Main Event Day 7 has come and gone at the 2026 WSOP. The final table, as a reminder, will be played for three more days in early August.
Blinds and antes began at 100k/200k/200k.
Deeb, Ensan, and the chip leader Gaston were at one table.
At another table, Belekhov is joined by Todd Brunson, along with no-limit regulars Galliano and Pantaleo and big stack Liu Zhao.
At the rarely seen third table are Ralph Perry, a Finn with the beautiful surname Saaskilahti, drafted Brock Wilson and big-stacked American Blake Baruss.
Pads still manages to dodge the cameras.
The main topic of the day on poker Twitter was the sudden introduction of time banks on all streets. Their use wasn't specifically covered in the rules, but yesterday's 15-minute stall by Loren Klein was the final straw, and the organizers decided to force everyone to play faster.
The decision sparked a storm of criticism.
Some suggested tournament participants sue the WSOP. Others simply railed, pointing out that speeding up the game is a terrible blow to amateurs and a huge gift to professionals, especially high-roller tournament regulars. Daniel Zak even called the decision "tragic" and added that "the blame lies entirely with the series management." A petition calling for Jack Effel's firing was launched (yeah, right).
Patrick Leonard tweeted, saying the shot clocks worked in his favor, but not for the amateurs:
"The amateur players were extremely thrown off, these are amateurs who have never played with shot clocks before, they didn’t understand them properly. People are coming from all parts of the country from all kinds of cardrooms. To throw them into the deep end like that with ZERO notice was very daunting for them and have a huge advantage for the pros who are used to them and don’t really need to think about them."
He summed them up as "A truly terrible rule in what’s been an extraordinarily bizarre WSOP."
There's certainly some truth to this. The game moved faster, but it's unclear whether it was worth it. And, as Chris Brewer rightly noted, long deliberations in critical situations add drama. To abandon them so easily is clearly an ill-considered decision.
At the very start of the day, the last woman is knocked out.
Congya Zhang... Becoming the best in China at anything is a gigantic achievement, and she's the strongest Chinese woman in the GPI rankings. Her deep run was clearly no accident. But it, too, has come to an end.
Patrick Leonard says he's found himself in the fairy tale he's been dreaming about since he was 16.
Deeb raises from middle position, Vaziri defends the big blind. On the flop , Deeb makes a standard continuation bet and Vaziri suddenly check-raises all-in!
The turn, the river, and Vaziri is no longer in the main. He bids everyone a warm farewell, even hugging some. The atmosphere is surprisingly friendly.
Belekhov opens AKo and gets 3-bet.
It's convenient to play with his stack – all-in.
The opponent quickly folds.
In the next hand, he shows AJs and makes a continuation bet against one opponent, but Todd Brunson outbids him on the flop and check-raises him to take the pot.
A coin flip features one of the Weisses, who co-authored the wildest hand of Day 6.
“I wish everyone the best of luck,” says Jeffrey, leaving the tournament area looking as if a heavy weight had just been lifted from his shoulders.
"Is this the Jay we watched play in the High Roller tournament?" David Williams suddenly realizes.
"The Oika brothers—Soika and Boyko? Yes, that's him, of course," Stapleton confirms.
– Yeah. So a very strong player, top-high roller level. Got it...
And then the stream crashes. It won't be restored. Everyone who wants to keep watching moves over to the Winamax channel, where the picture quality is worse, the background noise is much quieter, and the commentary is in French. Nothing but downsides — but it works.
Gaston sits in direct position on Givens, but loses every hand to him.
On the flop , the self-described pot-limit Omaha regular bets. Gaston calls.
The turn is a . There is 3,900,000 in the pot. Givens goes all-in – 8,350,000 for Gaston. And the Vegas attorney is forced to lay down his arms.
Givens continues to hit the boards with any cards he holds.
After this hand he moves into second place in the chip counts.
But he doesn't stop there and three-bets from the small blind on the next hand with T8o. His opponent doesn't even want to see a flop — he folds and heads to the break. And Givens goes to the rail and, overcome with emotion, yells something to his friends in the crowd.
There are 49 players left.
New level – 125k/250k/250k.
Artūras Astrauskas immediately jams against Gaston, and his sevens hold up against the American's overcards. The former chip leader's stack is cut to 4.7 million in just one level — under 20 big blinds!
But then the upward climb begins.
All-in preflop. The turn and river don't change anything.
Astrauskas gets the rest of his stack in with Q9s against Shaun Deeb's AJo, hits a flush draw, but doesn't improve any further.
