PokerNews live coverage of this event will begin on Day 3 (June 8). Until then, we will be keeping readers informed with updates on chip counts and core event statistics, including entries and prize pool. Scroll down to see more.
Event #18: $1,500 Monster Stack No-Limit Hold'em
Day 1a Completed
One of the most eagerly anticipated events on the 2026 World Series of Poker (WSOP) schedule kicked off on June 3. We are, of course, talking about Event #18: $1,500 Monster Stack.
Day 1a of the Monster Stack drew in a 1,514-strong crowd, but only 538 of those starters made it through to Day 2. One man who progressed to Day 2a with relative ease was Israel's Uri Reichenstein.
Reichenstein bagged up 404,500 chips at the close of play, good for eighth place in the chip counts. That large stack means Reichenstein, who has more than $5 million in live tournament earnings, returns to the battle with 162 big blinds at his disposal.
While Reichenstein's stack is impressive, seven other players have surpassed his total. Zhijian Zhang finished Day 1a with the welcomed problem of having to fit 607,000 chips into the overnight bag. David McMillan (555,000) and David Kowal (467,500) rounded off the top three.
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zhijian Zhang | United States | 607,000 | 243 |
| 2 | David McMillan | United States | 555,000 | 222 |
| 3 | David Kowal | United States | 467,500 | 187 |
| 4 | Francis Rusnak | United States | 462,500 | 185 |
| 5 | Adrian Collado | Spain | 458,500 | 183 |
| 6 | Pierre-Jean Roche | France | 431,000 | 172 |
| 7 | Caio Falopa Ozawa | Brazil | 412,500 | 165 |
| 8 | Uri Reichenstein | Israel | 404,500 | 162 |
| 9 | Cale Treacy | Australia | 398,000 | 159 |
| 10 | James Rowe | United Kingdom | 393,000 | 157 |
This event's incredible structure attracted dozens of top-tier players to the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas. Martin Kabrhel (296,500) was one of them as was John Wasnock (285,500), David Benyamine (282,000), and Tony Gregg (265,500).
Loni Harwood (247,000), Patrick Leonard (239,000), Michael Noori (185,500), Qui Nguyen (176,500), Barry Shulman (126,000), and John Juanda (119,000) were among the others who progressed from the opening Monster Stack flight.
Everyone who survived Day 1a immediately returns to the action at 11:00 a.m. local time on June 4 for Day 2a. Late registration remains open until the end of Level 11, which should be around 12:15 p.m. local time.
Here are the chip counts at the end of Day 1a, according to the WSOP LIVE app.
The poker world moves fast and during massive events, it’s nearly impossible to keep track of everyone. Whether you’re following a high-stakes pro, a local hero from your home game, or a family member chasing a bracelet, PokerNews makes it even easier with the new MyPlayers feed — your personalized updates feed for tracking the players you care about in one place.
Build your custom watchlist by clicking the star icon next to a player in the live reporting feed, and they’ll be pinned to the top of chip counts and tracked in a single, real-time feed as the action unfolds.
There was no shortage of big moments and big hands during the first week of the 2026 World Series of Poker (WSOP).
Daniel Negreanu lost a 10:1 chip lead thanks to a three-outer in the Sweet 16 of Event #7: $25,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em Championship. Phil Hellmuth made an 18th bracelet run that fell short when he ran into the nut flush. And one player avoided complete disaster when he suffered a brutal cooler with quads.
According to the WSOP LIVE app.
It took some time, but the $1 million mystery bounty eventually surfaced.
Just under six hours after Day 2 of the inaugural Mini Mystery Millions got underway at the 2026 World Series of Poker, one fortunate player peeled back the tournament's most wanted prize.
It took 43 players drawing from the Gold Chest, which contained any bounty prize worth $25,000 or more, before the $1,000,000 bounty was pulled.
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