2026 WSOP Main Event: Sasha Liu Leads as the Money Bubble Looms on Day 4

The most important and richest live poker tournament of the year has all but reached the money. The remaining field is preparing to decide who will take home a piece of the gargantuan $85,634,400 prize pool in what has officially become the fourth largest World Series of Poker Main Event in poker history.

Out of a starting field of 9,208 entries, only 1,389 hopefuls remain in contention. 

Almost all of the surviving players will claim at least a $15,000 min-cash for their efforts. However, the official money bubble will have to wait for the start of Day 4 on Thursday, July 9, with just seven eliminations left before the payouts begin.

Pot-Limit Omaha cash game crusher Sasha Liu entered Event #82: $10,000 WSOP Main Event NLH World Championship like a wrecking ball. After registering at the start of Day 2, she reached more than six starting stacks within the first level of play. 

During the dinner break on Day 3, she had already accumulated a seven-figure stack, yet she still managed to more than double that figure by the end of the night. Liu bagged an astonishing 2,364,000 in chips to surpass Martin Zamani (1,963,000) and secure the top spot on the leaderboard.

Levon Khachatryan, who finished runner-up to Eelis Pärssinen in Event #47: $25,000 High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha for a career-best score of $1,440,680 earlier this summer, finished the night with the third-largest stack of 1,745,000. He sits ahead of other notable players such as Zdenek Zizka (1,576,000) and Will Givens (1,540,000).

After surviving their respective opening flights and the two Day 2s, 3,294 players returned to their seats at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas. Hundreds of hopes vanished over the course of the five levels played during the day, some quietly and others with a mighty scream or a bang on the table in disgust when Lady Luck had other plans.

Prior to the dinner break, two of live poker's most polarizing figures were sent to the rail without anything to show for their efforts. Will Kassouf bowed out in a flip holding pocket sixes against the king-queen of Kevin Killeen. 

The Irishman rivered an ace-high flush to silence Kassouf well before the money. Phil Hellmuth followed soon after when his flopped flush draw did not get there. That left only his son Nicholas Hellmuth (53,000) still in contention, as his other son Phil Hellmuth III shared the same fate of elimination.

Another former WSOP Main Event champion fared much better in Hossein Ensan. After a slow start, Ensan ground his way above half a million in chips and then knocked out three players in as many minutes to reach seven figures. 

Meanwhile, defending champion Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi took the spotlight on the main feature table and ran up his stack to over 1.2 million in his usual aggressive style. Even a setback with ace-king versus pocket queens when his opponent made quads was only temporary, as he still finished the night with an above-average stack of 615,000.

Other former champions still in contention include John Cynn (927,000), Ryan Riess (431,000), Joe Hachem (353,000), Greg Raymer (326,000), and Chris Moneymaker (221,000). They are joined by GGPoker WSOP Main Event online winner Stoyan Madanzhiev (499,000).

The always dangerous Alex Foxen bagged up 839,000 on the other live stream table, closely followed by Pedro Neves (811,000). Chino Rheem (588,000) headlined the third table in the arena, with Mark Lacoste (1,147,000) and Callum Roque (1,025,000) emerging as the only chip millionaires among them. 

Shaun Deeb won a big flip prior to the dinner break and nearly crossed seven figures to end the night with 938,000 in chips, further increasing his chances of defending his WSOP Player of the Year title.

In the penultimate level of the night, British mixed-game specialist and nine-time WSOP bracelet winner Benny Glaser ran into pocket aces and could not pull a rabbit out of the hat, missing out on the money. 

The final break commenced fewer than 150 spots away from the $15,000 min-cash, and history repeated itself from last year's edition when the money bubble loomed but did not pop at the end of Day 3.

The floor announced to the entire room that the money bubble would not burst on Wednesday night, meaning the eliminations kept pouring in. Among the last casualties of the evening were Simon Wilson and Michael Kamran, who were knocked out by Francisco Mateo and his pocket kings.

With 1,389 players remaining and 1,382 set to be in the money, hand-for-hand play is expected to kick in right away when Day 4 recommences at 11 a.m. local time at the Paris Hotel Las Vegas. The re-commencing blinds will be 4,000-8,000 with a big blind ante of 8,000, and the chip average sits nearly 50 big blinds deep.

The eventual WSOP Main Event first place prize is a life-changing $10 million, while the 9th place finisher will receive $1 million. A total of 1,382 players will be paid out from the massive tournament field.