The 2026 World Series of Poker saw the Main Event Day 5 start with 533 players at the 10k/20k/20k level. The TV-table heroes are the same: 1) Alex Foxen (and a bit of Brian Hastings, though he plays very tight and passively), 2) Michael Mizrachi, 3) Shaun Deeb and Hossein Ensan.
Right at the start, former chip leader Martin Zamani is eliminated. The cameras don't find him at the tables, but they do spot him laughing hysterically somewhere in the room.
"He's handling the exit well," comments Maria Ho.
Former Main Event finalist Cannuli plays an unusual but extremely effective line — raise preflop, check flop, check turn, raise river:
Allan Sanier, who for some reason had put out this blocking bet, folds. Later, after seeing the hand on tape, he draws his conclusions and radically changes his strategy — losing almost all respect for his opponents' raises.
Hastings is no longer a winner! We get 3-bet by a loose, active player with less than 30bb in our stack — and we fold AQo without hesitation! That's no way to earn draft points!
At the end of the broadcast's first hour, he finally waits for AKo, gets it in against two nines for 22 blinds, and leaves the tournament with dignity.
Shaun Deeb puts pressure on Ensan with blockers:
Three players saw the flop from the big blind, and Deeb checked. The turn was checked too. On the river, Ensan disguises his hand strength well, and when he bets 110,000 after two checks, Deeb is unlikely to put him on a straight. But who knows?
Ensan thinks for a long time, then for some reason says "Good luck" — and makes the call!
Ralph Perry opens AJo from early position and gets three-bet by the lady in the hijack. The veteran four-bets almost half his stack, unexpectedly showing off his strength...
...so much so that his opponent openly folds two queens.
Yes, people make mistakes in the Main Event, but these are unpredictable mistakes.
The RNG doesn't have any easy answers for Ramona Paladino today.
She makes the call and quickly calls off her remaining 8 blinds on the river .
Pads all-in preflop with against .
A true top reg has to take full advantage of even such a small edge.
Patrick makes a flush and doubles up just in time.
Having left Deeb with less than a million, the film crew lost track of him for a long time.
When they found him again, he already had over 5 million. How it happened is anyone's guess. Deeb himself wrote sparingly, seizing the chance to whine: he won a coin flip, and now he can't play TORSE, so he's doing terribly in the Player of the Year race.
"What's stopping you from multi-tabling?" readers asked.
"Share swaps," Deeb answered honestly.
The second shift of the stream starts at the 15k/30k/30k level, where Alex Foxen has 1,755,000 and Michael Mizrachi has 1,195,000.
Artur Martirosyan has 1,060,000.
Artur Martirosyan:
Things were going badly, so I lost most of my stack. I tried to remember which pots, but a lot of small-to-medium coolers piled up, and one bluff didn't work for 1 million chips. Quite unexpectedly, the guy called three barrels and my river shove with top pair. I was sure I'd knock him out; I thought for 5 minutes, as if deciding at the last moment — no luck.
Sanier raises with to 60,000 from first position. The talkative Paul Guilbault — remembered for his story about how he'd almost saved up for his daughter's upcoming wedding, but wouldn't refuse an extra prize-money boost to avoid dying in poverty — finds himself in the small blind with. and 3-bets them 170,000.
The stack depths are 1.5 million for Guilbault, over five million for Sanier. Perhaps because of the difference in chip counts, Sanier decides to play a slightly unconventional game: he four-bets to 325,000.
Gilbo quickly gives up on the 50+ blind all-in and calls.
Flop (710,000):
A boring, conservative hand scenario: a small continuation bet and call, then checks to the end, as everyone is afraid the opponent holds an ace. Sanier makes the first move and bets 150,000.
What happens next comes as a complete surprise to everyone.
Gilbo makes a small, almost testing check-raise.
Sanier responds by moving all-in!
Gilbo slaps his palm on the table and folds his cards. He's clearly pleased with himself — he raised to knock out the kings if he had the chance, confirmed he was definitely beat, and preserved some semblance of a stack.
Let's play on!
Foxen calls with deuces against a lojack raise from a player with about 25 big blinds. Limit specialist Ryan Miller also calls in the big blind.
Foxen flops a set, but on a board with three clubs.
