button in SafariJoshua Boulton Eyes Second Bracelet After Bagging Top Three Stack on Day 2 of 5k 6-Max
After ten levels of play, Day 2 action has come to a close here in Event #73: $5,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em at the 2026 World Series of Poker, hosted by the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.
With late registration still open through the end of Level 12, the total amount of entries swelled to 1,402 from the 1,018 that were tallied on Day 1. Only 60 players will return for Day 3 on Tuesday, each having locked up at least $13,795. The remaining competitors will battle for a share of the $6,449,200 prize pool, with the winner set to earn $979,655 and the coveted gold bracelet.
Roeland Peeks (3,350,000) finished atop the leaderboard and will be on the hunt for his first career bracelet. The Dutchman made deep runs in the last two Main Events at WSOP Paradise, and will look to use that experience to navigate his way through a tough field that remains.
Sitting in second is Joseph Tatarski of the United States with 3,000,000, and rounding out the top three is bracelet winner Joshua Boulton of the United Kingdom, who bagged 2,660,000. He won the $1,979 Poker Hall of Fame Bounty event at last year's WSOP and will look to add another piece of gold to his resume.
Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Roeland Peeks | Netherlands | 3,350,000 | 134 |
| 2 | Joseph Tatarski | United States | 3,000,000 | 120 |
| 3 | Joshua Boulton | United Kingdom | 2,660,000 | 106 |
| 4 | Paulius Vaitiekunas | Lithuania | 2,600,000 | 104 |
| 5 | Jordan Glazer | United States | 2,595,000 | 104 |
| 6 | Luis Faria | Portugal | 2,275,000 | 91 |
| 7 | Kim Wittendorff | Denmark | 2,200,000 | 88 |
| 8 | Boris Angelov | Bulgaria | 2,065,000 | 83 |
| 9 | Andrew Lichtenberger | United States | 1,840,000 | 74 |
| 10 | Brek Schutten | United States | 1,780,000 | 71 |
Notable Eliminations
Joseph Cheong and Terrance Reid hit the rail early in the day when Or Nezer woke up with pocket aces to score a double knockout. Bracelet winners Orson Young and Josh Reichard were also victims of a double-elimination courtesy of Mark Darner.
Dan Sepiol found himself in the dream spot after late registration ended when he doubled up with pocket aces versus Jeremy Ausmus' pocket kings. Not long after, the two collided again with Sepiol winning a flip to send Ausmus packing.
Bracelet winners Brian Yoon, Faraz Jaka, Danny Tang, John Juanda, David Peters, and Mike Holtz were among others to bow out before the money.
Linglin Zeng and John Villanueva were eliminated in separate hands on the stone bubble, which allowed the two of them to split a min-cash.
Once the bubble burst, four Main Event champions were still in the mix but all of them were knocked out before day's end. Damian Salas (161st - $9,971) and Martin Jacobson (159th - $9,971) were the first two to go, while Ryan Riess (103rd - $10,531) and Jonathan Tamayo (85th - $11,323) stuck around a little longer.
Several 25k Fantasy draftees exited later in the evening, including Justin Zaki (73rd - $12,390), Nick Pupillo (71st - $13,795), and Brian Battistone (69th - $13,795).
Players to Keep an Eye On
Bracelet winners Paulius Vaitiekunas (2,600,000), Andrew Lichtenberger (1,840,000), and Brek Schutten (1,780,000) finished with top ten stacks.
Other notables who bagged big who will be on the lookout for their first piece of WSOP hardware include Jordan Glazer (2,595,000), Eric Bonin (1,700,000), Jeremy Dan (1,635,000), Gabriel Andrade (1,480,000) and Jon Kyte (1,370,000).
Josh Arieh, who currently sits fourth in the 2026 WSOP Player of the Year standings, ended the day with 1,020,000. Jesse Lonis (575,000) final tabled the 10k PLO Championship yesterday and was right back to two-card action today.
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize | Place | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $979,655 | 12-17 | $58,729 |
| 2 | $653,037 | 18-23 | $46,385 |
| 3 | $460,256 | 24-29 | $37,196 |
| 4 | $328,810 | 30-35 | $30,292 |
| 5 | $238,152 | 36-41 | $25,058 |
| 6 | $174,909 | 42-47 | $21,062 |
| 7 | $130,287 | 48-53 | $17,991 |
| 8-9 | $98,449 | 54-59 | $16,623 |
| 10-11 | $75,480 | 60 | $13,795 |
Action will resume at 12 p.m. local time on Tuesday, June 30, and the tournament is scheduled to play down to five players. Play will resume at Level 21 with blinds at 10,000/25,000 with a 25,000 big blind ante, and there will be a 15-minute break every two levels. A one-hour dinner break will take place after Level 26 is completed, at approximately 6:30 p.m.
Be sure to follow PokerNews throughout the remainder of this event and for continued coverage of the 2026 World Series of Poker.