Day 39 of the 2026 World Series of Poker (WSOP) fell on Friday, July 3.
The day’s tournaments played out in the wake event played out in the the wake of an astonishing Thursday in which Martin Kabrhel won won his sixth bracelet and Daniel Negreanu won his eighth.
Friday itself had plenty of highlights with Day 1b of the Main Event kicking off, Michael Mizrachi making an entrance to defend his Main Event title, and Jesse Lonis running deep in the Bomb Pot PLO event.
Additionally, two bracelets were awarded.
The first tournament to finish was Event #79: $3,000 Freezeout No-Limit Hold’em in which Asi Moshe won his fifth WSOP bracelet overall, but his first since retiring from playing poker professionally.
Alex Foxen came within a whisker of the bracelet in Event #80: $10,000 8-Game Mixed Championship , busting out in fifth place.
Dzmitry Urbanovich went on to win the event, the $431,260 first-place prize, and his first bracelet.
Mizrachi Enters Main Event To Defend His Title
Event #82: $10,000 WSOP Main Event NLH World Championship is building momentum with another 1,038 entries ponying up the $10,000 entry fee, according to the WSOPLive App. With the 772 entries from the day before, the field is now up to 1,810 entries in total for a current prize pool of $16,833,000.
Attrition on Day 1b of this, the most important live poker tournament of the year, was slow thanks to the 2-hour blind levels, so 760 players were able to bag their stacks for Day 2.
Osmar Rockenbach finished the day atop the leaderboard with 286,900 in chips. He was only a little way ahead of Michael Stembera who finished the day in second with 270,300. Behind them, Damarjai Davenport with 263,000 gives us the top three.
The top ten chip counts for the day also included bracelet winners Ali Eslami (256,200) and Shota Nakanishi (242,000) along with Cassandra Yong (224,300) who jumped into the top ten with a double up near the end of the day.
Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi (73,200) collected his ninth WSOP gold bracelet at a ceremony during the first break of the event before getting back to grinding. He finished the day on the feature table and where he was joined by fellow WSOP Main Event champion Greg “Fossilman” Raymer (122,300).
Some other notables who bagged include Nicholas Rigby (75,700), Kenny Hallaert (22,400), Malo Latinois (136,900), and Antonio Esfandiari, who finished the day at the other feature table with just 34,300 in chips to bag.
Day 1c, the penultimate starting flight, begins at 11:00 a.m. local time. There will be just one flight after that before Day 2abc launches on Monday.
The entry numbers are expected to be highest on Day 1d, and will continue to grow into Day 2, where late registration remains open for the first few hours.
Event #82: $10,000 WSOP Main Event NLH World Championship Top Ten Chip Counts for Day 1b
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Osmar Rockenbach | Brazil | 286,900 | 478 |
| 2 | Michael Stembera | United States | 270,300 | 451 |
| 3 | Damarjai Davenport | United States | 263,000 | 438 |
| 4 | William Watson | United States | 262,000 | 437 |
| 5 | Shawn Savage | United States | 261,500 | 436 |
| 6 | Ali Eslami | United States | 256,200 | 427 |
| 7 | Shota Nakanishi | Japan | 242,000 | 403 |
| 8 | Adam Matues | United States | 228,000 | 380 |
| 9 | Cassandra Yong | United Kingdom | 224,300 | 374 |
| 10 | Tomas Teran | Venezuela | 223,500 | 373 |
Which 2026 WSOP Main Event Players Make It Onto Your MyPlayers Feed?
Jess Lonis Near The Top In Bomb Pot PLO Event
Few poker variants are quite as out there as the version played in Event #83: $1,500 Double Board Bomb Pot Pot-Limit Omaha.
Jesse Lonis did well during the event’s Day 2 action, bomb potting his way to fourth in chips with 3,145,000 in his stack.
He is just behind Paul Fehlig (5,885,000), Julio Trimmer (4,500,000), and Daniel Walmsley (3,455,000) in first, second, and third respectively.
The event attracted 1,673 players for a prize pool of $2,220,907. This was more entries than expected, so the day ended with nineteen players still in contention instead of the anticipated five.
These 19 players will be back at 1:00 p.m. local time when the ante from each player will be 60,000. They will play down to a winner.
Event #83: $1,500 Double Board Bomb Pot Pot-Limit Omaha End of Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paul Fehlig | United States | 5,885,000 |
| 2 | Julio Trimmer | Mexico | 4,500,000 |
| 3 | Daniel Walmsley | Australia | 3,455,000 |
| 4 | Jesse Lonis | United States | 3,145,000 |
| 5 | Antoine Labat | France | 3,075,000 |
| 6 | Justin Fawcett | United States | 2,965,000 |
| 7 | Ali Sheikholeslami | United States | 2,745,000 |
| 8 | Jacob Fishbein | United States | 2,265,000 |
| 9 | Abdul Amer | United States | 1,930,000 |
| 10 | Christopher Amaral | United States | 1,810,000 |
Chip Counts From WSOPLive App.
Kamran Jamal Is The Day 1b Chip Leader in Summer Celebration
Event #81 was the $800 Summer Celebration. On Day 1b, 4,219 players bought into the event, bringing the total field to 6,804 entries and the total prize pool up to $4,762,100.
Kamran Jamal finished Day 1b with the flight’s chip lead. He heads up the 217 survivors along with Fabian Niederreiter (2,150,000) in second place and Yi Klassen (2,070,000) in third.
Some notables who made it through Day 1b include Andreas Frohli who finished in the top ten, Michael Moncek (1,410,000), Jason James (1,300,000), Bryan Schultz (1,215,000), Allan Le (700,000), Ilija Savevski (285,000), Femi Fashakin (225,000), and Justin Oliver (215,000).
