Wednesday, June 17, 2026
HomePoker News2026 WSOP Day 22: Second Bullet Success for Negreanu in $25k PLO

2026 WSOP Day 22: Second Bullet Success for Negreanu in $25k PLO

Daniel Negreanu

Three bracelet winners were crowned, but plenty more action was going on elsewhere on Day 22 of the 2026 World Series of Poker.

It was another action-packed day at The Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, with Justin Smith defeating an enormous 16,269-player field to win the Colossus and Daniel Aharoni winning his first bracelet in the $10,000 Big O Championship.

Lastly, Eddie Blumenthal denied Nikolai Fal a second bracelet heads-up in Event #45: $2,500 Mixed Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo.

Let’s take a look at some of the other action taking place at the WSOP today.

Negreanu Among Survivors After Second Flight in $25,000 PLO High Roller

Daniel Negreanu
Daniel Negreanu

After 27 players out of 105 entries advanced through Day 1a of Event #47: $25,000 High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha at the 2026 World Series of Poker, those who failed to bag in the first flight were given a second chance on Day 1b at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.

Despite an early elimination on the very first hand of his first bullet, Daniel Negreanu enjoyed a much better run on his second entry, bagging 789,000.

He sits inside the top 10, with the second flight drawing more than twice as many entries as Day 1a, with 224 entries recorded after ten levels of play, bringing the total field to 329 entries. Just 83 players secured a spot for Day 2, with Youness Barakat leading the way.

Event #46: $25,000 PLO High Roller Day 1b Top 10 Chip Counts

Rank Player Country Chip Count Big Blinds
1 Youness Barakat Italy 1,675,000 419
2 Philip Marsico United States 1,570,000 393
3 David Benyamine France 1,209,000 302
4 Robert Cowen United Kingdom 1,026,000 257
5 Richard Gryko United Kingdom 800,000 200
6 Chenxiang Miao China 795,000 199
7 Daniel Negreanu Canada 789,000 197
8 Zachary Grech United States 786,000 197
9 Maximilian Schindler United States 761,000 190
10 Biao Ding China 754,000 189

Play is set to resume Wednesday, June 17, at noon local time, with blinds at 3,000/6,000 and a 6,000 big blind ante. Late registration remains open until the end of Level 12 (approximately 2:15 p.m.), and the bubble is expected to burst during the ten 60-minute levels scheduled for Day 2.

Big Names Left in $10,000 Razz Championship

Calvin Anderson
Calvin Anderson

There’s a familiar name leading the way in Event #48: $10,000 Razz Championship. Calvin Anderson who also ended Day 1 with the chip lead, bagged the overall chip lead on Day 2 as well, having already won this event in 2018.

Just eight players remain, with bracelet winner Eric Rodawig and former German Soccer pro and poker enthusiast Max Kruse rounding out the top three.

Event #48: $10,000 Razz Championship Final Table Chip Counts

Rank Player Country Chip Count Big Bets
1 Calvin Anderson United States 1,885,000 24
2 Eric Rodawig United States 1,865,000 23
3 Max Kruse Germany 1,505,000 19
4 Philip Sternheimer United Kingdom 1,380,000 17
5 Tobias Leknes Norway 1,125,000 14
6 Yuval Bronshtein Israel 625,000 8
7 Todd Dakake United States 590,000 7
8 Shane Littlefield United States 325,000 4

Everyone remaining has already secured a payout of at least $36,395 from the $1,441,500 prize pool, but players are sure to be gunning for the $357,026 and coveted gold bracelet awaiting the champion.

Bracelet Winners Advance in Second Seniors Starting Flight

Carol Fuchs
Carol Fuchs

There were plenty of bracelet winners advancing from Day 1b in the Seniors Championship.

While Andrew Rosen bagged the chip lead, and is the only player above 300,000 in chips, a slew of former winners will return for Day 2 on Wednesday including Joseph Roh (261,000), Steve Jelinek (251,000), Carol Fuchs (240,000), Farzad Bonyadi (229,000), David Bach (115,000), David Pham (94,500), Gary Benson (74,000), Ivo Donev (68,000) and Humberto Brenes (40,500).

