button in SafariGarza Looks to Go Two-In-a-Row as He and Helppi Stand Way Above the Rest
NLH Ante: 60,000
Day 2 of Event #64: $25,000 High Roller PLO/NLH Mixed at the 2026 World Series of Poker had it all: Hold’em and Omaha pros battling it out, the bubble bursting, max late reggers, and coolers galore. And also some more max late reggers. The 60 players who opened bags to begin the day quickly became 134, as the number more than doubled with late reg open for two levels. of those, 41 turned up at the latest possible opportunity, sitting with just 18 big blinds, prepared to begin the spin.
The anti-max late reg crowd will be delighted to hear that, of those, a grand total of 0 will be returning for the third and final day of play, with all of the remaining 14 players left having bought in beforehand. Those 14 are led by Juha Helppi, who bagged up the chip lead with 6,370,000 chips, good for 127 big blinds when play resumes tomorrow. This massive stack is largely in part due to a huge hand in the final level of play, as he clashed with tablemate Dan Smith after turning the nuts.
Coming in slightly behind in a respectable second place is reigning champion Lou Garza, with 5,365,000, also bagging up over 100 big blinds for Day 3. He'll be looking to put them to good use in his attempt to go back-to-back in the competition.
Rounding out the podium is Sergio Martinez Gonzalez. Although he still ended up with a large number of chips, he and the rest of the field are miles behind the two runaway leaders, as his 2,755,000 is only just more than half of the second place finisher's count.
Day 3 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Juha Helppi | Finland | 6,370,000 | 127 |
| 2 | Lou Garza | United States | 5,365,000 | 107 |
| 3 | Sergio Martinez Gonzalez | Spain | 2,755,000 | 55 |
| 4 | Edward Leonard | United States | 2,690,000 | 54 |
| 5 | Eelis Parssinen | Finland | 2,425,000 | 49 |
| 6 | Sean Winter | United States | 2,410,000 | 48 |
| 7 | Yang Wang | China | 2,150,000 | 43 |
| 8 | Dylan Weisman | United States | 1,705,000 | 34 |
| 9 | Dylan Linde | United States | 1,530,000 | 31 |
| 10 | Dominykas Karmazinas | Lithuania | 975,000 | 20 |
Further down in the counts, Sean Winter (2,410,000) bagged up a healthy stack, with Dylan Weisman (1,705,000) and Dylan Linde (1,530,000) all still in the hunt for the crown, alongside some precious $25k Fantasy points for their respective teams.
Also scoring some points for his team is short stack Daniel Negreanu, who will be bringing back a sub-ten big blind stack of 435,000. That being said, if anybody can find a way to get back into the mix, it's DNegs.
Players who missed out on the money, as well as the all important points, include Erik Seidel, Chino Rheem, Punnat Punsri, Ren Lin, and recent heads-up competitors Santhosh Suvarna and Joao Simao.
Andjelko Andrejevic was the bubble boy, with Dan Shak the first money-maker to go. Nick Schulman lost to the overpair of Eelis Parssinen, and the same fate awaited John Riordan at the hands of Dan Smith.
Cary Katz was the last to head home of the night, as his two pair lost out to the rivered trips of Parssinen.
During play, the huge prize pool of $5,029,000 was confirmed, with a total of $1,172,196 for the player who ends up topping the charts. Each of those remaining has locked up a minimum of $61,694, but they undoubtedly won’t be fulfilled without lifting up the coveted WSOP gold bracelet alongside the seven-figure score.
Remaining Payouts
Play is set to resume at 1:00 p.m. local time in the Gold section of Paris Ballroom, with blinds restarting at the 25,000/50,000 level. The ante will be equal to the big blind in PLO, but will be elevated to 75,000 for the Hold’em portion of the tournament. The day will not end until a victor has been named.
Stay tuned as PokerNews offers full live coverage of the final day of Event #64, as well as many more across the remainder of the WSOP, hosted by Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.