Another one bites the dust. 49th place earns the Lithuanian $180,000.
Givens raises late, and Soika defends his big blind.
The commentators are discussing whether to just raise or go all-in, but Igor calls.
Turn (2,075,000):
Solid. Givens bets 800,000 into the check, Igor pays.
River (3,675,000, effective stack 1.4 million):
Igor checks, Givens checks back.
Well, they both did their best.
Short stack Sachin Joshi opens the pot with a 2 million raise, leaving 475k behind. Soika has AQs on the button and moves all-in. Joshi's stack is about half that. He thinks for as long as his time-bank cards allow, even though a call is obvious and a pay jump isn't even in play. Momentum, I suppose.
Finally, the chips go in.
A perfectly safe flop, leaving Joshi with one out. He won't be called.
Igor Soika with chips and in position on Givens? Couldn't have asked for anything better.
Meanwhile, at another table, Vladimir Belekhov is eliminated. We're not given any details.
Gaston raises from the cutoff. Jay with calls on the BB.
Flop (1,375,000):
Gaston bets 350,000. Igor check-raises to 1,125,000! His opponent calls.
Turn (3,625,000):
Brutal.
Gaston calls.
River (5,325,000):
Igor starts using up the time banks so common in high roller tournaments. Then he block bets – 1,600,000.
Gaston, fortunately for us, simply calls – he also had a difficult morning, seeing ghosts everywhere.
Igor has 4,375,000 left.
Gaston opens – 500,000. On BB Galiana, a Spanish regular with an unconventional playing style.
He has – a 3-bet of 1,800,000 follows. Both players have comfortable stacks, but Gaston suddenly loses his desire to play poker. He pushes his cards away with a sad smile.
Ensan makes the call.
River (5,275,000):
Givens plays big sizings with any hand, but he's holding off on bluffs on the river for now. Check-check, and Ensan rakes in the chips.
Getting to know the big stack. Blake Barousse 3-bets from the small blind with 640. Brock Wilson calls with and flops trips – .
Barousse checks, and Wilson checks back.
Turn (4,100,000):
Baruss bets 1,300,000. Wilson, of course, simply calls, waiting a decent amount of time so as not to look too strong.
River (6,700,000):
Baruss gives up – check and fold for 3.3 million.
We see Todd Brunson in a slightly absurd spectacle.
The Bulgarian player folds with sevens. The flop is a seven, the turn is a king, and the river is a jack.
Ralph Perry raises from UTG with . Briton Thomas Clack makes the call in the cutoff with The rest fold.
Flop (1,950,000):
Perry bets 525,000 and Clack calls.
Turn (3,000,000):
Perry checks. Clack bets 2,000,000. Perry calls.
River (7,000,000):
A long-range flush comes in. Perry checks a second time. Clack shows considerable greed and moves all-in, forcing his opponent to commit his stack.
Perry holds a blocker to the flush and to the nut straight. What is it — a great bluff-catcher? He burns several time banks and calls!
The average stack at the start of the hand... its ICM value was $876,000; the prize collected was $215,000.
The legendary limit-poker specialist and longtime regular of the big game in Bobby's Room leaves the Main Event, and Clack instantly becomes the new chip leader.
Jay moves all-in for 1,550,000 — under 10bb. He has and Ensan calls on the button with .
The flop brings an eight and only one black card.
A double-up. And the lunch break.
Blinds 150k/150k/300k.
Pads, with a stack under 10 big blinds, picks up kings and gets all-in against nines. The river is a nine — but it also gives Patrick a flush. Smiling guiltily, he pushes his chips in; he's now up to 5 million.
Soika, the shortest stack at the main TV table with 10 blinds, started the round with 72o and 73o, but now he's dealt AKo in first position and moves all-in. Ensan re-raises from the hijack — he also has AKo. The suits don't overlap, so each has a 2% chance of winning.
The hand is a draw on the flop.
The second playable hand brings Igor a double up.
Liu Zhao raises to 625,000 from the hijack and Cade Lautenbacher calls in the small blind.
On the flop Liu continuation bets 450,000. Lautenbacher check-raises to 1,400,000 and Liu calls.
Turn – . Lautenbacher overbets to 4,500,000! Liu calls again.
River – . Lautenbacher moves all-in! He needs to call for 10,125,000, and Liu does so quite quickly. He has a set of queens – and his opponent was bluffing with . And his opponent was bluffing with [cards] — a cooler of sorts, it turns out! Raise the flop with a gutshot and a flush blocker, barrel the turn with a straight, barrel the river with a flush.
