By Alex Drummond, Editor-in-Chief · July 4, 2026 · Fact-checked by Maya Chen
Day 1B of the 2026 World Series of Poker Main Event closed Friday night at the Horseshoe and Paris in Las Vegas with a German professional at the top of the counts, a defending champion clinging to a below-average stack, and a cumulative field through two starting flights that now stands at 1,810 entries. Germany's Konstantin Held bagged the largest Day 1B stack at 724,500 chips, or approximately 483 big blinds at the 750/1,500 opening blinds of Day 2ABC. American Noah Freedman bagged second at 649,000 chips, Chinese online-to-live convert Wenzhi Fei third at 639,000, French recreational professional Guy Pariente fourth at 420,000, and Brazilian PLO regular Osmar Rockenbach fifth at 286,900. Each of the five biggest stacks represents a different country, an ESPN broadcast talking point about the international flavour of the 2026 field.
The 1,038-entry Day 1B represents a 35 per cent uptick from Day 1A's 771 entries, in line with historical patterns as Day 1B has traditionally been the largest of the four Main Event starting flights. 759 players survived Day 1B with an average stack of 82,000 chips, or approximately 55 big blinds at the Day 2ABC opening level. 279 players were eliminated across the five two-hour levels. Combined with the 543 survivors from Day 1A, the cumulative Day 2ABC field-in-waiting now stands at 1,302 players from 1,810 entries fired to date.
Day 1B top ten and notable Canadian survivors
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Konstantin Held | Germany | 724,500 |
| 2 | Noah Freedman | United States | 649,000 |
| 3 | Wenzhi Fei | China | 639,000 |
| 4 | Guy Pariente | France | 420,000 |
| 5 | Osmar Rockenbach | Brazil | 286,900 |
| 6-9 | Justin Young, Joao Simao, Greg Raymer, Gerard Pique | Various | Range 86,700 - 157,000 |
| 10 | Josh Reichard | United States | 81,400 |
Day 1B leaderboard and notable stacks. Source: ESPN's "World Series of Poker main event: German leads after Day 1B, Mizrachi survives".
The Canadian contingent's Day 1B representation was anchored by Kevin Martin of Toronto, the 2013 Big Brother Canada winner and mid-stakes tournament pro with US$1.85 million in live earnings. Martin's Day 1B entry was confirmed by PokerNews live coverage in the morning session but PokerNews did not publish a Day 1B end-of-day chip count for Martin. A late-registration close on Sunday and combined Day 2ABC on Monday will consolidate all Canadian direct-entry status. The core Canadian direct-entry group, including Daniel Negreanu, Kristen Foxen, Daniel Dvoress, Sam Greenwood, Mike Watson and Alex Livingston, was expected to fire predominantly on Day 1C on Saturday afternoon and Day 1D on Sunday.
Mizrachi's title defence on a short stack
The defending Main Event champion's below-average bag was the most-discussed storyline of the Day 1B end-of-night reports. Michael Mizrachi entered Day 1B just 24 hours after his ninth WSOP bracelet win in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship, having taken US$1,350,203 for that title on Monday night. His Day 1B stack of 73,200 chips represents approximately 49 big blinds at the Day 2ABC opening level, below the 82,000 average and comfortably above the 60,000 starting stack from the beginning of Day 1B. Mizrachi has three more bullets in the Main Event should he wish to fire them, including one on Day 1D and two on Day 2ABC's late-registration window, but the four-time Poker Players Championship winner told PokerNews on Friday night that he plans to run his current stack through Day 2ABC without additional entries.
Mizrachi's stack contrasts sharply with his 2025 Main Event trajectory, when he bagged the Day 1B chip lead at 297,000 chips and rolled that into a Day 8 heads-up win against Jamie Kerstetter for US$10,000,000. Should Mizrachi pull off a second consecutive Main Event title, he becomes the fourth player in the tournament's history to achieve back-to-back titles after Doyle Brunson (1976 and 1977), Stu Ungar (1980 and 1981) and Johnny Chan (1987 and 1988). Historical precedent shows that Day 1B chip stack size is a poor predictor of Main Event outcomes; the 2010 Main Event was won by Jonathan Duhamel after a Day 1B bag of 90,275, and the 2022 champion Espen Jorstad bagged 91,100 on Day 1B.
Notable Day 1B bustouts
The 279 Day 1B eliminations included several established professionals and content creators. Mike 'The Mouth' Matusow, a Poker Hall of Fame finalist and four-time WSOP bracelet winner (2002, 2004, 2005, 2013), was eliminated in the middle of Day 1B when his queen-jack ran into pocket kings. Jean-Robert Bellande, the long-time high stakes cash game professional and reality television regular, busted late in the day. Brad Owen, the poker vlogger with over 1 million YouTube subscribers, was eliminated on the final level. Galen Hall, the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event champion and Circa Survivor VI co-winner, also ended his Main Event bid Friday.
Gerard Pique, the retired FC Barcelona defender and member of Spain's 2010 FIFA World Cup winning team, survived Day 1B with 86,700 chips. Pique, who has been a Kings League and Kosmos Global Holding entrepreneur since retiring from football in 2022, has finished in the money in seven prior WSOP Main Events including a 2023 Main Event 1,150th-place finish for US$18,700. Greg Raymer, the 2004 Main Event winner, survived on 122,300 chips. Antonio Esfandiari, three-time WSOP bracelet winner and the 2012 One Drop US$18-million winner, survived on a short 34,300 chips.
Day 1C and Day 1D still to come
Day 1C of the 2026 Main Event opens Saturday at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time and is expected to draw approximately 1,500 entries as the largest of the four Day 1 flights based on historical pattern. Day 1D on Sunday afternoon typically draws 1,200 to 1,400 entries in a mid-day start. Late registration remains open through the end of level 2 of Day 2ABC on Monday and through the end of level 2 of Day 2D on Tuesday. Combined Day 2ABC plays Monday, July 6 at 12:00 p.m. local for the Day 1A, 1B and 1C survivors. Day 2D plays Tuesday, July 7 at 12:00 p.m. local for Day 1D survivors and Day 2 registrants. Day 3 combines all remaining survivors on Wednesday, July 8. The final table is scheduled for Wednesday July 15 through Saturday July 18.
The traditional Canadian direct-entry contingent was expected to fire predominantly Saturday and Sunday. Daniel Negreanu was seen tweeting Saturday morning that his intent is a Day 1C fire, with a Day 1D backup entry if needed. Kristen Foxen was expected to play Day 1C. Daniel Dvoress, Sam Greenwood, Mike Watson, and Alex Livingston were expected across Day 1C and Day 1D. Kevin Martin's Day 1B stack, once published, will be the first named Canadian-flag Day 1 count of the 2026 Main Event.
Ontario watch: satellites, streams and the Playground road trip
Ontario poker players following the Main Event from home can watch the ESPN+ broadcast beginning at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time Saturday for Day 1C, with PokerGO providing feature-table coverage across all Day 1 flights. The regulated Ontario online satellite path for the 2026 WSOP Super Circuit Montreal at Playground Poker Club in Kahnawake, Quebec remains active through August 19 on GGPoker Ontario, with the CA$5,000 Super Circuit Main Event and its CA$10,000,000 guarantee running September 3 to 11. The regulated Ontario market overview is on the best poker sites in Ontario page.