Day 7 starts with 57 players, each of whom has secured $165,000. The 53rd place finisher already gets $35,000 more, which creates some extra, um, action at the tables. Blinds are 100,000/200,000, with an ante on the BB of 200,000. The average stack is 10,200,000, or about 51 blinds.
The elegant Eric Afriat raises to 450,000 from the hijack with . Diego Ponce defends BB with .
On the flop Afriat catches two pair and after his opponent checks, makes an enticing continuation bet of 200,000. Ponce, however, gives him a very wide range and starts bluffing with a gutshot, an overcard and a flush blocker: check-raise to 750,000. Afriat calls.
Turn – . Ponce bets 1,700,000 into a pot of 2,700,000. And Afriat, with slightly trembling hands, makes an extremely respectful fold– and even names his hand! Ponce is embarrassed, but doesn’t show his cards – everyone will read them anyway.
They just won't read it. For some unknown reason, the text broadcast decided not to mention the pocket cards in this hand. However, they also distorted the sizings, suggesting that Eric folded two top pairs for a quarter of the pot.
Will Kassouf arrives at the new table:
– And of course, they put me right in the big blind! What else would you expect?
– Five... four... three...
– Hey, why are you counting? Blind on blind, no one was timing!
– Two... one...
– Okay, okay, pass. Look, I have ! Just wanted to clear something up.
– I want to clear something up too.
Floor calls Kassouf away from the table.
They discuss something, then the bearded man says:
– One penalty circle, starting now.
– Why a circle right away? Why not a warning? Not one hand? Not three? A circle right away?! Can you get Jack Effel, please?
Jack Effel arrives.
– The penalty circle remains in effect. The conversation is over. No explanations. We have nothing more to discuss. Shut up. If you continue to follow me, I will call security to escort you out of the hall and you will be disqualified, – says Effel.
"Welcome to the World Series of Poker!" Kassouf shouts into the camera.
Two more of Kassouf's hands are declared dead after a ten-second time bank.
“This is simply disgraceful,” the Briton is indignant. And he starts to grimace, mimicking the laughter of his tablemate for about twenty seconds.
The scene looks as if Kassouf has completely lost control of himself.
Kassouf doubles up with nines against Theo Tran.
– Now we begin! I will come for each of you! Fearless, ruthless, tireless. I will not stop until I am alone. God help anyone who stands in my way. I have warned you.
Nazar Bugayev limps from the small blind with . Kassouf in the BB raises to 800,000 from a stack of 3,600,000.
Bugaev calls all-in, and Kassouf quickly folds. Bugaev does not deny himself the pleasure of showing his cards.
Kassouf tries to remain calm:
– Thanks for showing me the push with Off. It's good for the game. And the hand is great. I've been dealt 9-high 14 times, and won 10 hands. Like a boss.
New showdowns and an attempt at reconciliation.
"You're incredibly annoying, but I'll give you a chance," Jack Effel says. "Come back to the table, and I'll treat you like a new player. But one more reprimand, and you'll get a 10-second time limit on all decisions for the rest of the tournament."
After the redraw (45 players left in the game), Will Kassouf moves to Kenny Hallaert's TV table.
Another hand is being played. Kassouf, who has thrown away his cards, is circling the table, talking (apparently to himself), giggling periodically.
After losing a mid-sized pot to Hallaert, Kassouf begins to tilt again. The other players call the floor to convince Kassouf to keep quiet during the hands. For every word from the tournament official and his tablemates, Kassouf replies with ten.
He is once again warned to behave ethically. The problem is that Kassouf is absolutely convinced that everyone else is behaving unethically.
Next, he doubled up on the coin flip against Garner.
Kassouf begins sarcastically chanting, "USA! USA!"
The tablemates return from their dinner break with earplugs and offer a pair to the tournament director.
Another flash ends with a penalty lap.
Returning to the table, Kassouf again talks incessantly, addressing no one in particular, but showering his neighbors with insults.
"Nick, is this a nervous breakdown?" veteran commentator Ali Nejad asks Nick Shulman.
Kassouf restealed the chip leader's raise from the small blind and Kenny Hallert covered him with K5s.
– King Five? Well played. Clown. Absolute clown. What a disgrace. You're pathetic. You're pathetic. You're all pathetic. You're just a bunch of ***.
For a while, his microphone appears to be turned off, and when it is turned back on, Kassouf explains to the tournament director:
– They constantly insult me, but I have never insulted anyone...
It was soon announced that Will Kassouf had been banned from the remaining 2025 World Series of Poker events.
Kyle Grupp raises to 400,000 from the hijack with . Mizrachi in the cutoff 3-bet to 975,000, he has . Grupp calls.
Flop – . Grupp leads 625,000, not giving a free turn to possible overcards of the opponent. Mizrachi responds simply – raise 2,100,000, clearly threatening the opponent’s entire stack. Grupp goes almost all-in – re-raises 7,800,000, leaving one 25-thousand chip on the cards. Mizrachi quickly announces all-in.
