WSOP Main Event Tops 8,000 Entries… But Who Leads the Field After Day 1 Flights?

Including Day 1a, 1b and 1c, there have now been 8,077 entries in the 2026 WSOP Main Event. After a fantastic four days of opening flights, the great and good have battled in Las Vegas, with bad beats galore, celebrity arrivals and varied performances from former world champions. With just 6,016 players left in the hunt for the bracelet everyone wants to win, who is heading into Day 2 with the most chips and who is running on empty?

Bad Beats Are Everywhere

Every flight of the World Championship seems to have its dramas, and this year, bad beats have been high on the agenda. Day 1b Oscar Dorantes suffer one of the all-time worst beats at the World Series of Poker. All-in with pocket nines, the board of 9-4-4-4- looked like a dream when he had Konstnatin Held committed with pocket queens. Only the river to come, but the last four in the deck landed to send a dumbstruck Dorantes to the rail.

On Day 1c, the most unfortunate player to see their Main Event dream die was undoubtedly Aylar Lie, who was also busted by quad fours! With ace-king in her hand, she rivered a full house of aces over fours, only to be shown ‘Death by Quads’ by Renan Revinthis made all the fours to stack up 132,000 chips on the third starting day.

Tonight in Las Vegas, the beats kept coming. Garett Maybery committed his chips with a set of threes for almost all of his stack, whereupon his at-risk opponent Tetsuma Ishizu was looking good to double his chips with a set of tens until Maybery rivered the final three in the deck to send a stunned Ishizu away with his head spinning. As on of Maybery’s opponents said at the table shortly afterwards, “You’re going to win the tournament.”

Small Stacks, Bigger Names

There were appearances from the great and good in poker this week in the WSOP Main Event. Michael Mizrachi aped Phil Hellmuth, whose entrance on Day 1a caused a stir when The Poker Brat transformed into a black and gold motif Superman. Mizrachi was not dressed up, but the eight models bearing letters of his name and holding a placard symbolizing each of his eight bracelet wins were, and while Hellmuth could only stack up 54,000 chips by the close of Day 1a, Mizrachi’s total was an improvement on the 60,000 starting stack, bagging 73,200 by the end of play on Day 1b.

While Mizrachi at least made profit, others were simply happy to take a stack through of any sort. Belgian Main Event finalist from last year Kenny Hallaert sits on just 22,400 chips and is a long way from finishing fourth again. The youngest WSOP Europe champion ever, Annette Obrestad up just 44,200 in her bid to improve on her last appearance in the Main Event 13 years ago when she came 89^th.

Antonio ‘The Magician’ Esfandiari will begin Day 2abc on just over half his starting stack (34,300), while Daniel ‘Kid Poker’ Negreanu (54,100) also has work to do. Former world champions Joe McKeehen (46,500), Chris Moneymaker (39,500), and Robert Varkonyi (33,100) all failed to total what they began with while UFC fighter ‘Suga’ Sean O’Malley announced Day 1d’s “Shuffle Up and Deal” before grinding his way to 43,700 chips.

Who Are the Big Leaders?

With four starting flights in the can, the Japanese player Ryuta Nakai who bagged up 323,000 on Day 1a still has the overall lead in the Main Event. Brazilian player Osmar Rockenbach led the Day 1b field with 286,900, while the Bulgarian professional Yulian Bogdanov totalled 315,000 on Day 1c. On Day 1d, the chip leader at the close of play was Taylor von Kriegenbergh with 312,800 chips.

Elsewhere, some very big names did manage to post huge scores.

The 2004 world champion Greg ‘Fossilman’ Raymer (122,300) shared the felt with Mizrachi for a time, while Nick ‘Dirty Diaper’ Rigby ended his topsy-turvy Day 1 with 75,700 chips. Justin Arnwine (280,600) was inside the overall Top 60, while former PPC winner Freddy Deeb (267,800), Dylan Smith (205,500), Brian Hastings (178,100), Jacobson’s conqueror Alain Benabou (177,400), Chino Rheem (171,300), Jerry Wong (158,000), Alex Livingston (150,200), Klemens Roiter (126,800), Brian Rast (119,100), Ian Matakis (118,700), Jessica Teusl (116,300), Chris Brewer (106,700), and David Coleman (102,000) all finished on six-figure stacks.

The Women in Poker Hall of Famer member and WSOP bracelet winner Kathy Liebert  ended Day 1 on 245,000 chips, while former world champions Ryan Riess (113,100) and Scott Blumstein (105,600) were joined by online poker legend Viktor Blom (217,100),six-time winner Kristen Foxen (99,800), EPT winner Stephen Song (201,600), Chris ‘Big Huni’ Hunichen (194,900), Alex Foxen (156,300), Darren Elias (145,400), Chance Kornuth (103,400), Shaun Deeb (86,900), Josh Arieh (85,000), and Eelis Parssinen (82,200) in the profit club.

Big names survived, but some perished too. The 2014 world champion Martin Jacobson bowed out on Day 1 as did the 2016 champ Qui Nguyen. Kelly Lucas and Jean-Robert Bellande were both knocked out on Day 1b, while the first Aussie Main Event winner Joe Hachem couldn’t find a bag either. Last but by no means least, Doug Polk (below) endured a second horrible beat in two years to depart this time seeing his kings usurped by jacks on a J-7-7 flop.