Who Will Stand Tall From the 16,269-Entry COLOSSUS Field?

There are deep runs at the 2026 World Series of Poker, and then there is surviving 16,260 opponents to reach the final table of the $500 COLOSSUS.

By the time cards go in the air on Tuesday afternoon, only nine players will remain from a field of 16,269 entries, each just a handful of eliminations away from turning a dream week in Las Vegas into a potential life-changing victory.

The final table is split between players experiencing the biggest moment of their poker lives and others who have already proven themselves on far bigger stages. For Yuefan Wang, Karabet Keshishyan, Justin Smith, Myles German and Andrew Sanchez, the guaranteed $60,171 payday already represents the largest poker paydays. Simply reaching this stage of the tournament is a career-changing result.

The dreamers are not just making up the numbers either. Wang enters the final day with 175,000,000 chips, good for 58 big blinds and a healthy lead over the rest of the field. Keshishyan (122,000,000) and Smith (107,000,000) also return among the top four stacks, putting them in prime position to chase the bracelet. Even short-stacked Sanchez remains with a chance with 40,000,000 chips and 13 big blinds.

Standing in their way are several players far more familiar with deep runs. Jose Orozco Gomez knows exactly what it takes to navigate the chaos of a massive-field COLOSSUS, having finished sixth in this very event in 2023. He returns third in chips with 110,500,000. Min Ji made a similar run in the 2023 GOLIATH, the largest poker tournament ever held outside the United States, while Victor Chong has already shown he can hold his own against elite competition after finishing third in a Triton Poker $10,000 event that featured Daniel Dvoress, Wiktor Malinowski and Joao Vieira at the final table. Chong starts with 44,000,000 chips, while Ji will have work to do from the bottom of the counts with 28,000,000.

Then there is Eric Baldwin. With nearly $10 million in live tournament earnings and two WSOP bracelets already to his name, Baldwin arrives as the most accomplished player left standing. He is the one player who looks almost out of place in a $500 buy-in event. While Baldwin begins sixth in chips with 49,000,000, few players remaining can match his experience when the pressure ramps up.

Final Table Chip Counts

Rank	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	Yuefan Wang	United States	175,000,000	58
2	Karabet Keshishyan	United States	122,000,000	41
3	Jose Orozco Gomez	Mexico	110,500,000	37
4	Justin Smith	United States	107,000,000	36
5	Myles German	United States	59,000,000	20
6	Eric Baldwin	United States	49,000,000	16
7	Victor Chong	Malaysia	44,000,000	15
8	Andrew Sanchez	United States	40,000,000	13
9	Min Ji	United Kingdom	28,000,000	9.5

But experience only counts for so much in a tournament of this size. Every player returning for Day 4 has already accomplished something extraordinary.

Day 4 begins at 3:30 p.m. local time inside the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas. Play will resume at Level 43 with blinds of 2,000,000/4,000,000 and a 4,000,000 big blind ante. Levels will remain 40 minutes in length, with a 15-minute break scheduled after every three levels. PokerNews will be in sync with the WSOP livestream, which will get underway at 6 p.m. local time.