Event #70: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship Day 1 | 2026 World Series of Poker

Event #70: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship

Day 1 Completed

5 hours 54 minutes ago

Michael Mizrachi Bags Piles in Day 1 of $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship

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Dan O'Hair

Level 10 : Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante

Day 1 of Event #70: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship saw 729 players make their way to the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas for arguably the second-most-popular open championship tournament outside of the Main Event. Following a full ten levels of PLO action, only 270 were able to bag into Day 2.

Leading the way is none other than Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, who bagged up an enormous stack worth 946,000 after the last hand was dealt. The defending Main Event champion was heard saying this was probably the best Day 1 he's ever had at the WSOP, and nearly 400 big blinds to his name, it's easy to see why.

The newly inducted Poker Hall of Famer soared into a commanding chip lead after cracking two opponent's aces and kings simultaneously on the penultimate level of the night and never looked back. Of his eight bracelets, none have come from a stand-alone PLO event, but he is now in great position to make a deep run and add to his already decorated poker resume.

Sitting in second position is 2026 Millionaire Maker champion Joseph Liberta with 716,000. Liberta. In addition to his recent bracelet win, Liberta holds three WSOP Circuit rings and will be looking to add his $1.5 million in live-tournament earnings.

End of Day 1 Top 10 Chip Counts

Rank	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	Michael Mizrachi	United States	946,000	378
2	Joseph Liberta	United States	716,000	286
3	Steven Sarmiento	United States	715,000	286
4	Michael Banducci	United States	509,000	204
5	Kevin Gorsic	Slovenia	498,500	199
6	Felipe Campins	Argentina	435,500	174
7	Daniel Hirsh	United States	380,500	152
8	Daniel Bedson	United Kingdom	378,000	151
9	Judah Chambers	United States	378,000	151
10	Sascha Wilhelm	Germany	374,000	150

Day 1 Highlights

The popular event drew a packed field from the start, with nearly 200 players taking their seats before cards were even in the air. There was not shortage of notables who took their seats early on, including Alex Foxen, Dennis Weiss, Alex Livingston, Dylan Weisman, David Benyamine, and defending champion Michael Wang.

The 2025 champ got off to a bit of a bumpy start before rebounding nicely in the early levels, however, Wang ulimately busted shortly before the final break of the day, meaning a new champion will be crowned this year.

Also taking his seat early was the always gregarious Espen Oeye, and he wasted little time enjoying a few drinks and engaging in plenty of well-received banter at his table. The rising Norwegian pro, who recently finished sixth in a Super High Roller No-Limit Hold'em event at the 2026 WSOPE, got off to a decent start but ultimately fell victim to a cooler after turning the second nuts only to run into the nuts of Loren Klein, sending him to the rail about halfway through the day.

The 2026 Millionaire Maker champion, Liberta, surged up the counts after eliminating Alnoor Pujani in a set-over-set confrontation and continued to build on his stack steadily throughout the evening. Liberta held the chip lead at various points, but utlimately bagged up second in chips behind Mizrachi.

Justin Liberto, who won his second bracelet and placed runner-up in the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship earlier in the series, is poised for yet another deep run after ending the day with 303,500. Liberto caught fire after eliminating Julian Milliard-Feral with a full house to land among the chip leaders midway through Day 1, but was unable to subtantially grow his stack from that point on.

In one of the crazier hands of the day, James Casement scored a very rare triple knockout after getting three players to commit their stacks preflop against Casement's aces. Amazingly, the board ran out clean for Casement and he dragged the entire pot with just his overpair. Thank largely to that hand, Casement went on to end the day with an above-average stack of 188,000.

However, Day 1 ultimately belonged to the man known as "The Grinder," whose willingness to gamble quite literally paid off in spades toward the end of day. With a big stack already in his possesion and about an hour left to play, Mizrachi found himself in a bloated three-way pot against Kai Yang and Tsz Shing, who held aces and kings respectively. Mizrachi went with his hand after flopping a flush draw to put both players at risk and was rewarded after hitting a fifth spade on the river to score the double knockout and surge into the chip lead.

Other notables who will be bringing healthy stacks with them into Day 2 include Noah Schwartz (358,000), Sasha Liu, (355,000), Toby Joyce, (349,500), Jesse Lonis, (344,500), Andrew Lichtenberger, (294,500), Josh Arieh (270,000), Dylan Weisman (260,500), and Jared Bleznick (235,000).

