After a dramatic Day 2d in the 2026 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, a total of 9,208 entries made it into the books to make this year’s World Championship the fourth largest in poker history. With 820 late registrations on Day 2d, 303 more than last year’s final flight warranted, just 3,294 players remain to fight down to the money places on Day 3, with 1,382 places being paid.

Day 2 saw poker legends such as Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu and Phil Hellmuth all play their part in the drama, with only one of those Hall of Famers surviving to Day 3. Who made the cut? Let’s find out.

Raymer Proves a Tough Fossil to Crack

“I couldn’t fold second set there… but I can fold bottom set.” – Phil Hellmuth

The early action on Day 2abc featured a former world champion, as the 2004 Main Event winner Greg Raymer came into play hoping to run up a stack. ‘Fossilman’, as Raymer is affectionately known, battled hard before doubling up late in the day. All-in with pocket tens after he flopped middle set, Raymer was right, as his opponent only had ace-queen for a top pair of queens with top kicker, and Raymer used the boost to his stack to eventually total 291,000.

Day 2abc also saw a strong performance from the 1989 world champion Phil Hellmuth. The Poker Brat came into play with a modest stack, but a crucial hand developed when al the chips went in on a flop containing a five and a deuce. Hellmuth had a set of fives and he beat Sanjeev Sisodiya’s pocket deuces.

“I couldn’t fold second set there… but I can fold bottom set.” Hellmuth said on his way to bagging up 173,000 chips.

Day 2abc saw the Argentinian player Gaspar Fernandez bag the biggest stack. His pile of  754,000 chips saw him take the overall lead in the event, with the reigning champion Michael Mizrachi one of many chasing his down. ‘Grinder’ is still alive in his bid to become the first player to win back-to-back Main Events title since Johnny ‘The Orient Express’ Chan in 1988. Starting Day 2abc on 73,000 chips, Mizrachi ended the day with a much healthier stack of 202,500.

Liu Among Leaders After Cracking Kings

There was more drama with a PokerStake player coming out on top on Day 2abc. Two big hands helped Sasha Liu build a big stack. After cracking pocket kings with a suited jack-five, Liu then picked up pocket aces and in a raised pot that went very big, called off her opponent’s bold bluff to stack up a chip mountain. Sasha bagged up a massive 495,500 by the end of the day.

Many more legends made Day 3 from this flight, with Tony Dunst (479,000), Martin Zamani (460,000), Freddy Deeb (383,000) and the Day 1 chi leader Ryuta Nakai (235,500) joined by former champions Huck Seed (83,000) and Greg Merson (79,000) in the seat draw. Some former Main Event winners busted along the way, with Joe Cada, Damian Salas, and Daniel Weinman all unable to make the cut, just like Jason Koon, Antonio Esfandiari and PokerStake seller Adam Hendrix.

WSOP 2026 Event #82: $10,000 Main Event Day 2abc Top 10 Chipcounts:
Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Gaspar Fernandez	Argentina	754,000
2nd	Mason Vieth	United States	730,000
3rd	Arturas Astrauskas	Lithuania	646,500
4th	Michael Banducci	United States	630,000
5th	Daan Mulders	Netherlands	629,500
6th	Miguel Riera	Spain	592,000
7th	Chiori Gannon	United States	589,500
8th	Kevin Ordet	United States	584,000
9th	Haruna Fujita	Japan	551,500
10th	Peter Patricio	Brazil	543,500

Day 2d Sees Ivey and Boeree Buy-In and Bust

A total of 820 extra players joined the field on Day 2d as the last few entries boosted the total field to a massive 9,208, only behind three years in the WSOP’s long and glorious half century of history in terms of numbers. Finishing fourth at the 2024 WSOP Paradise Super Main Event, Liv Boeree max late regged but failed to survive the day, as did the 1–time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Ivey. They weren’t the only high-profile players to depart, as Daniel Negreanu, Gus Hansen, Dylan Weisman, Justin Saliba, Jason Mercier, Bryn Kenney and Nick Schulman all lost out on their Main Event hopes for the year.

That wasn’t the case for the reigning WSOP Player of the Year Shaun Deeb, however. The Team Lucky member ended Day 2 with 368,500, chips, even more than his friend and fellow Team Lucky member and PokerStake seller Josh Arieh. Bagging 118,000, Arieh called the WSOP Main Event, the best tournament in the world when he spoke to Jeff Platt on the live stream and told Shaun that punting off the Main Event with a view to locking up POY honors wasn’t the right way to go about it.

Others to make it through to Day 3 from Day 2d included the 2003 WSOP Main Event winner Chris Moneymaker (221,000), 2026 bracelet winner Alex Foxen (493,500), his wife and six-time bracelet winner Kristen Foxen (143,000), Stephen Song (430,500), Chris ‘Big Huni’ Hunichen (302,500), Jesse Lonis (266,500), Kathy Liebert (255,000), Viktor Blom (238,500), and Benny Glaser (193,000), who along with Deeb and Mizrachi could still take gold again to win his 10^th WSOP bracelet.

Michael Rossitto led the survivors on Day 2d with 770,500 chips, with entrepreneur Jeff Fenster (747,000) close by. Colombian pro Farid Jattin busted Czech motormouth Martin Kabrhel as he piled up 630,000 chips, telling reporters: “I had to take care of him.” while the former 2018 world champion John Cynn (403,000), 2013 winner Ryan Riess (395,000), 2019’s Hossein Ensan (235,000), and 2015 champ Joe McKeehen (102,500) all made Day 3 too.

With just 3,294 players remaining in the 2026 WSOP Main Event, the money bubble is expected to burst in the first few levels of Day 4 if 2025 is anything to go by. Well… Michael Mizrachi is still involved…

WSOP 2026 Event #82: $10,000 Main Event Day 2d Top 10 Chipcounts:
Place	Player	Country	Chips
1st	Michael Rossitto	United States	770,500
2nd	Jeff Fenster	United States	747,000
3rd	Yannick Schumacher	Germany	738,000
4th	Robert Gill	United States	728,500
5th	Joseph Baghdalian	United States	705,000
6th	Farid Jattin	Colombia	630,000
7th	Dhiraj Sharma	Canada	623,500
8th	Victor Dong	United States	620,000
9th	Patrik Jaros	Czechia	614,500
10th	Terrance Reid	United States	597,500

Photography courtesy of Luther Redd for PokerGO at the 2026 WSOP Main Event.