button in SafariAnthony Reategui Leads The Line With 29 Returning For Big O Glory
The 294 players who began the second day of Event #22: $1,500 Big O have been whittled down to just 29, who will be returning for the third and final day of action at the 2026 World Series of Poker at Horseshoe and Paris, Las Vegas. They are the final few who remain from a whopping 2,150 entries, crushing last year’s total of 1,499.
These entrants have generated an incredible prize pool of $2,802,785, of which at least $13,610 will be going into the pockets of those who bagged up tonight. That being said, all eyes are on the $387,110 reserved for the eventual champion, alongside a prestigious WSOP bracelet.
Chip leader Anthony Reategui, alongside second in chips Casey Hayes, managed to fully break away from the pack, holding an insane 5,900,000 and 5,700,000 chips, respectively. This massive stack converts to a whopping 118 and 114 big blinds when Day 3 begins, the equivalent of over three times the average stack left in play.
Thomas Koral (3,700,000), albeit with an impressive chip count, is miles behind, completing the podium for Day 3. Besides Furth, he is the only multi-bracelet winner left in the field, as Reategui is attempting to join that club, and Hayes vies for his first taste of glory.
Day 3 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anthony Reategui | United States | 5,900,000 | 118 |
| 2 | Casey Hayes | United States | 5,700,000 | 114 |
| 3 | Thomas Koral | United States | 3,700,000 | 74 |
| 4 | Volodymyr Kondratenko | United States | 3,200,000 | 64 |
| 5 | Yinjie Mei | China | 2,600,000 | 52 |
| 6 | Scott Abrams | United States | 2,600,000 | 52 |
| 7 | Matthew Bretzfield | United States | 2,500,000 | 50 |
| 8 | Bruno Furth | United States | 2,300,000 | 46 |
| 9 | Sang Shin | United States | 2,300,000 | 46 |
| 10 | Stanislav Halatenko | Ukraine | 1,900,000 | 38 |
The Day 3 lineup is a solid one, with Bruno Furth the most decorated when it comes to WSOP silverware. He bagged up 2,300,000 chips, good for eighth place with 45 big blinds when the final day commences.
Nicolas Milgrom is the sole remaining $25k Fantasy pick, but the Day 1b chip leader only managed to bag up three big blinds, as his 175,000 stack is the shortest remaining. Other $25k Fantasy participants Dario Sammartino and Qiang Xu were both eliminated during the final level of the day.
The Day 1a chip leader, John Holley, also managed to navigate through the second day and will sit down with 1,500,000 when play resumes.
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Payout | Place | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $387,110 | 8 | $43,700 |
| 2 | $258,690 | 9 | $33,800 |
| 3 | $187,150 | 10-11 | $26,450 |
| 4 | $136,820 | 12-15 | $20,940 |
| 5 | $101,128 | 16-23 | $16,780 |
| 6 | $75,600 | 24-29 | $13,610 |
| 7 | $57,150 |
A large number of big names came and went, with Omaha pro Sean Troha unable to add a fourth bracelet to his name. Plenty more were rooting to add to their tally, as well as gain some points on the $25k Fantasy leaderboard, with Ben Yu, Bryce Yockey, Anson Tsang, and Phillip Hui all falling short of a third day of competition, the latter unable to crack aces when it really mattered. WSOPE Main Event Champion Max Neugebauer was also seen in the PLO streets, but had to settle for 109th place.
Another two card world champion, Daniel Weinman, was unable to truly make his mark in Big O, and poker legend Viktor “Isildur1” Blom was seeking out his maiden bracelet, but was unable to do so, exiting shortly before the end of play.
Play is set to resume at 1:00 p.m. local time in the Gold section of Paris Ballroom, with blinds restarting at the 30,000/60,000 level. The aim is to play down until a sole victor remains, but with almost 150% of the number of entries that 2025 gathered, we may well see a fourth day of play, much like last year’s tournament.
Make sure to keep up with all Big O updates, which will be fully live reported on PokerNews.