The PokerNews DeepStack Championship returns to the World Series of Poker from July 1–4 at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.
If you’re dreaming of winning a WSOP bracelet without a five-figure bankroll, this is your shot. The $600 buy-in event offers a deep 30,000-chip starting stack, a Main Event-style structure, and one re-entry. Day 1 levels are 40 minutes; Days 2–4 move to 60 minutes.
Last year’s event saw 5,110 entries and a $2.6 million prize pool. Hector Berry won the bracelet and $282,876.
Register in person at the WSOP main registration area or skip the lines with the WSOP+ app.
Want to win a seat? Enter the daily $200/$250/$400 DeepStacks between May 27 and June 30. The PokerNews DeepStack Challenge leaderboard awards 10 seats each week—50 in total.
This summer at the WSOP, the PokerNews Deepstack Challenge gives everyday grinders a chance to shine. Play well in the daily $200, $250, $400 Deepstack events, rack up leaderboard points, and you could win a free seat to the $600 PokerNews Deepstack Championship.
Last year, eight leaderboard qualifiers made it count, not only earning their way into the Championship, but cashing in it too.
From first-timers to bracelet winners, here’s a look at the players who turned a daily grind into a WSOP payday.
Raymond Chiu
Raymond Chiu
Finished 254th for $1,743
Topped the Week 1 leaderboard
Chiu came out swinging, winning back-to-back daily Deepstacks and rode that momentum into the Championship. He was the first qualifier to lock up a seat and one of the first to cash.
William Plitz
William Plitz
Finished 142nd for $2,458
Week 1 – 2nd place on the leaderboard
Plitz’s run started with a win in the May 30 daily, which also happened to be his biggest live score ever ($6,475). He backed it up with another deep run in the Championship. Safe to say he made the most of the PNDC.
Georgios Skarparis
Georgios Skarparis
Finished 468th for $1,261
Week 1 – 9th on the leaderboard
With $1.45 million in live earnings and a WSOP Mini Main title to his name, Skarparis is no stranger to success. Even with all that experience, he still came out for the daily Deepstacks and cashed again in the Championship.
Kenny Hsiung
Kenny Hsiung
Finished 71st for $4,432
Week 3 – 6th place
Hsiung, who won a WSOP bracelet in 2012, proved he’s still got the chops. He was the highest-finishing leaderboard qualifier in the Championship.
Michael Lin
Michael Lin
Finished 673rd for $1,201
Week 3 – 10th on the leaderboard
Lin made the final table of the 2022 Deepstack Championship, and while this year’s run didn’t go quite as far, he still bagged another cash. A quiet, consistent presence on the felt.
Artur Stepanyan
Artur Stepanyan
Finished 289th for $1,743
Week 4 – 8th place
A breakout moment for Stepanyan, who turned a top-10 finish in Week 4 into a solid run in the Championship. It was only his second ever WSOP cash, not bad for someone still early in their WSOP journey.
Michael Beattie
Michael Beattie
Finished 224th for $1,936
Week 4 – 9th place
Beattie has over $300K in live earnings and knows how to find a payday. He added another cash prize to the pile from the PokerNews Deepstack Championship.
Hsing-Hsiung Tai
Finished 464th for $1,261
Week 4 – 10th place
No big headlines or flashy scores, just a solid grind from Tai, who turned his final qualifying spot into a Championship cash.
The fourth week of the PokerNews Deepstack Challenge came to a close on Monday, June 23, with three champions emerging from another busy day of deepstack action inside the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.
More than 2,000 players turned out across the $250, $400, and $200 events, pushing the total prize pools past $440,000. For Duy Ho, Oscar Avellaneda, and Megan Chapman, the day ended with trophies, payouts, and major career highlights as the summer series heads into its final week.
$250 Deepstack
Duy Ho knows what it takes to succeed at the PNDC. The Hawaiin poker pro topped the Week 2 leaderboard in last year’s PokerNews Deepstack Challenge and added another impressive victory to his summer campaign by taking down Monday’s $250 Deepstack for $33,406. Ho navigated a huge 1,216-player field and a stacked final table to secure the win, further building on a résumé that includes over $1.1 million in career live earnings.
The final table was no walkover, with experienced players and recreational hopefuls alike battling for the $243,200 prize pool. Joseph Caliendo finished runner-up for $23,697, while Dannette Mason secured third for $17,098. Daniel Robles, Javier Martinez, and Raul Gutierrez also made deep runs.
