2026 WSOP Main Event: Sasha Liu Tops Counts With Money Bubble in Sight

By Mrinal Gujare

09 Jul 2026

Mrinal Gujare 09 Jul 2026

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1,389 players left, Sasha Liu leads with 2.36M chips
Money bubble to burst after 7 more eliminations on Day 4
Multiple former champions still in contention for $10M prize

The 2026 WSOP Main Event field narrowed to 1,389 players on Day 3, leaving just seven eliminations until the money bubble bursts. Sasha Liu holds the chip lead with 2,364,000, while several former champions remain in contention for the prize pool.

The most important and richest live poker tournament of the year has all but reached the money stage. The remaining field is closing in on a piece of the gargantuan $85,634,400 prize pool in what has officially become the fourth largest World Series of Poker Main Event in history.

Out of an original field of 9,208 entries, only 1,389 hopefuls remain. Almost all of them will claim at least a $15,000 min-cash for their efforts. However, the official money bubble will have to wait for the start of Day 4 on Thursday, July 9, with just seven more eliminations to go before the paying spots are secured.

Pot-Limit Omaha cash game crusher Sasha Liu entered Event #82: $10,000 WSOP Main Event NLH World Championship like a wrecking ball. After late-registering at the start of Day 2, she reached more than six starting stacks within the very first level of play.

By the dinner break on Day 3, she had already accumulated a seven-figure stack. She then more than doubled that figure to finish the night with an astonishing 2,364,000 in chips, surpassing Martin Zamani (1,963,000) to claim the overall lead on the leaderboard.

Levon Khachatryan, who finished runner-up to Eelis Pärssinen in Event #47: $25,000 High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha for a career-best score of $1,440,680 earlier this summer, finished the night with the third-largest stack of 1,745,000. Other notable players at the top of the chip counts include Zdenek Zizka (1,576,000) and Will Givens (1,540,000).

After surviving their respective opening flights and the two Day 2s, a total of 3,294 players returned to their seats at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas. Hundreds of tournament hopes vanished across five levels of play. Some players exited quietly, while others left with a mighty scream or a bang on the table in disgust when Lady Luck had other plans.

Sasha Liu Sets the Pace

Prior to the dinner break, two of live poker's most polarizing figures were sent to the rail without anything to show for their efforts.

Will Kassouf bowed out in a flip holding pocket sixes against the king-queen of Kevin Killeen, where the Irishman rivered an ace-high flush to silence Kassouf well before the money. Phil Hellmuth followed soon after when his flopped flush draw failed to get there.

That elimination left only his son, Nicholas Hellmuth (53,000), still in contention, as his other son, Phil Hellmuth III, shared the same fate by hitting the rail.

In the penultimate level of the night, British mixed-game specialist and nine-time WSOP bracelet winner Benny Glaser ran into pocket aces and could not pull a rabbit out of the hat, missing out on the money.

Former Champions and Notables Advance

Another former WSOP Main Event champion fared much better. Hossein Ensan ground his way above half a million in chips after a slow start, then knocked out three players in as many minutes to reach seven figures.

Meanwhile, defending champion Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi took the spotlight on the main feature table, running his stack up to over 1.2 million in his usual aggressive style.

Even a temporary setback with ace-king against pocket queens when his opponent made quads could not stop him, as he still finished the night with an above-average 615,000.

Other former champions still in contention include John Cynn (927,000), Ryan Riess (431,000), Joe Hachem (353,000), Greg Raymer (326,000), and Chris Moneymaker (221,000). They are joined by GGPoker WSOP Main Event online winner Stoyan Madanzhiev (499,000).

The always dangerous Alex Foxen bagged up 839,000 on the other live stream table, closely followed by Pedro Neves (811,000). Chino Rheem (588,000) headlined the third table in the arena, where Mark Lacoste (1,147,000) and Callum Roque (1,025,000) were the only chip millionaires among them.

Shaun Deeb won a big flip prior to the dinner break and nearly crossed seven figures to end the night with 938,000 in chips, further increasing his chances of defending his WSOP Player of the Year title.

The Bubble Looms for Day 4

The final break commenced fewer than 150 spots away from the $15,000 min-cash. History repeated itself from last year's edition when the money bubble loomed but did not pop at the end of Day 3.

The tournament floor announced to the entire room that play would end for the evening, meaning the money bubble would not burst on Wednesday night.

Eliminations kept pouring in until the hard stop. Among the last casualties of the evening were Simon Wilson and Michael Kamran, who were both knocked out by Francisco Mateo and his pocket kings.

With 1,389 players remaining and 1,382 spots set to be paid, the hand-for-hand play is expected to kick in right away when Day 4 recommences at 11 a.m. local time at Paris Hotel Las Vegas.

The re-commencing blinds will be 4,000-8,000 with a big blind ante of 8,000, and the chip average sits nearly 50 big blinds deep.

The eventual champion of the Main Event will walk away with a first place prize of $10,000,000, while the 9th place finisher will secure $1,000,000.

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