WSOP 2026 Highlights: Hellmuth Chasing Bracelet Number 18 and Foxen Reaches Heads-Up Semifinals

By Mrinal Gujare

4 hours ago

Mrinal Gujare 4 hours ago

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Phil Hellmuth advances to final 15 in $10K Omaha Hi-Lo, chasing his 18th bracelet.
Alex Foxen reaches the $25K Heads-Up semifinals; David Prociak and Adam Cohen lead in their events.
Massive prize pools and top talent set the stage for dramatic WSOP 2026 finishes.

Image Credit: Eloy Cabacas/pokernews

Day 6 of the 2026 WSOP featured Phil Hellmuth reaching the final 15 players in Event #9, Alex Foxen making the $25,000 Heads-Up semifinals, David Prociak leading the Mini Mystery Millions, and Adam Cohen pacing Event #10.

Day 6 of the 2026 World Series of Poker (WSOP) at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas delivered a packed schedule of high-stakes action and shifting leaderboards.

From iconic champions pursuing historic milestones to massive field reductions and intense heads-up duels, the tournament floors provided critical breakthroughs across multiple distinct events.

Hellmuth Remains in Contention in the $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship

A total of 14 players now stand between Phil Hellmuth and a record-extending 18th WSOP gold bracelet.

Navigating a competitive field in Event #9: $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship, the "Poker Brat" will return for the next stage of play sitting sixth in chips after experiencing significant fluctuations on the leaderboard.

While Hellmuth claimed the chip lead with 18 players remaining, a late slump reduced his stack to the middle of the pack by the end of the day.

In contrast, chipleader Scott Clements secured the top spot early in the session and maintained his advantage. Holding nearly 2 million in chips, the three-time bracelet winner enters Day 3 of the split-pot championship as the favorite.

Clements is closely trailed by Dylan Weisman, who carries a virtually identical stack, alongside a line-up of prominent contenders including Todd Brunson, Josh Arieh, and James Obst. The eventual champion will take home $450,176 in addition to the WSOP gold bracelet.

Event #1: $550 Mini Mystery Millions No-Limit Hold'em has advanced deep into its final stages, with only 13 players remaining from a massive starting field of 20,488 entries.

The tournament generated an overall prize pool of $7,747,082, with $4,097,600 specifically allocated to the mystery bounty pool. Andrew Shelton managed to pull the top bounty prize during the event.

Every returning player has locked up a minimum payout of $21,790. As pay jumps increase ahead of the final table, the remaining contenders are competing for the $400,000 first-place prize and a WSOP gold bracelet.

David Prociak ended the penultimate day at the top of the leaderboard with a stack of 88,000,000 chips. Alexander Kaviani sits in second place, while Jurgen Pirgu occupies the third podium position going into Day 3.

Following two rounds of play on Day 2 of Event #7: $25,000 Heads Up No-Limit Hold'em Championship, only four players remain in contention. American high-stakes professional Alex Foxen advanced to the final day of the tournament.

Foxen, who previously won the $100,000 Triton Main Event at the 2024 WSOP Paradise for $3.8 million, is aiming to capture his fourth career gold bracelet.

WSOP commentator Joe Stapleton previously predicted a strong performance from Foxen, who was nicknamed "Foxy" by Martin Kabrhel last summer.

Foxen is scheduled to face Russia's Nikita Kuznetsov in the semifinal round on Monday. The other semifinal matchup will feature Bulgarian bracelet winner Dimitar Danchev competing against first-time bracelet hopeful Ryuta Nakai of Japan.

In Event #8: $1,500 Badugi, former high-level chess player Michael Casella sought to leave his mark on the tournament after previously recording four career WSOP cashes. The fourth edition of this event drew 554 entries from across the mixed-game community. The players competed for a total first-place prize of $141,963.

Concurrently, Event #10: $600 Deepstack No-Limit Hold'em completed its opening day of play. Two-time WSOP bracelet winner and $25K Fantasy Draft pick Marco Johnson bagged a top 10 chip stack, concluding Day 1 with 1,535,000 chips.

Johnson, who has accumulated more than $5.5 million in live tournament earnings, trails only a small group of players, including overall Day 1 chip leader Adam Cohen, who finished the night with 2,300,000 chips.

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