After the blinds check, Hasenburger continuation-bets 55,000. Foxen immediately reraises to 160,000. Miller watches this activity with some concern, and here's why:
After much hesitation, Miller calls. Hasenburger calls too.
Turn (690,000):
The SPR against each opponent is around 1. It seems Foxen will have a hard time holding on to his chips here. Yet he checks — and keeps a close eye on Miller!
Miller, having committed all his chips, moves all-in.
Hasenburger folds, and Foxen starts inventing value for his opponent that he beats.
In the commentary booth, Schulman narrows Miller's range down to a bunch of flushes, 55, K5s, and K2s. Against that range, Foxen has 26% equity — clearly not enough. If you add just a few hands like an ace with a card to the wheel, it gets closer... but even in chipEV it's not quite enough to call, though the difference is only a couple of percent. Calculating all this precisely in your head is quite difficult; you have to go by general feel.
Foxen's agonizing deliberation ends with an attempt to get his opponent talking:
"Do you really have a flush? What worries me most is whether you have . Because I hit that hand..."
I don't know what Alex spots on Miller's face — a face not used to all-ins...
...but he calls almost immediately after that.
River – .
Foxen is left with 29 big blinds. Not a disaster, but a mistake here would probably have been far more frustrating for him.
Mizrachi in the small blind calls under a raise with . On the flop , everyone checks.
The turn is a . With 4-high and a combo draw, Michael bets a third of the pot, both opponents call.
River:
Michael bets 180,000. Rand folds and Puri says:
"Just call" — and from that, Michael understands he's lost the pot.
Mizrachi raises to 60,000 from the button with . Lara Eisenberg, the former women's world champion, calls in the small blind. Fragoso calls in the big blind.
Flop (210,000):
Michael gets two checks and checks behind.
Turn (210,000):
Two checks again, and now Mizrachi bets 140,000. Eisenberg calls. Fragoso folds.
And now it seems that's it. The flush is only backdoor, the board unpaired. Eisenberg checks for the third time. Michael double-checks his cards and bets 500,000. His opponent moves all-in.
"I have a flush, I call," Michael says — and immediately gets the bad news. For the second time in a row!
It's worth adding that Lara Eisenberg has completed over 4,500 parachute jumps and was part of a 2006 collective world record.
Mizrachi moves all-in for 200,000 with two fours after Tarango's min-raise. In the big blind, Hossein Ensan four-bets all-in with AKo. Tarango folds AQo.
Two fours is Mizrachi's favorite hand, and he points out to his colleagues that even the suits on his shoulder tattoo match the cards he was dealt.
Only small cards are placed on the table, and Michael doubles up.
On the next hand, Ensan 3-bets an early open with a suited ace, and Mizrachi moves all-in.
Ensan is pot-committed and calls, though not right away. Michael doubles again. Another epic comeback is in the works.
The next pot has Mizrahi again. With , he 3-bet against the short-stacked Tarango, who called and got it all in with fours.
On the flop, , Michael sends the chips in, and the fours win. The champion has 15 blinds again.
Ralph Perry 3-bets jacks against Hustler Casino Live regular Francisco Fragoso and gets flatted after a 4-bet
Perry calls.
Flop (1,275,000):
Fragoso continuation bets 500,000, leaving 1.2 million behind. This convinces Perry, and he folds.
Foxen makes a standard all-in move from the button with a stack under 10bb, but the timing turns out to be extremely unfortunate.
Moldovan regular Dan "FatFrumos" Stavila 3-bets to 905,000 and calls Miller's all-in.
Foxen has 11% and can barely even make a straight. Stavila wins the all-in.
"I'm disappointed, of course. The play at the table was just crazy — some crazy players, a lot of unusual lines. I made a couple of mistakes. I'll learn from them, what can I do? I'm already looking forward to the next attempt," Foxen said in an interview.
Sannier continues to drive people crazy: call preflop, call flop, raise turn!
Mighall calls.
River – .
Flush and double gutshot get there for . The SPR is a little under 1. It must be obvious to Sanier that the queen is no good, and indeed he moves all-in.
"A call is practically impossible — all the bluffs have already been made," says Schulman. "Except, of course, the one right in front of us."
Mighall gives up.