This is the largest pot in the tournament so far.
Liu continues to be lucky as the first prize winner.
They got it all in preflop; the aces held.
Givens makes his living playing hard-fought hands — raises, continuation bets, double barrels — and the board doesn't always matter. He plays fairly well against players like Shaun Deeb, but he crushes his weaker opponents mercilessly.
The opponent folds. And then watches the stream. Sees the cards. And learns...
Dennis Carlson three-bets Todd Brunson. Brunson calls and, seeing a small continuation bet on a small flop, puts his opponent all-in.
This time the turn and river are merciful to Brunson – he wins the all-in and eliminates another amateur.
Shaun Deeb raises in first position , and Igor Soyka, with a microstack makes a call.
Flop (1,650,000):
Check – check.
Turn (1,650,000):
Igor bets 400,000. Sean calls.
River (2,450,000):
Igor has 1.4 million in his stack. After some thought and losing one time bank, he goes all-in.
Deeb narrows his eyes and says:
"Dude, that's really scary. I can't imagine you pushing during a pay jump without a hand."
Well — he's read the situation correctly; all that's left is to fold. But that's exactly what Deeb can't bring himself to do. Perhaps he talked himself into a call, reasoning that his opponent might not shove a weak ace against a UTG open. He calls, and Igor doubles up with .
"We all make calls like that sometimes, Sean," Givens says patronizingly. "We're people, not robots."
Tyler Gaston is eliminated in 37th place. It was a very bad day for him.
Here he got it all in on the flop, but on the turn he seemed to have lost hope of winning. The river came , and the Spanish player celebrated the success.
How terribly things are running for Igor Soika! He's barely lifted his head when another blow lands.
It's impossible not to jam blind-vs-blind, even against a fairly tight Cypriot. Igor sadly shakes his head and even briefly takes off his glasses.
The board is dealt — — and the jack plays.
Evagoras Evagorou deserved it, too: earlier he'd gotten all-in on the flop with against the of Antonio Galiana, but the pot had to be split due to a shared straight.
Igor loses all-in with against . Galiani is leaving the main event. One of the three strongest regulars in the top 50 couldn't handle the headwind, despite doing everything in his power. He's in 35th place.
A terribly funny discussion between Deeb and Givens about who is the stronger poker player. Unfortunately, it's impossible to quote because the French commentators constantly drown out the players with their chatter. The English-language stream dropped early in the day and never recovered. Overall, the organizers completely botched the series broadcasts, even though they've mastered this art even in such a conservative sport as chess.
32nd, had the time of my life. Thanks for everybody that was part of the journey, you know who you are 🫂
Patrick Leonard's last hand was against the of Berkeley Yuan. Good flop, but an ace on the turn. $265,000.
American Lucas Jumalon makes a continuation bet of 600,000. Having defended the big blind, Deeb immediately check-raises to 2,400,000! Jumalon calls.
Turn (10,000,000):
Deeb continues the attack — 4,200,000. Jumalon keeps calling — what else can he do?
River (15,400,000):
Anything could be out there on a card like that. Deeb checks. Jumalon resists the urge to protect his 14 million or to try turning something stronger into a bluff using blockers to the nuts — though that's more of an Omaha idea than a hold'em one. He burns the time bank, says something to his opponent, and checks.
Deeb rakes in the chips with a smile.
Todd Brunson raises to 900,000 from the cutoff. China's Tianle Wang three-bets to 2,200,000 from the button. He doesn't know that Brunson's ranges are position-inelastic!
Brunson 4-bets to 3,900,000.
Wang 5-bets to 6,000,000.
Brunson moves all-in.
Wang keeps 6,150,000 and folds. He tried so hard. How strange that it didn't work.
Overall, in this tournament — despite a slow structure that should ideally reward the patient — most players act as if they're rushing to a fire. If both a call and a raise make sense postflop, a raise almost always follows. A gutshot with an overcard; an overcard and a backdoor flush draw; a pair and a nut-flush blocker — all of it's in play. Preflop, every range widens: open-raising, calling, 3-betting, 4-betting... there's far more creativity. Not every unusual hand makes it into the report, or its length could easily double.
Blinds 250k/500k/500k. New tables after the redraw. Greg Mueller, with 13.5 million, limps from the cutoff. Saaskilahti completes the small blind. Short-stacked Tropp in the big blind thinks long and hard and finally raises to 1,800,000.
