2026 WSOP Main Event: Day 3 Ends 7 Players From the Bubble

Before the start of Main Event Day 3, we studied the seating chart and saw that interesting tables are rare! Two well-known regulars are more often the exception than the rule. Of course, being unknown doesn't guarantee weakness, but... What a great field this 2026 WSOP Main Event is!

We singled out a table featuring Josh Arieh and JC Tran, keeping in mind the ESPN team's fondness for yesteryear's stars. During the first two levels, which aren't broadcast, this pair was joined by former Main Event champion Ryan Riess. The icing on the cake is an amateur from Osaka with the double chess surname Nakagiri.

The other table has Michael Mizrachi. He is a champion defending a title, provides action, and his table talk is usually humorous and friendly. The perfect TV table candidate!

And the third table? Jesse Lonis and Asia's leading poker vlogger, Masato Yokosawa! Not a bad choice.

Blinds 2k/4k, BB ante 4k, let's go!

Likul opens up from a lowjack with , but JC Tran raises it up with and gets called.

The flop favors Tran: . But, Likul is the one who sets the pace in this hand. He leads 12,000, a third of the pot, and Tran calls.

The turn is . There's 56,000 in the pot. Likul continues with his newfound flush draw for 18,000. Tran calls.

River (92,000):

Likul bets another 30,000. An easy call for JC, and he significantly strengthens his stack, crossing the 100bb mark.

Ryan Riess defends the big blind against Josh Arieh's early open. Riess has , and on the flop , he easily calls a continuation bet that is less than 20% of the pot. But, the second barrel is 19,000 into 32,000 on the turn .

This becomes too expensive for Ryan. Arie's hand is much weaker – , and it would be difficult to win at showdown with it.

We look at Mizrachi's table on the river, where Michael bets 28,000 into a 38,000 pot from the big blind. The board is , and Michael's hand doesn't have much to do with the board – . His opponent, Daigle, had two sevens under the gun.

The scenario was clear: Mizrachi called a preflop raise, the flop was checked, and then Michael went on the attack.

Daigle doesn't think long – call.

"That's my friend," Mizrahi points at him. Losing chips to a friend probably isn't such a big deal.

Arieh shows great intuition and simply calls. Nakagiri three-bets to 26,000 with and the others fold. Leo Worthington-Leese, a professional poker player from the UK, carefully studies the Japanese player, whose stack is just over 20 big blinds, and although he's a little worried about Arieh behind him, he moves all-in.

Arieh folds, and Nakagiri gets it all in in a typical tournament coin flip.

A text feed reports the latest news on Phil Hellmuth. He limps from the small blind. Chi Chen raises to 10,000 in the big blind, and Phil calls.

On the flop , Phil checks. Chen bets 8,000, and Phil check-shoves the remaining 67,000. His opponent calls with against Helmuth's .

The flush doesn't close, and Helmuth, wishing everyone good luck, leaves the tournament with dignity.

Jacques, a French-Canadian, enters the fray.

Tran calls.

Turn (50,000):

Tran checks, Jacques bets 17,000.

JC Tran is a great player!

Jacques folds to a check-raise.

Shaun Deeb's interview was fantastic. The first question was about Josh Arieh, who called Shaun a "complete idiot" for his approach to the World Series.

– I believe he believes what he says, but I also know what I believe. Obviously, I'm in, and I have 2x average stack... is Josh still in?

– Yes.

– Oh, he is? Okay. I'm shocked. Because he's so bad at No-Limit. Almost as bad as stud-8, triple draw, and single draw.

– So how do you view the Main Event now?

– I'm still checking the app, debating whether or not to play the Gladiator $300 or the PLO Bounty. Everything is multi-flight, but I definitely have considered multi-tabling on dinner break, or playing some other time. Why not?

– Helmuth is chirping at you a little bit now, right?

– He's just mad that because of his two sons, he's going to owe me $28,000. Nicks actually pretty short, so get the vultures out.

He moves the goalposts. Last year, he talked about how I didn't win Player of the Year because Benny won more bracelets and Grinder won more prestigious events. And now, all of a sudden, money is what matters. He just changes it based on what makes him seem more important compared to everyone else, and Phil can never win Player of the Year, and he can't win bracelets anymore, so he's very bitter.

An interesting pot where after three checks on the flop everyone has something.

Jaisingh bets 15,000. British online regular Benedict Cullen calls, and Mizrachi, after a brief hesitation, does the same.

River – . Poor Cullen, they dragged him into this pot.

Jaisingh checks. Cullen bets 40,000 into the 75,000 pot. Mizrachi, with the second nuts, nervously shuffles his chips, as if displeased, and raises to 140,000.

