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Event #97: $25,000 High Roller H.O.R.S.E.
Day 2 Completed
2026 World Series of Poker
Event #97: $25,000 High Roller H.O.R.S.E.
Day: 2
Players Left 16 / 148
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Chip Counts
Chip Counts
Level 19
Limit Flop: 25,000-50,000 Blinds, 50,000-100,000 Limits
Stud Games: 15,000 Ante, 20,000 Bring-In, 50,000 Completion, 50,000-100,000 Limits
Stud Games: 15,000 Ante, 20,000 Bring-In, 50,000 Completion, 50,000-100,000 Limits
One more day remains before the 2026 World Series of Poker concludes at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, but a couple of gold bracelets are still up for grabs. The final day of Event #97: $25,000 High Roller H.O.R.S.E. will see 16 players return on Wednesday, July 15, 2026, and it contains a slate of stars in the chase for the $872,052 top prize.
Thanks to a field of 148 total entries, the attendance of last year's edition was all but reached and generated a prize pool of $3,478,000, set to be shared among the top 23 finishers. Upon completion of nine 60-minute levels, only 16 players bagged up chips to compete for the coveted WSOP gold bracelet on what will be the final day of the summer series in Las Vegas bar the conclusion of this year's delayed Main Event final table.
The top of the leaderboard includes Julien Sitbon (3,800,000) and Alexander Kostritsyn (3,205,000), who have already pulled away from the rest of the contenders, whereas Ali Eslami is in distinct third place with 1,990,000.
Only one big bet behind are Walter Chambers and Ari Engel, while the WSOP Player of the Year leaderboard contenders Naoya Kihara (1,060,000), Alex Foxen (930,000) and Shaun Deeb (550,000) all have vital POY points in sight.
Top 10 Chip Counts After Day 2
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Julien Sitbon | France | 3,800,000 |
| 2 | Alexander Kostritsyn | Russian Federation | 3,205,000 |
| 3 | Ali Eslami | United States | 1,990,000 |
| 4 | Walter Chambers | United States | 1,885,000 |
| 5 | Ari Engel | Canada | 1,860,000 |
| 6 | Matthew Beinner | United States | 1,350,000 |
| 7 | Yueqi Zhu | China | 1,315,000 |
| 8 | Naoya Kihara | Japan | 1,060,000 |
| 9 | William Kerkaert | United States | 1,055,000 |
| 10 | Aaron Kupin | United States | 950,000 |
The penultimate tournament day kicked off with a flurry of late entrants to further increase the field size, and the shortest stack coming in, Paul Volpe, kicked off the shenanigans in style by quadrupling on the very first hand with a royal flush. Volpe would bow out soon after, re-enter, and also bust on the second bullet to come up empty-handed like many other top pros of the mixed games community.
Among those to appear and vanish without any cash prize were Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Scott Seiver, Benny Glaser, Jason Mercier and Marco Johnson to name all but a few of the big names.
Eight time WSOP bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu lost his entire stack within two hands and vividly exclaimed, “I hate playing with Mike Leah” when a bloated pot saw Matthew Beinner scoop with three aces to knock out Leah and leave Negreanu on fumes. Shortly thereafter, Negreanu lost the remainder of his stack to Kihara and quickly left the tournament area.
The action continued at an exhilarating pace and only cooled down when the field was whittled down to the final 27 contenders on the dinner break. Andrew Kelsall and Chino Rheem were eliminated soon after the action resumed and hand-for-hand mode commenced two spots away from the money. It took a total of 24 hands to lose two players, with Dan Smith running out of chips first before Phillip Hui was eliminated on the money bubble by Yueqi "Rich" Zhu in a hand of Razz to secure the rest of the field a min-cash of $50,340.
