Pascal Lefrancois Leads the $10,300 WCOOP Main Event at PokerStars

The 2025 World Championship Of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Events shuffled up and dealt at PokerStars on September 28. A trio of Pot-Limit Omaha and three No-Limit Hold’em Main Events exploded into action, attracting some of the biggest names in the online and live poker worlds.

Late registration remains open in five of those six main events, and the lofty guarantees are within touching distance in all five.

• $109 PLO Main Event – 1,727 entrants – $172,700 prize pool (late reg. closed)
• $1,050 PLO Main Event – 378 entrants – $400,000 prize pool (22 entrants required)
• $10,300 PLO Main Event – 44 entrants – $500,000 prize pool (6 entrants required)
• $109 NLHE Main Event – 16,683 entrants – $2,000,000 prize pool (3,317 entrants required)
• $1,050 NLHE Main Event – 2,910 entrants – $3,000,000 prize pool (90 entrants required)
• $10,300 NLHE Main Event – 325 entrants – $4,000,000 prize pool (75 entrants required)

Twelve months ago, Pascal “Pass_72” Lefrancois fell at the final hurdle in the $10,300 WCOOP Main Event. Lefrancois navigated his way to the final two, where he lost the heads-up battle to Finnish superstar Samuel “€urop€an” Vousden. Although the $659,899 that Lefrancois collected for his second-place finish will have been welcomed, Lefrancois is a natural-born winner, and finishing second would not have sat well with him.

Fast-forward to today, and Lefrancois finds himself at the top of the chip counts in the 2025 WCOOP Main Event after the first of four days’ play. Including re-entries, some 325 players have bought into the $10,300 NLHE Main Event, with 111 progressing to Day 2 on September 29. The tournament resumes at 5:35 p.m. BST, with late registration open for the first 30-minute level.

$10,300 NLHE Main Event Top 10 Chip Counts

Lefrancois has started this $10,300 WCOOP NLHE Main Event incredibly well, turning his 250,000 starting stack into 1,777,360 after Day 1. However, there is much poker to be played between now and the crowning of this event’s champion on October 1.

Additionally, dozens of the world’s best poker players are chasing Lefrancois. Brazilian Alisson “heyalisson” Piekazewicz, who recently captured his first WCOOP title, is less than a big blind behind the current leader, with 1,761,666 chips, after firing a trio of bullets.

Mike “SirWatts” Watson (1,663,424), Paul “_pauL€FauL_” Hoefer (1,603,640), and Mikita “fish2013” Badziakouski (1,600,592) round out the overnight top five.

Lower down the counts, but still returning on Day 2 with ample betting tokens at their disposal, are the likes of Dominik “Bounatirou” Nitsche (1,502,553), Jack “jackziang” Salter (1,447,206), Adrian “Amadi_017” Mateos (1,272,105), Niklas “Lena900” Astedt (1,216,116), Blaz “Scarmak3r” Zerjav (1,086,466), and Lefrancois’ 2024 nemesis Samuel “€urop€an” Vousden (1,079,761), who all sit down in the top 25 chip counts.

Day 2 shuffles up and deals at 5:35 p.m. BST on September 29. It ends when only 40 players remain.

PLO Specialist Ka Kwan Lau Is Out in Front in the $10,300 PLO Main Event

The $10,300 PLO 6-Max Main Event is scheduled to run for four days, but it could finish before then because only 11 players remain in contention to become its champion. Late registration remains open for the first level on Day 2, but it’s unlikely at best that dozens of late entrants will join the action with 25 big blind stacks.

Leading the way after Day 1 is Ka Kwan “kaju85” Lau, a feared Pot-Limit Omaha player. Lau has 2,321,285 chips when play resumes at 5:35 p.m. BST, over 700,000 more than Martin “Imbajimbaa” Dam (1,520,066), who won this very event back in 2023.

Also still in the mix are such luminaries as Patrick “pads1161” Leonard, mixed game legend “FAL1st,” Finnish PLO grinder Aku “Aku1206” Joentausta, a certain Pascal “Pass_72” Lefrancois, and short-stack Kenny “SpaceyFCB” Hallaert.

The 2025 PokerStars WCOOP Approaches a Grand Finale

Another 15 WCOOP events take place on September 29, while the six Main Events whittle their fields down further. Expand the tables below to see which events run and when.

Matthew Pitt hails from Leeds, West Yorkshire, in the United Kingdom, and has worked in the poker industry since 2008, and worked for PokerNews since 2010. In September 2010, he became the editor of PokerNews. Matthew stepped away from live reporting duties in 2015, and now concentrates on his role of Senior Editor for the PokerNews.