button in SafariDaniel Rezaei Leads Day 1 of Star-Studded Field in $50,000 High Roller
Day 1 of Event #90: $50,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold'em 8-Handed has come to an end here at the 2026 World Series of Poker, running at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas. Curtains came to a close at the end of Level 10, with 131 entries into the tournament creating a prize pool of $6,222,500 so far. With late registration still open until July 10 at 3:15 p.m., that number will certainly grow.
Leading the field is Daniel Rezaei of Austria with 2,010,000, who is no stranger to high roller events. Rezaei has had a good summer thus far, with a fourth-place finish in the $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed (Bracelet Event #73) for $328,810.
Just behind the chip leader is Paulius Vaitiekunas of Lithuania with 1,965,000. Vaitiekunas has one WSOP Circuit ring and $1,836,095 in WSOP live earnings. Rounding out the top three is Thomas Boivin of Belgium with 1,510,000. Boivin has a whopping $17,240,730 in live tournament earnings and is well positioned to make a deep run.
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daniel Rezaei | Austria | 2,010,000 | 134 |
| 2 | Paulius Vaitiekunas | Lithuania | 1,965,000 | 131 |
| 3 | Thomas Boivin | Belgium | 1,510,000 | 101 |
| 4 | Zachary Grech | United States | 1,465,000 | 98 |
| 5 | Eelis Parssinen | Finland | 1,450,000 | 97 |
| 6 | Aram Oganyan | United States | 1,440,000 | 96 |
| 7 | Bill Klein | United States | 1,325,000 | 88 |
| 8 | Kristen Foxen | Canada | 1,220,000 | 81 |
| 9 | Michael Macchia | United States | 1,140,000 | 76 |
| 10 | Biao Ding | China | 1,100,000 | 73 |
Martin Kabrhel (350,000) made his presence known towards the end of Day 1 as he registered during Level 9. Others that bagged included Eelis Parssinen (1,450,000), Kristen Foxen (1,220,000), Daniel Negreanu (1,085,000), Bryn Kenney (1,000,000), Brandon Wilson (935,000), Cary Katz (815,000), and Ren Lin (590,000). Each of them will be looking to deepen their own WSOP legacy with a victory in this $50,000 High Roller.
Not all were able to secure a place in Day 2 with just one bullet. Many of the game's regulars fell on bullet number one, including Kai Cohen, Erik Seidel, Igor Yaroshevskyy, and Jesse Lonis. Marius Gierse, Adrian Mateos, and Klemens Roiter, who all found themselves firing both of their bullets into the tournament.
Gierse jammed ace-queen into Nazar Buhaiov's ace-king suited, and unfortunately for Gierse, he could not find himself a lucky lady. Mateos found himself in a brutal spot on the river against Vinny Lingham, who had top set against Mateos' middle set to bust him. Roiter lost with top pair against a flopped straight versus Emilien Pitavy blind on blind. The very next hand, Roiter found himself all in against two players, and Josef Schusteritsch's ace-high was best.
The 51 surviving players will return at 1 p.m. on Friday at Level 11, with blinds at 10,000/15,000 and a 15,000 big blind ante. Registration will remain open until the end of Level 12 and the subsequent break, around 3:15 p.m. Play will continue until there are just five players left, with a 60-minute dinner break after Level 18, around 6:30 p.m.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for live updates as reporters catch the Day 2 action.