Day 6 of the main tournament began with 202 players.
Chipleaders at the start of the game:
The game continued at 30,000/60,000/60,000.
In one of the first hands at the TV table, Sweden's Munir Tajiou found himself in a tough spot on the river.
Munir was timed, and at the end of the countdown he made the call and emotionally celebrated his victory.
But not as extravagantly as the day before, when he won a hand against Michael Mizrachi.
What the hell lol pic.twitter.com/nETj78mBk4
— Patrick Leonard 🫡 (@padspoker) July 11, 2025
One viewer wrote in the comments that they apologize on behalf of all Swedes.
Frenchman Vladimir Nex 30 blinds deep played 3-bet-fold with jacks and was right.
William Kassouf arrived 10 minutes late and they started timing him from the first hands.
This is exactly what Steve O'Dwyer called for before the game even started :
– Begging anyone playing with Kassouf to clock him relentlessly, you’re well within your rights to use that tool and demand the floor keep him in check. One player is not allowed to ruin the playing experience for everyone else.
– Imagine saying this while your out and not playing haha – Steve was scolded in the comments.
– It’s been almost a decade since I played at the wsop, I think they do a poor job providing the kind of service I’m looking for and I hate being in Vegas all summer so I stopped going.
Ireland's Stephen Cayo 5-bet shoved 55 blinds, Kassouf instantly called and showed aces. His opponent turned over kings and finished the tournament in 180th place. Kassouf, with a stack of 10 million, entered the tournament among the leaders.
“Finally, I’m on the right side,” he celebrated wildly and reminded everyone that 9 years ago, in a similar situation, he was eliminated from the main tournament on the 7th day.
Maksim Pisarenko knocked out Romain Loquet in 164th place.
In a blind-on-blind situation, Loquet bet 175,000 on the flop. , Maxim made the call.
On the turn Loquet bet 500,000, Maxim put about 2 million under his all-in. After much thought, the Frenchman made the call with , Pisarenko opened .River .
Maxim now has 7,000,000.
Romain was remembered for running over aces Jared Bleznick on the first day.
In the last distribution of the level, Munir Tajiou, as they say, went a little off track.
The Swede raised, Jung defended the BB. On the flop, Tajiou made a continuation bet and shoved into the raise.
The turn and river didn't change anything.
After the first level, there were 162 participants left in the game.
During halftime, it was announced that Nick Shulman was the newest member of the Hall of Fame.
After the ceremony, he went to commentate on the WSOP Main Event.
Roman Korenev was eliminated in 148th place ($70,000). He went all in for the last 7 blinds with against Maxim Babko, representing Canada. The flop showed a king.
Sebastian Schulze and Chad Power finished Day 5 1-2 in chips, and they found themselves in adjacent boxes on Day 6. There was a pot of over 12 million between them at the 40k/80k level.
Power opened preflop, Schulze called, and David Swift in the BB called. Power bet 225,000 on the flop, Schulze called, Swift folded. Power check-called 515,000 on the turn, and check-raised 1,600,000 – 5,000,000 on the river. Schulze thought for a long time, but could not fold his top two pairs.
Power became the new chip leader with a stack of 14.7 million.
Esther Taylor shoved the last 11 blinds and couldn't beat Bradley Jansen.
Esther finished 152nd. Her elimination made the only female left in the game Leo Margets of Winamax, from Spain. She finished 27th in the main tournament in 2009.
After the break, William Kassouf and Leon Sturm were moved to the TV table, and they found themselves in hands with each other throughout the day. In one hand, Kassouf warned on the flop that he was not going to fold, and then stood up to assess his opponent's stack.
Tournament Director Bob Smith came to the table and announced that Kassouf's hand was "dead."
– Why, I told you I wouldn’t throw it away.
– You left your seat during the deal, your hand is considered "dead".
– But I want to make a call.
– You have left your seat, the hand is over.
– He hides his stack, how else can I see it?
The broadcast began keeping statistics on how many times the clock was called on Kassouf.
Nazar Buhaiov folded trips against Craig Trost.
Sam Darkin raised with , Trost and Nazar called. On the flop, Darkin made a continuation bet, again getting two calls. On the turn, Nazar led in 575,000, Darkin folded, Trost reraised to 1.2 million. Nazar thought about it and made the call.
On the river, Trost bet all-in on his opponent, Nazar thought for three minutes and finally folded. .
Vladimir Nex and Sebastian Schulze played one of the most talked about hands of the day.
Schulze opened, Nex defended the BB and check-called the flop and turn. On the river, Schulze overbet, the opponent thought for a long time and, when his time was counted, folded.
In the TANK! 😵 Sebastian Schulze bombs the river on Vladimir Nex!
— PokerGO (@PokerGO) July 12, 2025
Watch LIVE on https://t.co/2RQh5ROjQG pic.twitter.com/y39Ro8ygot
"If anyone's interested, I'd make the call," Allen Kessler said.
When everyone had already gone for a break, Kassouf and Sturm remained at the TV table. William thought for a few minutes about what to do with the threes on the turn. He folded only when his time was counted down, and the countdown was already coming to an end.
