button in SafariVitch Leads; Mizrachi, Seidel, and Livingston All Advance in Event #96: $3,000 6-Handed PLO
The final straight PLO event of the 2026 World Series of Poker came in the form of Event #96: $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha. Just 158 of the initial 892 entrants returned today in the hopes of taking home a piece of the $2,381,640 prize pool. After ten levels of play, just 18 players stood at day’s end with any hope of the bracelet and the $407,137 cash prize sitting up top.
Leading the final three tables is a familiar face, as three-time WSOP bracelet winner Christopher Vitch (4,710,000) sits with the only stack eclipsing four million. Coming into the day with a stack sitting just outside the top twenty at the beginning of the day, Vitch separated himself from the pack late in the night as he soared up the counts. Vitch’s three bracelets come in Stud Hi-Lo, Lowball Draw, and PLO, and with his stack here today, he looks to add a second PLO bracelet to his already crowded trophy shelf.
Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Christopher Vitch | United States | 4,710,000 | 157 |
| 2 | Biao Ding | China | 3,940,000 | 131 |
| 3 | Robert Mizrachi | United States | 3,515,000 | 117 |
| 4 | Erik Seidel | United States | 2,860,000 | 95 |
| 5 | Andreas Hagen | Norway | 2,855,000 | 95 |
| 6 | Pakinai Lisawad | Thailand | 2,465,000 | 82 |
| 7 | Krasimir Yankov | Bulgaria | 2,280,000 | 76 |
| 8 | Alex Livingston | Canada | 2,230,000 | 74 |
| 9 | Joshua Wang | China | 2,025,000 | 68 |
| 10 | Octavian Vogele | Austria | 1,775,000 | 59 |
Also sitting at the top of the counts are a trio of 25k Fantasy players in the forms of Biao Ding (3,940,000), five-time WSOP bracelet winner Robert Mizrachi (3,515,000), and 10-time WSOP bracelet winner Erik Seidel (2,860,000). If Seidel were to win a bracelet this summer, it would come 34 years after his first title back in 1992.
A player quite familiar with this particular tournament is Alex Livingston (2,230,000), who won this event back in 2024 for his second WSOP bracelet. Other bracelet winners still in the mix include Sam Soverel (1,460,000), Xing He (1,280,000), and Robert Cowen (335,000).
Day 2 Action
Some of the biggest names in the game found themselves falling short of the money. Players like Ren Lin, Christian Harder, Robbi Jade Lew, and eight-time WSOP bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu all bust out before the money. When the hand-for-hand portion reached its apex, Matthew Costanzo was eliminated from the tournament on the bubble by Dylan Duran, ensuring all the other players got a minimum cash of $6,033.
After that, the eliminations came fast and furiously. Players like Ray Henson (133rd-$6,033), Jared Ingles (119th-$6,033), Michael Estes (88th-$6,335), Tyler Brown (69th-$6,610), start of day chip leader Stanislav Halatenko (65th-$6,610), Thomas Taylor (40th-$9,993), and Ludovic Geilich (26th-$14,107) all fell earlier than their intended positions. Their quest for a bracelet will have to come in a later event in this series.
The final elimination of the night came at the expense of Peter Cross (19th-$17,319), who busted to Livingston in the final minutes of the night. His elimination saw one of the tables break to leave the tournament with three full tables by night's end.
Players will return tomorrow at 1:00 pm to the Horseshoe Hotel and Casino with blinds at 20,000/40,000 with a 40,000 big blind ante. Levels will last one hour each, with the tournament scheduled to play down to a winner.
Be sure to tune back into PokerNews tomorrow for continued updates on the ground at the 2026 WSOP.