The 2025 World Championship of On-line Poker (WCOOP) bought underway on Sunday, and large prizes are already being awarded within the $65 million assured pageant on PokerStars.
One international icon is now chasing the largest payout of the collection to date, however he’ll need to fend off a few of poker’s most established names if he needs to assert his first main title on the felt.
The participant in query? PokerStars ambassador and soccer famous person Neymar Jr.
A longtime poker fanatic, Neymar nonetheless performs and captains his childhood soccer staff, Santos, in his house nation of Brazil. Off the sector, he is navigated his solution to the ultimate seven of the WCOOP Tremendous Tuesday Excessive Curler, a $10,300 buy-in match that carried a $500,000 assure. The occasion finally drew 60 entries to construct a $600,000 prize pool.
The winner will finally take house over $180,000, small change for the Brazilian whose web value is estimated to be within the tons of of tens of millions of {dollars}.
Pedro Padilha
Main the way in which is fellow Brazilian Pedro “PaDiLhA SP” Padilha, who bagged 1,601,941 chips (80 large blinds). Ole “wizowizo” Schemion sits in second, whereas UK businessman Talal “raidalot” Shakerchi and high-stakes professional Sean “Nolet20” Winter occupy the center of the pack.
Austria’s “Jepser8” and on-line phenom Linus “LLinusLLove” Loeliger have below 30 large blinds apiece, whereas Neymar returns because the brief stack with simply 23 large blinds.
Alexandros Theologis
The bubble burst late on Monday when Alexandros “pwndidi” Theologis bowed out in eighth, leaving the remaining contenders assured $26,111. Neymar has already locked up a revenue regardless of firing two bullets, as did Padilha and Shakerchi.
From right here, each elimination brings a significant leap in prize cash, from greater than $10,000 between seventh and sixth, and as much as a $52,000 swing for the ultimate two spots. The eventual winner will gather $186,434, with the runner-up banking $134,352.
Play resumes at 6:05 p.m. UTC on Wednesday, September 10.
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Wish to keep on high of all of the motion? Try our WCOOP Each day Weblog and verify again day-after-day for dwell updates, outcomes, and highlights from the whole collection.
2025 WCOOP Winners So Far
Denis Strebkov
Brazil’s “vinicius_sci” kicked issues off by successful the $5.50 Kickoff occasion for $6,781. On the high-stakes aspect, Leon “RUMUKULUS” Sturm got here out on high within the $5,200 Bounty Builder Tremendous Excessive Curler, securing the biggest prize of the collection to date at $109,822.
One other large spotlight was Denis “aDrENalin710” Strebkov, who tied second on the all-time COOP titles listing after successful the $2,100 HORSE for $23,456.
Different notable outcomes embrace Rodrigo “SELOUAN1991” Selouan taking down the $1,050 PLO for $29,111 and Vladimir “SerVlaMin” Minko selecting up two titles, together with a $42,296 haul within the $1,050 PKO.
Don’t simply watch the world’s greatest compete, take your house on the tables. With buy-ins for each bankroll and satellites working across the clock, PokerStars places you proper in the midst of the WCOOP motion.
Whether or not you’re chasing a title or on the lookout for your first deep run, be part of the motion at present and play your approach into the highlight.
Calum Grant
Senior Editor & Reside Occasions Govt
Calum has been part of the PokerNews staff since September 2021 after working within the UK vitality sector. He performed his first hand of poker in 2017 and instantly fell in love with the sport.
Calum has written for varied poker shops however discovered his house at PokerNews, the place he has contributed to varied articles and dwell updates, offering insights and reporting on main poker occasions, together with the World Collection of Poker (WSOP).