Alan Percal opened from middle position before Jeremy Brown shoved from the big blind. Percal called and had Brown covered to put Brown at risk.
Jeremy Brown: 3♥3♦
Alan Percal: A♥K♥
Brown's pocket pair held on the 7♦Q♦10♥ flop, but Percal picked up a straight draw to stay in the race.
The 10♠ gave Percal even more outs, as the board pairing the seven or queen would counterfeit Brown.
Brown's pocket threes fell when the 7♥ hit the river to counterfeit his small pocket pair, as the two pair on board with Percal's ace kicker was enough to take down the pot.
Matthew Miller opened to 480,000 from middle position, with Kou Vang calling on the button, and Robert Perelman doing the same from the big blind. Action then checked through on a J♣9♠4♠ flop.
Matthew Miller then bet out for 500,000 when the 4♦ turn came in, with only Vang paying to see the river. Action checked through again on the K♠ river, with Miller tabling K♦9♦ for two pair. Vang looked at his cards, then the board, and repeated that process multiple times before accepting defeat and mucking.
Gabriel Andrade opened to 480,000 from early position before Justo Avalos shoved for 990,000 from middle position. Andrade called to put Avalos at risk.
Justo Avalos: A♣A♠
Gabriel Andrade: Q♣J♣
Avalos was well-positioned for a double-up after the flop came 4♣8♠3♠.
The 9♠ turn gave Andrade a gutshot straight draw, but the A♥ river dispelled any hopes of an upset as Avalos took down the pot.
Day 3 of Event #18: $1,500 Monster Stack No-Limit Hold’em saw the field trimmed from 660 players down to 80 as the remaining hopefuls aim to chase a bigger piece of the $15,841,057 prize pool and the first-place prize of $1,302,125 at the 2026 World Series of Poker.
Valentin Vornicu
Valentin Vornicu will walk into the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas as the chip leader after his successful Day 3 saw him bag a stack of 27,525,000. Vornicu has been a longtime crusher of the WSOP Circuit scene with 14 rings to his name, making him fifth all-time in the WSOP-C ring count. However, the bracelet has eluded the accomplished pro thus far in his career. Vornicu will be in a position to change that with a strong Day 4.
Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
1
Valentin Vornicu
United States
27,525,000
2
Andrew Moreno
United States
22,530,000
3
Matthew Miller
United States
19,345,000
4
Yaser Al-Keliddar
United States
17,860,000
5
Jonas Lauck
Germany
17,670,000
6
Yegor Moroz
United States
15,390,000
7
Marc Fiorentino
United States
14,150,000
8
Richard Alsup
United States
13,420,000
9
Aaron Massey
United States
13,350,000
10
Martin Zamani
United States
13,350,000
Andrew Moreno is looking to add another deep run at this year’s WSOP and is in a great position to do just that after he bagged 22,530,000. Moreno finished 25th in Event #11: $10,000 GGMillion$ High Roller No-Limit Hold’em and will look to add to his over six million in career earnings, according to The HendonMob.
Matthew Miller
Matthew Miller rounds out the podium after he finished with 19,345,000 in chips. Miller is a two-time ring holder, but has yet to add a WSOP bracelet to his collection. He will have a chance to break through and make a final table with a strong showing on Day 4.
WSOP bracelet winner Yaser Al-Keliddar finished fourth in chips with 17,860,000. Al-Keliddar won his bracelet back at the 2018 WSOP when he took down Event #70: $3,000 Limit Hold’em 6-Handed. Al-Keliddar will have the opportunity not only to add another bracelet but also to add a substantial amount to his career earnings, which now exceed $1,400,000, with a first-place finish in this event.
Richard Alsup
Richard Alsup and Martin Zamani join Al-Keliddar as the two other bracelet winners to finish in the top ten chip counts. Alsup’s win came at the 2022 WSOP in Event #82: $800 8-Handed No-Limit Hold’em Deepstack. Zamani’s pair of bracelets both came in 2021, when he took down the WSOP.com online PLO Crazy Eights event before winning another online bracelet later that year in the No-Limit Hold’em Freezeout.
Remaining Payouts
Place
Payout
Place
Payout
1
$1,302,125
12-13
$93,000
2
$900,000
14-17
$75,000
3
$700,000
18-26
$61,000
4
$520,000
27-35
$50,000
5
$400,000
36-44
$40,000
6
$305,000
45-53
$33,000
7
$240,000
54-62
$27,200
8
$190,000
63-71
$22,500
9
$150,000
72-80
$19,000
10-11
$120,000
Other bracelet winners to advance to Day 3 include Kevin Eyster (11,960,000), Seth Fischer (9,890,000), Alen Bakovich (9,730,000), John Ripnick (5,825,000), Ankush Mandavia (5,140,000), Thomas Cazayous (3,560,000), Joao Simao (3,035,000), David Peters (2,380,000), Jeremy Eyer (2,210,000), and Scott Eskenazi (485,000).
Day 4 will resume at 11 a.m. local time and will play down to five players. The blinds are scheduled to start at 120,000/240,000 with 60-minute levels. There will be a 15-minute break after every two levels, with a 60-minute dinner break at approximately 5:30 p.m. local time.
Stay tuned here at PokerNews for coverage of Day 4 of Event #18: $1,500 Monster Stack No-Limit Hold’em at the 2026 World Series of Poker.
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