Grupp doesn't call. He's clearly hoping to sit out the only bust left before the pay jump.
First he turns to the audience:
– I think I know what he has, but I believe I will be lucky. I have a good hand.
– I have the nuts, “We are talking about a lot of things,” says Mizrachi.
– Are you kidding?
“I’m kidding, of course,” Michael reassures him.
They are sitting.
“Don’t leave the table,” one of Michael’s neighbors warns, alluding to the hand played the day before, in which Kassouf’s hand, having left the table for a few seconds, was declared dead.
– Michael, look, someone from the audience is calling you, it looks like it’s urgent! – Grupp immediately jokes.
Five minutes later, if not more, the tournament director comes to the table and immediately gives Grupp five seconds to make a decision. He immediately calls. It was not possible to wait for the pay jump.
Turn – , river , Kyle Grupp is out of the tournament.
Greg Merson, who just lost a coin flip to a smiling Japanese player and is left with a very short stack, calls in the BB, ready to get all in on any more or less suitable flop.
The flop comes down very well: . Merson checks. Guerra goes all-in (there's already more money in the pot preflop than in Merson's stack). Merson calls.
They put it on the turn . River – . Greg Merson is eliminated from the tournament in 53rd place. He just waited for the pay jump.
The player from Japan comes under Mizrachi's raise with a pocket pair, sees three over cards on the flop, but Michael's continuation bet is very small (which is not surprising with third pair), so he calls.
The turn card instantly wipes the smile off Arai's face and he jumps slightly in his chair.
“Mizrahi definitely noticed this, he is a master of live reads,” the commentators say.
Mizrachi bets 675,000.
Arai calls.
River – . Mizrachi checks. Arai bets 2,200,000. Mizrachi's demeanor makes it seem like he's about to call. But then he remembers that he's a master of live reads and asks the Japanese what he's thinking about.
In response, he receives such a serene smile that he decisively throws the cards into the pass.
Apparently, information about Pons' bluff reached Afriat, and the Canadian is organizing an inquisition against the Spaniard.
Pons folds and Afriat tells him:
– You are too abrupt! I told you that you are playing with fire. You can't win a tournament with this style. You play like an amateur. Tranquilo, tranquilo, step by step...
Mizrachi's stack is over 30 million, but then a new young player, Daniel Iachan, a math major from Brown University (where Haxton and Seiver came from), a rock climber and a chess player, appears at the table. And he seems to have a very strong opinion of the veteran.
"What's your name, friend?" Mizrachi asks. But Iachan sits silently, staring at the table. Finally, Mizrachi folds.
– Danny, – Iachan answers with a smile, handing the cards to the dealer.
– Why weren't you talking before? Are you bad at multitasking?
– You're too good! Do you want me to talk to you during the deal? Don't count on it.
Mizrachi raised preflop, bet the flop and continued on the turn. Iachan called.
River – . Both check.
“Bad runout for a bluff,” Iachan smiles, taking the pot.
Mizrachi's stack slowly begins to flow towards the player in upright position.
Daehyung Lee, a former professional baseball player from South Korea and now a reality TV star who is slowly making his way into TV dramas, raises to 500,000 from middle position. Nadav Barash three-bets 1,250,000 on the button. Lee calls.
On the flop Lee checks. Barash bets 2,150,000. Lee immediately moves all-in with an overpair, .
Barash has about 9 million stack and is risking his tournament life with the nuts and redraw – .
Turn – .River A stunned Barash leaves the tournament.
Eric Afriat raises 550,000 from the cutoff with . Sergio Veloso calls on the button with .
On the flop Afriat bets 300,000, Veloso calls.
Turn – . Eric continues with a bet of 1,000,000, followed by a call.
River – , the long flush comes through. Afriat bets 2,500,000. Veloso responds with a raise to 6,900,000.
Afriat suddenly starts to think, for a long time.
"I need another minute, guys," he tells his neighbors. "He put 69? That's my birthday. My number. Shit..."
And a few seconds later he folds.
Shocking pass. And he didn't miss his hand, because he told his neighbor that he had thrown away a full house. Veloso didn't break Eric's heart and said that he had nines.
Afriat defends the BB with K8s, checks the flop, checks and calls an 800,000 bet on the turn, and donk-shoves on the river, forcing his opponent to make a stack decision.
Pupillo suffers for a long time and makes a call.
– Really? – Afriat can't believe his eyes. – Nine? That's the most incredible call I've ever seen. What a call... Amazing. Respect. And I can't even call with a full house.
He is clearly shocked.
Iachan continues his hunt for Mizrachi.
Michael continues to hold off on 4-bets and folds.
Mizrachi squeezes a raise from late position and is called by super-tight Leo Margets.
Guerra gives up and Michael can't hide his smile – he certainly doesn't have a suitable hand against Margets, who would have pushed all the nuts preflop.
“All-in,” says Margets.
Michael calls immediately.
On the flop, the Spaniard catches a seven just in case and doubles up. Mizrachi is left with just over 10 million.
