By Alex Drummond, Editor-in-Chief · June 28, 2026 · Fact-checked by Maya Chen
The largest $1,000 buy-in tournament in the World Series of Poker's 56-year history was confirmed on Sunday afternoon, when late registration for Event #63, the $1,000 Mystery Millions, closed at 22,811 entries. The figure dethrones the 2024 Mystery Millions's 18,372 entries to set the all-time record for any $1,000 WSOP event, eclipses the 2021 Big 50 record of 13,109, and ranks as the fourth-largest WSOP tournament in history behind only the 2023 Main Event reentry-permitting era and two specifically designed Mystery Millions formats that succeeded the original concept.
The combined regular and mystery-bounty prize pool reached USD$20,073,680, with USD$13,233,680 going into the standard payout distribution and USD$6,840,000 set aside for mystery bounty envelopes. The top mystery bounty envelope, drawn whenever an eligible player is eliminated on Day 2 or later, is guaranteed to be worth USD$1,000,000. There are eight envelopes guaranteed to contain at least USD$100,000 each.
The 1,236-player Day 2 field
1,236 players bagged through to Day 2 across the six starting flights, with everyone in the money and eligible for the bounty draw. Day 2 began at 1:00 p.m. Sunday at the Horseshoe and Paris on the Las Vegas Strip, scheduled to play 17 forty-minute levels of 10,000/40,000 blinds or down to a final five, whichever comes first. Over 900 million chips were in play at the start of Day 2.
Portuguese professional Alfredo Sousa bagged the chip lead with 10,400,000 chips after firing his Day 1c flight on Friday. American Noah Workman bagged second with 10,100,000 chips. The only two players with more than 10 million chips at the Day 2 start, Sousa and Workman were also the only two with stacks above 4 million. Sandeep Koralla took third on the leaderboard with approximately 90 big blinds. Ukrainian high roller Denys Chufarin sat around 250th in the field, in the top 20 per cent, with fewer than 25 big blinds.
Conditions for the rest of the field were less forgiving. No player in the bottom 600 of the field bagged more than 15 big blinds. Over 300 players returned for Day 2 with fewer than 10 big blinds. 26 players started Day 2 with stacks of one big blind or less, a function of the format permitting late survival even of single-chip stacks. Min-cash for Day 2 entry is USD$3,000; first prize from the regular prize pool projects to approximately USD$2,200,000 before the bounty draw.
| Item | 2024 Mystery Millions | 2026 Mystery Millions | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy-in (USD) | $1,000 | $1,000 | unchanged |
| Total entries | 18,372 | 22,811 | +4,439 |
| Prize pool (USD) | $16,341,840 | $20,073,680 | +$3,731,840 |
| Bounty pool (USD) | $5,511,600 | $6,840,000 | +$1,328,400 |
| Top bounty envelope (USD) | $1,000,000 | $1,000,000 | unchanged |
| First-place regular prize (USD, est.) | $1,805,000 | ~$2,200,000 | +~$395,000 |
| Number of starting flights | 5 | 6 | +1 |
| WSOP all-time field rank | 5th | 4th | +1 spot |
2026 Mystery Millions versus 2024 inaugural Mystery Millions. Source: Poker.org's "WSOP Mystery Millions event breaks records as one of the biggest ever".
What it means for Ontario players
No Canadian-flag player appears in the published top 50 of the 1,236-player Day 2 chip count. This is the second consecutive 2026 WSOP open event to start its Day 2 without a Canadian-flag player among the published front-runners, following the same pattern from Event #62, the $50,000 Poker Players Championship. The Ontario story of the 2026 WSOP, to date, has been built less on field penetration in the open mass-entry events and more on selective high-roller results from Kristen Foxen, Daniel Negreanu, and the four other Canadian bracelet contenders.
For Ontario players who could not travel to Las Vegas, an alternative pathway to a comparable-stake live tournament now sits less than 600 kilometres east. The 2026 WSOP Super Circuit Montreal at Playground Poker Club, the schedule for which was released on Saturday, runs August 26 to September 12 at Playground in Kahnawake, Quebec. The CA$5,000 Super Circuit Main Event with its CA$10,000,000 guarantee carries online qualifier paths through GGPoker Ontario from as low as CA$1.10, and the regulated Ontario online satellite ladder remains active through August 19.
Event #68 Ladies Championship: final six
Event #68, the $1,000 Ladies No-Limit Hold'em Championship, completed its third day Sunday with the field cut to a final six. American chip leader Emily Spencer enters bracelet day with 10,290,000 chips, nearly one-third of all chips in play. American Skye Chen sits second with 5,450,000; American Lisa Teebagy third with 5,360,000; French recreational player Victoria Ailloud fourth with 3,895,000; American Aubrey Williams (who entered Day 3 as a co-chip leader) fifth with 2,660,000; and American Caitlin Comeskey sixth with 1,780,000. The bracelet winner will receive USD$194,630, the largest first prize in Ladies Championship history.
