Shaun Deeb Sits in Second After Day 2 of $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship

Just 13 players remain in Event #17: $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship at the 2026 World Series of Poker, with Japan’s Ryutaro Suzuki at the top heading into the final day at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.

The tournament drew a total of 198 entries, generating a prize pool of $1,841,400, with only 30 spots in the money. After another full day on the felt, the field was trimmed down to just two tables, all chasing the top prize of $428,923 and the WSOP gold bracelet.

Suzuki bagged 1,570,000 at the end of Day 2, slightly above Shaun Deeb, who finished with 1,530,000. Suzuki's compatriot Naoya Kihara finished the night third in chips with 1,155,000, while John Monnette (955,000), Alex Foxen (785,000), and WSOP Main Event champions John Cynn (825,000) and Phil Hellmuth (620,000) also advanced to the final day.

Day 2 Chip Counts

Rank	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	Ryutaro Suzuki	Japan	1,570,000	79
2	Shaun Deeb	United States	1,530,000	77
3	Naoya Kihara	Japan	1,155,000	58
4	Per Hildebrand	Sweden	1,110,000	56
5	John Monnette	United States	955,000	48
6	David Lin	United States	945,000	47
7	John Cynn	United States	825,000	41
8	Alex Foxen	United States	785,000	39
9	Chad Eveslage	United States	770,000	39
10	Robert French	United States	735,000	37
11	Phil Hellmuth	United States	620,000	31
12	Jason Daly	United States	515,000	26
13	Dan Shak	United States	365,000	18

Day 2 Action

The day began with late entries and reentries pouring into the field, with several notables finding the rail after registration officially closed. Defending champion Nick Schulman was among the early casualties after first losing to Ray Dehkharghani, before firing another bullet that ultimately ended at the hands of Hellmuth. Jesse Lonis, Joao Vieira, Yuri Dzivielevski, Cary Katz, and Robert Mizrachi were also unable to survive the day.

Something Suzuki will have for memories from this tournament is the fact that he eliminated the man who started the 'poker boom', WSOP 2003 Main Event winner Chris Moneymaker. Suzuki caught a wheel and Moneymaker paid off in full with an eight-six.

As always, the money bubble was one of the biggest moments of the day. With just one elimination needed before the remaining players locked up a payday, Jon Shoreman got his chips in with a made ten against Xavier Kyablue. Kyablue slowly peeled a nine to make a nine-eight and eliminate Shoreman on the stone bubble.

Daniel Negreanu survived the bubble despite getting extremely short, but his quest for another bracelet came to an end shortly after when Per Hildebrand drew a better nine to beat Negreanu’s pat nine. The 2023 Main Event winner Daniel Weinman hit the rail late in the evening, while Ren Lin bowed out in 14th place after pairing up against Monnette in the final elimination of the night.

Foxen (785,000) ended the night with a good stack, despite being one of the short stacks near the bubble. The three-time bracelet winner doubled through Yueqi Zhu, battled repeatedly with Negreanu, then won back-to-back pots against Ryan Hoenig and Weinman. Although he failed to bluff Hildebrand right at the end of the day, Foxen still advanced comfortably into Day 3.

Hellmuth also enjoyed a rollercoaster day that included eliminating Schulman, surviving a three-way all in against Vieira and Scott Seiver, and winning a huge pot against Shak after drawing to an eight against Shak’s pat nine.

Play resumes at 1 p.m. local time on Wednesday, June 4. The survivors return to Level 20, where blinds are 10,000/20,000 with a big blind ante of 30,000. Levels will continue at 90 minutes each, with the tournament scheduled to play down to a winner.