2026 WSOP Main Event Begins: Day 1a & 1b Highlights

The WSOP Main Event is accelerating slowly and with dignity, like a very old locomotive hauling a very long train.

On Day 1a, only 772 people sat at tables that were hoping to accommodate 10,000 players after all four starting days. There was no crowding, and it was easy to get things done during the break without standing in lines. With a few extra days of rest to spare, it was a great way to get started!

The only downside was felt by 229 players, whose hopes were crushed that day, while almost everyone around them hadn't even started yet.

Last year, Day 1a attracted 923 participants, so the drop was significant – 16.4%. It looks very unlikely that this year's Main Event will reach 10,000 after all.

Ryuta Nakai amassed a large stack from the start. The top Japanese horse racing betting reg maintained his momentum throughout the entire 10-hour period, ending the day as the chip leader with 323,000 chips. Another Japanese player, Masato Yokosawa, also made it into the top 10 with 221,800.

Which names are worth noting out of over five hundred players?

• Scott Seiver bagged 177,700.
• Aleksejs Ponakovs doubled his stack to 93,000.
• Chris Brewer ended the day with 106,700.
• Farah Galfond closed Day 1a with 92,700.
• Annette Obrestad ended the day with 44,200.
• Samantha Abernathy closed out Day 1a with 47,500.
• Faraz Jaka survived with a short stack of 23,500.
• Brian Rast held on to a healthy stack of 119,100.

Helmut arrived at the tournament dressed as a superhero, flanked by his son and Jungleman.

Never one to shy away from bragging rights, Scott Seiver took to Twitter to brag about doubling his starting stack in a single hand in a situation he thought few people could have managed.

Normally don’t make chip update posts but I full doubled first orbit of the main event in a spot I think almost no one else gets the full stack.

Hijack 500 cutoff call, I make it 3k button AKo. Both call.

two hearts.

Cutoff leads 10k.

I’m convinced both my hand is good and he will call off his whole stack now, so I just rip all 60k he calls . Turn was so I assume any other action gets him to shut down on that turn.

Sarcasm was instantly seen in the replies.

Scotty definitely deserved it, and not just for the hand he described. On that same first level, he played this pot:

Eli Schneider raised to 500 from early position, and Johannes Straver called in the middle.

Sarkis Akopian (a Russian player well known from old WSOP broadcasts) squeezed to 2,000 from the hijack.

Seiver cold-called in the big blind with . However, when Schneider four-bet 16,000, knocking out Straver but getting called by Akopian, Scotty hesitated for a moment and folded.

On the flop of , Schneider drove Akopian all-in, and his aces beat the Russian's nines.

At the very end of the day, Seiver made another difficult fold, throwing away his top pair to a big river raise:

Tony Dunst ended the day with a comfortable 105,000 and shared the following giveaway on Twitter:

Bagged 105K from 60K starting in the Main last night. Fun table, every pot multi-way to the flop. Here’s our hand of the day:

I raise in early and get three callers, including a loose older guy on the button who turned too many hands into bluffs.

Flop , we all check to button, he bets, all three of us call.

Turn , everyone checks.

River and we check to button again. He hesitates and bets a little under half pot. I don’t think he’d check turn with or bet a for value, so I call quickly to discourage either player behind getting curious with a . They both fold, and the button has .

Back for more on Monday 🤞

At Phil Helmuth's table, the center of attention for the television crew, the most colorful character was a certain Anthony Meranda. A large, heavily tattooed man with a gold chain, he spoke exactly like Yondu Udonta, one of the Guardians of the Galaxy characters. Frankly, it would have been impossible to recognize him if he had the blue makeup on.

He managed to survive the first day with a stack of 53,700, and maybe he will show himself in one of the next days.

On Day 1b, which took place on the eve of US Independence Day, 1,038 players entered the game. 760 of them lasted until the end of the day.

The Brazilian with the resounding name Osmar Rockenbach had the most chips, with 286,900. Of the notable players in the top 10, the only ones worth a mention were Ali Eslami (256,200) and this year's bracelet winner, Japanese Shota Nakanishi (242,000).

While the tournament is slowly warming up and gaining momentum, with the prizes still far away, some completely unexpected faces are taking center stage on the television broadcasts. We'll share a few of our favorite moments from the second starting day.

Michael Mizrahi was supposed to be the main character at the main TV table, according to the directors' plan. However, a completely unknown Boris Vaynberg from Philadelphia attempted to steal his show.

With blinds at 200/400/400, Mizrachi opens from second position. raise to 900. Weinberg defends the BB with .

On the flop , Weinberg leads, Mizrachi raises to 3,200. Call.

On the turn Vaynberg check-calls a 5,500 bet.

