Bryce Yockey: XxXx/2♥J♦4♦5x/Xx
Jesse Lonis: XxXx/2♦3♥7♥Q♣/Xx
Alex Livingston: XxXx/6♥A♦J♣9♦ - folded on sixth street
Chip leader Kristopher Tong didn't take his seat until more than 10 minutes into the day. "It's been a long week. I was doing laundry. I'm not kidding, I literally had laundry delivered this morning," Tong told his tablemates as he finally went to work stacking up his chips.
Meanwhile, Alex Livingston completed and Bryce Yockey called. Jesse Lonis then raised, and both opponents called.
All three players checked on fourth street. Lonis then bet on fifth, and Yockey and Lonis called.
Yockey bet on sixth and only Lonis called. Yockey bet again on seventh, and Lonis called once more. Yockey then showed 8♥7♠6♦ for a straight and 7-low, and Lonis mucked.
David "ODB" Baker lost a pot to Robert Wells when he bet-folded 70,000 to a shove after the draw.
One hand later, David Lin raised to 22,000 from under the gun and Ray Dehkharghani defended the big blind. Both discarded one and Dehkharghani checked, then called a bet of Lin for 62,000. Lin showed a pair of nines and Dehkharghani won the pot with the 9x8x7x6x3x.
In a single-raised pot to the draw, Phil Ivey drew one card from the big blind, seeing Alexander Kostritsyn in middle position and hijack Roy Thung follow suit.
It then checked to Thung, who fired 75,000 into the pot. Ivey quickly folded, but Kostritsyn tossed in a call after staring at his opponent for a while.
Thung tabled 9x7x6x4x2x. Kostritsyn could not beat the nine-seven, adding his cards to the muck in defeat.
Maksim Pisarenko raised to 20,000 on the button. Maxx Coleman called in the small blind, and Brian Tate did so from the big blind. Each player drew one card, after which Coleman checked.
Tate led out with a bet of 50,000, folding out Pisarenko. Coleman quickly called, but he did not beat Tate's 9x7x6x5x4x and mucked his hand.
Chris Hunichen raised to 25,000 in the cutoff and then folded when Bryn Kenney three-bet to 80,000 on the button.
Luke Schwartz made it 25,000 to go next and Hunichen called, as did Dara Taherpour in the big blind. They each took one and it checked to Hunichen, who won the pot with a bet of 75,000. Schwartz sighed as he exposed his 7x4x3x2x that had paired the four.
With eight bracelets won in a decade, UK mixed-game wizard Benny Glaser is one of the most successful players in recent WSOP history. One thing eludes him still, however, taking down the crown jewel of all mixed-game events: the $50,000 Poker Players Championship. Glaser came close to being awarded the Chip Reese Memorial trophy with a fourth-place finish in 2022, but four years later, he is on his way to a shot at redemption as he returns second in chips for the third day of the event.
The most prestigious mixed-game event at the 2026 World Series of Poker, and on the poker calendar in general, attracted a field of 108 entries to the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas this year. After two long days of freezeout action, only 39 players remain, who will return at 1 p.m. local time to continue battling in the nine different games.
Historically, Day 3 of the Poker Players Championship is where the money is reached, usually late in the day. This time around, the $5,130,000 prize pool will be divided among the top 17 finishers, meaning 21 players will have to depart empty-handed today. Glaser will more likely be focused on the $1,343,764 top prize, however, with only Kristopher Tong ahead of him on the leaderboard.
Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
1
Kristopher Tong
United States
2,428,000
2
Benny Glaser
United Kingdom
2,286,000
3
Maxx Coleman
United States
1,917,000
4
Chris Hunichen
United States
1,670,000
5
Matt Glantz
United States
1,480,000
6
Chris Brewer
United States
1,253,000
7
Yosuke Miki
Japan
1,127,000
8
Maksim Pisarenko
Russian Federation
1,083,000
9
Alex Livingston
Canada
1,060,000
10
Ryan Miller
United States
968,000
Kristopher Tong
Seventeen-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth will bring an above-average stack of 900,000 into Day 3, while fellow Hall of Famer Phil Ivey (694,000) is eyeing his 12th-ever bracelet. Fellow poker boom icon Gus Hansen sits just below Ivey with 632,000 in chips, while all-time money leader Bryn Kenney (335,000) still has a shot at redemption for last year's runner-up finish.
Meanwhile, it is looking bleak for three-time PPC champion Brian Rast. He will return at the very bottom of the counts with 107,000 today, just over one-third of a starting stack, and will have to perform a spin-up for the ages if he wants to tie Michael Mizrachi for the most-ever PPC victories.
Brian Rast
Day 3 will continue with the limits for fixed-limit games at 20,000/40,000, while the blinds in pot-limit and no-limit games will be at 5,000/10,000. Day 3 will play six more levels of 100 minutes each, with a short break after every level. A 60-minute dinner break is planned after the third level of the day, around 6:30 p.m. local time.
All 17 players who reach the money will be awarded at least a six-figure sum, as the minimum cash amounts to $100,934. The payouts then gradually increase, with the final table of seven each being guaranteed $176,732. The top three will walk away with at least $600,698, while the only seven-figure payout is reserved for the eventual champion.
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PokerNews will continue its extensive live report of the prestigious $50,000 Poker Players Championship on Day 3, so stay tuned as the cards will be sent flying shortly.
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