World Series of Poker updates: Bogdanov, more familiar names make it through Day 1C

          Yulian Bogdanov finished with the overnight chip lead after July 4. WSOP/Tyler Abrams
          • ESPN
          Jul 5, 2026, 09:05 AM ET

          The 2026 World Series of Poker Main Event begins July 2 from the Paris Las Vegas and Horseshoe Las Vegas and will stream live on ESPN+. Check daily for updates as the field grows and then shrinks to the final table, which will air live on ESPN on Aug. 3-5. Doug Greenberg and Lance Bradley have the updates all tournament long.

          July 5: Bogdanov, more familiar names make it through Day 1C

          By Lance Bradley

          The third of four starting flights of the 2026 World Series of Poker main event proved to be the largest so far with 1,573 players joining the field on Saturday. Bulgarian poker pro Yulian Bogdanov finished with 315,000 and the overnight chip lead.

          Just behind Bogdanov is Lithuanian Arturas Astrauskas (296,700).

          A trio of Americans round out the top five with Lawrence Brandt (292,800), Rahul Gangan (291,600) and Jourdan Baptiste (281,600) deciding to forego July 4 fireworks on the strip to spend their Independence Day accumulating chips.

          There were more than a handful of familiar names that managed to make it through Day 1C with a better-than-average stack including Freddy Deeb (267,800), Matt Salsberg (205,999), Brian Hastings (178,100), Chino Rheem (171,300), Josh Arieh (158,200), Christopher Moorman (148,600), and Poker Hall of Famer Brian Rast (119,100).

          A trio of former main event champions were among the 387 players eliminated on Saturday. Martin Jacobson (2014), Qui Nguyen (2016) and Jamie Gold (2006) will all need to wait until next year for a chance to claim a second main event win.

          The total number of entrants stands at 3,383 with Sunday's Day 1D expected to draw nearly 5,000 players. Players can register until the end of the second level on Day 2ABC (Monday) or Day 2D (Tuesday). This year's event is on pace to be at least the fourth-largest main event of all time behind 2024 (10,112), 2023 (10,043) and 2025 (9,735).

          The 2,467 players who made it through Day 1A, 1B, or 1C now get Monday off and will return to action on Monday for Day 2ABC.

          Day 1D starts Sunday at 2 p.m. ET with action streaming on ESPN+ beginning at 8 p.m.

          July 4: German leads after Day 1B, Mizrachi survives

          By Lance Bradley

          More than 1,000 players showed up for Day 1B of the 2026 World Series of Poker main event Friday, and the international flavor of the tournament is on full display in the end-of-day chip counts. Each of the five biggest stacks represents a different country, with Germany's Konstantin Held at the top with 724,500 chips.

          American Noah Freedman (649,000), Wenzhi Fei of China (639,000), Frenchman Guy Pariente (420,000), and Brazilian Osmar Rockenbach (286,900) complete the top five.

          Reigning and defending main event champion Michael Mizrachi, who finished Day 1B last year as one of the chip leaders, survived Day 1B this year with 73,200 in chips, not far off the average stack of 82,000.

          Gerard Pique, a member of the Spain team that won the 2010 FIFA World Cup, ended the day with 86,700 from a starting stack of 60,000.

          Other notables who navigated their way through the day include 2004 WSOP main event winner Greg Raymer (122,300), Justin Young (157,000), Joao Simao (134,000), Josh Reichard (81,400), Nick Rigby (75,700), and Antonio Esfandiari (34,300).

          Poker Hall of Fame finalist Mike Matusow was among the 279 players who saw their tournament end Friday. The four-time bracelet winner was joined by Jean-Robert Bellande, content creator Brad Owen, and Circa Survivor VI co-winner Galen Hall.

          The 759 players who made it through Friday's five two-hour levels will now wait along with the 542 remaining players from Day 1A and the survivors from Day 1C on Saturday, until Monday for Day 2ABC.

          The 1,038 entries Friday pushed the overall number to 1,810, with Day 1C on Saturday and Day 1D on Sunday still to come. Players can register through the end of the second level of play on Day 2ABC (Monday) or Day 2D (Tuesday).