Some less fortunate players who will have to wait until next year include Jeff Madsen, Joe Hachem, Naoya Kihara, John Juanda, Erick Lindgren, Alex Foxen, Shaun Deeb, and Joao Vieira, who saw his day end after getting aces cracked by Dario Sammartino.

Players will return tomorrow at 1 p.m. local time to play an additional 10, hour-long levels. Action will resume on Level 11, which features 1,000/2,500 blinds with a 2,500 big-blind ante. Late registration will remain open until the start of Level 13 (~3:15 p.m. local time).

The long journey to crown the next $10K PLO champion has only just begun, so don't miss a beat! Stay tuned to PokerNews for all the latest updates and ongoing coverage from the floor until one player is left holding the gold.

Tags: Alex Foxen Alex Livingston Andrew Lichtenberger Big Blinds Daniel Bedson Daniel Hirsh Dario Sammartino David Benyamine Dennis Weiss Dylan Weisman Erick Lindgren Espen Oeye Felipe Campins James Casement Jared Bleznick Jeff Madsen Jesse Lonis Joao Vieira Joe Hachem John Juanda Joseph Liberta Josh Arieh Judah Chambers Julian Milliard-Feral Justin Liberto Kai Yang Kevin Gorsic Loren Klein Michael Banducci Michael Mizrachi Michael Wang Naoya Kihara Noah Schwartz Paris Las Vegas Sascha Wilhelm Sasha Liu Shaun Deeb Steven Sarmiento Toby Joyce Tsz Shing

5 hours 56 minutes ago

Seat Draw For Day 2

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Jon Pill

Level 10 : Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante

According to the WSOPLive App

Table	Seat	Player	Chips	Big Blinds
74	1	Danny Hannawa	289,500	116
74	3	Blake Whittington	89,000	36
74	4	Justin Luninpack	145,500	58
74	5	Diogo Xavier Veiga	266,000	106
74	6	Ka Lau	93,000	37
74	7	Yossi Eluz	106,000	42
74	8	Joseph Liberta	716,000	286

75	1	Ian Matakis	209,000	84
75	2	Rishi Makkar	59,000	24
75	4	Qibang Cheung	227,500	91
75	5	Julian Segura	149,500	60
75	6	Christy Sheng	179,000	72
75	7	Ofir Mor	69,500	28
75	8	Justin Dykes	134,500	54

76	1	Juan Mora	62,000	25
76	2	Vincent Wan	168,500	67
76	3	Michael Holtz	129,000	52
76	4	Noah Locatelli	301,500	121
76	6	Michelle Chin	80,000	32
76	7	Gilberto Amaral	101,500	41
76	8	Kyle Arora	21,000	8

77	1	Bernardo Tavares	48,000	19
77	2	Xixiang Luo	165,500	66
77	3	Dario Sammartino	175,500	70
77	4	Pavel Izotov	55,500	22
77	5	Leonardo Daviglus	128,500	51
77	6	Jose Fernandes Scarano	78,000	31
77	8	Joshua Reichard	68,000	27

78	1	Manh Nguyen	76,500	31
78	2	Vytautas Semaska	35,500	14
78	3	Christian Harder	229,500	92
78	4	Alexander Rocha	128,000	51
78	5	Lawrence Brandt	78,500	31
78	6	Mark Davidoff	103,500	41
78	7	Benjamin Lazer	238,500	95
78	8	Brent Wajcman	124,000	50

81	1	Iman Dan	90,000	36
81	2	Travis Kubota	350,500	140
81	3	Tony Hoang	36,000	14
81	4	Richard Harris	55,000	22
81	5	Harry Thomas	79,000	32
81	6	James Collopy	226,000	90
81	8	Pedro Bromfman	135,000	54

82	1	Tolga Demirel	71,500	29
82	2	Steven Forman	43,500	17
82	3	James Calderaro	104,000	42
82	5	Daniel Hirsh	380,500	152
82	6	Jiyang Gan	313,000	125
82	7	Chaoxing Li	107,000	43
82	8	Matthew Moss	130,000	52

83	1	Giuseppe Pantaleo	158,500	63
83	2	Corey Wright	146,000	58
83	3	Justin Kushi	333,500	133
83	4	Nicolas Sagra	53,200	21
83	5	Blaz Zerjav	214,000	86
83	7	Spencer Simpson	204,000	82
83	8	Jarred Graham	58,000	23

