button in SafariBig Lead for Fahredin Mustafov in Event #94: $10,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold'em Championship
The field of the last championship event of the 2026 World Series of Poker has been trimmed down to the final 33 players still in contention at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.
The gruelling second day of Event #94: $10,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold'em Championship saw a long money bubble, two players sharing the first cash, and some big names headlining a field still battling for this prestigious bracelet.
With late registration still open to begin the day, 201 fresh faces joined the field with short stacks and big dreams. That brought total to 558 entries to pass last year’s number (546), while creating a final prize pool of $5,189,400. The top 84 places were set to be paid, with everyone chasing the first-place prize of $1,001,391.
After another nine levels of action, Fahredin Mustafov (2,800,000) bagged up a big lead and will return to action with 140 big blinds in his stack. The two-time WSOP bracelet winner leads ahead of another multiple bracelet holder, as Justin Liberto (2,100,000) lurks in second spot as the only other player above the two million chip mark.
Jamie O'Connor (1,935,000) was around the chip lead all day, and rounds out the top three stacks as they head into Day 3.
End of Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fahredin Mustafov | Bulgaria | 2,800,000 | 140 |
| 2 | Justin Liberto | United States | 2,100,000 | 105 |
| 3 | Jamie O'Connor | United Kingdom | 1,935,000 | 97 |
| 4 | Kully Sidhu | United Kingdom | 1,850,000 | 93 |
| 5 | Calvin Anderson | United States | 1,700,000 | 85 |
| 6 | Aliaksandr Shylko | Belarus | 1,630,000 | 82 |
| 7 | David Peters | United States | 1,625,000 | 81 |
| 8 | Aliaksei Boika | Belarus | 1,585,000 | 79 |
| 9 | Loic Debregeas | France | 1,415,000 | 71 |
| 10 | Sergi Reixach | Spain | 1,365,000 | 68 |
The day began with a long list of prominent names joining the action, with even more taking their seats at the end of late registration. Among them was Martin Kabrhel, who lasted just a single hand before hitting the rail.
That was slightly less than Phil Ivey, who saw his pocket pair come up empty in his second hand of the day. Shortly after, Phil Hellmuth made a quick exit after running into aces.
Others to come up short of a deep run included Michael Mizrachi, Joao Vieira, and Michael Moncek.
Adrian Mateos got a an early boost by cracking aces with pocket kings, but was unable to build any more momentum and fell short of the money.
Hand-for-hand play began two off the money and saw Erik Seidel fall just before the stone bubble. It took 18 hands in total to find an elimination, and two occurred on the same hand.
Ran Ilani and Josep Ruiz did the honors, as both found unlikely wins to knock out Hirokazu Kobayashi and Mauricio Pais on separate tables. That left the pair splitting the first payout, each earning $10,077 for their troubles.
The parade to the payout desk began shortly after, including Alex Foxen (65th - $20,144), who was sent out in the money just ahead of Ethan Yau (64th - $20,144). Defending champion Sam Soverel (62nd - $20,144) saw his bid for a repeat end after the dinner break.
Several bracelet winners and 25K Fantasy players are still in contention, including Calvin Anderson (1,700,000), David Peters (1,625,000) and John Racener (1,075,000).
Dario Sammartino (185,000) will also return for Day 3, sitting among the short stacks with less than 10 big blinds in his bag.
Players will return at 1:00 p.m. local time, where the tournament will resume on Level 20 with blinds of 10,000/20,000 along with a 20,000 big blind ante. Levels will continue to be 60 minutes in length, with breaks after every two hours of play.
Day 3 is scheduled to play down to a winner, though that will be subject to change as the action progresses. All remaining contenders have earned at least $29,360, with a spot at the final table worth a minimum of $85,340.
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize | Place | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,001,391 | 8-9 | $85,340 |
| 2 | $660,933 | 10-11 | $65,643 |
| 3 | $445,268 | 12-17 | $51,713 |
| 4 | $306,313 | 18-23 | $41,750 |
| 5 | $215,270 | 24-29 | $34,563 |
| 6 | $154,625 | 30-33 | $29,360 |
| 7 | $113,570 |
The final week of the 2026 World Series of Poker continues, and the PokerNews live reporting team has you covered so don’t miss any of the action from this and all WSOP events in Las Vegas.