Carol Fuchs was the first casualty in the money and she was followed by Brian Yoon, Bryce Yockey, and David Steicke. In a duel of WSOP 2026 bracelet winners, Deeb hit a straight to knock out Matt Grapenthien, while Sitbon vaulted near the top of the leaderboard when Arthur Morris was eliminated in a three-way all-in that also involved Qinghai “Jack” Pan.
The last casualty of the day was Jeremy Ausmus, who succumbed in a duel of newly-found poker pro vloggers against Ari Engel in what turned out to be the final level of the night.
The final day is set to continue at 1 p.m. local time with blinds of 30,000-60,000 in flop games and limits of 60,000-120,000 in the stud variants. Stay tuned for one of the last mixed game bracelets to be awarded on the final day of the 2026 WSOP with all of the updates right here on PokerNews.
Level 19
Limit Flop: 25,000-50,000 Blinds, 50,000-100,000 Limits
Stud Games: 15,000 Ante, 20,000 Bring-In, 50,000 Completion, 50,000-100,000 Limits
Stud Games: 15,000 Ante, 20,000 Bring-In, 50,000 Completion, 50,000-100,000 Limits
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds | Big Bets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 683 | 1 | Alex Foxen | United States | 930,000 | 16 | 8 |
| 683 | 2 | Shaun Deeb | United States | 550,000 | 9 | 5 |
| 683 | 3 | Naoya Kihara | Japan | 1,060,000 | 18 | 9 |
| 683 | 4 | Walter Chambers | United States | 1,885,000 | 31 | 16 |
| 683 | 5 | Luke Schwartz | United Kingdom | 705,000 | 12 | 6 |
| 683 | 6 | Qinghai Pan | United States | 235,000 | 4 | 2 |
| 683 | 7 | Yueqi Zhu | China | 1,315,000 | 22 | 11 |
| 683 | 8 | William Kerkaert | United States | 1,055,000 | 18 | 9 |
| 688 | 1 | Ali Eslami | United States | 1,990,000 | 33 | 17 |
| 688 | 2 | Josh Arieh | United States | 315,000 | 5 | 3 |
| 688 | 3 | Aaron Kupin | United States | 950,000 | 16 | 8 |
| 688 | 4 | Ari Engel | Canada | 1,860,000 | 31 | 16 |
| 688 | 5 | Matthew Beinner | United States | 1,350,000 | 23 | 11 |
| 688 | 6 | Maxx Coleman | United States | 900,000 | 15 | 8 |
| 688 | 7 | Alex Kostritsyn | Russia | 3,205,000 | 53 | 27 |
| 688 | 8 | Julien Sitbon | France | 3,800,000 | 63 | 32 |
Level 19
Limit Flop: 25,000-50,000 Blinds, 50,000-100,000 Limits
Stud Games: 15,000 Ante, 20,000 Bring-In, 50,000 Completion, 50,000-100,000 Limits
Stud Games: 15,000 Ante, 20,000 Bring-In, 50,000 Completion, 50,000-100,000 Limits
Level 19
Limit Flop: 25,000-50,000 Blinds, 50,000-100,000 Limits
Stud Games: 15,000 Ante, 20,000 Bring-In, 50,000 Completion, 50,000-100,000 Limits
Stud Games: 15,000 Ante, 20,000 Bring-In, 50,000 Completion, 50,000-100,000 Limits
The final 16 players are now bagging and tagging for the night.
Stay tuned for a recap of Day 2.
Level 19
Limit Flop: 25,000-50,000 Blinds, 50,000-100,000 Limits
Stud Games: 15,000 Ante, 20,000 Bring-In, 50,000 Completion, 50,000-100,000 Limits
Stud Games: 15,000 Ante, 20,000 Bring-In, 50,000 Completion, 50,000-100,000 Limits
Razz
Walter Chambers: 8x7x4x/Ax9xJxJx
Shaun Deeb: XxXx/5x5x5xAx/Xx
Ali Eslami: XxXx/8x9x - folded on fourth street
Ali Eslami called the bring-in and Walter Chambers completed with his ace. Shaun Deeb and Eslami called for a three-way pot.
