button in SafariArtur Martirosian Dominates Day 1 of $100,000 Pot Limit Omaha High Roller
The most expensive four-card poker contest at the 2026 World Series of Poker kicked off earlier today at the Paris and Horseshoe Hotel Las Vegas. With a six-figure price tag, Event #76: $100,000 High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha attracted a field of 50 entries and has so far generated a prize pool of $4,800,000.
Upon completion of ten levels of 60 minutes each, only 19 players remained, and a familiar name appeared at the top of the leaderboard. Four time gold bracelet winner Artur Martirosian bagged up 5,815,000 and has already established a gap ahead of second-placed Sean Winter (3,695,000).
"If I have the same luck like today, I will finish it tomorrow," Martirosian joked to the dealer when he bagged up his chips for the night, though he needed to fire a second bullet to earn the top spot.
Joni Jouhkimainen, meanwhile, doubled in the penultimate hand of the night to jump into third place with a stack of 2,160,000.
Plenty of well-known poker pros can be found in the overnight top ten and that also includes GGPoker ambassador Daniel Negreanu (1,990,000), Santhosh Suvarna (1,390,000) and Robert Cowen (1,300,000).
Top 10 Chip Counts After Day 1
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Artur Martirosian | Russian Federation | 5,815,000 | 233 |
| 2 | Sean Winter | United States | 3,695,000 | 148 |
| 3 | Joni Jouhkimainen | Finland | 2,160,000 | 86 |
| 4 | Alex Foxen | United States | 2,040,000 | 82 |
| 5 | Daniel Negreanu | Canada | 1,990,000 | 80 |
| 6 | Philip Sternheimer | United Kingdom | 1,820,000 | 73 |
| 7 | Lautaro Guerra | Spain | 1,510,000 | 60 |
| 8 | Sergio Martinez Gonzalez | Spain | 1,485,000 | 59 |
| 9 | Santhosh Suvarna | India | 1,390,000 | 56 |
| 10 | Robert Cowen | United Kingdom | 1,300,000 | 52 |
Action of the Day
When the action kicked off, only a single table was running, and the Cinderella story of Phillipp Mellon was off to a great start. He initially entered a $120 step satellite and made it through two other steps to earn his entry in the high-stakes contest. Mellon became the first player with more than a million in chips, but he ultimately bowed out in level five when his top two pair and flush draw couldn't improve against the top set of Sergio Martinez Gonzalez.
Jesse Lonis lost his first bullet rather quickly and opted not to re-enter, but he may do so in the first two levels of Day 2 before the end of the late registration and re-entry period. Lou Garza soared up the leaderboard after entering midway through the day when he knocked out David Prociak and Martirosian, but the latter came back to haunt him later on when Martirosian turned a king-high straight to cement his status as the chip leader in the final level of the night.
Other notable casualties included Farid Jattin, Sean Rafael, 2026 WSOP Player of the Year contenders Naoya Kihara and Nick Schulman, Jason Koon as well as Josh Arieh. Koon was one of several players who sent their chips over to Martirosian when his double-suited rundown failed to crack pocket aces.
The rise of Negreanu on the leaderboard commenced when he got it in with aces against aces and turned a straight, then rivered a flush to send $50,000 Pot Limit Omaha High Roller finalist Jeremy Druckman to the rail.
Defending champion Shaun Deeb didn't join the action just yet because he was busy earning bracelet number nine nearby in Event #74: $1,500 8-Game Mixed for $181,625, winning the heads-up against Dean Joe. The top prize is more than enough to cover his entry fee, though, and late registration will remain open until the end of Level 12, two levels into Day 2.
Fewer than half of the field remains heading into the penultimate tournament day, but the field size will likely increase further. Day 2 is scheduled to get back underway at noon local time on Wednesday, July 1, 2026, at Level 11, which features blinds of 10,000-25,000 and a big blind ante of 25,000.
Stay tuned for another two days of high-stakes four-card coverage right here on PokerNews with the 2026 WSOP Main Event already looming right around the corner.