On Day 4 of the 2026 WSOP Main Event, the stream starts right from the first level of the day. Of course, missing the bubble would be unprofessional!
Michael Mizrachi, with a 600,000 stack, is only fourth at his table, while Michigan pro Jared Passanante leads with 1,361,000.
The second TV table is represented by the ladies, Farah Galfond (436,000) and Vanessa Cade (437,000). Chance Kornuth was supposed to headline the third table with a 50bb stack, but by the time the broadcast director finally let him go live, he's shaking hands and packing his bags.
The commentators don't detail the action in the hand, but they do point out that if Chance had been trying to sneak into the money, he wouldn't have opened it. But he plays tournaments to win, so he went on the attack and busted. Impressive insight — what would we have done without it?
It'll be a good half hour before we get a replay of the hand. The flop was a small continuation bet and a call, the turn went check-check, and the real action began on the river: Chance bet 42,000 with a flush, and Nguyen jammed with a full house. Chance called for 338,000 and was eliminated.
On the bubble, hands run in parallel. Jack Effel dashes between the all-in tables, narrating the action for the entire room. In the first round we see four all-ins, and the short stacks double up in every one of them. In the last case, Alex Foxen's rather expensive river bluff fails — you can't bluff a set. Things aren't looking good for Chip Leader Coaching so far!
The second attempt to burst the bubble: a whopping six all-ins announced! There's no doubt some of the short stacks will fall, since Josh Arieh bet $100 against $900 that the bubble wouldn't break!
The first short stack, Stoyan Madanzhiev, loses — his don't beat .
But the loser still has a shot at some prize money if he isn't the only one to go.
He's joined by Chris Moneymaker and Kazakhstan's Zhaket Seitbekov. Three other short-stacked players, including Fabian Quoss, double up.
The two $15,000 prizes were split three ways, so all the bubble boys at least get their buy-ins back.
Time to win a $25,000 trip to Maine in the Bahamas. Seitbekov takes down the expensive flip — congratulations!
I wonder whether Sotiropoulos is seriously considering calling this all-in, or whether he's already just stalling.
Three minutes of airtime wasted advertising Ozzie glasses.
"Is that a raise?" Konstantinovic asks, barely concealing his triumphant tone. "Then I'm all-in."
Passanante, as they'd say on PokerNews, ends up in a blender.
Michael Mizrachi takes real pleasure in his torment.
Finally Passanante folds, and the dealer spreads the flop: .
Turn – .
River – .
So many emotions, but in the end the best hand holds, even if it only needed to catch its last out.
With a smile, Kristen Foxen leaves the Main.
Farah Galfond selects the third barrel sizing.
She bets 50,000 and Griff slowly folds.
Her ranges and sizings show a good theoretical background.
Gregory Sly takes the small blind with A9o and check-raises the flop. Smart!
The opponent quickly surrenders.
Sly 3-bet 42,000 and continuation bet the flop against Passanante.
He gets called.
Turn – . Passanante checks. There are still 88,000 options on the second barrel – another call.
River (364,000):
When his opponent checks, Sly seems to reach for his chips to jam, then jerks his hand back as if changing his mind — and then goes all-in anyway. Little tricks!
399,000 is a small overbet. Passanante asks for the count and frowns deeply — a call would cost him almost half his remaining stack.
He thinks for a few minutes. Sly, of course, hardly looks like the type to bluff such a runout, but Zeebo's "full houses don't fold" theorem — which turns 20 this year — still holds. Passanante calls and loses a huge pot.
Maybe he shouldn't have called the 3-bet out of position with AQo at all?
After a short break, there's a player change at the main TV table — Alex Foxen returns to the spotlight. There are no other stars here.
Foxen has 610,000. He'd dropped to 400k on the bubble after a failed bluff, but has recovered a bit since.
The second TV table features two faded stars, Erick Lindgren and Brian Hastings, with stacks of around 100bb and 50bb respectively.
Amateur Jordi Sanchez stacks Lindgren in a limped blind battle. On the river, Lindgren takes so long to think that it seems he's misread his hand. But no — he's simply very protective of his chips and overly attached to his strong lines.
