Breaking Down the Biggest 2025 WSOP Hands

Day 5 – Hallaert’s At It Again

In Level 24 with blinds at 25k and 50k with a 50k big blind ante, we find Kenny Hallaert making another deep run in the main. 

He’d go onto the final table, becoming just the 7th player in the 2000’s to reach the final table of the main.  On his way to an eventual 4th place, Hallaert battled Giorgiy Skhulukhiya in an interesting hand. Hallaert’s in the big blind with approximately 5 million in chips, and Skhulukhiya is in early position with around the same stack, making it 100k to go, and getting called only by Hallaert.  The flop brought a c-bet of 50k by Skhulukhiya, but on the turn Hallaert woke up and led out for 180k, to which Skhulukhiya called. 

The river brought a large 425k bet from Hallaert, sending Skhulukhiya to the tank and eventually the muck, only to discover Kenny’s hand was inferior to his.

This hand is a great example of executing a successful bluff.  By being in the big blind, Hallaert’s potential hand range fits the board perfectly, and also misses Skhulukhiya’s range totally – an early position raise you wouldn’t believe Skhulukhiya has nines, eights, sixes, etc., but rather higher value cards or pocket pairs. 

There are possibilities like Nine-Nine or Six-Six, but there are so many more hands Skhulukhiya could have in this spot, and the sizing of his bet on the flop was curious – raising to 100k pre built a pot of 275k, but betting only 50k into it with a board that does not favor him doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense, and Hallaert was happy to call getting 6 to 1. The turn brings so many hands into Hallaert’s range that may have Skhulukhiya drawing dead at this point, and his lead out of 180k signaled this to Skhulukhiya, but he was stubborn and went to the river. 

Hallaert’s sizing here makes it look like he believed Skhulukhiya had a hand to call, but not a hand that could beat his “hand” given how low & connected the board ended up being. We don’t know what Skhulukhiya had, but it feels like two over cards, probably including an ace which would have had Hallert dominated – instead, Hallaert’s aggressive play on the turn won him a sizable pot.

Day 6 – Who Says a Deuce Doesn’t Change Anything?

Earlier on Day 6, we find a crazy hand involving Kenny Hallaert, Derek Sudell and Jarod Minghini. It’s Level 27 with blinds at 50k and 100k with a 100k big blind ante. 

Hallaert sat in the middle position, with Sudell in the hi-jack and Minghini on the button.  Hallaert bumped it up to 225k, getting calls from both Sudell and Minghini. The flop saw Hallaert slow down, but Sudell floored it, betting 200k.  Minghini raised to 650k and Hallaert bowed out, but not Sudell who called. 

The turn saw Minghini’s aggression continue, now with a 1.8 million bet – called by Sudell.  The river saw Minghini shove, covering Sudell.  With Sudell deep in the tank, he got the clock called on him, and with 30 seconds left, said “I don’t think I can fold”, and called just before time expired.

Minghini knew against two players that he needed to play this hand fast – the board was connected and suited and his top two were powerful but vulnerable, so no one can question why he bet as aggressively as he did in this pot.  Sudell playing pocket queens as passively as he did is really questionable and he even commented that he should have three-bet them pre-flop. 

In this spot, Sudell really should have considered it given he gave Minghini the odds to continue with Jack-Ten of spades.  One can assume that Sudell really didn’t have a good feel for where he stood in this hand given he played it so passively, but Minghini may have had him on the draw – so when it bricked out on the turn and river, he felt like he was good and could essentially win the pot uncontested on the river. But the length of the time Sudell tanked may have been beneficial, as getting the clocked call on him seems like it forced him to call. 

He clearly wasn’t comfortable doing so, but what hand was he really scared of from Minghini at the end? 

Pocket jacks or tens probably gets a three-bet from Minghini from the big blind – looking to thin the field – so all that’s left is pocket fives (6 combos) and Ace-Two (8 combos if you assume he calls suited or not).  That’s a small number of hands that he’s realistically against, and the board pairing the deuce on the river would have reduced the number of combos dramatically, so it’s curious as to why a) Sudell hesitated calling and b) why it took him 6 mins to do so.

End of the day – know where you are in a hand and you won’t have to spend 6 mins deciding whether or not to call and take the big blind’s stack.

Day 6 – The Grinder Announces His Arrival

Michael Mizrachi would eventually go onto win the 2025 WSOP Main Event, and coupled with his PPC win earlier in the series, was immediately inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. While others were making waves before the end of day 6, it was this hand that vaulted Mizrachi into the main conversation for those hunting the title. 