On the river Vaynberg leads 3,500 into a pot of 19,800!

The sizing is too small, apparently designed to knock out some of Michael's flush draws, which beat jack-high. With the pair of eights, Mizrachi considers for a moment, but then confidently calls.

In the next hand, Michael opens from first position . Benvenuto in the hijack with responds with a 3-bet of 2,500.

“I don’t like folding,” says Mizrachi, calls and asks the dealer: “No jack!”

Flop (6,000):

"Right now, a jack probably wouldn't hurt. Check," says the champion.

Benvenuto bets 3,000 and gets called.

“Come on, jack, jack,” Michael asks.

Turn (12,000):

A check from Mizrahi. Benvenuto checks next, just in case.

River:

Mizrahi laughs.

"No, you definitely have a full house on aces or kings," he tells his opponent. "A doubled board is bad for me."

After showing his opponent his chips, Michael finally bets 6,000.

Benvenuto, pursing his lips, quickly makes a call and finds out that the jack helped his opponent after all.

Vaynberg, however, doesn't want to be remembered as a whipping boy. At the same 200/400/400 level, he opens on the hijack – raisijg to 1,000. Brush in the cutoff calls with , the rest pass.

On the flop , Weinberg continues with a bet of 800. The gloomy-looking neighbor with a very long beard, however, does not want to give up and calls with A-high.

Turn (4,600):

After some thought, Weinberg fires a second barrel, an overbet of 4,800. This bet size convinces Brush, and the open-ended straight draw with 93% equity is folded, prompting a polite look of surprise from Nick Schulman.

Only Mizrachi and Vaynberg allow themselves to open T9o from early positions at this table...

Another double barrel, and a sad Benvenuto throws away his flush draw.

Mizrachi three-bets light with against Brush. A cowed Brush, who just lost a decent-sized pot to Michael, where he had to fold top pair on the river (the fold was correct), doesn't even defend his .

In a virtual duel with Mizrachi, Weinberg strikes back: a light 4-bet with !

The opponent surrenders.

Soon everyone at the table will find out what style of poker the cunning Boris plays, and it will become a little more difficult for him to accumulate chips.

After Weinberg is called to account in several hands, a new face takes center stage. Meet Sarah Jackman!

In the final hand of the 300/500/500 level, Mizrachi raises to 1,200 from third position, with . In the big blind is a striking blonde of about forty, wearing pearls and dark glasses, with a sticker of some poker series and an outstanding charm.

She calls calmly.

Flop:

Sarah checks. Michael bets 1,500. Sarah quickly check-raises to 3,500.

“Good price,” Michael says and makes the call.

On the blank turn, Sarah bets 6,000, and Michael, after thinking for just a few seconds, announces a raise:

The timing is not the best!

With this all-in you have to fold, even if you won last year's Main Event.

Jackman, a card-smart player, is absolutely destroying the table at the 300/600/600 level, winning many small and medium pots, and then the poker gods decide to pit two new heroes against each other: Sarah has kings on the button, and Boris Weinberg has queens in the small blind!

Sarah raises to 1,300, Boris three-bets to 6,000, heartily! His opponent continues to play carefully and calls.

The flop comes with an ace. Boris makes a small continuation bet, about a quarter of the pot.

Sarah's instant counterattack seems a bit out of character for her:

Boris is embarrassed and folds after a while.

This bright young lady was noticed at the very beginning of the series, almost a month ago, by Allen Kessler, who asked on Twitter who this unknown celebrity was:

Attentive readers answered almost immediately:

But it was Boris Weinberg who was destined to end the day with the biggest stack at the table.

The great Greg Raymer appears at Michael Mizrachi's table and tells Jeff Platt what he remembers about the first day of the 2004 championship tournament:

"Everything was going great, I finished the day with a big stack. I doubled up in the second level, then won a few more big pots. The game was easy. Incidentally, at one point we had 11 players at the table! Matt Savage was the tournament director. The number of players showed up several times larger than the year before. We had to set up extra tables in the hallway. But the fireman came and demanded that it all be removed: 'This is a fire exit, you're blocking the passage. If you don't remove it, I have the right to close the entire building!'" Matt was faced with a choice: make 40 players substitutes or seat 11 players at the tables. Unsurprisingly, the latter was chosen.

Meanwhile, we were already complaining about the cramped conditions, because we were seated at the herd tables—for eight players. To accommodate three extra players, we all had to sit sideways, and we were still leaning against each other with our shoulders...

An open-raise from 98s, a slightly optimistic call from , Sarah on the button calls with , and Boris in the small blind asks how much to call, then calls. Raymer, closing the action, adds the necessary chips with . We won't blame him for that.

Raymer is the only one who misses the flop.