At other tables, former world champions Ryan Riess and Greg Raymer are eliminated almost simultaneously.
Mizrachi defends K7o in the big blind. He flops top pair and check-raises. However, his intelligent-looking opponent three-bets the flop...
Michael takes his entire stack in hand and looks like he's about to move over the line, but something in his opponent's demeanor holds him back.
After a while, the floor is called to the table — the champion is taking too long, and it's time to start the clock. In the final seconds of the countdown, he folds.
Mizrachi goes all-in for the last 9 bb with .
He gets called by Fragoso with , but just when it seems like Grinder's stock is on the rise again, it's Hossein Ensan's turn.
Michael can't survive the all-in.
The 2025 champion is left drawing dead on the turn and is eliminated from the tournament.
"One of the most legendary players of all time," Schulman says, seeing him off. "Good game, sir!"
Around the same time, Artur Martirosyan and Josh Arieh are eliminated.
Artur Martirosyan:
Unfortunately, the American spot didn't work out — I busted. They just dealt me a brutal cooler. Everything was fine, the table was fine, I played well. A couple of coolers got dealt, and at one point I had 1.5 million left. There was an early raise, then a call. I called 54s in the big blind. The flop was 954 rainbow. I bet 150k into 375k, he called. I had 500k left. He'd fold or call. It was clear we only lost to one combination — two nines. The turn was a 6, and a flush draw came in. I shoved 980k into a 1.4 million pot. He called: two nines. It was unpleasant, but what could I do? GG.
Sannier continues to interpret opponents' raises as an indicator of weakness:
Mighall makes a tough call and is rewarded by seeing an eight "in the window" — the first card of the flop. On the turn the board pairs, and Mighall, as Ali Nejad puts it, finds himself defenestrated.
At the table without stars, some truly street poker begins.
Raise with 74o, min-3-bet with A3o...
"All-in," Eliday says, his tongue slurring.
The broadcast's infographic even credits him with a fold at first — apparently someone simply couldn't bring himself to press the all-in button.
Givens folds and Eliday shows him his cards.
The men are having a great time on Day 5 of the WSOP Main Event!
Nick Schulman advises every viewer to learn the rules of no-limit hold'em and play this tournament once a year.
Givens decides to clear his head and steps out of the tournament area for a bit. With a stack of 7.5 million, he can afford a short break.
Eliday re-raises Dheeraj Sharma, the owner of 15 McDonald's restaurants, all-in. Sharma calls for over 30 big blinds with ATo. He's right.
Having won the all-in, Sharma suddenly lets out a mighty roar that fills the vast tournament hall. It's nerve-wracking, calling bluffers to account!
Derek Walters continues to tweet his ICM stack estimates daily. Heading into Day 5, his 1,700,000 stack was worth $186,348 by his calculations. Eliday's prize was $57,500.
Givens, back from his walk and having managed to knock out one of the short stacks, tries to steal the pot with a strange almost-miniraise on the river.
Givens, back from his walk and having managed to knock out one of the short stacks, tries to steal a pot with a strange almost-min-raise on the river.
It seems that if his hand were what he's supposed to be representing, it'd be a full house — but it's a shame to waste the chips.
Sharma makes the call and accepts another expensive gift.
"Givens showed incredible courage! An unprecedented level of everything!" Schulman no longer even bothers choosing his words.
In a quick interview with Jeff Platt, Givens says he views the tournament as a freeroll, because he'd been banned by Caesars and never expected to be able to play WSOP events. A law firm helped him challenge the multi-year ban he'd received over an incident with a security guard during a baccarat game. Givens describes himself as a high-stakes Omaha player and often talks about energy and vibrations.
Short stack Watkins defends the big blind with 98o and check-raises his opponent's continuation bet with a two-way hand.
Shaw 3-bets 420,000!
Watkins thinks for a long time, but there's no turning back—if he calls on all streets, he'll have enough equity even with just eight live outs. So he moves all-in.
Shaw blushes visibly and, after carefully counting his chips, folds.
This concludes Day 5 of the World Series. 174 players advance to Day 6. The top three players include two players with the last name Liu! American Liu Zhao leads the way with an incredible 10,150,000, while China's Liu Xingyu is third with 9,040,000.