He was timed 10 times per level.
Experienced Belgian Kenny Hallaert came out on top in the chip count with a stack of 18 million. Kenny was already a finalist in the WSOP Main Event in 2016. Then he took 6th place (won by Qui Nguyen) and earned a little less than 1.5M. Everyone loves Kenny, as he is the one who puts together a special "Summer Las Vegas Schedule", in which he methodically combines tournaments in all casinos, even the smallest ones, in one convenient file.
Kenny's career took a remarkable turn at one point. About 12-13 years ago, he got so tired of grinding live tournaments that he decided to become a floor player and worked as a manager at several EPTs. But he quickly returned to the game.
Kassouf continued to terrorize the table with his stream of consciousness. The neighbors were clearly starting to get tired of it.
"Listen, you love money. How much do I have to pay you to just shut the f*** up?" Richard Green asked.
– Oh, I like this kind of conversation.
– I think we can organize a meeting with the whole table. There are 89 minutes left until the end of the level, how much should I pay you to keep quiet at least until the next one?
– $10k each. Give me and seven friends a freeroll for the next main and I won't say a word until the end of the level.
– I don't think you can handle it even if we pay.
– Okay, for $10k I'll keep quiet for the next 87 minutes.
At this moment, Chang Jung, who had not said a word until then, stood up, pulled out a wad of bills, and casually threw a few on the table.
– It's only $1,300. I'm waiting for $10k or no deal.
“And what do we get when you break your word?” Green asked.
At this point, the negotiations gradually came to naught, and the players' suffering continued.
"Mr. Fold" Vladimir Nex finished 111th. With a stack of less than 10 big blinds, he shoved with and couldn't beat John Wasnock's suited.
Gia Skhulukhia rallied to 22 blinds after doubling up against Greg Merson, > .
Richard Green was removed from the table with Kassouf, and he did not even try to hide his joy:
– It feels like I just won the main tournament. It’s so calm here, you can even think about the hands. Playing with him at the same table is simply unbearable. He constantly wastes time, uses the same primitive phrases, and headphones are prohibited at the TV table.
However, Green was unlucky at the new table and soon crashed out in 106th place.
His place at the table was taken by Maxim Pisarenko, who also loves to talk. But not in English...
Arsenii Karmatckii and Jarod Minghini played for a pot of over 160 blinds, the largest at the time.
Arsenii opened with a raise to 250,000 from HJ and called a 3-bet to 750,000 from CO.
On the flop Arsenii played a check-raise 400,000 – 1,100,000.
Thorn , Arsenii put 2,400,000, Minghini paid.
River , Arsenii pushed, the opponent sighed, called for the last 3,900,000 and opened .
Arsenii had , after this hand he had 10 blinds left. Minghini now has 16 million – the top 5 stack.
Johan Schumacher opened to 200,000 and Isaac Haxton in the CO raised to 1,400,000, leaving himself with 5,000. Jose Palomares in the CO called and Schumacher re-pushed.
At this point, there were 99 people in the game who were already guaranteed $70,000, but 98th place paid $15,000 more.
“I’ll think about it for a long time,” Ike warned his neighbors, “calmly start timing it when you get tired of it.”
Six minutes later, it turned out that Palomares had been stalling the entire time, too, because he didn't realize Ike had one chip left. He ended up folding out of turn, and Ike was eventually timed. He called with a pair of threes, and couldn't beat Schumacher and crashed out in 99th place.
After tanking for over 6 minutes on a pay jump, the clock was called on @ikepoker to make a decision for his tournament life…#WSOP2025 pic.twitter.com/E8G88wnj7b
— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) July 12, 2025
Haxton didn't outlast the game, but he pleased those who took him in the fantasy pool. He became the first player to enter the bonus zone, and brought 100 points to those who chose him.
Arsenii Karmatckii was eliminated in 98th place. He died in a feud between short stacks at the hands of Skhulukhia.
Before the big break, Munir Tajiou bluffed 80% of his stack against of Brazil.
Tajiou 3-bet preflop, bet-called on the flop, and was checked on the turn.
Dmitry Perfilyev opened with HJ in one of the last hands of the level, Juan Carlos Vecino from Spain defended the big blind.
On the flop Dmitry made a continuation bet of 140,000.
Turn checked.
River , Vecino led off with 265,000 and quickly called a raise to 775,000. Dmitry took down the pot with , he got 7 million.
94 players left for the lunch break. Play continued at 60k/120k. Kenny Hallert continued to lead with a stack of 20 million. After the break, his table, which also featured Gia Skhulukhia (2.9 million) and Greg Merson (4.7 million), was made televised.
At level 27, William Kassouf was timed 13 times, so at level 28, a special rule was introduced for him – no more than 10 seconds for any action.
This was enough time for him to get a four of a kind on the river against Leon Sturm.
Leon opened preflop, Kassouf called, Sturm check-called on the flop, the turn was checked.
“I don’t want to time you,” Kassouf feigned pity for his opponent when Sturm thought for a few minutes on the river.
