‘Best Final Table in Years’ — Poker World Gets Hyped Up for Main Event Finale

The 2025 WSOP Main Event played down to its final table on Sunday, and the result is the most exciting lineup in years. The battle for $10 million is set to unfold tonight and tomorrow, with several intriguing storylines in play. Those include Leo Margets as the first woman contender in the modern history of the event, and Michael Mizrachi looking to cap off his already history-making summer.

Those two headline stories are likely to capture the majority of the attention. Yet each of the other seven competitors at the final table has an interesting and unique story of their own. No matter how the final table plays out, there’s going to be a story to tell.

Let’s meet the cast of characters.

Final Table Lineup

John Wasnock: the Everyman — 108.1 million chips

The chip leader heading into the final table is a recreational player from the Seattle area. He has only $121,539 in career winnings according to Card Player, mostly from local events around Portland, where he’s a regular.

His wife flew in to watch him on Day 8 and said his whole family is proud of him. Poker has apparently been part of their family culture for years.

Most Main Events produce a contender for “everyman” here, and Wasnock fills that role in 2025. He’s a player that many watching at home will find relatable and whose success is likely to resonate with the “Average Joe” in the same way that Chris Moneymaker’s did in 2003.

There’s also an impressive comeback story unfolding with Wasnock. He started Day 8 as the second-smallest stack out of the 24 players left, but went on a heater. Unfortunately, that hot streak unfolded away from the limelight at the secondary feature table. He was also the one to burst the final table bubble, producing the final elimination of the night on Sunday when he took fellow recreational player Joey Padron out in 10th.

Michael Mizrachi: the Grinder — 93 million chips

We’ve already spilled plenty of digital ink over the Grinder, but he’s going to be a hard one to ignore at the final table. He has already won the Poker Players Championship for a record fourth time, and this final table appearance makes him an almost-certain Hall of Fame inductee. A win would seal the deal for sure.

He has appeared at the Main Event final table once before, in 2010.

Braxton Dunaway: the Gunslinger – 91.9 million chips

An oil and gas worker from Oklahoma who now lives in Midland, Texas, Braxton Dunaway, is making his second appearance at a marquee WSOP final table. His previous experience on this kind of stage was two years ago when he won the 2023 Monster Stack event for nearly $1.2 million.

Dunaway held the chip lead for much of Day 8, the first time he had appeared on the feature table during the event. He made several aggressive moves with his large stack to keep his opponents in line and gather more chips.

Between his Texas origins and aggressive, unpredictable style of play, we’re going to nickname Dunaway “the Gunslinger.”

Kenny Hallaert: the Familiar Face – 80.5 million chips

Long-time WSOP viewers will likely experience déjà vu with this final table. Mizrachi isn’t the only repeat contender,  as Kenny Hallaert is likewise making his second career Main Event final table following a sixth-place finish in 2016. Modern-era field sizes being what they are, it’s rare to see the same player make the final nine twice. To have both Hallaert and Mizrachi at the table is an exceptional treat.

The Belgian is both a poker tournament director and a player. He’s popular within the poker community for the work he does every year assembling a spreadsheet that analyzes every tournament being held in Vegas during the summer. It’s an invaluable tool for players who want to make informed decisions on which events to play based on structure.

He also earned some additional favor with fans by being the one to eliminate the increasingly-controversial Will Kassouf.

Hallaert entered Day 8 as the chip leader but hit a couple of bumps in the road to ride into the final table near the middle of the pack.

Leo Margets: the First Woman — 53.4 million chips

Margets, from Barcelona, is a formidable pro and Winamax ambassador. Given her talents at poker, it’s unfair to reduce her to her gender. And yet, as far as narratives go, that’s inevitably going to be the focus.

Even given that women make up only a few percent of the Main Event field each year, it’s a remarkable and unfortunate statistic that there hasn’t been a woman at the final table in the 21st century until now. Margets has broken the curse and will be in contention with Mizrachi for the breadth of her support in the community.

Luka Bojovic: the Doctor — 51 million chips

Representing Serbia is Luka Bojovic, who works as a doctor first and foremost. However, he plays a good bit of poker on the side and has accumulated over $700,000 in career earnings, mostly from tournaments around Europe.