84	1	James Cavanaugh	180,500	72
84	3	Ricardo Alvarado	101,000	40
84	4	Ferenc Deak	73,000	29
84	5	Humberto Guerra	100,000	40
84	6	Hiroyuki Noda	163,000	65
84	7	Steven Sarmiento	715,000	286
84	8	Carlos Saucedo	329,000	132

85	1	Lior Abudi	180,500	72
85	2	Vladislavs Petrovs	225,000	90
85	3	Joshua Palmer	361,000	144
85	5	Christopher Vitch	138,000	55
85	6	Matthew Beinner	120,000	48
85	7	Vincent Wong	58,500	23
85	8	Jason Berilgen	48,500	19

86	1	Venkat Chivukula	190,000	76
86	2	Eric Yanovsky	170,500	68
86	3	Daniel Hachem	242,500	97
86	4	Pavel Plesuv	264,500	106
86	6	Michael Berk	167,000	67
86	7	Jesse Lonis	344,500	138
86	8	Justin Armstrong	133,000	53

87	1	Ashish Gupta	100,500	40
87	2	Mihai Niste	128,000	51
87	4	Karel Mokry	55,500	22
87	5	Aleksejs Ponakovs	257,500	103
87	6	Oshri Lahmani	208,000	83
87	7	Jordan Polk	246,000	98
87	8	Andrew Pham	236,000	94

88	1	Yuriy Boyko	106,500	43
88	2	Patrik Jaros	266,500	107
88	3	Aaron Kupin	31,100	12
88	5	Razavi Ghavamzadeh	62,500	25
88	6	Michael Banducci	509,000	204
88	7	Andreas Kaddour	31,000	12
88	8	Leonidas Andriopoulos	50,000	20

89	1	Loren Klein	193,000	77
89	3	Yuval Bronshtein	223,000	89
89	4	Bryan Chen	132,500	53
89	5	Conrad Fourie	340,000	136
89	6	James Chen	246,000	98
89	7	John Riordan	82,500	33
89	8	Felipe Campins	435,500	174

90	1	Paul Volpe	38,400	15
90	2	Motoyoshi Okamura	211,000	84
90	3	Michael Hahn	286,000	114
90	4	Sasha Liu	355,000	142
90	6	Igor Ioffe	48,500	19
90	7	Paul Haus	212,000	85
90	8	Noah Schwartz	358,000	143

93	1	John Zable	63,500	25
93	2	Barak Wisbrod	60,000	24
93	3	Ky Nguyen	265,000	106
93	4	Dennis Weiss	109,500	44
93	5	Michael Monroig	340,000	136
93	7	Adam Saven	105,500	42
93	8	Emmanuel Derecho	67,800	27

94	1	David Carvalho	122,000	49
94	2	Shalev Halfa	201,500	81
94	3	Daniel Sepiol	291,500	117
94	4	Aksel Hansen	297,000	119
94	6	Klemens Roiter	213,500	85
94	7	J Rogers	78,500	31
94	8	Brevin Andreadis	123,000	49

95	1	Andrew Loomis	74,000	30
95	3	Ryan Riess	140,500	56
95	4	Andrew Lichtenberger	294,500	118
95	5	Toby Joyce	349,500	140
95	6	Nino Pansier	300,000	120
95	7	Paul Patouilliart	144,000	58
95	8	Christian Van Doellen	148,000	59

96	1	David Strickland	176,000	70
96	2	Levon Khachatryan	142,500	57
96	3	Behnam Patros	88,000	35
96	5	Hani Mio	249,500	100
96	6	Jared Bleznick	235,000	94
96	7	Sergio Torres	247,500	99
96	8	Maximilian Lehmanski	106,000	42

97	1	Pallas Aidinian	129,000	52
97	2	Shamil Patel	51,000	20
97	3	Chi Tang	60,000	24
97	4	Dylan Weisman	260,500	104
97	6	Lukas Schwartz	116,000	46
97	7	William Benson	210,000	84
97	8	Xing He	78,000	31

98	1	Ilya Vikoulovski	81,000	32
98	2	Joshua Arieh	270,000	108
98	3	Jack Kwon	198,000	79
98	4	Dustin Nelson	116,000	46
98	5	Tony Lin	55,000	22
98	6	Jyri Merivirta	99,500	40
98	7	Melad Marji	83,500	33
98	8	Erik Backlund	207,000	83