After the opener checks, Deitmer doesn't wait for his neighbors to help him and makes a big bet, defending a nearly hopeless hand. Sarah calls first with the nuts, and Boris calls, ending the action... or rather, turning it to a new page.

The last nine in the deck is sent out on the turn, and Boris takes the lead, perfectly understanding who he is dealing with.

Both Deitmer and Jackman call.

On the river, the wise Boris plays as if he can see his opponents' cards! He doesn't go all-in, as that would only give him Dietmer's 44,300, but he takes it from both players with a bet of 25,000 and gets two calls!

A huge pot puts him in the lead at the table.

Greg doesn't have time to really prove himself as a poker player for half a level and only ends up playing in another pot involving Weinberg. Boris, realizing that Raymer is seeing him for the first time and that he has a rather tight image after the super cooler, fires two barrels from the button on the board. Vaynberg's hand has nothing to do with the board – .

Preflop, Raymer called a raise in the small blind with , and called on the flop, but on the turn, he plays the way he would play against any normal and adequate person on the first day of the Main Event – he throws away a small pair like a hot potato.

There were no movie stars at the other tables, but there were plenty of people to look at there, too. For example, at the table where Esfandiari's stack was wilting, Jesse Green was delighting the audience.

This cheerful 3-bettor with AKs decides to just call.

On a flop that was bad for both of them, Green made a big bet of 3,500 chips, and his opponent couldn't stick around.

A hand later, the same Mera opens to 1,000 with a pair of eights, gets called by a neighbor with ATo, but Green squeezes to 3,000 with QJs in the hijack. Only Mera calls.

They deal the flop , Mera checks, and Green shows the richness of his poker arsenal with a check back.

On the turn, Mera tries to take the initiative...

...but folds to a charismatic raise.

At the 300/600/600 level, Green shows another facet of his talent.

He makes a massive preflop raise from first position to 2,200, and a slightly tilting Ndoja dives under those almost four big blinds with 97s.

On the flop, Green does something that probably 90% of players wouldn't do – he bets 3,000. Ndoha, confirming our diagnosis, calls.

From the turn onwards, Green checks. On the turn, Ndoja bets 8,000, on the river – 11,000.

Even Phil Ivey probably couldn't have won more in this hand.

Then, we get to see a typical almost-4bb raise from 72o, a standard continuation bet... and a win.

Who are you, Jesse Green? A lumberjack? A forklift operator? A truck driver?

No, he's a Republican senator from Iowa.

Finally, at the third TV table, which was supposed to star "Mr. 32" Nick Rigby, I would like to draw your attention to the performance of a certain Michael Kendall.

With a 200bb stack, he gets into a crash – kings against aces.

Kendall makes a quick, confident five-bet. His opponent painfully counts his chips, rechecks his cards, and finally, with almost trembling hands, calls. We see the flop.

Instant all-in and call, Kendall is left with just over 40 blinds.

And almost immediately the aces come to him.

Michael must be tilting when he open-raises them to almost 7bb from second position.

Rigby is eager to get in, but he makes a cautious fold. However, the intelligent Siegel has tens in the big blind and calls.

On a paired flop, Kendall overbet almost half of his remaining stack.

Mind games work!

Siegel thinks for a long time, but then announces all-in. Kendall doubles up. However, the tilt he's probably genuinely experiencing still lingers.

Without slowing down, he raises to 1,200 from the cutoff with , and Riley defends BB with . On the flop , Kendall bets 3,000, close to the pot, and Riley check-calls.

Turn – . Both check.

River...

Kendall bets 5,300.

Riley's in no rush to throw it out. The commentators are perplexed – is a hero call really coming?

But Riley goes all in! Kendall folds and looks very unhappy.

A round later, Rigby, famous for his wide ranges, opens from second position to 1,200, the careful Siegel 3-bets to 3,500 from middle position, and Kendall cold-bombs a 4-bet with AQo for barely a quarter of his stack.

Siegel moves all-in and Kendall calls without a second thought.

Almost 50 blinds are wiped out in an all-in, and Michael Kendall is eliminated just minutes before the end of the day.

World Series Classic!

Bonus! The final hand of the day presents Siegel with an interesting problem.

A min-raise from UTG by a big stack with 96o, a call from an unknown hand by the stubborn Riley, a call from Rigby with T6o (and who, I wonder, came up with the idea that in the last hand of the day no one fights back?) – and the Japanese Sugimoto sends his entire stack of 70 bb all-in!

What should Siegel do with the jacks?

He pauses for thought, but it's clear from his expression that he's already made up his mind. He doesn't need this adventure! Pass – tomorrow is a new day! Winning the WSOP Main Event on the first day, as we all know, is impossible, but losing is very easy.

And losing is very unprofitable.