Chambers continued for a bet on fourth street, which got a call from Deeb and a fold from Eslami.
Chambers bet again on fifth and Deeb asked, "Do you need a five?" before calling.
Chambers check-called a bet from Deeb on sixth and then both players checked on seventh.
"I have an eight," Chambers said.
"You can't have an eight!" Deeb responded.
"Excuse, I meant a nine," Chambers said as he tabled his hole cards.
A nine was enough, as Deeb mucked his cards — conceding the pot to Chambers.
Level 19
Limit Flop: 25,000-50,000 Blinds, 50,000-100,000 Limits
Stud Games: 15,000 Ante, 20,000 Bring-In, 50,000 Completion, 50,000-100,000 Limits
Stud Games: 15,000 Ante, 20,000 Bring-In, 50,000 Completion, 50,000-100,000 Limits
Seven Card Stud
On the final hand of the night, Aaron Kupin limped, Alex Foxen limped, and Yueqi Zhu was the bring-in.
Aaron Kupin: XxXx / 7♣J♠8♠K♥ / Xx
Alex Foxen: XxXx / 8♥10♣7♥9♦ / Xx
Yueqi Zhu: XxXx / 2♦5♦ - folded on fourth street
Kupin led on fourth and only Foxen called. The same occurred on fifth.
On sixth, Kupin check-called after Foxen showed four to a straight. Seventh street checked through as Kupin tabled K♣J♣6♣ in the hole, and his two pair, kings and jacks, was the winner as he collected the final hand of the night.
Level 19
Limit Flop: 25,000-50,000 Blinds, 50,000-100,000 Limits
Stud Games: 15,000 Ante, 20,000 Bring-In, 50,000 Completion, 50,000-100,000 Limits
Stud Games: 15,000 Ante, 20,000 Bring-In, 50,000 Completion, 50,000-100,000 Limits
While the tournament was initially scheduled to play a full ten levels, tournament staff just stopped the clock with 10:58 minutes left in level 19 and announced that another four hands will be played tonight prior to bagging and tagging.
Level 19
Limit Flop: 25,000-50,000 Blinds, 50,000-100,000 Limits
Stud Games: 15,000 Ante, 20,000 Bring-In, 50,000 Completion, 50,000-100,000 Limits
Stud Games: 15,000 Ante, 20,000 Bring-In, 50,000 Completion, 50,000-100,000 Limits
Omaha Hi-Lo
Shaun Deeb raised and called a three-bet by Matthew Beinner to then check-raise the 9♦4♦3♥ flop, which Beinner called. After the Q♥ turn, Deeb bet and called a raise by Beinner before the K♥ river was checked. Beinner's A♣Q♣3♠2♦ for two pair won the pot.
Razz
Alex Foxen: XxXx / 4x6xJxJx - folded on sixth street
William Kerkaert: XxXx / 5xQxJx - folded on fifth street
Luke Schwartz: XxXx / 4x10x7x8x
One table over, Luke Schwartz bet fifth street to receive a call from Alex Foxen while William Kerkaert folded. Foxen paired his jack on sixth street and folded to Schwartz's bet, who then said he had a nutted "ace deuce".
Level 19
Limit Flop: 25,000-50,000 Blinds, 50,000-100,000 Limits
Stud Games: 15,000 Ante, 20,000 Bring-In, 50,000 Completion, 50,000-100,000 Limits
Stud Games: 15,000 Ante, 20,000 Bring-In, 50,000 Completion, 50,000-100,000 Limits
Razz
Ari Engel: 7x4xAx/3x6x5x2x
Alex Foxen: XxXx/7x4x6x2x/Xx
Ari Engel completed and was called by Alex Foxen.
Foxen proceeded to call bets from Engel on every street and Engel turned over 7x4xAx for the nuts. Foxen mucked and Engel's ascent continued.