Day 3 produced four notable storylines. Spencer was responsible for several of the day's most consequential eliminations, including 2022 Ladies Championship winner Jessica Teusl of Austria, who finished ninth for USD$16,666 after running ace-queen into Spencer's ace-king. Spencer also eliminated Cherish Andrews, the most-decorated former champion in the field, in 15th place. The hopes of a Japanese three-peat ended when all three Day 2 Japanese survivors busted in succession: Kimura Nao in 26th, dart professional Mayonnu Morita in 31st, and Sayoko Matsumoto in 42nd. None of the three were able to navigate Day 3, ending the run that began with Shiina Okamoto's wins in 2024 and 2025.
The Canadian-flag presence in Event #68 ended Saturday with Toronto-based Jixin Zhou's elimination outside the money positions of Day 3. Five-time bracelet winner Kristen Foxen, who entered Day 2 at 620,000 chips, was confirmed eliminated outside the money on Saturday as well.
| Seat | Player | Country | Chips | Big blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aubrey Williams | United States | 2,660,000 | 22 |
| 2 | Emily Spencer | United States | 10,290,000 | 86 |
| 3 | Caitlin Comeskey | United States | 1,780,000 | 15 |
| 4 | Lisa Teebagy | United States | 5,360,000 | 45 |
| 5 | Victoria Ailloud | France | 3,895,000 | 32 |
| 6 | Skye Chen | United States | 5,450,000 | 45 |
Event #68 Ladies Championship final-table seat draw and chip counts. Source: PokerNews Event #68 live updates.
Event #70 PLO Championship: Mizrachi leads Day 2 cut to 126
Event #70, the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship, completed its second day Sunday with the field cut from 836 entries to 126 returning players for Day 3. Hall of Famer Michael 'The Grinder' Mizrachi, who held the Day 1 chip lead at 946,000 chips, extended it on Day 2 to 5,655,000 chips. Indian high stakes professional Zurvan Tumboli sits second at 3,700,000, American Jesse Lonis third at 2,985,000, Colombian PLO regular Farid Jattin fourth at 2,645,000, and Czech long-time pro Karel Mokry fifth at 2,535,000.
Notable Day 2 survivors include Daniel Negreanu, who entered Day 2 in 83rd-place chip position and bagged through; British mixed-game specialist and 2026 PPC champion Benny Glaser, surviving in 101st place after a short-stack reset late in the night; Josh Arieh, who held a near-average stack through 39th place after Day 1; and 2026 Triton Montenegro triple-bracelet winner Daniel Dvoress of Toronto, who entered the event late and bagged at 86th-place chip position. American 2026 Millionaire Maker champion Joseph Liberta, who had bagged second after Day 1, busted in the middle levels of Day 2. The 126 returning play Monday to a winner from a prize pool of approximately USD$7,774,800, with first prize projected at USD$1,634,000.
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Mizrachi | United States | 5,655,000 |
| 2 | Zurvan Tumboli | India | 3,700,000 |
| 3 | Jesse Lonis | United States | 2,985,000 |
| 4 | Farid Jattin | Colombia | 2,645,000 |
| 5 | Karel Mokry | Czech Republic | 2,535,000 |
| 6 | Diogo Veiga | Portugal | 2,345,000 |
| 7 | Michael Hahn | United States | 1,900,000 |
| 8 | Joshua Barney | United States | 1,865,000 |
| 9 | Toby Joyce | Ireland | 1,655,000 |
| 10 | Ian Matakis | United States | 1,595,000 |
Event #70 $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship top 10 chip counts after Day 2. Source: Spade Poker's "WSOP Day 33: Michael Mizrachi Reigns Supreme in the $10K PLO".
Bracelet count, Mizrachi's bracelet-three watch
Mizrachi's chip lead in the PLO Championship arrives weeks after his 2026 Poker Hall of Fame finalist selection and four days after the official Hall of Fame inductee announcement. Should he convert the lead to a bracelet on Monday, the bracelet would be Mizrachi's ninth career WSOP gold, putting him within one of the joint third-place all-time count behind Phil Hellmuth (17 bracelets) and Phil Ivey (12 bracelets). Mizrachi already won the 2026 Poker Players Championship for a record fifth time in May, an event he previously won in 2010, 2012, 2018, and 2022. PLO is his second-most-prolific format historically, with two prior PLO-format bracelets among his eight.
Looking ahead to Monday
Three bracelet days return Monday in Las Vegas. The Ladies Championship plays to a winner from the six-handed finale, with broadcast coverage on PokerGO from 10:00 a.m. local time. The PLO Championship plays Day 3 from the 126-player cut. The Mystery Millions plays Day 2 through to a final five, with the bracelet day on Tuesday. Event #71, the $1,500 Mixed Big Bet (PLO and No-Limit 2-7 Single Draw), continues with Day 2. The WSOP Main Event field opens Thursday July 2 with Day 1A.
For Ontario poker players watching the Mystery Millions Day 2 from home, the live updates feed is at PokerNews and on the WSOP+ subscription stream; the 2026 WSOP Super Circuit Montreal qualifier path on GGPoker Ontario remains open; the regulated Ontario market overview is on the best poker sites in Ontario page; and the full month-ahead schedule is at Ontario poker tournament schedule.