99	1	Gytis Lazauninkas	25,000	10
99	2	Andrew Voor	174,000	70
99	3	Alan Engel	195,000	78
99	4	Yuan Li	164,500	66
99	5	Drake Kemper	192,500	77
99	6	Gustav Hansen	139,000	56
99	7	Cary Aronson	191,500	77
99	8	George Abdallah	155,000	62

100	1	Daniel Bedson	378,000	151
100	2	Shahar Levi	180,000	72
100	3	Carlo Van Ravenswoud	48,000	19
100	5	Benjamin Eilers	155,600	62
100	6	Shariq Khan	275,000	110
100	7	Hooman Nikzad	358,000	143
100	8	Thomas Evans Zanot	97,500	39

101	1	Bernard Vu	51,500	21
101	2	Javier Francort	105,000	42
101	3	Florian Guimond	175,500	70
101	4	Matthew Glantz	192,000	77
101	6	Sebastian Crema	71,500	29
101	7	Dylan Linde	145,500	58
101	8	Esther Taylor	69,000	28

102	1	Georgios Tsoupras	106,000	42
102	2	Farid Jattin	326,500	131
102	3	Benjamin Erickson	180,500	72
102	4	Christopher Wood	62,000	25
102	5	Werner Smit	79,000	32
102	6	Trevor Hebert	236,000	94
102	7	Michael Duek	102,000	41
102	8	Pedro Neves	228,500	91

103	1	Eddy Nedialkov	83,000	33
103	2	Evan Krentzman	93,500	37
103	3	George Abi-Zeid	57,000	23
103	4	Kevin Gorsic	498,500	199
103	6	Judah Chambers	378,000	151
103	7	Vivian Truglio Saliba	113,000	45
103	8	Leonid Yanovski	137,500	55

104	2	Zachary Peay	174,000	70
104	3	Grzegorz Derkowski	75,000	30
104	4	Bernie Wen	45,000	18
104	5	Gruffudd Pugh-Jones	354,000	142
104	6	Kharlin Sued	23,000	9
104	7	Rafael Mota	175,500	70
104	8	Daniel Smuskovics	75,000	30

105	1	Corey Kempson	126,000	50
105	2	Dechang Zhang	138,500	55
105	3	Michael Noori	148,000	59
105	4	Bradley Jansen	217,000	87
105	5	Idan Raviv	53,000	21
105	6	Luke Tatum	75,000	30
105	7	Robert Cowen	197,000	79
105	8	Robert Valden	84,000	34

106	1	Joshua Barney	162,500	65
106	2	Billy Tarango	292,000	117
106	3	Ilya Moundous	101,000	40
106	4	Deon Sampson	218,500	87
106	5	Dorel Eldabach	60,000	24
106	7	Ryan Laplante	56,000	22
106	8	David Weinstein	153,500	61

107	1	Andrei Mitsiuk	53,000	21
107	3	Anthony Zinno	87,000	35
107	4	Manuel Fischer	139,500	56
107	5	Michael Parisi	55,000	22
107	6	Michael Mizrachi	946,000	378
107	7	Christopher Kromidias	-	-
107	8	Michael Morton	130,000	52

108	1	Adrian Buckley	19,500	8
108	2	Jonathan Borenstein	122,500	49
108	4	Jack Moore	130,000	52
108	5	Tamer Kamel	60,000	24
108	6	Chase Crouch	25,500	10
108	7	Milton Martini	189,500	76
108	8	Diego Romero	228,500	91

109	1	Huabao Chen	243,000	97
109	2	Aaron Katz	209,000	84
109	3	Ivan Starostin	107,000	43
109	5	Christopher Ewing	133,500	53
109	6	James Casement	188,000	75
109	7	Ioannis Angelou Konstas	121,500	49
109	8	Bouwe Claushuis	98,500	39

110	1	James Sthilaire	124,000	50
110	2	Joseph Serock	46,000	18
110	3	Zurvan Tumboli	68,500	27
110	4	Andrew Watson	108,500	43
110	6	Justin Liberto	303,500	121
110	7	Oleksandr Trokhymenko	109,000	44
110	8	Rui Milhomens	40,500	16

111	1	Tomasz Gluszko	223,000	89
111	2	Charles Garnero	37,000	15
111	4	Dash Dudley	66,000	26
111	5	Ilia Krupin	164,500	66
111	6	Sam Soverel	66,700	27
111	7	Luke Keane	133,000	53
111	8	Matthew Vengrin	42,000	17

