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Naseem Salem Leads the Way as Star-Spangled Final Table is Set
At 12:00 pm local time, 64 players opened their bags to begin the third day of play in Event #11: $10,000 GGMillion$ High Roller No-Limit Hold’em, yet only eight will be doing the same for Day 4 at the 2026 World Series of Poker.
Each player at the official final table will be hitting the rail with a minimum of $105,178, however any prizes that aren’t the whopping $1,089,964 reserved for the winner will undoubtedly come with a hint of disappointment. The payouts left all stem from the $5,831,100 prize pool generated by 627 players here at Horseshoe and Paris, Las Vegas.
The Day 4 lineup is a solid one. Naseem Salem bagged up the chip lead, ending the day on 14,800,000 chips, good for 73 big blinds when play resumes. Just behind is Alexis Cruz Martinez with 12,300,000, who made a late surge, including a pot won with queens against the chip leader. Chad Lipton rounds out the podium, returning with 7,900,000 to his name.
Multiple bracelet winners Chris Brewer, Cliff Josephy and John Racener will also be joining these three in battling it out for the prestigious reward, with 7,600,000, 6,800,000 and 4,300,000 chips, respectively.
Joey Weissman makes it seven players for the US, and will return with just 1,900,000 chips, having managed a short stack for a prolonged period at the end of the day.
Day 4 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Naseem Salem | United States | 14,800,000 | 73 |
| 2 | Alexis Cruz Martinez | United States | 12,300,000 | 61 |
| 3 | Chad Lipton | United States | 7,900,000 | 39 |
| 4 | Chris Brewer | United States | 7,600,000 | 38 |
| 5 | Roman Hrabec | Czech Republic | 7,100,000 | 35 |
| 6 | Cliff Josephy | United States | 6,800,000 | 33 |
| 7 | John Racener | United States | 4,300,000 | 21 |
| 8 | Joey Weissman | United States | 1,900,000 | 9 |
Salem’s eight-figure stack was largely due to a huge pot towards the end of the night that was shipped in his direction, coolering both Mike Meskin and Artem Riabov to send them home in the same hand.
Roman Hrabec, the only non-American representative at the final table, also had an incredible session, as his aggressive, unpredictable style helped him stay around the top of the rankings. Earlier in the day, he made a huge call against Micah Raskin, and another shortly after against Andrew Lichtenberger.
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | $1,089,964 |
| 2 | $726,598 |
| 3 | $503,997 |
| 4 | $355,610 |
| 5 | $255,306 |
| 6 | $186,562 |
| 7 | $138,802 |
| 8 | $105,178 |
Plenty of big names came and went. Day 2 chip leader Anatoly Nikitin had a rollercoaster of a day, losing half of his near 100 big blind stack early on, and not being able to recover in the hunt for his maiden bracelet.
$25k Fantasy players and bracelet winners Jesse Lonis, Renan Bruschi, Stephen Chidwick, and Zdenek Zizka were also unable to survive the day. Belarusian Aliaksei Boika, a headliner of the “best without a bracelet” squad, lost a race to the eventual chip leader, crushing his hopes of leaving it.
In one of the filthiest bad beats in WSOP History, Ricky Landais was sickeningly sent home at the hands of Bobby James, after having top pair on the flop but no pair by the turn.
Fan favourites Michael “Texas Mike” Moncek and Terrance Reid just missed out on the final two tables, with WSOPE Main Event Champ Max Neugebauer departing shortly after. The final elimination of the day was Alexander “Rips” James, who had kicker problems when all in against Cruz Martinez.
Play is set to resume at 1:00 p.m. local time in the Paris Ballroom, with all action streamed from 3:30 p.m. onwards and available to watch on this tournament’s live reporting page. Blinds will restart at the 120,000/240,000 level, and a winner will be crowned. Make sure to keep up to date with all updates reported on PokerNews.