Daniel Rezaei Storms His Way to the Top in Event #2: $25,000 High Roller 6-Max No-Limit Hold'em
Daniel Rezaei built a big stack early on Day 1 of Event #2: $25,000 High Roller 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em and never relinquished it, leading the 58 survivors into Day 2 with 1,368,000.
Rezaei was helped to the top by busting Shannon Shorr with a turned flush, then making a big call for 100,000 on the river holding pocket fours. The Austrian pro has 37 WSOP cashes dating back to 2018, but is still searching for his first final table appearance.
End of Day 1 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daniel Rezaei | Austria | 1,368,000 | 137 |
| 2 | Justin Liberto | United States | 1,147,000 | 115 |
| 3 | Brek Schutten | United States | 1,050,000 | 105 |
| 4 | Sean Winter | United States | 1,047,000 | 105 |
| 5 | Brock Wilson | United States | 1,009,000 | 101 |
| 6 | Keith Lehr | United States | 997,000 | 100 |
| 7 | Bin Weng | United States | 975,000 | 98 |
| 8 | Chris Brewer | United States | 899,000 | 90 |
| 9 | Bill Klein | United States | 888,000 | 89 |
| 10 | Samuel Laskowitz | United States | 790,000 | 79 |
Right behind him is Justin Liberto, who’s no stranger to success in the six-max format. Liberto’s lone WSOP bracelet came in a $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Max event in 2015. He busted two players, including Joseph Cheong, on the last level of the night to finish at 1,147,000. Bin Weng, coming off two straight WPT final table appearances in the last week, was sharing a table with Liberto and tangled with him in a big pot on his way to bagging 975,000.
Other notables to survive the day include Daniel Negreanu, who had to reenter but fared much better on his second bullet, picking up pocket kings to double up and finish with 610,000. Bill Klein (888,000), Darren Elias (685,000), Chance Kornuth (615,000), and reigning Main Event champion Espen Jorstad (563,000) joined him near the top of the leaderboard. Further down the leaderboard are Kristen Foxen (411,000), Ethan “Rampage” Yau (393,000), and Phil Hellmuth (340,000).
Not everyone was fortunate enough to make it through Day 1. Alex Foxen, Yuri Dzivielevski, Stephen Chidwick, Josh Arieh, and Scott Seiver were among those who headed for the rail and will be forced to try again tomorrow if they want to capture the bracelet.
A total of 187 players gathered inside the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas throughout the day, building up a prize pool of more than $4,000,000. With late registration open until the start of play on Day 2, that number should grow before the payouts are confirmed.
Day 2 will resume on May 31 at noon local time inside the King’s Lounge in the Paris Ballroom. PokerNews will be on hand providing live updates as the field narrows down past the money bubble and on towards the final table.
