Sheils. On 481,000, Graeme Newman has the largest of the Brit stacks.
| Position | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | Graeme Newman | 481,000 |
| 14 | Igor Dursel | 399,000 |
| 54 | Alexander Smith | 258,000 |
| 131 | Tamer Kamel | 140,000 |
| 159 | Renee Xie | 120,000 |
| 174 | Matthew Davenport | 110,000 |
| 201 | Charles Whitehouse | 85,000 |
| 210 | Brandon Sheils | 75,000 |
| 245 | Joshua Stewart | 24,000 |
