Sascha Manns Grabs Day 1a Lead as Millionaire Maker Explodes Into Action


Today saw 1,612 players begin their quest for glory in Event #53: $1,500 Millionaire Maker No-Limit Hold'em here at the 2025 World Series of Poker (WSOP), but after 11 action-packed levels, only 345 of them left the Horseshoe and Paris, Las Vegas having bagged up chips for Day 2.
Germany's Sascha Manns (776,000) clinched the Day 1a chip lead and returns on Day 2 armed with the equivalent of 310 big blinds.
End of Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Sascha Manns | Germany | 776,000 |
2 | Damarjai Davenport | United States | 427,000 |
3 | Ciaran Duffy | Ireland | 418,500 |
4 | Alex Kim | United States | 392,000 |
5 | Kristaps Zarins | United States | 380,500 |
6 | Lee Flemming | United States | 376,500 |
7 | Pedro Fernandes | Portugal | 338,000 |
8 | Yen-Tuan Chen | Taiwan | 335,000 |
9 | John Oneal | United States | 329,500 |
10 | Grant Gardner | United Kingdom | 316,500 |
Last year's Millionaire Maker champion, Franco Spitale (183,500) looks set to make another deep run after bagging a decent stack, while Matthew Bode (180,500), David Singontiko (176,500), Thomas Cazayous (175,000), David Pham (174,000), Boris Angelov (172,500), and Mathew Frankland (156,000) all ended Day 1a with a stack worth a place in the top third of the overnight leaderboard.
Below them, but by no means out of contention due to this event's structure, are the likes of David "ODB" Baker (132,500), Adam Owen (122,500), Brett Schaffer (109,500), Brock Wilson (101,500), Joe McKeehen (101,000), Maria Konnikova (74,000), Barry Greenstein (73,000), and Caitlin Comeskey (71,000).
Day 1b is scheduled to shuffle up and deal at 10 a.m. local time on June 19, with entrants hoping to navigate through 11 hour-long levels and join the 345 Day 1a survivors on Day 2. PokerNews traditional coverage begins on Day 2 on June 22.