Jaisingh, of course, folds quickly, but Cullen also thinks for no more than ten seconds and makes a good fold.

In the next hand, Cullen has two tens in the small blind, but he gets a raise and two calls. Cullen calls. Four people see the flop.

On the flop , Cullen is in the lead. Of his opponents, only Arora hit the flop with , and he calls.

Turn – . Cullen makes a big bet, but Arora is unyielding – he calls.

On the river, the extra fiesta continues.

"I'm not saying you should go all-in, but it's definitely worth considering," says Schulman. "Representing two nines—and very realistically."

Arora stubbornly calls, and Cullen collects maximum value, increasing his stack to 680 thousand.

Benedict Cullen is the full namesake of a Palantir employee and one of the creators of AI Poker Arena, but despite their interest in poker, they seem to be different people.

Jacques' click-squeeze puzzles both his opponents and the commentators. But perhaps he simply knew the flop.

Jacques' magic continues—he checks. Everyone checks after him.

Surprise turn! Arieh reraises to 45,000. Jacques calls.

An unpredictable hand and unpredictable moves from the Canadian! He's leading 65,000.

Arieh smiles and calls.

Maybe Jacques knew the flop and the entire runout.

JC Tran defends the BB against an early raise and check-raises the paired flop! A bit of an old-fashioned play.

The raise sizing is very small and Zheng calls.

Turn (44,000):

Tran bets 15,000, hitting second pair. His opponent, with a gutshot and overcards, calls.

River (74,000):

JC checks. Zheng bets 40,000. Of course, he doesn't get paid.

Daigle is unlikely to put the champion on , so he silently reraises to 110,000, and Michael is forced to fold, but not before scanning his opponent with a long, reproachful look.

Mizrahi and Haoxing Tong are just going for the ram preflop!

Not a single red card until the very end, and Mizrachi wins the three hundred thousand pot with A-high!

When you bluff and get called by a worse hand, that's priceless.

New tables after the break!

1) with Chris Moneymaker. 370,000 at 3k/5k/5k blinds – Chris has nothing to worry about and can continue chatting with his neighbors about unrelated topics. Also playing is the eccentric German high-stakes regular and PLO Mastermind coach Christopher Frank.

2) With Kristen Foxen. She only has 114,000, and we see Fabian Quoss at the table. The closer to the money, the more Germans!

The third table remains with Mizrachi.

Somewhere in the vast sea of ​​tables, around 1700th place, Mike Matusow busts. The veteran waited for two queens, but Jacob Gagnon had kings, and thirty blinds aren't enough to avoid getting all-in with queens preflop.

Scott Seiver is eliminated a little later. There are no details about his case, but Scott's stack was quite short all day.

"What I like about our table is that everyone plays fast. No one wastes time," says Moneymaker.

– I don’t think about my actions at all,” Frank agrees.

– Yes, it is noticeable.

– You're awesome, Chris. I really enjoy playing with you," Frank says. "How old are you?"

– 50.

– Tell me, have you ever been 31 years old?

Between questions, Frank wins hand after hand – with AA, with QTo, with J5o...

Moneymaker defends the BB, checks the flop...

The turn is all-in, and the river is the ace of diamonds. Dramatic!

The stream's producers immediately remind everyone that the sense of déjà vu in this case is no accident:

Somehow, Krissy avoids preflop trouble—AQo with 18 blinds simply calls her raise.

A continuation bet of 13,000 on the flop allows Mrs. Foxen to take down the much-needed pot without a fight.

Mizrachi in the small blind calls a raise from the button with .

On the flop , the opponent micro-bets 1bb, or 5,000. Michael check-raises also very small – to 12,000. Call.

Having caught a king on the turn, Michael checks. Arora confidently takes his chips, but again chooses a rather modest sizing.

Mizrachi calls, and on the river makes an overbet of 125,000.

“It’s a scary card – be afraid,” he says to his opponent and laughs.

Arora thinks for a long time and nervously throws away his cards.

"Good fold, Arora!" Michael snapped, but didn't show his cards.

Mizrachi with in the small blind calls Cullen's raise.

Flop . Four people are watching. Cullen makes a continuation bet of 15,000, about a third of the pot, and gets two calls – from Arora on the button and from Mizrachi.

Turn:

Mizrachi seems to think about raising, but then calls. Callen folds.

Having made a straight, Mizrachi doesn't give his opponent a single chance to change his mind and drives him all-in.

Arora quickly calls.

Michael Mizrachi is getting outs with alarming frequency, of course.