Only when he finds himself backed against the wall, does Michael Mizrachi decide to take extreme measures and make a super barrel: a 3-bet preflop and three barrels postflop, topped off with an all-in.
Leo Margets is patient for a long time, but she can't handle an overbet on the river.
Chip Count During Day 7's Dinner Break
- Kenny Hallert – 52,050,000
- Ruber Correa – 34,000,000
- Braxton Dunaway – 31,000,000
- Richard Freitas – 30,250,000
- Maksim Pisarenko – 27,650,000
- Diego Ponce – 27,550,000
- Dae Hyun Lee – 25,755,000
- Adam Hendricks – 24,975,000
- Luka Bozovic – 22,975,000
- Michael Mizrachi – 20,025,000
- Nazar Bugayev – 15,125,000
- Tony Gregg – 14,025,000
- Eric Afriat – 13,125,000
- Will Kassouf – 3,500,000
Mizrachi in position goes under Margets' raise, Arai in the BB calls.
Michael gets two checks on the flop and plays the two-way hand in the most powerful manner possible: overbet three pots.
Arai thinks for a long time, clearly sensing something, but then he smiles and folds. Margets folds almost immediately.
Leo Margets raise-folds nines in middle position against a stack of under 20bb, and it's the right fold. "Bravo!" Nick Schulman admires her play.
We don't show Kenny Hallaert's hands at all because he plays like a machine. He relentlessly pours in when he needs to, preflop and postflop, but he stops in time. And even when it seems like he's overstepped the mark, it somehow works!
Here's a hand where Kenny makes a big 3-bet preflop, a small continuation bet on the flop, checks the turn, and double-bluffs the river.
Schulze plays the hand perfectly until the very end – and then folds at the end.
Eric Afriat moves all-in for his last 725,000 on the button, Nazar Bugaev calls in the small blind, John Wosnock calls in the BB.
Flop . Check – check.
Turn – . Check – check.
River – .
Bugaev bets 500,000, and Afriat starts to walk away from the table. Vosnok gives up, and Nazar turns over – street. Afriat has . He says goodbye and wishes everyone good luck.
However, Nazar's stack is still quite short – 11,500,000. And soon it is completely zeroed out.
Dunaway opens to 1,000,000 from middle position. Nazar 3-bets the button to 2,400,000 on . The opponent calls.
Flop . Dunaway checks, Nazar bets 2,200,000. Dunaway calls.
Turn – . On his opponent's check, Nazar goes all-in for 6,500,000. However, this innocent card helped Dunaway a lot – he has . Nazar's outs don't come on the river – 28th place, $300,000.
A favorite of the commentators, Arai, the last Japanese player in the World Series main event, is eliminated in the cooler at the end of the day:
And literally in the very last hand of the day, Mukhamet Perati makes a raise of 1,000,000 with on the hijack. Austrian German on the button moves up to 3,000,000 with . Maxim Pisarenko, in the small blind, finds himself with a decent hand for the first time in a very long time – It's a 4-bet or fold, but he really doesn't want to fold, and Maxim reraises to 6,300,000.
Perati folds. The German, after thinking about it, goes all-in for 18,000,000, and Maxim is forced to fold.
The red towel on Maxim's shoulders makes Ali Nejad remember a Russian bathhouse.
– Have you ever been to a bathhouse, Nick? – he asks his partner.
– Yes, many times. In New York.
– What, right with a broom?
– With a broom, an ice hole, dried fish...
– You're quite the expert... In a bathhouse, as we all know, we can safely communicate without fear that the other person is wearing a listening device.
– DA.
Chip Counts at the End of Day 7
- Kenny Hallaert (Belgium) – 63,600,000
- Braxton Dunaway (USA) – 51,100,000
- Muhamed Perati (Italy) – 50,100,000
- Adam Hendrix (USA) – 39,500,000
- Luka Bojovic (Serbia) – 33,900,000
- Richard Freitas (Brazil) – 32,500,000
- Joey Padron (USA) – 29,900,000
- Daniel Iachan (USA) – 28,100,000
- Ruben Correia (Portugal) – 26,700,000
- Daehyun Lee (South Korea) – 25,600,000
- Stefan Nemetz (Austria) – 23,200,000
- Tony Gregg (USA) – 22,500,000
- Maksim Pisarenko (Russia) – 18,900,000
- Lautaro Guerra (Spain) – 18,000,000
- Leo Margets (Spain) – 17,800,000
- Joseph Ozmiok (USA) – 15,100,000
- Diego Ponce (Mexico) – 14,900,000
- Jarod Minghini (USA) – 14,200,000
- Michael Mizrachi (USA) – 11,400,000
- Sergio Veloso (Portugal) – 11,200,000
- Chris Dombrowski (USA) – 11,000,000
- Sebastian Schulze (Germany) – 11,000,000
- John Wasnock (USA) – 9,500,000
- Thomas Szwarcberg (Mexico) – 5,400,000
Blinds at the start of Day 8: 300,000/600,000, BB ante 600,000.
