Last summer in Las Vegas, the Bar Poker Open Championship saw 1,164 players battle to become the newest BPO champion here at the Golden Nugget. A total of six clubs were represented among the final eight, as each player was chasing the $100,000 first-place prize and the trophy.

The heads-up match would see a guarantee that New York Free Poker would be taking home the title and after a match of many lead changes, it was Miguel "The Mountain" Medrano who took home the title and a career-best score.

"It's very exciting, it hit me when I saw the brick river," the still excited Medrano said in his interview after the win. He also talked about his experience playing with Patrick Martorella, a man whom he plays a decent amount with back in New York. "I'm terrified of Patrick, I stay away from him back home. But in the end, I was lucky. All luck, no skill. It takes two years to get this lucky."

2024 BPO Vegas World Championship Final Table Results

A player raised from early position, a playing in the hijack three-bet to 25,000, Jerry Hill four-bet shoved covering both players, the early position folded and the hijack player with only 20,000 behind made the call.

Hijack:
Jerry Hill:

Great start for hill as the board came , the turn kept Hill in the lead and the meant Jerry took this pot and eliminated the hijack player.

Jerry Hill

220,000

220,000

Action folded to the player on the button who announced "all in" for 62,000, Mordecai Abraham called in the small blind and the big blind folded.

Button:
Mordecai Abraham:

Good flop for Abraham as it came , the on the turn improved Abraham and the on the river eliminated the button player.

Mordecai Abraham

360,000

180,000

Players are on a 15-minute break

Alex Bungener limped under the gun to 6,000 a player announced "all in" on the button for 22,500, Bungener called.

Button:
Alex Bungener:

Good flop for the button as it came , but the on the turn sent Bungener into the lead and the on the river eliminated him. Bungener playing over 200,000.

Alex Bungener

230,000

230,000

Action kicked off as a player from under the gun raised to 8,000, a player in early position called, Michael Phillips called in the hijack and a player called in the cutoff.

Under the gun checked his direct left who bet 15,000 on , Phillips was the only caller. Action slowed down when the hit the turn and the decision was checked to Phillips who 17,000 and took it down.

Action was picked up as Bart Battista was all in for 17,500 against Mordecai Abraham.

Bart Battista:
Mordecai Abraham:

Both players hit a pair on the flop but Battista's kicker played as the board ran out . Battista doubled and took his stack to over 40,000.

Mordecai Abraham	180,000	4,500
Bart Battista	40,000	40,000

Action was picked up as a player was all in from the cutoff against Thomas Gigilo who was on the button.

Cutoff:
Thomas Gigilo:

Gigilo flopped his opponent pretty dead on and held as the board ran out . Gigilo clearly gutted to have eliminated his friend from the competition.

Thomas Gigilo

130,000

-35,000

A player announced "all in" for 38,000 from the hijack, Ben Ace on the button announced "all in" for roughly 80,000 and all the other players folded.

Hijack:
Ben Ace:

The flop came , the hijack was one step closer to winning the pot when the hit the turn, but the hijack screamed "oh, come on!" when the was dealt on the river.

Ben Ace

120,000

-20,000

Action has come to a close here in Day 1a1 of the 2025 Bar Poker Open Vegas World Championship, hosted by the Golden Nugget in downtown Las Vegas. Of the 538 runners who started the day, only 27 players will return for Day 2 on Wednesday, June 11. The remaining competitors will be battling it out for a piece of the estimated $400,000+ prize pool, with the first place prize of $100,000 going to the winner.

The player who finished atop the counts at the end of the day was Glenn Zimet, who bagged an impressive 1,250,000. He cracked pocket queens with king-jack suited earlier in the day to get off to a hot start and won a big flip with ace-king against pocket fours later in the day to keep his momentum going.

Sitting right behind Zimet in second is Kevin Cronin (1,135,000) and rounding out the podium is Barry Fagan (1,045,000).

One other competitor managed to eclipse the million chip mark - Kevin Gray, who ended the day with 1,000,000 right on the dot.

Day 1a1 Top Ten Chip Counts

Notable Eliminations

Kevin Specter returned for his 11th year here at the Bar Poker Open Championship. Having secured his seventh cash last year, he was on the hunt for cash number eight but wasn't able to find a bag. He will have another shot at it tomorrow should he choose to fire another bullet.

Jordan Fishman was in the mix in Day 1a1 and was looking for another big win after having recently taken down the 2025 Eastern Poker Open $1,650 High Roller a few months back. We'll see if he returns tomorrow for a second chance at glory.

Kevin Wolly helped burst the money bubble with pocket tens against his opponent's king-jack and it was Nancy Wilburn who knocked out a player on the Day 2 bubble with a straight against her opponent's lower straight.

The 27 players finished with 10:26 left in Level 19, with blinds at 15,000/30,000 and a 30,000 big blind ante. The starting blind level on Day 2 will be the lower of the final levels from all Day 1 flights.

A "Second Chance" flight runs Tuesday, June 10 at 11 a.m., but is only available to players who participated in one of today's flights. Those who qualify from both flights take their best stack forward to Day 2 and earn a $1,500 bonus.

Be sure to follow PokerNews throughout the remainder of this event, as well as future coverage throughout the summer.

A player announced "all in" from early position for 8,500, Vicent Loria called in the big blind.

Opponent:
Vicent Loria:

Loria's said across the table "not in the window" as the flop came , and Loria held when the turn and river came .

Vicent Loria

100,000

100,000

Rick Ossman was all in from the small blind against the big blind and the cutoff on a flop of .

Rick Ossman:
Big Blind:
Cutoff:

Ossman managed to hold when the board ran out and nearly tripled his stack.

Rick Ossman

200,000

200,000

Play has concluded for Day 1a1 and the remaining players are bagging up their chips.

Stayed tuned for updated chip counts and a recap of today's action.