PokerStake Stable in Strong Position in Poker Players Championship
With three days of the infamous $50,000-entry Poker Players Championship in the can, just 15 players remain. The money bubble has burst and with no former winners still in the event, there will be a new name on the Chip Reese trophy this week in Las Vegas. Several PokerStake players find themselves in contention for that title and the $1,343,764 top prize.
The Bubble Bursts
With 108 total entries, only 17 players would make the money, and that led to tension on the bubble. Day 3 began with 39 players still in seats, and several stars of the felt bowed out early as their efforts met with defeat. Brazilian online legend and recent bracelet winner Yuri Dzivielevski was the first out of the door, while PokerStake’s David ‘ODB’ Baker lasted just three hands before he joined the Brazilian on the rail.
Sports Card seller Jared Bleznick busted too, before former WSOP winners such as John Racener bit the dust. Another poker legend left without finally getting his name on a trophy in WSOP events, as the ‘Great Dane’ Gus Hansen slid out of the event after a hand of No Limit 2-7 Single Draw. The eliminations continued, with British hopeful Luke Schwartz, and American poker pros Chris Vitch and Eric Wasserson all defeated.
On the bubble, it was Bryce Yockey who missed out. Forced all-in from the big blind, the American lost to jacks full for his opponent in the hand, Nick Guagenti. With 17 left, two more players busted before the end of the night but at least they made a profit after three days at the felt. Dara Taherpour busted in 17th for a min-cash worth $100,934, while it was the turn of Team Lucky’s Matt Glantz to depart in 16th place for a score of $102,474.
PokerStake Players Lead the Way
With just 15 players still in the hunt for over $1.3m up top, one of our own is leading the field. Mixed game legend Benny Glaser sits atop the leaderboard with just a couple of days to play out Can the British crusher and popular PokerStake seller seal his ninth WSOP bracelet? We wouldn’t put it past him, and with 4.7 million chips, no-one is better placed going into Day 4 of the event.
Elsewhere in the Top 10, Josh Arieh (above) has already had a runner-up place in a WSOP event this week, falling just short in the $10,000-entry H.O.R.S.E. Championship event to Calvin Anderson. Josh will start the penultimate day of the PPC in fifth place of the remaining players on 2.64m.
The 11-time bracelet winner and Poker Hall of Famer Phil Ivey is just behind Josh on 2.55 million chips as he hopes to move just five bracelets behind Phil Hellmuth, but the Poker Brat is still live to his 18th bracelet. Sat on just 545,000 chips, he has a lot of work to do, but rule out Hellmuth at your peril.
Alex Livingston has spent a great deal of his time pre-WSOP commentating on Triton events and spoke at length of how he was looking forward to playing in events this summer having learned a lot from those he has watched. That rings completely true for the PokerStake seller, with his stack of 2.53 million seventh of the surviving pack. Jason Mercier (2.18m), Chris Brewer (1.56m), Chris Hunichen (1.55m) and Jesse Lonis (840,000) will all be big threats when Day 4 begins.
| WSOP 2026 Event #60: $50,000 Poker Players Championship Day 3 Top 10 Chipcounts: | |||
| Position | Player | Country | Chips |
| 1st | Benny Glaser | United Kingdom | 4,705,000 |
| 2nd | Paul Volpe | United States | 4,020,000 |
| 3rd | Kristopher Tong | United States | 3,305,000 |
| 4th | Nick Guagenti | United States | 2,850,000 |
| 5th | Josh Arieh | United States | 2,640,000 |
| 6th | Phil Ivey | United States | 2,555,000 |
| 7th | Alex Livingston | Canada | 2,530,000 |
| 8th | Jason Mercier | United States | 2,180,000 |
| 9th | Maxx Coleman | United States | 1,780,000 |
| 10th | Chris Brewer | United States | 1,565,000 |
Invest in Forthcoming Events
With so many events coming up, you’re not short of options if you’re looking to buy a piece of a player who’ll get into profit, just like Josh Arieh, Benny Glaser, Alex Livingston and others have via PokerStake in the Poker Players Championship. Loads of great players are selling action to the forthcoming events, with NLHE Freezeout (#79) and 6-Max (#73) both coming up in the next week.
The WSOP Main Event is also just around the corner, so if you want a piece of players such as Allen Kessler, Cherish Andrews, Jonathan Little, David Coleman, Donnie Peters, Dylan Linde, Giuseppe Pantaleo and many of the players we’ve already mentioned who are running deep in the Poker Players Championship, then you’ll need to register an account and buy your champion’s action.
The World Series of Poker may have reached the halfway stage, but the winning is just beginning on PokerStake. Head to our official World Series of Poker staking page today!