Poker Hall of Famer John Hennigan Bags Big Stack After Day 1 of Event #55: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship
Stud Games: 1,000-3,000, 3,000-6,000, 1,000 Ante
On Wednesday, the 2025 World Series of Poker (WSOP) at the Horseshoe & Paris Casino in Las Vegas continued with Day 1 of Event #55: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship. The field swelled to 176 players, but after 10 levels of play, it had been whittled down to 91. That number will grow, though, as late registration is open until ~2:15 p.m. local time on Day 2.
Bagging up the big stack was Poker Hall of Famer John Hennigan, who was followed by Chris Vitch as the only player above the 300,000 mark. Others to bag big were Marco Johnson (274,000), Justin “Boosted J” Smith (208,500), Mike “The Mouth” Matusow (208,000), and Scott Seiver (206,500).
Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Bets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Hennigan | United States | 350,500 | 44 |
| 2 | Christopher Vitch | United States | 342,500 | 43 |
| 3 | Ryan Miller | United States | 294,500 | 37 |
| 4 | Daniel Strelitz | United States | 288,000 | 36 |
| 5 | Marco Johnson | United States | 274,000 | 35 |
| 6 | Dave Stann | United States | 240,500 | 30 |
| 7 | Walter Chambers | United States | 233,500 | 29 |
| 8 | Matt Grapenthien | United States | 211,000 | 27 |
| 9 | Justin Smith | United States | 208,500 | 26 |
| 10 | Mike Matusow | United States | 208,000 | 26 |
Some other players to make it through were Brad Owen (196,500), Poker Hall of Famers Huck Seed (190,000) and Todd Brunson (189,000), Chad Eveslage (152,500), Shaun Deeb (140,500), Benny Glaser (138,000), and “Texas” Mike Moncek (98,000).
Unfortunately, not everyone was so lucky on Day 1. Among those to try and fall were Calvin Anderson, Viktor Blom, Anthony Zinno, Allen Kessler, Jeff Madsen, Adam Friedman, Yuval Bronshtein, Eddie Blumenthal, Gershon Distenfeld, David Baker (both Bakes & ODB), and Nick Schulman.
Day 2 of the tournament will start at 1 p.m. local time on Thursday, with the plan to play eight more levels. PokerNews will once again be on-site to capture all the action, so be sure to join us then for updates straight from the tournament floor.