PokerNews live coverage of this event will begin on Day 2 (July 14). Until then, we will keep readers informed with updates on chip counts and core event statistics, including entries and the prize pool. Scroll down to see more.
Event #95: $500 Summer Saver No-Limit Hold'em
Day 1a Completed
Six-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Martin Kabrhel got off to a flying start on Day 1a of Event #95: $500 Summer Saver No-Limit Hold'em, ending the night with one of the largest stacks in the room.
Kabrhel was one of 1,414 players who entered the event's first of two flights, and one of the 192 who advanced to Day 2. According to the WSOP LIVE app, the Czech star will return on Day 2 armed with 1,075,000 chips, or around 54 big blinds, enough for fourth place at the time of writing.
Ryan Stiner (1,800,000), Garrett Dwire (1,450,000), and Nikolai Dizon Mollat (1,230,000) owned the top three stacks at Day 1a's conclusion.
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ryan Stiner | United States | 1,800,000 | 90 |
| 2 | Garrett Dwire | United States | 1,450,000 | 73 |
| 3 | Nikolai Dizon Mollat | United States | 1,230,000 | 62 |
| 4 | Martin Kabrhel | Czech Republic | 1,075,000 | 54 |
| 5 | Theodore Doukas | Canada | 1,005,000 | 50 |
| 6 | Terence Reid | United States | 1,000,020 | 50 |
| 7 | Nathaniel Zoller | United States | 940,000 | 47 |
| 8 | Jesus Martinez | United States | 935,000 | 47 |
| 9 | Nobuaki Sasaki | Japan | 915,000 | 46 |
| 10 | Georgios Sourlas | Greece | 895,000 | 45 |
Despite the affordable buy-in, a handful of bracelet winners and $25K Fantasy Draft picks progressed to Day 2 from this flight.
Andreas Frohli (300,000), Tamas Lendvai (285,000), Lara Eisenberg (255,000), Bryan Schultz (155,000), and Kevin Eyster (135,000) were among those well-known grinders.
The second and final flight is scheduled to shuffle up and deal at 10:00 a.m. local time on July 13, with entrants tasked with navigating 20 levels, each lasting 30 minutes. Stay tuned to PokerNews for updates from the 2026 World Series of Poker, running at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.
These are the chip counts of the 192 surviving players, according to the WSOP LIVE app.
Day 1a of Event #95: $500 Summer Saver has concluded. Of the 1,414 entries to the flight, 192 have bagged to return for Day 2.
Standby for the full chip counts and recap.
The least and most surprising World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion ever is arguably the same person.
Confused? You won't be in a bit. Poker's most prestigious annual event, with the purpose of crowning a 2026 world champion, kicks off today at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas. Michael Mizrachi, the newest Poker Hall of Famer, won this $10,000 buy-in tournament last summer for $10,000,000.
"The Grinder's" win brought some excitement around the poker community, but it wasn't a huge surprise like some past champs. Mizrachi didn't come out of nowhere before winning the Main Event. He wasn't an accountant who won a cheap online satellite to enter the tournament or some random amateur low-stakes cash game player.
For the first time in well over a decade, Brad Booth was back in the World Series of Poker Main Event.
The Canadian, affectionately known as "Yukon Brad," was one of the biggest personalities of poker's boom years. From battling in Bobby's Room to pulling off one of the most memorable bluffs in High Stakes Poker history against Phil Ivey, Booth was never far from the spotlight.
Booth believes the last time he played the Main Event was around 2012, and after years away from the WSOP and a well-documented fall from the high-stakes scene, he's back in poker's biggest tournament with a very different outlook.
"It's been a minute," Booth told PokerNews. "Definitely north of a decade. I was in the woods there for a wee bit."
In the 989th episode of the PokerNews Podcast, which is sponsored by FanDuel Poker, Chad Holloway honors the 20th anniversary of the 2006 World Series of Poker (WSOP) by chatting with a trio of players who made a name for themselves that year.
That includes Paul Wasicka, who finished runner-up to Jamie Gold in the 2006 WSOP Main Event and, a year later, went on to win the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. What has the former young gun, who doesn't play much serious poker anymore, been up to over the past two decades? Find out here.
Likewise, Sabyl Cohen-Landrum finished 56th in the 2006 WSOP Main Event, making her the last woman standing by outlasting Annie Duke. ESPN captured it and vaulted her to temporary "Poker Boom" fame, but what is life like for her now?
Finally, Chad caught up with Jon Friedberg, who topped a then-record 2,891-player field to win a $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em event for $526K and a gold bracelet. Friedberg has gone on to become a major player on the poker operator side of things, and part of that success stems from his big bracelet win. Learn more about his story in this week's episode of the PokerNews Podcast!
Oh, and be sure to check out the audio version of the PokerNews Podcast that is available on all major podcasting platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and SoundCloud.
As per the WSOP LIVE app.
This year's nominees for the Poker Hall of Fame have been announced, with the eight individuals now heading to the living members of the Hall for voting.
Each member can vote for up to four nominees, and anyone receiving votes from 22 or more members earns an automatic induction. This change, from a previous "winner-takes-all" format allowing for only one induction per year, was announced earlier this month.
Five of the eight nominees are first-time nominees, having met the minimum age requirement of 40. Eight-time WSOP bracelet winner Shaun Deeb headlines these players; he is joined by Jason Koon, Isaac Haxton, Chris Moorman, and Justin Bonomo.
According to the WSOP LIVE app.
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