It’s Level 29 with blinds at 100k and 150k with a 150k big blind ante.  Mizrachi was in middle position and raised pre-flop, only to be three-bet by Nazar Buhaiov to 800k. The table folded, and Mizrachi called. The flop brought a c-bet by Buhaiov to 425k, with Mizrachi content to call.  On the turn, Buhaiov upped the stakes to 1.7 million, still not scaring off Mizrachi. The river triggered Mizrachi to fire 400k, which sent Buhaiov into the tank briefly, before he raised to 4.7 million.  Two minutes later, the Grinder called, and the cards went onto their back.

A comment was made at the table that this was a sick call, but let’s break this down:

Buhaiov three-bet pre-flop indicates he has high suited paint; premium pocket pairs, and some suited aces with lower kickers. One might include Ace-King and King-Queen off-suit as well, but his range will be fairly polarized at this point.  The flop is a total disaster for Buhaiov – three hearts with the Ace of Hearts meant that The Grinder safely discard any two-heart hands he may have had OTHER than King-Queen of hearts, or possibly King-Queen off-suit with one heart. 

The Grinder having a heart in his hand makes his call even more realistic, as this would have reduced the odds Buhaiov had a heart in his. With the turn improving Mizrachi to a flush, there are many more hands Buhaiov could have had that didn’t have a flush versus the ones that gave Buhaiov a higher flush – really, it’s only King-Queen of hearts. 

The Grinder now has to determine if the huge river raise by Buhaiov is a value bet, or a bluff. Based on the massive size, Mizrachi concluded it was an attempt to be pushed off the hand, and called with a Seven high flush for a pot over 8 million in chips.

Was it a crazy call?  Yes, but when you look at the story Buhaiov told, it was clear to a poker pro like Mizrachi that this was a bluff and nothing more and would have won this without the heart – which would have been an even crazier call!

Day 7 – Mizrachi Wins the War

We move to Day 7 and Level 30 with blinds at 100k and 200k with a 200k big blind ante. For the third consecutive hand, we find Michael Mizrachi, the eventual champ, going head to head with Kyle Grupp with 54 players remaining. 

Grupp is in the hi-jack and raised it up to 400k, while The Grinder was in the cut-off and three-bet him to 975k.  Grupp called and the two saw the flop where Grupp led for 625k. Mizrachi raised it to 2.1 million, which brought a re-raise from Grupp to 7.8 million, leaving a measly 25k behind.  Mizrachi raised & Grupp called off his remaining chips, and the two saw the hand to showdown, and Grupp exited in 54th place.

When the money mostly went into the middle, they were essentially a flip between them – the number of outs Grupp had with his top pair + open ended straight draw and backdoor flush gave him enough equity to take a shot at this – roughly 51 to 47% with a small possibility of a tie, but as we have often seen, when you have so many outs to improve to win, you often miss them, which Grupp did in this case. 

To win a major tournament like the WSOP Main Event, you have to win your flips, and Mizrachi won a big one here.

But, let’s look at this from the pre-flop perspective. Grupp raised initially, but then called the three-bet from Mizrachi, you want to select hands that are going to be stronger and be able to make it to showdown against your opponent’s three-bet range. 

In this case, Nine-Eight suited isn’t the best hand to call with, nor is it the worst, but the risk is – if you miss, you are out a lot more chips than had you folded pre, but if you hit the flop but don’t catch the nuts, are you good?  Grupp wasn’t – he was behind post flop despite having a ton of equity, so the lead in this spot is curious. Had he check-called the flop, if a brick hits do you give it up?

Seems crazy to fold to a bet on the turn after calling pre and post flop, but we have to consider that there were 54 players left in the main at this point and while $165k is a sizable payday, you are only 53 players away from the biggest prize in poker. A mistake in your analysis of a hand will be costly, and because Grupp overplayed his pair of eights with the open-ended straight draw, instead of running to the final table, Grupp walked to the cashier’s cage.

Next time we finish our look back by talking through the hands that occurred in the last days of the tournament, leading to Mizrachi’s historic win.  Many more bluffs and memorable hands to come next time!

Read more:

• Biggest 2025 WSOP Hands – Part 1
• Biggest 2025 WSOP Hands – Part 2
• Biggest 2025 WSOP Hands – Part 3
• Biggest 2025 WSOP Hands – Part 4
• Biggest 2025 WSOP Hands – Part 5
• Biggest 2025 WSOP Hands – Part 6
• Biggest 2025 WSOP Hands – Part 7
• Biggest 2025 WSOP Hands – Part 8
• Biggest 2025 WSOP Hands – Part 9
• Biggest 2025 WSOP Hands – Part 10