112	1	Juha Helppi	243,000	97
112	2	Isaac Kempton	179,000	72
112	3	Sean Winter	44,500	18
112	4	Karim Lehoussine	64,000	26
112	6	Charles Lehr	227,500	91
112	7	Michael Krasienko	215,000	86
112	8	Michael Schwartz	86,000	34

113	1	Benjamin Pollak	67,500	27
113	2	Zeik Tuit	300,000	120
113	4	Richie Allen	123,500	49
113	5	Francisco Perez Moreno	282,000	113
113	6	Marc Lattanzi	50,000	20
113	7	Pakinai Lisawad	151,500	61
113	8	Kamel Mokhammad	156,500	63

228	1	Steve Billirakis	185,500	74
228	2	Joao Estanislau	142,500	57
228	3	Nicholas Baris	92,000	37
228	5	Douglas Lorgeree	124,000	50
228	6	Sascha Wilhelm	374,000	150
228	7	Christopher Zametz	122,000	49
228	8	Max Neugebauer	191,000	76

229	1	Enrico Rudelitz	80,000	32
229	2	Alexander Condon	48,000	19
229	3	Armen Gevorgyan	158,000	63
229	4	William Kerkaert	51,000	20
229	5	Lautaro Guerra Cabrerizo	300,000	120
229	7	Steven Jones	253,000	101
229	8	Frank Bonacci	71,500	29

6 hours 20 minutes ago

Assorted End-of-Day Chip Counts

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Dan O'Hair

Level 10 : Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante

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6 hours 20 minutes ago

Play Concludes

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Dan O'Hair

Level 10 : Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante

The remaining 270 players are now bagging and tagging for the evening.

Stay tuned for a recap of Day 1.

6 hours 43 minutes ago

Andreadis Scores a Late-Night Double Up

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Nick Becker

Level 10 : Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante

Action picked up on the flop of J♦6♦9♥ in a hand between Brevin Andreadis in the hijack, Marc Lattanzi on the button, and Luke Keane in the big blind.

It checked around to Lattanzi, who bet 12,000, Keane called, and Andreadis moved all in for 60,000 total. Lattanzi thought for a moment before calling, and Keane stepped aside.

Brevin Andreadis: A♣Q♦9♣5♦ All in
Marc Lattanzi: K♠K♦Q♠6♥

Lattanzi was in the lead with a pair of kings but Andreadis had a plethora of outs, one of them being the A♠ that landed on the turn to give him two pair. The 4♣ rolled off on the river and Andreadis doubled with aces and nines.

Tags: Brevin Andreadis Luke Keane Marc Lattanzi

6 hours 47 minutes ago

Strickland Takes A Little from Mizrachi

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Stewart Morrison

Level 10 : Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante

Going three ways to a flop with 31,000 in the pot, the dealer laid out 6♠10♣9♦.

Anthony Zinno checked in the small blind, and both David Strickland and Michael Mizrachi did the same from middle position.

Zinno and Strickland checked again on the 3♠ turn, but this time Mizrachi bet 16,000. Zinno quickly folded, but Strickland sprang his trap, check-raising to 79,000.

Mizrachi took some time to consider, but then released his cards to the dealer.

Tags: Anthony Zinno David Strickland Michael Mizrachi

6 hours 48 minutes ago

Five More Hands

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Nick Becker

Level 10 : Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante

The floor has announced that five more hands will be played before the remaining players bag up for the night.

7 hours 2 minutes ago

Mota Forces a Fold

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Nick Becker

Level 10 : Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante

Action went three-ways to the turn in a hand between Isaac Kempton in middle position, Rafael Mota on the button, and Robert Cowen in the big blind.

With the board reading 4♥2♥A♣5♥, it checked to Mota, who bet 7,000. Cowen folded and Kempton made the call.

On the 10♥ river, Kempton quickly check-folded when Mota fired out a bet of 16,000.

Tags: Isaac Kempton Rafael Mota Robert Cowen

7 hours 7 minutes ago

Late Night Triple for Lehoussine

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Stewart Morrison

Level 10 : Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante

The action was joined as Karim Lehoussine had moved all in preflop on the button for 9,000, which both Pallas Aidinian and Luke Keane called from under the gun and the hijack.

When the dealer laid out a 8♦K♥4♥ flop, Aidinian check-folded when Keane bet the pot.

Karim Lehoussine: 9♥8♣6♥6♣ All in
Luke Keane: A♠A♦K♦Q♠