"All-in!" Mueller perks up.
His kings get no action. The Finn has 74s, and Tropp has A4o in the big blind. Both quickly fold, leaving Tropp with just 10 blinds. He'll soon lose a preflop all-in and say goodbye to his three-table colleagues.
Pantaleo defends the big blind with J8s and calls a flop continuation bet on an ace-eight board. The turn checks through, and on the river Pantaleo, holding second pair, carefully check-calls a small bet of 1.8 million.
Regulars are very reluctant to part with their chips at this stage!
The delicate balance between "don't get too tight" and "don't go crazy" can probably only be acquired with experience. Ensan holds it brilliantly. Even Deeb, perhaps, is a notch below him in this regard. But at the final level, Hossein cracks too. It seems the time banks are wearing down even the most resilient players. The hands grow more and more passive. And now Ensan open-folds A4o from the hijack — something he hasn't done in a long time!
Lucas Jumalon stirs things up at the table a little. Liu Zhao raises to 1,100,000 from middle position with . Jumalon 3-bet in the cutoff with . The opponent calls.
On the flop , Jumalon continuation bets 1,200,000. He gets called, and both players check the turn .
On the river , Liu bets 3,200,000, but Jumalon responds with a raise to 10,000,000. And it almost works – Liu thinks for over a minute and clearly has a hard time parting with his tens.
Triple all-in!
The board comes small, Karakaya wins, and Pantaleo (who once made the EPT Barcelona final table with Konstantin Puchkov!) makes a spectacular exit. Two short-stacked Germans become one medium-stacked one!
The last Japanese player leaves the main event at the three-table stage. This happens in a dramatic all-in preflop:
River blank.
Nagami should basically only play the World Series Main Events — two years ago he already finished 21st here...
Cypriot Evagorou started out playing pretty tight, but after watching what was going on around him, he shifted to increasingly loose calldowns — until he finally played this hand.
Liu Zhao raises to 1,200,000 from the small blind. Evagorou three-bets to 4,000,000, and Liu calls.
Flop , check check.
Turn – Liu, as a big stack, bets 2,200,000, and his opponent calls.
River – . Liu bets 8,000,000.
Evagorou thinks for about a minute and calls with absolutely nothing!!
The Cypriot has 33,100,000; Liu Zhao is down to 27,550,000.
Jumalon raises to 1,000,000 from middle position. Liu defends the big blind.
On the flop , Jumalon bets 800,000, Liu calls. The turn comes and Jumalon bets 2,300,000. Liu calls again.
River (8,750,000):
Jumalon bets 8,200,000!
Liu thinks for a long time and makes a call, and 22-year-old Jumalon shows him the nut straight to the roar of the crowd: .
Liu Zhao has just over 10 million left. He made the call with .
Then we get an interview with Givens as he steps out of the tournament hall, and when the director cuts back to the table, it turns out Liu is already all-in! He shoved Q9o from the cutoff for 16.5 big blinds, and Jumalon found AKs in the small blind.
Two aces on the flop! And Liu Zhao goes from chip leader to pauper in the span of three hands... so to speak. His prize is $325,000.
This concludes the day's play.
21 players advance to the final day.
Full chip count at the end of Day 7:
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Malcolm Trayner | 63,200,000 |
| 2 | Rami Hammoud | 41,500,000 |
| 3 | Lucas Jumalon | 40,800,000 |
| 4 | Evagoras Evagorou | 38,200,000 |
| 5 | Will Givens | 31,700,000 |
| 6 | Shaun Deeb | 31,300,000 |
| 7 | Tolga Karakaya | 30,000,000 |
| 8 | Hossein Ensan | 29,700,000 |
| 9 | Thomas Clack | 27,500,000 |
| 10 | Antonio Galiana | 27,200,000 |
| 11 | Mario Boos | 24,300,000 |
| 12 | Han Feng | 24,000,000 |
| 13 | Daniel Savas | 21,300,000 |
| 14 | Michael Gagliano | 19,300,000 |
| 15 | Jamie Shaevel | 17,100,000 |
| 16 | Romain Lewis | 15,800,000 |
| 17 | Lauri Saaskilahti | 15,600,000 |
| 18 | Brock Wilson | 13,600,000 |
| 19 | Greg Mueller | 13,200,000 |
| 20 | Dylan Smith | 9,600,000 |
| 21 | Todd Brunson | 7,800,000 |
