After a marathon opening day, just 556 players remain in Event #78: $600 Deepstack Championship No-Limit Hold'em at the 2026 World Series of Poker. The tournament attracted a massive 5,177 entries at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, creating a prize pool of $2,609,208.
With the money bubble already behind them, every returning player has locked up at least $1,200. Now, their focus shifts to the $282,817 top prize and, of course, the coveted WSOP gold bracelet.
Among the top ten chip stacks, according to the WSOP LIVE app, is four-time bracelet winner Georgios Sotiropoulos, who will be looking to capture his fifth WSOP gold bracelet. Two-time bracelet winner Bryan Piccioli is also well-positioned for another deep run as he chases his third bracelet.
Also sitting inside the top ten is Xuming Qi, who has amassed nearly $2 million in live tournament earnings according to The Hendon Mob. Despite his impressive résumé, a WSOP gold bracelet has so far eluded him.
Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Abu Naser Bikas
United States
1,415,000
142
2
Diogo De Souza
Brazil
1,169,000
117
3
Georgios Sotiropoulos
Greece
1,028,000
103
4
Michael Starek
United States
1,025,000
103
5
Bryan Piccioli
United States
1,004,000
100
6
Viraj Khanna
United States
947,000
95
7
Nicholas Burris
United States
939,000
94
8
Robert Pacleb
United States
915,000
92
9
Li Chengbei
China
887,000
89
10
Jorge Duarte
Canada
881,000
88
Also heading to Day 2 to compete are bracelet winners Robert Schulz (647,000), Frank Marasco (453,000), and Karapet Galstyan (380,000).
Robert Schulz
A few 25K Fantasy Draft players to watch are Jeremy Becker (311,000) and ODB pick Jon Shoreman (610,000).
Jeremy Becker
Remaining Prize Pool
Place
Prize
Place
Prize
1
$282,817
45 -53
$6,194
2
$188,231
54 -62
$5,179
3
$139,723
63 -71
$4,370
4
$104,555
72 -80
$3,722
5
$78,876
81 -89
$3,199
6
$59,994
90 -98
$2,775
7
$46,010
99 -143
$2,431
8
$35,580
144 -197
$2,149
9
$27,747
198 -251
$1,918
10 -11
$21,822
252 -305
$1,729
12 -13
$17,309
306 -359
$1,574
14 -17
$13,848
360 -413
$1,447
18 -26
$11,176
414 -467
$1,344
27 -35
$9,099
468 -521
$1,260
36 -44
$7,474
522 -556
$1,200
Day 2 starts at 11 a.m. and will consist of 10 levels 60-minutes in length, with 15-minute breaks every two levels. A dinner break will be granted after Level 23 at approximately 5:30 p.m. Blinds will commence at 5,000/10,000/10,000.
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Stay tuned to PokerNews for continuing coverage of Event #78 as a new champion is crowned.
Action was picked up on the river with a board of 9♦6♥10♥2♠J♠. Chris Meza was all in from early position for 70,000, Shoma Nishimura called from late position, and Dustin Harrelson was all in from the small blind with the smallest stack for 46,000. The pot was about 183,000.
Dustin Harrelson: A♦A♥
Chris Meza: K♣Q♥
Shoma Nishimura: 8♥8♣
Meza hit the straight to scoop the pot.
"What a way to wake up for the day," stated one of the other players.
Bryan Piccioli raised from the button to 26,000, and Alexander Beck defended from the big blind. The flop was 10♣6♦4♦ and Beck checked, while Piccioli bet 20,000. Beck called.
Both players checked the turn 4♦ and the river K♥.
Action was picked up on the river with a board of 9♦5♣5♥2♥9♥, and the pot was 25,000. Tatyana Egoroff was in early position and called the all-in from the hijack by Billy Vandergriff for 141,000.
Billy Vandergriff: K♠K♣
Tatyana Egoroff: J♦J♠
The higher two pair granted Vandergriff life in the tournament.
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