The dream is becoming reality faster than anticipated! Week 5 has pushed our WSOP seat fund to a staggering $39,000 – just $1,000 shy of securing our fourth $10K Main Event seat with 13 weeks still remaining in the season. At our current pace of about 48 entries+ per week, we’re not just on track for 8+ seats – we could potentially award 10 or more WSOP dreams by season’s end if everyone stayed to the end. This abundance means every player still has realistic championship aspirations, regardless of their current standing. As league history shows us, poker rewards patience and persistence – countless players have transformed from zero final tables at the midway point to WSOP seat winners by season’s finale.
Thank you to our substitutes this week – Jake Naumann playing for Jack Feeney & Eli Kiwan for Ron Groeller. Every point counts so it’s important to get that attendance point by having a sub cover absences.
Following are some interesting hands from this past week:
At the feature table Dimitry was all in for 8700 and Mohamed called with QJss. Dimitry’s 77 improved to quads for a double up.
The next hand Mohamed got the chips back and more when Jake’s KK ran into Mo’s AA
Ray QQ> 68dd Elias Kiwan
T7d42dJ
Elias 9th
Ryan Harfouch H TT> AK Keith Loftus
Keith 8th
Ryan H TT> T6dd Carlos Shaw
Carlos 7th
Ryan H J4> 95 Lee Tran
Lee 6th
Ryan H AQ>ATss Mark Winchell
Mark 5th
Ryan Harfouch AJdd>AQ Mohamed Lahlou
Mo 4th
Ray Mancini Q8>65 Ryan Harfouch
Despite taking out quite a few players, Ryan Harfouch was 3rd. So many deep runs moves Ryan into 1st on the season leaderboard!
At this point Ray Mancini and Nick Scholz chopped the top two places!
The final table in order of finish:
8/28/25 league
1.Nick Scholz/ Ray Mancini
2.chop
3.Ryan Harfouch
4.Mo Lahlou
5.Mark Winchell
6.Lee Tran
7.Carlos Shaw
8.Keith Loftus
9.Eli Kiwan for Ron Groeller
The numbers tell a compelling story of competitive balance and emerging storylines. Ryan Harfouch’s explosive Week 5 performance – eliminating five players en route to a third-place finish – catapults him to the season points lead with 35 points, edging past Ray Mancini (28 points) who shared this week’s victory with Nick Scholz. The league’s incredible depth is evident and the commitment level makes this league special. With 219 total entries generating consistent 40+ player fields and 32 total rebuys across five weeks, our players bringing their A-game each week and fighting for those seats! Perhaps most encouraging for those still seeking their breakthrough moment – James McKinnon, our week one winner, sits in fifth place overall despite playing just four weeks, proving that a few strong performances can quickly reshape the leaderboard. The WSOP seats are there for the taking, and with variance being poker’s great equalizer, any of our 41 currently qualified players could find themselves Vegas-bound come December or next summer depending on whether they choose the WPT Wynn championship or the WSOP Main Event.