button in SafariDefending Champion Michael Mizrachi Eliminated on Day 5 of WSOP Main Event; Shaun Deeb Set Up for Deep Run
Day 5 of the most prestigious poker tournament on earth, Event #82: $10,000 WSOP Main Event NLH World Championship of the 2026 World Series of Poker, is in the books.
After five levels of play at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, only 174 players of the original 9,208 remain, and, most notably, defending champion Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi is no longer among them.
Mizrachi’s quest to claim the $10,000,000 top prize two years in a row came to an end in 241st place, netting him $50,000. The Grinder was coolered with a flush against a higher flush midway through the day. Although he hung on for quite a while, he ultimately could not recover and ran into 2019 Main Event champion Hossein Ensan’s aces to be eliminated.
On the other side of the coin, Mizrachi’s fellow nine-time WSOP bracelet winner Shaun Deeb did survive the ten hours of poker Day 5 had in store. After a rocky start, Deeb doubled in the second level of the day and steadily rose through the ranks afterward. Although he lost a sizable pot during the final hands of the day, he ended with an above-average stack of 4,305,000, good for over 70 big blinds at the start of Day 6 as he eyes the biggest payouts of the gargantuan $85,634,400 prize pool.
Deeb’s stack was not quite enough to propel him into the top ten counts at the end of the night, however. Daewoong Song closes out the elite stacks with 6,565,000 in chips, while the chip lead is in the hands of Zhao Liu. Liu bagged 10,150,000, being the only person to reach eight figures. Notably, Liu has now made two consecutive Day 6s in the Main Event, having finished in 161st place in 2025.
End of Day 5 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zhao Liu | United States | 10,150,000 | 169 |
| 2 | Dhiraj Sharma | Canada | 9,840,000 | 164 |
| 3 | Xingyu Liu | China | 9,040,000 | 151 |
| 4 | Allan Sannier | France | 8,680,000 | 145 |
| 5 | Sachin Joshi | United Kingdom | 8,385,000 | 140 |
| 6 | Mario Boos | France | 7,850,000 | 131 |
| 7 | Justin Manjares | United States | 7,760,000 | 129 |
| 8 | Tyler Gaston | United States | 7,055,000 | 118 |
| 9 | Malcolm Trayner | Australia | 6,740,000 | 112 |
| 10 | Daewoong Song | Korea, Republic of | 6,565,000 | 109 |
Deeb's Thoughts
"That was unfortunate," Deeb commented regarding his last hand after he was done bagging his chips. "If I somehow suck out, I have, you know, nine million. But I'm still happy to be over average. I feel bad for everyone who gets thrown on my table the rest of this tournament. I'm just going to try and win every chip that's in the pot that I can."
Adding a Main Event win to his legacy would elevate Deeb's status among the greatest players of all time; it's a place he arguably already holds. However, it is not something Deeb is particularly worried about. "I think my legacy is solidified," he stated. I don't really think, even if I end up winning the Main Event, it really drastically changes the opinion of me as a poker player in most people's eyes."
Deeb is currently third in a tight-knit race for WSOP Player of the Year (PoY), looking to become the first player to capture that prestigious title for the third time. "I'm still conscious of PoY. I know if I somehow final table this, it gives my PoY shots very high, but it's very hard. That's kind of one of the issues I have with this PoY system. I've been in this tournament for really a f**king whole week and missed a bunch of sh*t because of it. I have less points than final table of a turbo that was done in six hours. It's kind of an unfortunate thing, but there's a lot of money up top."
Big Names Rise and Fall
Daniel Hachem (3,895,000) and Todd Brunson (3,690,000) both made it through to Day 6 with good stacks, seeking to follow in their fathers’ footsteps and claim the ultimate poker title by coming out on top in the Main Event. Recent WSOP Paradise fourth-placed finisher Terrance Reid (2,685,000) is looking to repeat his success in Las Vegas and add another seven-figure score to his resume. Wesley Fei (4,580,000), Francisco Fragoso (3,910,000), and Andy Tsai (3,685,000) are all regulars on streamed nosebleed cash games, but are proving their tournament prowess by making a deep run in poker’s most elite event.
Meanwhile, Mizrachi was joined on the rail by fellow Main Event winners Greg Raymer (279th) and Ryan Riess (282nd), who both earned the same sum as their newest colleague, leaving Ensan as the last champion standing as he ended Day 5 with 3,450,000.
Six-time bracelet winner Brian Hastings exited in 471st for $35,000. Esteemed super high roller Chris Hunichen (424th) received the same amount, while his peer Stephen Chidwick fell in 394th for $40,000. Alex Foxen departed in 263rd for $50,000 after spending all day at the feature table, while toward the end of the night, Tony Dunst (215th), Artur Martirosian (211th), Sergio Aido (202nd), and Josh Arieh (198th) picked up their payout of $57,500.
The same sum will be awarded to the first elimination of Day 6, with the next pay jump set to happen when 161 contenders remain. Six-figure sums will be handed out to the top 80 players, while the eye-watering million-dollar payouts will have to wait until the final table of nine.
Remaining Payouts
The Main Event will continue on July 12 at 11 a.m. local time. Day 6 will restart with blinds at 30,000/60,000 with a 60,000 big blind ante. Five additional two-hour levels are scheduled to be played, with a break after every level. An extended 70-minute break takes place after the second level of the day.
PokerNews will continue providing extensive live coverage of the Main Event on Day 6, so make sure to tune back in when the pinnacle of poker resumes.