Day 3 of 2026 WSOP Main Event Ends Seven Spots Away From the Money

By Mrinal Gujare

09 Jul 2026

Mrinal Gujare 09 Jul 2026

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Sasha Liu leads 1389 players after Day 3 of 2026 WSOP Main Event.
Only 7 eliminations left until the $85.6M money bubble bursts; min-cash is $15,000.
Top champions and pros advance; action resumes Thursday in Las Vegas.

Sasha Liu leads the 2026 WSOP Main Event after Day 3 with 2,364,000 chips. Only 1,389 players remain from a field of 9,208 entries, sitting just seven eliminations away from securing a min-cash out of the $85,634,400 prize pool.

The prestigious and lucrative World Series of Poker Main Event has completed Day 3 with the money bubble firmly in sight.

Out of a massive field of 9,208 entries, only 1,389 players remain in contention. This field size makes the tournament the fourth largest World Series of Poker Main Event in poker history, generating a gargantuan prize pool of $85,634,400.

A total of 1,382 players will lock up a min-cash worth at least $15,000, while the eventual winner will take home a grand prize of $10 million. The final table brings significant rewards, with the ninth place finisher guaranteed to earn $1 million.

The money bubble is scheduled to burst at the start of Day 4 on Thursday, July 9, as the field sits just seven eliminations away from the payouts.

Sasha Liu Sets the Pace

Pot-Limit Omaha cash game specialist Sasha Liu finished the night at the top of the leaderboard after a spectacular performance. Liu entered Event #82: $10,000 WSOP Main Event No-Limit Hold'em World Championship at the beginning of Day 2, building her stack to more than six starting stacks within the opening level.

By the dinner break on Day 3, Liu had amassed a seven-figure stack, which she more than doubled by the end of play to bag an astonishing 2,364,000 in chips.

Liu managed to surpass Martin Zamani, who finished the night with ,963,000 in chips. Levon Khachatryan, who earned a career-best score of $1,440,680 earlier this summer by finishing runner-up to Eelis Pärssinen in Event #47: $25,000 High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha, sits in third place overall with 1,745,000.

Other notable players securing large stacks include Zdenek Zizka with 1,576,000 and Will Givens with 1,540,000.

Day 3 began with 3,294 players returning to their seats at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas after navigating their opening flights and respective Day 2 sessions. Five levels of play eliminated hundreds of contestants.

Prior to the dinner break, Will Kassouf was knocked out when his pocket sixes failed to hold against the king-queen of Kevin Killeen, as the Irish player rivered an ace-high flush.

Phil Hellmuth was also eliminated prior to the money after his flopped flush draw failed to connect. While his son Phil Hellmuth III was busted as well, his other son, Nicholas Hellmuth, survived the day with 53,000 in chips.

Former Champions and Notables Advance

Former Main Event champion Hossein Ensan enjoyed a productive session. Following a slow start, Ensan worked his stack above half a million before busting three players in a three-minute span to cross the seven-figure mark.

Defending champion Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi played on the main feature table, navigating his stack to over 1.2 million using his trademark aggressive approach.

Despite a temporary setback where his ace-king lost to an opponent who hit quad queens, Mizrachi bagged an above-average stack of 615,000.

Several other former Main Event champions advanced to Day 4, including John Cynn (927,000), Ryan Riess (431,000), Joe Hachem (353,000), Greg Raymer (326,000), and Chris Moneymaker (221,000).

Former WSOP Main Event online winner Stoyan Madanzhiev also advanced with 499,000.

On the secondary live stream tables, Alex Foxen bagged up 839,000, while Pedro Neves finished close behind with 811,000.

Chino Rheem headlined another featured table with 588,000, playing alongside chip millionaires Mark Lacoste (1,147,000) and Callum Roque (1,025,000).

Shaun Deeb boosted his hopes of defending his WSOP Player of the Year title by winning a major pre-dinner flip, ultimately finishing the night with 938,000.

Not everyone could survive the late-night pressure. Nine-time WSOP bracelet winner and British mixed-game specialist Benny Glaser exited in the penultimate level of the night after running into pocket aces.

As the final break concluded within 150 spots of the money, tournament staff announced that play would not conclude for the night on the direct bubble. Eliminations continued until the hard stop, with Simon Wilson and Michael Kamran among the final casualties after being knocked out by Francisco Mateo and his pocket kings.

Day 4 will resume on Thursday, July 9 at 11 a.m. local time at the Paris Hotel Las Vegas. Hand-for-hand play is expected to begin immediately to determine the final seven eliminations needed to reach the payouts.

Play will restart in blind level 17, featuring blinds of 4,000-8,000 alongside a 8,000 big blind ante, leaving the remaining field with a healthy average stack of nearly 50 big blinds.

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