It has been a weeklong run to reach the final eight of the $25,000 2025 WSOP Super Main Event, but the members of that table are now set. It is an international final table featuring players from six countries (the U.S. is the only one with more than one player, at three). Leading the way when the cards go in the air at noon on Thursday will be noted French poker player Jean-Noel Thorel, who used a massive cooler on the final hand of the night to eclipse the 500 MILLION mark in chips.
Big Names, Big Departures
Twenty-four players came back on Wednesday to eliminate sixteen players and reach the final table of the premiere event on the WSOP Paradise schedule. The Canadians were ruling the roost at the start of what was officially Day Four, with Pascal LeFrancois and William Blais atop the standings with 126.4 million and 123.3 million chips, respectively. The significant threats were down the standings, including Thorel in fourth with 101 million in chips and Faraz Jaka in tenth with 63.3 million.
All eyes were locked on Natasha Mercier, both live at the Atlantis on Paradise Island in the Bahamas and online worldwide. Many forget that, before marrying six-time WSOP bracelet winner Jason Mercier and becoming a mother, Natasha had a strong poker career of her own. She was the final female standing of the twenty-four players remaining, and she also had the best chance to mimic fellow poker “retiree” Liv Boeree’s performance from 2024 in making a run to the final table.
These weren’t the only threats that lurked in the shark-filled waters on land, however. Besides Jaka, Benny Glaser and Felipe Ramos were on the outside of the Top Ten looking in for their chance to drive to the final table. It set up for an enjoyable day of action on the baize in Paradise as the 2025 WSOP Super Main Event hit its penultimate day.
With three tables remaining, there was action aplenty around the Atlantis poker facilities. Ramos was one of the first pros to hit the rail, despite getting his final chips in on the good side. After LeFrancois raised the betting, Ramos moved all in for fourteen million in chips. It was a pittance for LeFrancois to make the call, and he did, showing a K♣ 9♣ for battle against Ramos’ pocket Jacks. The 5-10-8 flop came innocently enough, and the deuce on the turn ended any threats of a flush, but the King cruelly came on the river to dump Ramos on the rail in 23rd place.
Meanwhile, Mercier showed that she still had the goods on the felt. Battling against Glaser, the duo saw three eights come on the flop, with Mercier check-calling a 3.5 million chip bet from Glaser. A four on the turn put out two hearts but, as viewers on the live stream saw, it also gave Glaser a full house with his A-4. Glaser decided to bet out on this street, but he was not prepared for what would come next.
After Glaser bet 7.5 million, Mercier jacked him by moving all in despite the fact (as the live stream viewers witnessed) she had absolute air with her Q♥ 2♥. Glaser pondered his situation for a moment and shocked those watching by depositing his cards in the muck, lending credence to Mercier’s claim to have the case eight or a pocket pair. It was a stunning hand and put Mercier above the 100 million mark in chips, while Glaser sank to 34 million.
From Three Tables to One
Mercier wasn’t done just yet. She would be responsible for taking the tournament to two tables when she eliminated Daniel Reijmer, her pocket ladies standing up to Reijmer’s A-6 on a King-high board. The news wasn’t as good for the start of the day chip leader LeFrancois, who followed up his beating of Ramos by letting his stack slip through his fingers. His final chip went to the center against Leonard Maue, and it would disappear when LeFrancois’ K-6 failed to catch against Maue’s A-2 after an Ace flopped.
After LeFrancois’ departure, the remaining fourteen players were assured of a half-million-dollar payday ($520,000, to be exact), but nobody wanted to leave. Unfortunately, Charles Hook (Queens beat in a race against Thorel’s Big Slick) and Jaka (coolered with pocket nines by Maue’s pocket tens) were sent out in fourteenth and thirteenth places, respectively. The major change came in the form of a double knockout that brought the pack down to the final ten players.
William Blais’ day had not gone well, and he got his last 31 million chips to the center against both Bernhard Binder and Iuri Ribeiro in a three-way pot. Ribiero had his tournament existence on the line also, as Binder looked to massively add to his stack and assure himself of a place at the final table. Once the chips were sorted, the cards went to their back:
Blais (small blind): A-Q
Ribeiro (early position): A-J
Binder (cutoff): pocket Queens
According to poker calculators, Ribeiro was all but dead with only the Jacks to save him, and he would need two of them. Blais had slightly better chances, but with only two Aces remaining in the deck, those chances were slim. Binder, according to the calculator, would win in two of three runouts of this hand, and this time proved to be one of those two times as the board came King high, missing his opponents, and increasing his stack to 376 million while Blais left in twelfth place and Ribeiro picked up the eleventh place slip as the larger of the two stacks.
Glaser had battled throughout the day on Wednesday, never actually building any momentum, so it was impressive that he was among the final ten players. After Terrance Reid opened the betting to seven million chips and Eric Wasserson three-bet the action to 21 million from the small blind, Glaser stuck his last 89.5 million in the center with a bold four-bet and only holding A-Q. That was enough to get Reid to lay down his pair of sevens, but Wasserson, sitting on a pocket pair of Aces, agonized (???) over the decision before finally calling. The board ran out nine high and, as Glaser headed to the rail in tenth place, there was plenty of derision on the floor at Atlantis and through the live stream for Wasserson’s histrionics in the hand.
There was only one more elimination to go before closing for the night, and it would come at the hands of the Frenchman. Thorel and Maue went to war after Binder opened the betting. Maue would take Binder’s eight-million-chip bet up to 28 million, but that wasn’t enough for Thorel, who made it 55 million to go. Binder ducked out of the way and let the two monsters on the table go at it, as Maue moved all in and Thorel beat him into the pot with the call. It was, as you might expect, a cooler of a hand:
Maue (hijack): pocket Kings
Thorel (button): pocket Aces
You cannot live in fear that your opponent has Aces when you have Kings, and Maue certainly didn’t. In this situation, however, there was no saving grace for Maue, as the board ran out eight high. Maue’s dream would fall short of the final table in the 2025 WSOP Super Main Event in ninth place as Thorel took a massive chip lead:
1. Jean-Noel Thorel (France), 567 million
2. Bernhard Binder (Austria), 211 million
3. Natasha Mercier (USA, originally Lebanon), 165 million
4. Belarmino De Souza (Brazil), 150 million
5. Eric Wasserson (USA), 130.5 million
6. Terrance Reid (USA), 114.5 million
7. Peter Chien (Canada), 76 million
8. Franco Spitale (Argentina), 33 million
Every member of the final table is guaranteed a seven-figure payout, but they all want the eight-figure one which is the first-place prize. $10 million will go to the eventual champion of the 2025 WSOP Super Main Event, while the runner-up will have to settle for “only” $6 million. It should be an exciting day in the sunshine of the Bahamas as the 2025 WSOP Super Main Event wraps up its action.