After a few minutes, he finally calls and sends his opponent to the cashier.
The expert discussion is especially fun, with David Williams and Maria Ho unable to come up with a weaker hand than [cards], with which Sanchez had a draw on the river.
Hastings squeezes two people with aces.
Gottlieb quickly calls, but Ja gives up his weak ace... and the flop comes .
Hastings bets 40,000, and Gottlieb folds.
Not the most exciting hand, but Hastings always played hold'em a bit old-fashioned.
Foxen loses all-in preflop with against , and he has just over 20 blinds left.
Almost immediately he defends his big blind with 98o, makes a straight against an overpair, and jams the river.
Savage thinks for a long time and makes the right decision.
Having picked up a few chips, Alex calls a raise with A8o, takes two barrels, and bets 110,000 into a river check. Chartier beats only one hand — — so he gives up fairly quickly.
Maybe he shouldn't have gotten so wild with 64o?
Vanessa Cade makes a straight to triple up.
And Farah Galfond is down half her stack with the second set.
She won't make it to the end of the day — out in 722nd place for $25,000.
Suddenly a series of absolutely insane preflop coolers erupts across all the TV tables. I haven't included every one of them in this review.
Allen Lee runs two queens into Mizrachi. He moves all-in and finds himself behind.
Another ace comes on the flop, and after the turn Lee is drawing dead.
"Tight from the right," Michael says.
On the very next hand, Brian Nguyen raises and Mizrachi 3-bets to 54,000.
"It can't happen twice in a row!" Michael smiles.
After a quick all-in and call, Nguyen is stunned:
"What, really — two aces in a row?"
But no: his kings are relatively safe, with only to fear.
The ace never comes, and Brian Nguyen doubles up.
We are transferred to the flop at Shaun Deeb's table.
Deeb calls, but the turn card is a little off – .
Both players check, and the river brings a completely different card – .
Deeb bets 145,000 — the full pot.
"I have a feeling Tabe will just call," says Nick Schulman — thankfully taking over from the "experts" of the first half of the day. "Sean could easily have ace-king."
The 32-year-old Parisian, playing the WSOP Main Event for the first time, jams anyway.
Deeb isn't thrilled and asks for a count.
“The problem is that we don’t hit any value,” says Nick. He won't play like that. And it's quite possible that he doesn't have any bluffs either.
When talking through his opponent's possible hands, Deeb immediately names [cards]. Then he tries to come up with a bluff, but besides [cards], nothing comes to mind.
Everything seems to point toward a fold — and Deeb folds.
"It's so hard with him," Schulman approves.
"Deeb's chips have to be earned," Ali agrees.
The flow of endless premiums continues.
Hastings calls and Yusufzadeh quickly folds his tens.
Brian Hastings knocks out Josh Giller and boosts his stack by about 50%.
The directors barely have time to switch cameras. At Lindgren's table, Tom Gottlieb — all-in with the dominant pair — asks fate for his one-outer.
No sign of a miracle on the flop, but it arrives on the turn:
The last — and rather expensive — level, 10k/15k/15k, begins. At the new TV table are former champion Ryan Riess (535,000) and Main Event finalist Boris Angelov with a massive stack of 1,230,000.
There's also the somewhat forgotten Dutch Boyd, looking like a true veteran despite not even being 50 yet. And there's a player far more popular in the rest of the world.
At this stage of the Main Event, the density of regulars is already starting to resemble a good online field.
Patrick Leonard defends his big blind and calls a continuation bet of 15,000, a third of the pot, on the flop of .
Turn – , both check.
River – .
Campos doesn't try to bluff the top pro — he checks and folds to a 60,000 bet.
But before mucking, he asks just in case: maybe Pads has ?
After the opponent passes, Pads shows everyone his ten and smiles.
Despite holding one of the shortest stacks, Pads immediately finds himself in the spotlight. On the next hand, he defends against a small-blind raise (a significantly larger small blind, mind you) and check-raises the flop, saying:
"Well — same hand, second time in a row!"
Australian Malcolm Trainer calls with KJs. After a cascade of calls, four players see the flop — .
The preflop raiser bets 25,000 into a 180,000 pot. The first caller folds, but Trainer, with his gutshot, is willing to pay that price.
