A flood of late registrations for a 2025 World Series of Poker (WSOP) event threw the tournament staff a curveball on Sunday (June 8), as they had to completely reseat seats for everyone heading into Day 2.
The event in question was Event #26, the $25,000 High Roller, not to be confused with the $25,000 High-Roller 6-Max that wrapped up the day before. By the end of Day 1, there were already 300 entries, but since registration stayed open for the first level of Day 2, a wave of last-minute players came in, causing the need for a full reseat.
They're currently redrawing the entire Event #26: $25,000 NLH 8-handed. Players please stand by for your new seat assignments. #WSOP2025
— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) June 8, 2025
The high roller tournament wrapped up with a record 392 entries, thanks in part to a last-minute rush. Forty players either jumped in for the first time or rebought just before registration closed after Level 9, and a total of 72 registered during the first level of Day 2.
At that point, a fresh starting stack of 150,000 chips only gave players 12.5 big blinds, with Level 10 set at 6,000/12,000 and a 12,000 big blind ante.
It’s not unusual for players to max late registration at a WSOP event. But it’s pretty rare to see this many do it in a high roller. It’s even more unusual for the tournament staff to have to reseat the entire field of 158 players just one level into Day 2, especially when nearly half of them had only just registered.
😅 Behold… the 2025 @WSOP $25K High Roller Max Late Registration CHAOS☄️
Setting a new attendance record for the event, 72 additional players caused a halt to the tournament to allow for a complete redraw 🛑
Event #26 Updates 👇 pic.twitter.com/yGpmgosTqv
— PokerNews (@PokerNews) June 8, 2025
WSOP high rollers face full reseat after late registration surge
Landon Tice’s high-stakes run ends in 4th place of Event #22: $25K High Roller 🎯
He walks away with $513,577 and even more respect on his name 💪💰 #WSOP2025 pic.twitter.com/UpIVYBo0qg
— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) June 8, 2025
According to Poker News, Ben Lamb, DoorDash co-founder Stanley Tang, Landon Tice, and Ben Tollerene were among the players who jumped into the tournament right before registration closed. With stacks so short, the field quickly dropped to under 120 players as many of the late entries started shoving in an effort to run up a stack.
Tice made the most of his deep run, finishing 4th in Event #22, the $25K High Roller. He cashed for an impressive $513,577. At the time of writing, Tollerene was eliminated from the WSOP $25,000 High Roller after running into pocket kings. At the end of Day 1, Fahredin Mustafov from Bulgaria was still holding onto the chip lead with 2.4 million chips.
There were 392 total entries in the event, with 59 players making the money. The minimum cash is $50,645. As for the top prizes, the champion will walk away with $1,949,044 and the coveted bracelet, while the runner-up will earn $1,299,333.
ReadWrite has reached out to the WSOP for comment.
Featured image: WSOP via website