He is the second Serbian to make the Main Event final table, following Milos Skrbic, who finished 9th in 2019.

Bojovic has been a stoic player, staying out of the limelight and avoiding significant confrontations. Nonetheless, he almost produced one of the most interesting final table narratives, as his flatmate Sebastian Schulze was still in the event on Day 8. There will be no final table showdown between the two friends, however, as Schulze fell in 23rd place.

Adam Hendrix: the Crusher – 48 million chips

Where Mizrachi is an old-school pro who plays on feel, Hendrix embodies the modern “crusher” archetype. He has, at one time, been ranked #1 in the world by the Global Poker Index and appears regularly in some of the biggest, highest buy-in events on the PokerGO Tour. At just 32 years of age, he already has over $8 million in career earnings.

He was also a draft pick in the $25K WSOP Fantasy draft and has so far accumulated 107 points for “Team Lady Gaga,” with plenty more to come depending on his Main Event finish position.

Hendrix calls Alaska home, but has moved around for much of his life, even living in Egypt for a time while growing up. He is far-and-away the most succesful player from The Last Frontier state.

His Main Event has been an eventful one, as he was one of the players who had a prominent clash of heads with Kassouf on Day 7.

As one of the short stacks, Hendrix will have some chipping up to do before he becomes a serious threat, but he is just a double-up away from becoming one of the favorites to win the event.

Daehyung Lee: the Enigma – 34.9 million chips

Lee is the first Korean player to appear at a Main Event final table since 2003. He says he has only been playing poker for three years, and his first tournament cash came last year. Most of his results come from events in Asia, but even in the Korean poker media, he was relatively unknown before this run.

He has worn a face covering throughout the event. Combined with his out-of-nowhere background, it has created an aura of mystery about Lee. He’s a true wildcard with a style that’s hard to pin down and made interesting plays on the Day 8 feature table.

Jarod Minghini: the Circuit Reg – 22 million chips

Somewhere in between the Everyman and the Crusher lies the Circuit Reg. There are a plethora of mid-stakes tournament grinders throughout the US who could see themselves in Jarod Minghini.

The former national-level snowboarder is also highly successful on the WSOP Circuit, with five rings on his resume.

He was a short stack for most of Day 8 but made a hero call against Hallaert with 12 players left that propelled him to a decent size stack. Unfortunately for Minghini, his stack was whittled down again before the final table bubble burst, so he enters as the short stack and will be looking for a quick double-up to keep hope alive.

Table Dynamics – What to Expect

Seat draw for the final table is always extremely important. The randomization for this final table has seated the deeper stacks together in the middle of the seat order for tonight’s action. That creates some interesting dynamics, as most of those players will want to avoid potentially disastrous clashes with one another until some of the shorter stacks have been eliminated.

With no runaway chip leader, Mizrachi can be expected to be the primary driver of action with his aggressive style. Hallaert, Dunaway, Wasnock, and Mizrachi are all seated next to each other in seats 2 through 6, and the flow of the entire table will likely stem from their battles in the middle.

Although players typically want to stay out of the chip leader’s way, we may see Wasnock being targeted as one of the least experienced players. The veterans at the table may end up competing with one another for the chance to win some of his chips before someone else does.

The shortest stacks, Minghini and Lee, aren’t quite in desperation mode yet. With 15 and 22 big blinds, respectively, they will have some time to maneuver and look for good moments to re-steal and perhaps get a double-up.

In between are the three middle stacks, Margets, Bojovic, and Hendrix, who are all in the 30 to 33 big blind range. They will be the ones feeling the most pressure in the early going. Each has a lot to lose until the short stacks bust out, yet being too passive could quickly leave them short-stacked themselves. Expect to see tight-aggressive play from those three, as the ICM considerations and pay jumps will be looming large until the strategic situation changes.

Not only is this one of the most interesting final tables in years in terms of player personas, but it is also one of the most difficult to predict in terms of outcome. How things go over the next two days will depend in large part on how well Wasnock plays and whether Hendrix can snag enough chips to open up his strategic options.