          Day 1C starts Saturday at 2 p.m. ET, with action streaming on ESPN+ beginning at 8 p.m. ET.

          July 3: Phil Hellmuth makes grand entrance as play begins

          By Lance Bradley

          The 2026 World Series of Poker main event began Thursday in Las Vegas, and Rafael Mota of Brazil finished atop the 542 players who survived the five two-hour levels of play, holding 810,000 chips at the end of the day. Yungshen Sun (635,000), Leo Bernick (528,000), Jan Sanchez (517,000) and Ryuta Nakai (323,000) round out the top five.

          The first of four starting flights drew 772 entrants, down 151 players from last year's 923.

          The career leader in WSOP bracelets, Phil Hellmuth, made his grand entrance Thursday. He entered the ballroom at Paris dressed as a superhero and accompanied by his sons Nick and Phillip Hellmuth III. The elder Hellmuth finished with 66,700 while Nick ended with 45,800. Phillip Hellmuth III will play later this week.

          Three-time NFL Pro Bowler Antoine Winfield Sr. finished with 24,600. All players started the day with 60,000 chips.

          One year after becoming only the second woman in WSOP history to make the main event final table, Leonor Margets failed to make it through the opening day. Some of the more notable players who were also eliminated Thursday included six-time WSOP bracelet winner Adrian Mateos, 2012 WSOP main event champion Gregory Merson.

          The second starting flight (Day 1B) begins Friday at 2 p.m. ET with action streaming on ESPN+ beginning at 8 p.m. ET. Players who survived Day 1A will return to action with the survivors from Day 1B and 1C on Monday.

          The main event was the headline attraction Thursday but not the only tournament in play. Poker Hall of Famer Daniel Negreanu earned his eighth career WSOP bracelet by winning the $100,000 pot-limit Omaha event for $2,257,718. Negreanu is now tied with Nick Schulman for No. 10 on the career bracelets list.

          July 2: Stage set for WSOP main event

          By Doug Greenberg

          Professional poker's most prestigious tournament gets underway from Las Vegas with potentially the most attention on it since the poker boom of the 2000s.

          Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi will look to defend his $10,000 World Series of Poker main event title when the 2026 competition begins Thursday. Mizrachi's triumph last summer gave him the eighth WSOP bracelet of his illustrious career and he added a ninth already this year when he won the $10,000 pot-limit Omaha championship just days before the main event.

          Mizrachi isn't the only player coming in with momentum: professionals Benny Glaser and Shaun Deeb both won their respective ninth bracelets at WSOP events earlier this summer. The main event is poker's de facto world championship, bringing the superstars and amateur players alike out of the woodwork looking to claim the crown.

          "It's the one no-miss tournament of the year. If you're available and you have the 10K [buy-in], you're going to show up and play," Jack Effel, SVP of poker operations at Caesars Entertainment, which runs the event, told ESPN. "Winning the main event is the absolute greatest title that any poker player can achieve and it's not even close."

          Players can enter the tournament anytime from Thursday (Day 1A) through the end of the first two levels on either Day 2ABC or Day 2D, which take place on July 7, so the field -- and, thus, the prize pool -- won't be completely set until that time. Effel says that more players enter near the end of the flights than the beginning.

          The WSOP main event peaked at 10,112 entrants in 2024 and a first prize of $12.1 million in 2023. Mizrachi earmed $10 million for his victory in 2025. While Effel won't put a number on the projected field and pot size, he expects this year's tournament to be at least in line with the last few years, especially given many of the structural changes surrounding the festivities in 2026.

          For one, the WSOP constructed a new 25,000-square foot main stage inside Paris Las Vegas, complete with nearly 700 LED lighting fixtures and five state-of-the-art, custom feature tables. The tournament will also be shown on ESPN for the first time in over a decade, potentially opening up the game to a new audience as it did during the 2000s poker boom.

          "We made a lot of organic changes and material things here to make the playing environment better and better and better," said Effel. "To be sitting there at one of those feature tables or be playing in that arena for $10 million, life-changing money, with the best players in the world, as a poker player, I don't think it gets any cooler than that."