Final Table Results
Place
Player
Prize
1
Duy Ho
$33,406
2
Joseph Caliendo
$23,697
3
Dannette Mason
$17,098
4
Daniel Robles
$12,500
5
Javier Martinez
$9,260
6
Raul Gutierrez
$6,953
7
Matthew Berry
$5,293
8
Jongseo Kim
$4,085
9
Alessandro Predaroli
$3,198
$400 Deepstack
It was a breakthrough moment for Orange County’s Oscar Avellaneda, who outlasted a 413-entry field to win the $400 Deepstack for a career-best $25,320. The 38-year-old DJ and sports reporter had just over $8,700 in recorded live cashes coming into the day, but walked away with his first significant tournament victory after besting a field full of experienced grinders and rising amateurs.
Avellaneda’s victory capped off a hard-fought final table that saw Michael Gilbert finish second for $17,516, while Nikhil Gera locked up third for $12,352. Other notables included Renyong Hu (4th - $8,869) and Naushad Ali (5th - $6,487), but it was Avellaneda’s day to shine as he captured the title and smashed his previous career earnings total in the process.
Final Table Results
Place
Player
Prize
1
Oscar Avellaneda
$25,320
2
Michael Gilbert
$17,516
3
Nikhil Gera
$12,352
4
Renyong Hu
$8,869
5
Naushad Ali
$6,487
6
Travis Graeme Endersby
$4,835
7
Laurel Moran
$3,673
8
Andrew Stevens
$2,845
9
Albyn Bello
$2,248
$200 Deepstack
Megan Chapman
Megan Chapman continued her steady rise on the poker scene with a win in Monday’s $200 Deepstack, earning $11,669 after outlasting 403 entries. The 25-year-old from Chattanooga, Tennessee, has been building momentum throughout the summer, and this marked the second-largest cash of her career.
Chapman, who now has over $130,000 in live earnings, held her nerve at a competitive final table that included Mike Rizk (2nd - $7,944) and Japan’s Naoya Morozumi (3rd - $5,533). With this victory, Chapman adds her name to the growing list of PNDC champions as the summer-long series enters its final chapter.
The PokerNews Deepstack Challenge keeps getting bigger, and Week 4 proved it. Over seven packed days of action, players turned out in record numbers, with 13,281 total entries and $2.85 million in prize pools, making it the busiest and richest week of the series so far. That brings the summer’s overall tally to more than 40,000 entries, $8.6 million in prize pools, and close to $1.5 million awarded just in first-place payouts.
Leading the way this week was a familiar name. Hawaii’s Duy Ho, the 2024 Week 2 PNDC leaderboard champion, added another title to his resume after racking up five cashes, including a win in Monday’s $250 Deepstack. Ho’s victory came against a 1,216-player field, good for $33,406, and capped off a week that saw him pile up 1,328 leaderboard points — enough to finish comfortably on top.
Florida’s Brent Hoover wasn’t far behind. He made three cashes across the week, highlighted by a career-best $35,158 score in Thursday’s $250 event, finishing second in the standings with 1,094 points. Joining him in the top three was Tao Qin, who mirrored Hoover’s results with a $400 victory on Tuesday and two more cashes to lock up 1,022 points.
Further down the leaderboard, it was a mix of international talent and familiar faces battling for spots in the $600 PokerNews Deepstack Championship. Dutch grinder Yoel Selles Meijer finished fourth with 934 points after winning Saturday’s $400, while India’s Sridhar Sangannagari claimed fifth after taking down Tuesday’s $200 event for nearly $12,000. Germany’s Martin Kritsch recorded the biggest single payout of the week, bagging $36,694 in Wednesday’s monster $250 Deepstack, which drew 1,388 entries.
New Jersey’s Jeremy Brown, who came second in the 2009 WPT Borgata Championship, added another trophy and crossed the $1 million mark in career earnings with his Friday win. Britton Purvis, Joseph Davidman, and Lithuania’s Tomas Geleziunas all found their way into the top ten, each riding strong finishes to lock up their Championship seats.
PNDC Week 4 Top Ten
Rank
Player
Points
1
Duy Ho
1328
2
Brent Hoover
1094
3
Tao Qin
1022
4
Yoel Selles Meijer
934
5
Sridhar Sangannagari
919
6
Martin Kritsch
909
7
Jeremy Brown
883
8
Britton Purvis
878
9
Joseph Davidman
865
10
Tomas Geleziunas
839
Week 4 PNDC Winners At a Glance
PokerNews Deepstack Coins
The week delivered 21 tournaments, non-stop poker action, and plenty of big storylines. Hoover’s career-best win, Sotiris Georgiou adding to his hot summer with another deep run, and Megan Chapman grabbing the second-largest score of her career in Monday’s $200 event were just some of the week’s highlights.
The $400 fields were tough as ever, with Liviu-Rodrig Bartha, Yoel Selles Meijer, and Oscar Avellaneda each finding the winner’s circle. On the $200 front, European grinders like Tomas Geleziunas and Douglas Ferreira stood out, while Abdullah Ahmad and Ediberto Pilotin celebrated their first known victories.