A 75,000 bet into a 230,000 pot on the turn doesn't look particularly strong, and Trainer answers with a surprise raise.
The raise isn't that big, but Toledo, despite having top pair and open-ended draws, frowns and quickly folds.
Pads literally never stops talking; it's amazing how he manages to grind online with such a friendly demeanor. Now he says he lost his voice playing soccer in Mexico, and he's proud of his team — "We're doing our best."
"Unlike America," one of his neighbors says gloomily, "we played like crap."
And Ali Nejad surprises Schulman by revealing he's played football his whole life and even worked as a referee for a while.
The stream's new feature is a stunningly dynamic view from a camera attached to the dealer's glasses:
The second barrel of 100,000 Angels quickly calls but looks a little worried.
On the river Ryan goes all-in.
And Angelov folds!
And Riess, by popular demand, shows the cards.
Pads 3-bets.
"Is that Jesus?" Patrick asks, pointing to his opponent's card protector. "Okay. Make me believe."
He calls and flops the set.
On the board , Harman bets 50,000 into a 200,000 pot. After some thought, Pads jams — but his read is off: his opponent has missed the flop entirely and folds easily.
Trainer misses a flop continuation bet with the nuts and a redraw, then gets a big bet and a raise!
"What's going on?" reads the look in Trainer's eyes.
The Australian raises to 350,000 and both opponents quickly fold.
There's a new face at the Lindgren and Hastings table, and this guy hits the ground running.
Yusefzade doesn't stand a chance. Artur Martirosyan's stack exceeds three million.
In a limped pot, Pads bets 115,000 into 45,000.
"I was going to check-call, but I don't mind this sizing!" the opponent folds.
"Patrick introduces us to one of his unique ideas," says Nick Shulman.
A rigged deal, and Arthur is a little unlucky.
He bets 30,000, Ganesan immediately raises to 90,000. Arthur calls.
Turn – With an SPR of less than two, going all-in is unavoidable. Ganesan bets 225,000—more than half of his remaining stack. Artur goes all-in, leaving him with 2.7 million.
What a strange pot! Ganesan squeezes a short-stack raise and gets called by Artur, taking two callers along.
On the flop , Sudrania goes all-in for 175,000! Artur finds himself in a tough spot and folds his best hand. Ganesan folds too.
Lindgren comes under the raise, Arthur squeezes.
Eric 4-bets to 355,000. Artur jams, and the two pros from different generations play a coin flip for the ages.
The dealer's first card is an ace. The queen doesn't come, and Lindgren leaves the Main Event.
Artur raises preflop with J6o, continuation-bets two opponents on the flop, checks the turn, and gives up on the river — where he still had the best hand.
Pads calls, raises, and flops top pair.
Two checks; Dutch Boyd bets 40,000 with the worst hand of all. Pads calls, Harman folds.
Turn (200,000):
An unfortunate turn of events. Patrick checks, and his gloomy opponent bets 60,000. A quick call.
River (320,000):
Patrick checks, but Dutch Boyd doesn't stop — despite holding a third club and no kicker to his top pair, he bets 80,000.
It's an unpleasant bet, considering Pads has only 295,000 in his stack. He thinks for a long time, talks through his opponent's possible hands out loud, and finally folds.
Day 4 comes to an end. Players are bagging their chips.
533 players advance to Day 5.
American amateur Sam Swalem, an AI and cybersecurity specialist, leads the way with 3,800,000. Artur Martirosyan is third with 3,495,000, and Arman Bezhanyan (Russia) is ninth with 3,100,000.
The four winners of previous Main Events continue to compete:
- Hossein Ensan – 2,580,000
- Greg Raymer – 535,000
- Ryan Riess – 455,000
- Michael Mizrachi – 440,000
The big names in order are:
- Alex Foxen – 1,695,000
- Masato Yokosawa – 1,545,000
- Shawn Winter – 1,525,000
- Shaun Deeb – 1,500,000
- Tony Dunst – 1,245,000.
The survivors with shorter stacks are:
- Martin Zamani – 545,000
- David Peters – 430,000
- Patrick Leonard – 295,000
