button in SafariBrandon Wilson Tops Day 1 of $50,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold'em
A brief but action-packed Day 1 saw 104 entrants make their way into the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas to take part in Event #29: $50,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold'em — the highest buy-in tournament of the 2026 World Series of Poker so far.
Following eight hour-long levels, Brandon Wilson found himself atop the leaderboard of the 41 remaining players after bagging up 2,025,000 in chips. Wilson, who is a regular in high roller events around the world, boasts over $15 million in live-tournament earnings but has yet to capture a WSOP bracelet. Wilson made a deep run in the $25k Heads-up Championship before ultimately placing in ninth and is currently pole position to make a run at his second cash of the series.
Also bagging big was Ignacio Moron (1,705,000), who is fresh off a fifth-place finish in the $25k High Roller. Moron has several other deep runs in WSOP events, including a fifth in the 2021 Million Maker, and will be looking to add to his over $2 million in live-tournament earnings.
Day 1 Action
Play was brisk from the onset, with high roller regular Vinny Lingham flopping a wheel and getting paid on the very first hand of play. Lingham ended up busting one bullet, but fared better on his second attempt to end with 600,000.
Chang Lee became the first person to bust in Level 1 after getting short and shoving queen-jack suited into Stephen Chidwick's pockets nines and failing to improve. However, he wasted little time reentering and, in a complete reversal of fortune, Lee found himself among the chip leaders after another flip against Barak Wisbrod went his way. Chang's active style continued to see his chip count swing wildly before he eventually ended the day with a large stack.
Meanwhile, fan-favorite Daniel Negreanu suffered a brutal beat despite getting off to a good start after losing with aces to Batmunkh Unubukh's ace-king. Negreanu's bad luck continued and he busted his first bullet after getting his money in good with ace-king against Boris Angelov's ace-queen and getting outflopped. Negreanu quickly reentered only to bust again — ending his $50k High Roller run in disappointment.
Defending champion Jason Koon made his entrance shortly after the first break and almost immediately suffered a classic Hold'em cooler after running pocket kings into Orpen Kisacikoglu's pocket aces. Koon hung on for a while despite losing the majority of his stack, but eventually busted his first bullet to Brian Breck about half way through the day. Koon reentered and, despite scoring a double up through Chenxiang Miao, was eliminated again toward the end of the day, meaning a new champion will be crowned.
Other notables who found themselves on the rail before play ended include Alex Foxen, Leon Sturm, David Coleman, Philip Sternheimer, and Punnat Punsri — who busted early on to Ren Lin and again to Boris Angelov after making a good call, only for Angelov to catch up on the river.
Among those who fared better and bagged up over seven figures for Day 2 include Brian Breck (1,635,000), Christoph Vogelsang (1,440,000), Matthias Eibinger (1,410,000), Aleksejs Ponakovs (1,375,000), Mikita Badziakouski (1,365,000), Galen Hall (1,275,000), Stephen Chidwick, (1,180,000), and Eelis Parssinen (1,090,000).
Day 2 will get underway on Tuesday, June 9 at 1 p.m. local time on Level 9, which features 10,000/15,000 blinds with a 15,000 big-blind ante. Late registration will remain open until then end of Level 10.
Be sure to stick with PokerNews for all the latest updates as the $50,000 High Roller is just getting warmed up!