Over the weekend, the World Poker Tour continued the celebration of its 2025 season by playing through three Day Ones of the 2025 WPT World Championship. While the prize pool might not be as eye-watering as those in other locales, the players didn’t seem to care as they built nearly a $20 million prize pool. As the remaining 733 players come back to the felt at the Wynn Las Vegas on Tuesday for Day Two, Sam Laskowitz will be at the head of the table, with players like Aram Zobian and Matt Glantz in the Top Ten looking to chase him down.
How To Build a Tournament
The $10,000 WPT World Championship held three Day Ones to build its field, with each day creating a monstrous prize pool. Unlike other tournaments, the WPT World Championship only allowed players to have three entries per flight (one initial buy-in and two re-entries). If a player accepted a bag from one of the three Day One flights, then they could not enter another flight (the tournament was NOT “best stack forward”). It led to some interesting decisions among the players as they built their stacks in an attempt to make Day Two.
Day 1A was action-packed and featured excellent play throughout. A total of 577 entries were received at the Wynn Las Vegas cage on Friday, with 223 players advancing to relax for a couple of days. Taking the top honors for Day 1A were Daniel Michaels, Cole Griffith, and Jack LaPlante, who banked 753,000, 719,000, and 640,000 chips, respectively, for Day Two.
The action mellowed a bit for Day 1B of the 2025 WPT World Championship. “Only” 520 entries came out for the Sunday flight of the tournament, and only 197 players would make it through to the Day Two action. Two men, however, would crack the 800K mark in chips to move atop the leaderboard in Sam Laskowitz (880,000) and Bracher Vaughan (836,000).
Monday saw the final Day One, Day 1C, kick off, and it was naturally the largest day of the tournament. 768 entries were recorded, bringing the total to 1,865 and making the prize pool $18,277,000. The eventual champion among the 733 players who return today will play for a first-place prize of $2,528,200 and their name on the Mike Sexton WPT Champions’ Cup.
Oddly enough, the leader from Day 1C did NOT make it to the top of the leaderboard, despite the advantages of playing with a larger starting day. Aram Zobian collected 736,000 in chips, which will be good enough to get into the Top Ten overall in the tournament. As the remaining players prepare for action at noon (PST) at Wynn Las Vegas, here is how that Top Ten will break down:
1. Sam Laskowitz, 880,000**
2. Bracher Vaughan, 836,000**
3. Ehsan Amiri, 761,000**
4. Daniel Michaels, 753,000*
5. Aram Zobian, 736,000***
6. Dawson Chen, 719,000***
(tie) Cole Griffith, 719,000***
8. Srivinay Irrinki, 716,000**
9. David Stamm, 712,000**
10. Matt Glantz, 667,000*
(* – Day 1A)
(** – Day 1B)
(*** – Day 1C)
The 2025 WPT World Championship will resume with Day Two play on Tuesday, culminating in the determination of a champion on December 21 (Sunday). They will have another tournament play out prior to the finale in the WPT Prime Championship on Saturday (December 20), which will feature six players vying for the top prize of $1,177,880. There is still a long way to go before the WPT World Championship reaches its crescendo, but it will be a great week of poker drama in getting to the final weekend before Christmas.
The post Field Comes Together for Day Two of 2025 WPT World Championship appeared first on Poker News Daily.
About The Author
