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Stud Games: 10,000 Ante, 20,000 Bring-In, 50,000 Completion, 50,000-100,000 Limits
Pot-Limit & No-Limit: 25,000/35,000 Ante, 10,000/25,000 Blinds
After a notably bad start to his 2026 World Series of Poker, Shaun Deeb seems to have turned things around. Less than two weeks after his runner-up finish in the $3k 9-Game, Deeb has given himself a chance at redemption as he grinded his way to the chip lead on Day 2 of Event #74: $1,500 8-Game Mixed.
Deeb, who started the day at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas short-stacked with only 90,500 to his name, ended the day with 3,090,000, worth around 25 big bets when play resumes. Deeb has put himself in pole position to capture the $181,625 top prize and his ninth WSOP bracelet.
Like Deeb, Blaz Zerjav has had a lackluster series by his standards, but the Slovenian phenom now eyes his first final table of the summer, following Deeb at a considerable distance with 2,330,000.
Others among the 13 remaining players from the 766-entry field include Itsuko Yoroi, who continues Japan's strong showings in the mixed-game tournaments as she bagged 1,410,000 for an average stack. Meanwhile, Viktor Blom is looking to finally get his name off the "best without a bracelet" list, although he will have to turn around his luck if he wants to reach the highest payouts of the $1,016,865 prize pool with his short stack of 720,000.
End of Day 2 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shaun Deeb | United States | 3,090,000 |
| 2 | Blaz Zerjav | Slovenia | 2,330,000 |
| 3 | Jaswinder Lally | Canada | 1,985,000 |
| 4 | Fu Wong | United States | 1,900,000 |
| 5 | Jason Riesenberg | United States | 1,795,000 |
| 6 | Itsuko Yoroi | Japan | 1,410,000 |
| 7 | Patrick Mahoney | United States | 1,350,000 |
| 8 | Michael Balan | United States | 1,290,000 |
| 9 | Dean Joe | United States | 1,245,000 |
| 10 | Alexandre Amiel | France | 875,000 |
| 11 | Michael Koenig | United States | 860,000 |
| 12 | Viktor Blom | Sweden | 720,000 |
| 13 | Thomas Fuller | United States | 510,000 |
Day 2 Action
With 147 players returning for Day 2, 32 eliminations were required to reach the money. Among those who left empty-handed early were 25k Fantasy picks Ryan Leng, Tyler Phillips, and Brad Ruben. Allen Kessler was close to adding another min-cash to his WSOP resume, but was eliminated four spots from the money. The tournament didn’t even need to go hand for hand, as after 75 minutes of regular play, Scott Seiver popped the bubble by knocking Christopher Kay out in 116th place.
Newly crowned PPC champion Benny Glaser (98th) was one of the first to pick up the $3,010 min-cash, and he was soon followed to the rail by poker legend Phil Laak, who noted his third cash of the series with a 79th-place finish. Bubble-burster Seiver made a pay jump to $3,170 by making it four spots further than Laak, while Mike Matusow received $3,310 for coming in 64th after being eliminated by Chris Brewer. Brewer himself became the final elimination before the dinner break, falling to Blom in 34th.
Crowd favorite Daniel Negreanu started the day second in chips, but after having trended down for a while, he eventually petered out in 32nd place, decreasing his losses for the summer by $3,670. At the final three tables, Christopher Vitch seemed unbustable for a while, but he finally fell in 15th place for $9,370 on his umpteenth all-in of the night. Robert Wells received the same amount when he became the final elimination of Day 3, busting with a full house against Deeb's rivered straight flush.
The 13 remaining players will return on June 30 at 1 p.m. local time for Day 3 of the $1,500 8-game. The limit for the fixed-limit games will be at 60,000/120,000, while the blinds for PLO and no-limit hold’em will restart at 15,000/30,000. All levels will remain 60 minutes long, and a break is scheduled after every two of them. A marathon session might be on the cards for the remaining players, as Day 3 will not conclude until a winner has been crowned.
The 13 remaining contenders have secured themselves a payout of $9,370, with the next pay jump set to happen when 11 remain. The final table of six will be guaranteed a payday of $28,420, while six-figure payouts await those who make it to heads-up play.
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | $181,625 |
| 2 | $120,570 |
| 3 | $81,530 |
| 4 | $56,230 |
| 5 | $39,570 |
| 6 | $28,420 |
| 7 | $20,840 |
| 8-9 | $15,620 |
| 10-11 | $11,960 |
| 12-13 | $9,370 |
PokerNews will be back on the floor on Day 3 to bring you the thrilling conclusion to the $1,500 8-game, so tune back in then to not miss any of the mixed-game action.
