Hunter Campbell from the button was tangled in a pot with Zachary Hirst from the big blind.
On the Q♣10♣4♣ flop, HIrst had check-raised a bet from Campbell, who called to create a pot of roughly 175,000.
The turn brought the 7♦ as Hirst jammed for his final 165,000, sending Campbell into the tank. After a minute or so, he called with the covering stack to put Hirst at risk.
Zachary Hirst: Q♦J♥
Hunter Campbell: A♠A♣
The table traded some looks of confusion after Campbell took so long to call with aces and the nut flush draw. The 9♦ fell on the river, and a frustrated Hirst was sent to the rail.
Jarod Minghini opened to 22,000 in the cutoff before Anthony Maldonado moved all in for his final 36,000 on the button. In the small blind, Brian Paneth four-bet to 111,000. With the action back on Minghini, he jammed for 316,000, and Paneth called.
Anthony Maldonado: Q♠J♥
Jarod Minghini: K♥K♦
Brian Paneth: A♥Q♦
Minghini was in a great spot to more than double his stack as the 9♥6♦3♣ flop offered no help to any player. The board ran out 6♥7♦, leaving the kings best for Minghini as Maldonado was sent to the rail.
Heads-up to a flop of 6♠5♥4♠ in a single-raised pot, Keith Pomonis bet 26,000 from middle position before Jared Jaffee check-raised to 83,000. Pomonis then jammed for 314,000 and Jaffee called as the covering stack.
Keith Pomonis: 8♣7♣
Jared Jaffee: 7♥6♥
Pomonis flopped the nut straight while Jaffee had top pair with an open-ender and backdoor flush draw.
The J♦ turn left Jaffee drawing to just a chop, but the 3♦ river secure the full double for Pomonis.
On a flop of J♣9♣2♦, Angel Quezada bet 20,000 from under the gun before Steven Jones check-raised to 80,000 from the big blind. Quezada then moved all in for his 265,000 stack, and Jones snapped it off as the covering stack.
Angel Quezada: K♠K♣
Steven Jones: 10♣7♣
Quezada was ahead with his overpair against the gutshot and flush draw of Jones. The board ran out 6♦10♦, and the kings remained best to secure the full double.
Over the past four days, a total of 4,018 entries made their way to the Talking Stick Resort for the 2026 Arizona State Poker Championship. This record-breaking turnout generated a prize pool of $4,018,000.
There were a total of 483 bags, but after the double bags are removed, there are 469 players who will return at 10:15 a.m. this morning for Day 2 action.
Toby Price holds a commanding lead atop the overall leaderboard with 1,868,000, while a total of 12 players enter the day over the seven-figure threshold.
Start of Day 2 Top 15 Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
1
Toby Price
United States
1,868,000
2
Gregory Brown
United States
1,354,000
3
Andrew Crookston
United States
1,278,000
4
Jean Gaspard
United States
1,200,000
5
Erik Gault
United States
1,169,000
6
Jacob McDonald
United States
1,150,000
7
Nicholas Julia
United States
1,138,000
8
Hunter Campbell
United States
1,116,000
9
Peter Fox
United States
1,106,000
10
Vinny Tran
United States
1,050,000
11
Deepa Shah
Canada
1,041,000
12
Pedro Salomao
United States
1,041,000
13
Sahib Purewal
United States
993,000
14
Sang Ha
United States
949,000
15
Rashawn Curry
United States
928,000
Nicholas Julia
Gregory Brown (1,354,000) and Andrew Crookston (1,278,000) round out the podium while WSOP Bracelet winners Jean "Prince" Gaspard (1,200,000) and Nicholas Julia (1,138,000) also return with healthy stacks. Defending champion Brandon Mitchell (390,000) will be looking to continue his bid at a repeat win.
Brandon Mitchell
Full chip counts and seat draw are available below.
Action gets back underway in Level 16 with blinds of 4,000/8,000. Levels are 60 minutes in length on Day 2.
The plan for the day is to play 12 60-minute levels or until 12% of the returning field remains (57 players), whichever comes first.
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Stay tuned to PokerNews for updates from the 2026 Arizona State Poker Championship as we play down from 469 to 57 players in the quest for the $627,050 first-place prize.
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