A total of 341 players will return for the combined Day 2 field. Day 2 starts at 11:00 a.m. local time when play will resume with 20,000/40,000 blinds and a 40,000 big blind ante. The event is scheduled to play down to a winner.
Event #81: $800 Summer Celebration Day 1b Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kamran Jamal | United States | 2,200,000 | 55 |
| 2 | Fabian Niederreiter | Germany | 2,150,000 | 54 |
| 3 | Yi Klassen | United States | 2,070,000 | 52 |
| 4 | Naushad Ali | United States | 1,895,000 | 47 |
| 5 | Ozren Cvijanovic | Serbia | 1,735,000 | 43 |
| 6 | Ryan Southworth | – | 1,700,000 | 43 |
| 7 | Yijie Zhang | United States | 1,669,000 | 42 |
| 8 | Mauro Sosa | Argentina | 1,470,000 | 37 |
| 9 | William Steinmetz | United States | 1,460,000 | 37 |
| 10 | Andreas Frohli | Austria | 1,440,000 | 36 |
Chip counts according to WSOPLive App.
$600 Deepstack Ends Day With Five Players Left
A total of 5,177 entry fees went into the $2,609,208 prize pool of Event #78: $600 Deepstack Championship No-Limit Hold’em. By the end of Day 3, just five players remained in the action.
South African player Adriaan Jacobs bagged the chip lead with 67,200,000 in chips.
Lisa Tan was the last player eliminated. Hot off a deep run in the Ladies event where she took home 7th place, Tan was knocked out by Seong Han in the final stages of the day. Han currently has the second biggest chip stack with a nice round 30,000,000.
Paul Merlette, the final American, had a bag of 27,700,000, which put him in third place. The other two players at the final table will be Xingwei Chen (17,500,000) and Junichi Murakami (13,500,000).
These five players will return at 11:00 a.m. local time to play out the rest of the 300,000/600,000 bind level. They will then play down to a winner.
Event #78: $600 Deepstack Championship No-Limit Hold’em Final Table Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Adriaan Jacobs | South Africa | 67,200,000 | 112 |
| 2 | Seong Han | Korea, Republic of | 30,000,000 | 50 |
| 3 | Paul Merlette | United States | 27,700,000 | 46 |
| 4 | Xingwei Chen | China | 17,500,000 | 29 |
| 5 | Junichi Murakami | Japan | 13,500,000 | 23 |
Chip counts according to WSOPLive App.
$5,000 Super Turbo Get Extra Day For Final Table
Pete Chen leads the final table of Event #84: $5,000 Super Turbo Bounty No-Limit Hold’em, which will be returning at 3:00 p.m. local time.
The event was scheduled to start and finish on the same day, but the last few players of the 1,213-strong field hung in there until the tournament director called time.
With such a high turnout, the prize pool was $5,579,800. As a result, the winner is set to earn $593,601, not including bounties.
Chen has 23,825,000 in chips, more than double Najeem Ajez‘s 10,175,000 in second place. Behind them both is Yohwan Lim with 9,000,000.
Some notables who cashed in the event already include Erik Seidel (165th – $6,772), Martin Kabrhel (142nd – $6,772), Jennifer Harman (120th – $6,772), Artur Martirosian (110th – $7,111), John Juanda (106th – $7,111), Ryan Riess (97th – $7,633), and Kristen Foxen (91st – $7,633).
When play restarts at 3:00 p.m. local time, the blinds will be 200,000/400,000 with a 400,000 big blind ante.
Event #84: $5,000 Super Turbo Bounty No-Limit Hold’em Final Table Seat Draw
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pete Chen | Taiwan | 23,825,000 | 60 |
| 2 | Christian Harder | United States | 2,750,000 | 7 |
| 3 | Daniel Tafur | Spain | 2,725,000 | 7 |
| 5 | Gansukh Sandagsuren | Mongolia | 1,500,000 | 4 |
| 6 | Najeem Ajez | Australia | 10,175,000 | 25 |
| 7 | Endrit Geci | United Kingdom | 3,750,000 | 9 |
| 8 | Yohwan Lim | South Korea | 9,000,000 | 23 |
| 9 | Myles Mullaly | United States | 4,900,000 | 12 |
What to Expect on Day 40 of the 2026 WSOP
Day 40 of the 2026 WSOP falls on July 4, and so also marks 250 years since the United States declared its secession from the British Empire. The WSOP will see its own fireworks on the floor of Paris and Horseshoe Las Vegas with four events set to battle down to a bracelet while Day 1c of Event #82: $10,000 WSOP Main Event NLH World Championship begins.
The Main Event flight starts at 11:00 a.m. local time and is likely to dominate the headlines as well as the tournament floor.
The first of the bracelet events to shuffle up and deal Event #81: $800 Summer Celebration, which will be back for Day 2 at 11:00 a.m. Despite a remaining field of 341 players, the event is still going to play down to a winner.
The last five players in Event #78: $600 Deepstack Championship No-Limit Hold’em will also be back to work their way down to a bracelet. Their struggle to the end also begins at 11:00 a.m..
Event #83: $1,500 Double Board Bomb Pot Pot-Limit Omaha will be back, with the final 19 returning to play down to a winner. These 19 players will be back at 1:00 p.m. local time when the ante from each player will be 60,000 and will play down to a winner.
Event #84: $5,000 Super Turbo Bounty No-Limit Hold’em will return at 3:00 p.m. for its overflow day. The aim is to eventually get down to the winner.
There will also be a new two-day event kicking off: Event #85: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em. This straightforward hold’em event is scheduled for an early 10:00 a.m start.
You will be able to follow all of the action right here on PokerNews, where you can find highlights from the WSOP as well as live updates and event recaps.
