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The most important and richest live poker tournament of the year has all but reached the money to decide who is taking home a piece of the gargantuan $85,634,400 prize pool in the fourth largest World Series of Poker Main Event in history.
Out of a field of 9,208 entries, only 1,389 hopefuls remain, and almost all of them will claim at least $15,000 for their efforts. However, the money bubble has to wait for the start of Day 4 on Thursday, July 9, with just seven eliminations to go.
Pot-Limit Omaha cash game crusher Sasha Liu entered Event #82: $10,000 WSOP Main Event NLH World Championship like a wrecking ball after registering at the start of Day 2 when she reached more than six starting stacks within the first level. During the dinner break on Day 3, she already had a seven-figure stack at her disposal, yet still more than doubled that figure to an astonishing 2,364,000 in order to surpass Martin Zamani (1,963,000) to top the leaderboard.
Levon Khachatryan 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 and finished the night with the third-largest stack of 1,745,000 ahead of other notables such as Zdenek Zizka (1,576,000) and Will Givens (1,540,000).
2026 WSOP Main Event Top 10 Chip Counts After Day 3
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sasha Liu | United States | 2,364,000 | 295 |
| 2 | Martin Zamani | United States | 1,963,000 | 245 |
| 3 | Levon Khachatryan | United States | 1,745,000 | 218 |
| 4 | Robert Gill | United States | 1,604,000 | 200 |
| 5 | Zdenek Zizka | Czechia | 1,576,000 | 197 |
| 6 | Robin Kleinbeck | Germany | 1,558,000 | 194 |
| 7 | Will Givens | United States | 1,540,000 | 192 |
| 8 | Brian Carraher | United States | 1,463,000 | 182 |
| 9 | Felix Kuemayr | Austria | 1,398,000 | 174 |
| 10 | Jared Passanante | United States | 1,361,000 | 170 |
After surviving their respective opening flights and the two Day 2s, 3,294 players returned to their seats at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas. Hundreds of hopes vanished in the five levels of the day, some quietly, others with a mighty scream or bang on the table in disgust when Lady Luck had other plans.
In the early stages of the day, second in chips Gaspar Fernandez lost a massive pot when he made a move against the full house of Felix Kuemayr and one of the former WSOP Main Event champions departed in Joe McKeehen.
Likewise, GGPoker's Kevin Martin didn't make it to the end of the first level when he was caught bluffing with just ace-jack high on a paired queen-high board by Loren Weiss.
Matthew Radcliffe fell victim to arguably one of the worst setups in tournament poker when he was all-in preflop with pocket kings against the pocket aces of Arnaud Mattern and his chances of survival were in despair as Delmiro Toledo correctly five-bet folded and claimed he had the other pocket kings. Mattern bagged up a big stack worth 1,280,000 while Toledo advanced with a very respectable 872,000. Even more gruesome was the exit of former Main Event finalist Benjamin Pollak, who flopped a full house with pocket aces but was shown quads sixes to end his journey early into the day, too.
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 with pocket sixes against the king-queen of Kevin Killeen and the Irishman rivered the ace-high flush to silence Kassouf well before the money. Phil Hellmuth followed soon after when his flopped flush draw didn't get there and that left only his son Nicholas Hellmuth (53,000) still in contention, as his other son Phil Hellmuth III shared the same fate.
Another former WSOP Main Event champion fared much better in Hossein Ensan. After a slow start, he ground his way above half a million in chips and 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 and ran up his stack to over 1.2 million in the usual aggressive style. Even a setback with ace-king versus queens when his opponent made quads was only temporary, as he still finished with an above-average 615,000.
Ensan bagged up 1,280,000 in chips worth plenty for the money bubble, and he leads seven former Main Event champions still in contention. Despite more than $15 million in recorded live poker cashes, according to The Hendon Mob, Ensan still very much considers himself an amateur at the poker table who only plays a handful of tournaments per year.
"I am not a professional player, but always try to play my A-game and give my best at the tables. But I am certainly not a professional," the WSOP and EPT Main Event champion explained after bagging up the chips for the night.
The few times he can be found at the tables are very selective, as he usually comes to Las Vegas in the summer and doesn't want to miss the EPT Monte-Carlo festival either.
When asked what makes the WSOP Main Event so special, the 2019 winner immediately pointed out the very deep structure.
"It is a massive field and the best tournament all over the world with two-hour levels. You are always deep, even if you lose a part of your starting stack. There is never really any pressure on you with this structure."
Ensan started in the middle of the pack with more than 90 big blinds, and he will have 160 big blinds for the next day to emphasize his point on a very pleasant day at the poker tables. "I am very happy, I played well. The luck was also on my side, and everything went really well."
His ascent on the leaderboard commenced after the dinner break when he scored a double knockout and sent another opponent to the rail only a few minutes later.
"That hand wasn't really my fault. I was happy with eighty thousand. The short stack went all-in, and I found pocket kings in the small blind. I didn't want to let the big blind get involved as well and moved all-in, but he [Alban Juen] had around 350,000 in chips and called my all-in with jacks. I would have even folded queens there. On the other hand, the other player was unlucky because I was committed with my bet and called with king-queen for top pair and a gutshot. He had a set of tens, and I hit the jack on the river for a straight."
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 also 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), whereas Chino Rheem (588,000) headlined the third table in the arena with Mark Lacoste (1,147,000) and Callum Roque (1,025,000) 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.
In the penultimate level of the night, British mixed-game specialist and nine-time WSOP bracelet winner Benny Glaser ran into pocket aces and couldn't pull a rabbit out of the hat to miss out on the money. The final break commenced fewer than 150 spots away from the $15,000 min-cash, and history repeated itself from last year's edition when the money bubble loomed, but didn't pop, at the end of Day 3.
The floor announced to the entire room that the money bubble would not burst on Wednesday night, meaning the eliminations kept pouring in. Among the last casualties were Simon Wilson and Michael Kamran, who were knocked out by Francisco Mateo and his pocket kings.
With 1,389 players remaining and 1,382 set to be in the money, 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 average is nearly 50 big blinds deep.
Stay tuned right here on PokerNews to find out who will have to leave empty-handed in the 2026 WSOP Main Event.
