The WSOP has moved the final three tables to the streamed feature tables area, which means our live reporting will have to be delayed around 2.5 hours to match the stream, per the WSOP media guidelines. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Mark Newhouse opened to 1,000,000 from the cutoff and Halford Fairchild moved all in for 7,050,000. Newhouse took no time to call, and the pair went to showdown.
Halford Fairchild: A♥K♠
Mark Newhouse: Q♠Q♣
The 3♣7♦8♥ flop kept Newhouse ahead, but the K♦ turn saw Fairchild take the lead.
A 2♠ river locked up the double for Fairchild, and he sat back with around 30 big blinds after the hand.
Jed Friedman opened to 1,000,000 on the button with 9♥7♦. Joshua Steinberg defended his big blind with Q♣9♣.
Steinberg checked the 5♣10♥8♦ flop before Friedman continued for 675,000. Steinberg replied with a check-raise to 1,600,000.
Friedman three-bet to 6,000,000, which led to a fold from Steinberg
Jordan Meltzer raised to 2,600,000 from early position, leaving 950,000 behind. Michael Monroig responded with a three-bet to 15,100,000 from the hijack. Meltzer called to be at risk for 3,550,000 total.
Jordan Meltzer: A♥J♠
Michael Monroig: A♦K♦
Monroig stayed ahead on the 9♣2♠3♥ flop.
Meltzter didn't find a jack on the 8♥ turn or the 7♠ river to be eliminated.
The winner of this year's $50,000 WSOP Poker Players Championship will be a first-time champion, unless Brian Rast wins.
That isn't a prediction, it's a fact. Rast, a three-time winner, was a bet away from elimination in the prestigious mixed games event Tuesday on Day 3, which would have left zero former champions still standing. None of the other former champs reached the money.
Day 3, which began at 1 p.m. PT, started with 39 of the original 108 players remaining. Rast, who won this event in 2011, 2016, and 2023, had the smallest stack with 107,000 chips. For comparison, Kristopher Tong entered the session with the chip lead at 2,428,000. So, it certainly wasn't going to be easy for the Poker Hall of Famer to earn a fourth Poker Players Championship bracelet.
In the 976th episode of the PokerNews Podcast, which is sponsored by FanDuel Poker, Chad Holloway, Mike Holtz, and Ben Ludlow are back at Level 8 Studio in Las Vegas to catch up on all things 2026 World Series of Poker (WSOP).
That includes looking at the big winners and losers from the Million Dollar Cash Game, including big hands by Alan Keating, Texas Mike, and Martin Kabrhel. Speaking of Kabrhel, he got into it with both Daniel Negreanu and Martin Zamani, and it seems the tide may be turning on how a lot of fans and other players feel about him. From there, the crew discusses Jared Bleznick's controversial comments against the Seniors High Roller, the current Player of the Year standings, and bracelet wins by some of the biggest names in the game, including Nick Schulman, Alex Foxen, Yuri Dzivielevski, and Adrian Mateos. Plus, Rich Alsup and Eddie Blumenthal both nabbed WSOP hardware.
Finally, learn who won the Bar Poker Open Championship at the Golden Nugget for a smooth $100,0001
Find out all about those stories and more in this week's episode of the PokerNews Podcast! Oh, and be sure to check out the audio version of the PokerNews Podcast that is available on all major podcasting platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and SoundCloud.
The WSOP has moved the final three tables to the streamed feature tables area, which means our live reporting will have to be delayed around 2.5 hours to match the stream, per the WSOP media guidelines.
We apologize for the inconvenience.
Small-stacked already, Benoit Fiasson called his final chips all in on a 10♥3♥3♦ flop against Russell Rosenblum.
Benoit Fiasson: J♦10♣
Russell Rosenblum: Q♣J♠
The turn was the Q♦ to give the lead to Rosenblum. The river was the 6♥, and Fiasson was eliminated. After the hand, the remaining three tables were moved to the streaming area.
Joseph Liberta open-jammed from the small blind for his monster stack and covered Meng Dian Peng in the big blind. Peng didn't take too long to make the call for his final 5,725,000 chips.
Meng Dian Peng: A♦Q♦
Joseph Liberta: K♠6♥
Peng saw an ace in the window on the 8♣3♥A♣ flop and held the lead on the 4♠ turn. The J♥ river didn't change the outcome, and Peng locked up the double.
Liberta said to Peng, "How much you got?" before he counted out the chips from his stack.
Updated counts according to the WSOP LIVE app.
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