He immediately begins to press.

Rock wisely calls, as the flop will likely show an ace and he can bounce back.

comes on the flop, on the turn, and on the river.

Mizrachi overbets 100,000!

Rock quickly calls.

Mizrahi continues to sweep away all the big pots.

The big stack is putting pressure on the approaches to the bubble.

Krissy calls the check-raise and the turn comes with an .

Sung checks smartly. Kristen has only 22 blinds, so she has very little room to maneuver... but she bets 26,000. Apparently, this is for protection.

Sung calls.

River – . The diamond draw gets there, so both check.

Foxen's stack is getting really short.

A heavy cooler in a 4-bet pot at the Mizrachi table. The man with the hidden cards, Roque, has .

Flop check – check.

Turn – . Roque checks a second time. Daigle bets 85,000, as if he's not particularly keen on building up the pot.

"Four kings?" Roque asks his opponent. He remains silent.

Rock calls.

However, the river is an .

There is 353,000 in the pot and the effective stack is 311,000.

"I'll probably have to fold to a donk all-in," says Nick Shulman. "It's almost like Omaha with very tight ranges. Anything other than a higher full or quads is simply impossible."

Roque leads with 150,000. It's smarter—it's easier to make a mistake against such a sizing. Daigle still seems convinced his hand is no good. However, after checking his cards several times and shaking his head, he makes a hopeless call.

Mizrachi spends the last half hour of the level in incredible godmode. He holds the effective nuts in every hand, and all he has to do is choose the optimal play. Having amassed over 1.1 million, Grinder gets it in preflop with against for over three hundred thousand—but then the luck suddenly turns off, and the opponent flops quads. And the runner-runner straight flush, strangest of all, doesn't come either.

Benny Glaser, with a 40bb stack, enters a war from the cutoff against the button. His 4-bet all-in with AJo runs into Michael McNicholas's aces, and Benny is eliminated from the Main Event before reaching the money.

1,519 players are starting the final level (3k/6k/6k). The prize pool is 1,382. The hands are starting to drag on – no one is in a hurry.

For the last two hours, the main TV table has been the one where Alex Foxen (909,000) and Alec Torelli (263,000) sit side by side.

Foxen immediately explains that he is not in the mood for jokes on the approach to the bubble.

Torelli folds.

Portuguese reg Pedro Neves opens 87s from the hijack. Torelli has two jacks on the button. Shulman is sure calling is the only option, but Alec decides to reraise. Neves calls.

On the flop and turn, Torelli continues with fairly large bets, Neves calls.

River – , and the Portuguese is leading with 85,000. Torelli has 147,000 behind him, and he can probably still call and fold until the money. Smart.

He says out loud. "I can't fold. Call."

Hmm.

Great hand from Neves. He defends the BB with a call, check-calls the flop, check-checks the turn, and the Portuguese player blocks the river.

Foxen moves to 63,000.

Neves 3-bet 190,000. Foxen thinks for a long time and calls.

"Wow!" someone at the table exclaims.

“I almost shoved,” Foxen tells his opponent in a slightly hoarse voice.

Mizrachi's continuation bet (yes, he opened , because he can, and the opponent didn't 3-bet ) suddenly encounters resistance.

Michael makes the call.

Turn (115,000):

It seems like this is the first time today that we see a setup that is not in Grinder's favor.

Yousefzadeh bets 40,000. Mizrachi calls.

River (195,000):

Yousefzadeh bets 40,000 again and Michael immediately calls and even shows his hand after his opponent shows an ace flush.

Alec Torelli is all-in preflop against another short stack.

A very exciting flop, but the turn brings a queen and the river brings a blank, and Alec is eliminated from the World Series Main Event.

The jokes on the bubble continue.

For some reason, both players check the turn.

River – There's 75,000 in the pot, the effective stack is 348,000, and Well, it's not nuts at all.

James bets 50,000.

“I should raise, but oh well,” Puri says and simply calls.

Nick Schulman is shocked.

Neves bets one and a half pot. Foxen is silently envious.

The Portuguese, however, still does not receive payment, but with commendable honesty, he tells his hand to his opponent who folded.

At the end, Foxen tries to play the main boss.

Neves calls, but on the flop , Alex takes the pot with a bet of 35,000.

1,389 people are packing their chips up. The best result of the day was Sasha Liu (USA) – 2,364,000.

At home, the short stacks will learn the exact stack sizes and understand whether they have a chance of folding to $15,000 or whether they need to be a little more decisive. Seven players will still miss the money.

Players with less than 30,000 chips:

Top 25 chip stacks at the end of Day 3: