The winner of this year’s $50,000 WSOP Poker Players Championship will be a first-time champion, unless Brian Rast wins.
That isn’t a prediction, it’s a fact. Rast, a three-time winner, was a bet away from elimination in the prestigious mixed games event Tuesday on Day 3, which would have left zero former champions still standing. None of the other former champs reached the money.
Day 3, which began at 1 p.m. PT, started with 39 of the original 108 players remaining. Rast, who won this event in 2011, 2016, and 2023, had the smallest stack with 107,000 chips. For comparison, Kristopher Tong entered the session with the chip lead at 2,428,000. So, it certainly wasn’t going to be easy for the Poker Hall of Famer to earn a fourth Poker Players Championship bracelet.
Rast earned an immediate double-up against Phil Hellmuth on Day 3, but still remained among the smallest stacks in the first couple of levels. That would all change a couple hours later.
Rough One for Poker Players Championship Champions
The Poker Players Championship began in 2006 as the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. and was won by the late great Chip Reese before it rebranded as the World Championship H.O.R.S.E. event the following year until becoming the PPC since 2010.
A total of 13 unique players have won the event, with Michael Mizrachi, the defending champion, holding the record with four titles. “The Grinder,” along with Elior Sion (2017) and Dan “Jungleman” Cates (2022 and 2023) were the three past winners eliminated on Day 1 in the freezeout event.
Daniel Negreanu (2024), who lost 80% of his stack 10 minutes into the Day 1 session before spinning it back up a bit, busted on Day 2, as did Phil Hui (2019). That left Rast as the lone remaining PPC winner still standing heading into Day 3.
Rast, as mentioned, came into play with barely above crumbs. But he went on a run a couple hours into the session and, at the time of publishing, had increased his stack to nearly 1.2 million, over 10 times where he began play.
The 2023 Poker Hall of Fame inductee, a seven-time bracelet winner, still isn’t guaranteed a cash. But he’s middle of the pack with 31 remaining, 17 of whom will be paid in what is widely considered the most important and prestigious mixed games tournament in the world.
Kristopher Tong, Maxx Coleman, and Benny Glaser have hovered around the top of the chip counts throughout the Day 3 session. Stay tuned to PokerNews for exclusive live reporting coverage until the Poker Players Championship concludes on Thursday.
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