Left with just 35,000 in his stack, Brock Wilson moved all in and was called by Yifu He in the big blind.
Brock Wilson: 7♠7♦ 
Yifu He: K♥3♦
He improved to a pair on the 3♣10♣4♦ flop, but Wilson's pocket sevens held firm on the 2♠ turn and A♣ river.
The very next hand, Wilson moved all in again, picking up the blinds when the rest of the table folded.
Ivan Ruban raised to 55,000 from early position before Benjamin Williams called out of the big blind. Both players checked the 7♥5♥10♣ flop to bring the 8♠ turn. Williams bet 50,000 and was called.
Williams did not slow down on the 7♦ river, where he shoved for his remaining 250,000.
Ruban gave it some consideration, but chose to fold and Williams won the pot.
Ivan Ruban opened to 55,000 from under the gun, and then called a three-bet to 130,000 made by Myles Mullaly one seat to his left.
The dealer put a monotone 10♥4♥A♥ flop onto the felt, and when Ruban checked, Mullaly continued for 80,000. That was big enough to see Ruban surrender, as he returned his cards to the dealer.
The action was joined on the turn of a 7♥J♠5♥8♥ board, and roughly 150,000 in the middle.
Brock Wilson placed a bet of 50,000 from the big blind, only to be raised to 125,000 by Yifu He in the cutoff. Wilson called, and the K♦ completed the board.
Wilson checked and then called a bet of 100,000 from He. It was bad news for Wilson, as He turned over a straight with 10♣9♥. Wilson mucked, leaving himself with just over one big blind.
There was approximately 400,000 already in the middle on a board that read 4♣5♥3♥4♦10♥ and Anatoly Nikitin bet 400,000.
Zexiang Sun eventually put in the call, and Nikitin flipped over Q♥J♦ for queen high. Sun tabled 7♣6♦ for a straight to claim the pot.
On a completed board of 2♣3♠5♣Q♦J♥, Nicholas Seward was first to act from the big blind and carved a bet of 200,000.
Yifu He let out a loud sigh before making the call from early position.
Seward tabled A♥Qx for top pair top kicker, but was second-best to the A♠A♣ of He for an overpair.
In the very first hand dealt on Day 3, Ivan Ruban opened to 55,000 on the button, and called when Colin Robinson moved all in from the big blind for 590,000.
Colin Robinson: A♠5♦
Ivan Ruban: A♥J♠
Robinson found no help on the Q♥7♣9♥A♦3♣ runout, and was eliminated in 24th place.
The 24 players have taken their seats, and the cards are in the air for Day 3 of Event #2: $5,000 8-Handed No-Limit Hold’em.
Level: 21
Blinds: 10,000/25,000
Ante: 25,000
Only 24 players remain for the penultimate day in Event #2: $5,000 8-Handed No-Limit Hold’em at the 2026 World Series of Poker, with all eyes now on the $502,985 top prize and one of the first bracelets of the summer inside the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas. From a field of 570 entries, only a small fraction remains as Day 3 gets underway at 1 p.m.
Russia’s Anatoly Nikitin returns to the felt as chip leader after bagging 3,290,000 at the end of Day 2. Fellow Russian Ivan Ruban sits second with 2,300,000, while China’s Xiaohu Liu rounds out the podium positions with 1,910,000.
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anatoly Nikitin | Russian Federation | 3,290,000 |
| 2 | Ivan Ruban | Russian Federation | 2,300,000 |
| 3 | Xiaohu Liu | China | 1,910,000 |
| 4 | Zexiang Sun | United States | 1,700,000 |
| 5 | Charles Alex-Barton | United States | 1,690,000 |
| 6 | Scott Eskenazi | United States | 1,395,000 |
| 7 | Chenxiang Miao | China | 1,350,000 |
| 8 | Daniyal Gheba | United States | 1,330,000 |
| 9 | Peter Mugar | United States | 1,300,000 |
| 10 | Nicholas Seward | United States | 1,275,000 |
Also returning for Day 3 are Scott Eskenazi (1,395,000), Chenxiang Miao (1,350,000), and Nicholas Seward (1,275,000), who all finished the night inside the top half of the counts. Two-time bracelet winner Justin Saliba also returns with a healthy stack of 1,265,000, while at the other end of the leaderboard, Brock Wilson comes back as the short stack with 345,000.
Day 3 kicks off at 1 p.m. in the Gold section of the Paris Ballroom. Action will begin on Level 21 with blinds of 10,000/25,000 and a 25,000 big blind ante. The plan is to play down to the final five players, who will return for the fourth and final day to play down to a winner. All those returning have locked up $15,879 from the $2,622,000 prize pool, but now are within reach of potentially life-changing payouts.
| Place | Prize | Place | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $502,985 | 8 | $49,556 |
| 2 | $335,290 | 9 | $38,133 |
| 3 | $234,432 | 10-11 | $29,844 |
| 4 | $166,448 | 12-15 | $23,761 |
| 5 | $120,035 | 16-23 | $19,253 |
| 6 | $87,945 | 24 | $15,879 |
| 7 | $65,479 |
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Stay locked into PokerNews for updates and action as the $5,000 8-Handed No-Limit Hold’em plays down toward the business end.
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