In the next hand, Sturm got some revenge. Kassouf decided to open raise from UTG with 94o. Sturm defended the BB with ATo.
Leon called a continuation bet on the flop, the turn was checked, Kassouf bet 1 million on the river and folded to a sudden all-in. Commentators Nick Schulman and Ali Nejad were delighted by Sturm's play.
Michael Mizrachi showed his opponent the nuts early, but still got called.
On the flop Craig Trost put in 840,000, leaving himself with 5,000. Michael thought his opponent was all-in, called, and opened .
Trost had the option to fold and keep one chip, but he decided against it and called with .
Michael got 10 million.
On the flop Dmitry Perfilyev on UTG bet 560,000, Juan Carlos Vecino on CO made the call, Don Carrillo on SB announced all-in 5.4 million.
Perfilyev thought for a few minutes and threw it away, leaving himself 2 million.
Vecino called with , Carrillo opened .
Turn , river .
Carrillo was eliminated in 82nd place. Perfilyev admitted to his neighbors that he had thrown out .
In one of the following hands, Dmitry 3-bet pushed with and doubled up against Braxton Dunaway's KJo.
In the final hand of the level, Eric Afriat knocked out two opponents and became a confident chip leader with a stack of 30 million.
Afriat opened to 250,000 from UTG, Bruno Firth called, Ben Williams in MP shoved 1,400,000 and got two calls.
Flop , Firth called the 1,000,000 bet.
Turn , Afriat bet 3,000,000, Firth shoved 8,140,000.
Afriat thought for a moment and made a call with , Williams opened , Firth – .
River .
GipsyTeam lead editor Ilya Gorodetskiy said that he met Eric Afriat at a small side event at Bellagio 15 years ago. They played at the same table for two days and quickly found a common language. Afriat is quite brazen and aggressive at the table (he plays the same way), but he always finds a neighbor with whom he will be friends. That time, Ilya turned out to be his “friend”. However, their communication continued after the tournament – Afriat added Ilya as a friend on Facebook, and since then they regularly write to each other and congratulate each other on holidays. At the beginning of the day, Eric ended up at the same table with Gia and even recorded a circle of greetings for Ilya.
Eric is a successful Canadian businessman of Jewish descent, living in Montreal. He is an ardent supporter of Canadian right-wing parties, Donald Trump and Israel. Despite his unorthodox playing style, Afriat’s results are simply amazing. He has won three WPT events and lost two more heads-up. Last year, he decided to go to the EPT in Paris and immediately made the final table.
Afriat loves to dress beautifully and even in Vegas he always comes to the game in luxurious, very expensive suits or stylish jackets and patent leather shoes.
At the final level the game was played with blinds at 100,000/150,000 and there were 73 players left in the game.
Richard Buckingham was eliminated in 72nd place. With a stack of 33 blinds, he foolishly fell in love with a pair of fours and was unable to beat Michael Mizrachi's two queens.
A few hands later, Michael was dealt again , he knocked out Dillon Ott with AKs and entered the leaderboard with a stack of 15 million.
Eric Afriat, with a big stack, traditionally decided not to hold back.
Both opponents folded.
Nazar Bugaev 3-bet 800,000 and was called by Michael Mizrachi.
On the flop Michael check-called 425,000 on the turn Bugaev bet 1,700,000 and was called again.
River Mizrachi bet 400,000, and the Ukrainian responded with a raise to 4,700,000.
Michael thought for a few minutes and made the call. Nazar showed only . Since he had 6 million left, Michael rose to 21 million.
Afriat bluffed Maxim Pisarenko.
Eric called the preflop raise and the flop continuation bet, and re-barreled the second turn. Maxim didn't want to see the river.
At the very end of the day, Jose Bogarin Palomares under-bet 2.8 million, leaving himself with 75,000, Kenny Hallaert on the button called, Derek Sudell on the BB shoved, Palomares called, and Hallaert also instantly called.
Another ace came on the flop, Hallaert regained the lead with 36 million.
At the end of day 6, there were 57 participants left in the 2025 World Series of Poker Main Event.
Chip Counts at the End of Day 6
Leaders:
- Kenny Hallaert (Belgium) – 36,950,000
- Eric Afriat (Canada) – 31,200,000
- Michael Mizrachi (USA) – 19,925,000
- Daehyung Lee (South Korea) – 18,675,000
- Chad Power (USA) – 18,575,000
- Richard Freitas (Brazil) – 18,500,000
- Joey Padron (USA) – 16,675,000
- Adam Hendrix (USA) – 16,125,000
- Braxton Dunaway (USA) – 15,725,000
- Muhamet Perati (Italy) – 14,950,000
Stars:
- Tony Gregg (USA) – 10,250,000
- Pedro Padilha (Brazil) – 8,575,000
- Leon Sturm (Germany) – 6,875,000
- Leo Margets (Spain) – 6,400,000
- Greg Merson (USA) – 3,025,000
- Nick Pupillo (USA) – 2,975,000
- Will Kassouf (UK) – 2,850,000
- Michael Garner (USA) – 6,505,000
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