$1,500 Seniors Championship Day 1b Top 10 Chip Counts

Rank Player Country Chip Count
1 Andrew Rosen United States 363,000
2 Gary Jbara United States 296,500
3 Jeffrey Ayars United States 293,000
4 James Traber United States 287,500
5 Tommy O’Rourke Ireland 286,000
6 Lee Bagby United States 283,300
7 Jeffrey Moyer United States 282,500
8 James Suruki United States 280,000
9 Jill Pike United States 275,000
10 Josef Gulas Czechia 274,000

Day 2b is scheduled to shuffle up and deal at 11:00 a.m. local time on June 17. Players return on Level 11, meaning blinds are 1,000/2,000 with a 2,000 big blind ante. The field combines on June 18 for Day 3, with cards in the air at 11:00 a.m.

Agaev Leads Seniors Day 2a Survivors into Day 3

Adam Agaev
Adam Agaev

Meanwhile, the survivors from Day 1a returned today and played down so that just 105 remain. They will have a day’s rest before returning for Day 3 on Thursday.

Adam Agaev leads the pack, having finished 12th in the $777 Lucky 7s last year. He was one of only two players, along with Scott Ruegsegger, to bag over two million in chips.

$1,000 Seniors Championship Day 2a Top 10 Chip Counts

Rank Player Country Chip Count
1 Adam Agaev United States 2,190,000
2 Scott Ruegsegger United States 2,150,000
3 Bryan Hyden United States 1,710,000
4 Fred Goldberg United States 1,645,000
5 Sergii Karpov Ukraine 1,635,000
6 Terry Goins United States 1,630,000
7 David Berman United States 1,540,000
8 Manfred Wolf Germany 1,540,000
9 Blakely Purvis United States 1,415,000
10 Matthew Yorra United States 1,405,000

Other notables through to Day 3 include Matt Glantz (625,000), Main Event final tablist John Wasnock (410,000), and Karina Jett (380,000).

$2,500 Freezeout Sees Slew of Stars on Day 1

Tom Hall

From a field of 1,561, just 274 players remain after Day 1 of Event #49: $2,500 Freezeout, and there is plenty of star power near the top of the counts.

James Goldblatt (780,000) may be the clear chip leader, but five bracelet winners feature in the top 10, including Tom Hall (635,000) and Faraz Jaka (482,000), as well as 25k Fantasy Draft picks Marco Johnson (490,000) and Christian Roberts (452,000).

Event #49: $2,500 Freezeout Day 1 Top 10 Chip Counts

Rank Player Country Chip Count Big Blinds
1 James Goldblatt United States 780,000 130
2 Gerald Stogner United States 646,000 108
3 Tom Hall United Kingdom 635,000 106
4 Honghao Zhang China 510,000 85
5 John Ypma United States 495,000 83
6 Marco Johnson United States 490,000 82
7 Faraz Jaka United States 482,000 80
8 Alexander Condon United States 460,000 77
9 Scott Drobes United States 457,000 76
10 Christian Roberts United States 452,000 75

What to Expect on Day 23 of the 2026 WSOP

WSOP Branding 2026

For the first time in over a week, just a single winner will be crowned on Wednesday as the $10,000 Razz Championship crowns its winner.

That’s because the Millionaire Maker gets underway at 10 a.m. with the first of four starting flights. Similar to other events, including the Colossus and Senior Championship, this event will have corresponding Day 2 flights, before the field combines for Day 3 on Monday, June 22.

Speaking of the Senior Championship, Day 2b in that one gets underway at 11:00 a.m. There are also Day 2s in the $25,000 PLO with the survivors from its two starting flights combining for the first time at 12 p.m., and the $2,500 Freezeout, which gets underway an hour later at 1 p.m.

Two new events starting are Event #51: $10,000 Mystery Bounty and Event #52: $3,000 9-Game, with cards in the air for those ones at 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. respectively. Live reporting of both events will start on Thursday, June 18.

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Will Shillibier

Will Shillibier

Managing Editor

Based in the United Kingdom, Will started working for PokerNews as a freelance live reporter in 2015 and joined the full-time staff in 2019. He now works as Managing Editor.

He graduated from the University of Kent in 2017 with a B.A. in German. He also holds an NCTJ Diploma in Sports Journalism.

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