button in Safari888poker WSOP Documentary Part 5: The Bubble
Online poker giant 888poker has released the penultimate episode of its 2026 WSOP documentary. Only two of the 888poker team, Aaron Barone and Lucia Navarro, advanced from Day 2 and remain in contention to become poker's world champion.
Barone's Day 3 began with him unbagging 237,000 chips, or 95 big blinds, on Table 167. Only two of his opponents, Mrityunjay Jha (283,000) and Abelardo Palomares (241,500) had more chips than Barone at the start of play.
Navarro's day started on Table 533. She unbagged 130,000 chips, or 52 big blinds. Like her teammate, only two of her opponents, Shawn Daniels (282,000) and Daniel Brunnmayr (133,000) had deeper stacks than the Spaniard.
Both players discussed some key hands they were involved in, but most importantly, both Barone and Navarro punched their Day 4 tickets as the money bubble loomed with only seven more eliminations required for the 888poker duo to be in the money.
Barone finished the daily grind with 524,000 chips (66 big blinds) but would have to contend with the likes of John Monnette (436,000) and Gary Hasson (129,000) at the start of Day 4.
Navarro finished with 314,000 chips (39 big blinds). Her starting table on Day 4 would be tough, mostly because the two largest stacks were seated to her immediate left, including Michael Banducci, who had a colossal 933,000 stack (117 big blinds).
The video resumes on the stone bubble, meaning only one more player needed to bust for Barone and Navarro to cash in the 2026 WSOP Main Event. The bubble finally burst when ace-king lost a coinflip against pocket fives. Now it was time to play poker and build a stack that could carry the 888poker ambassadors toward the final table and that $10 million top prize.
Unfortunately for Navarro, her 2026 WSOP Main Event run ended on Day 4. Down to around 20 big blinds, she was all-in with pocket nines against the king-queen of clubs. That king-queen flopped a queen on a draw-heavy flop before improving to a flush on the river. Navarro fell in 1,007th place for a $17,500 score.
Things went much better for Barone, who bagged up 785,000 chips at the close of play. Barone had been his table's chip leader around the bubble and used his covering stack to bully his opponents. That strategy was curtailed a little when a player with four times as many chips as he sat down to his immediate right.
"I don't really have any expectations for tomorrow," Barone said. "I hope to get a couple of ladders, maybe make Day 6? You know, that is the whole gear here, to go one day deeper."
Part 6 of this documentary, the final episode, is released on September 11; we cannot wait!
