On Day 5 of the 2026 WSOP, two gold bracelets were awarded, with Yang Wang and James Cheung winning the PLO and Stud events respectively. The top 16 of the $25k heads-up tournament were determined, and the $550 mini mystery million tournament attracted over 20,000 participants.
Two gold bracelets were awarded on the fifth day of the 2026 World Series of Poker at Horseshoe and the Paris Las Vegas Hotel.
In Event #5: The Pot-Limit Omaha bracelet at $5,000 was won by Yang Wang after defeating Jesse Lonis heads-up. Yang took home the $595,388 first prize and his first bracelet, while Lonis finished as runner-up at $396,892, failing to win his third bracelet.
In addition, James Cheung won the event #6:$1,500 Seven-Card Stud, earning $103,185 and his first gold bracelet.
Meanwhile, the high-stakes action continues in the $25,000 heads-up tournament (Alan Keating was unable to attend), the Mini Mystery Million tournament has surpassed 20,000 participants, and the Omaha and Baduji events have attracted a star-studded lineup.
The top 16 of the $25,000 Heads-Up Tournament have been confirmed.
Event #7:$25,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em Championship started with a surprise. Alan Keating failed to attend his first round and ultimately called to forfeit.
Aside from an initial minor hiccup, the tournament proceeded smoothly, producing the final eight players from the initial 64-player bracket. With the brackets now full, the tournament has reached its projected total prize pool of $3,008,000, with the champion receiving $750,000. All players advancing to Day Two will receive at least the minimum prize.
The eight players who won all the matches and advanced to Day Two were: Nikita Kuznetsov (the first player to advance to Day Two), Nikolai Mamut (who eliminated Doug Polk), Julien Sitbon, Brandon Wilson, Biao Ding, Thomas Boivin, Ryuta Nakai, and Florian Pesce.
The players who failed to advance to Day 2 included Doug Polk, Shaun Deeb, and Viktor Blom.
These players will return in the fourth round, along with the survivors of the first round, in a reshuffled bracket format. The fourth round will begin at 12:00 noon local time on Sunday.
Group 1b Advancement Results
Mike Matusow, Jen Harman, and Gus Hansen advance to Day 1 of the $10k Omaha High and Low Championship.
James Chen led with an impressive lineup after Day 1 of the #9:$10,000 Omaha High Low 8 or Better tournament. Chen bagged 359,000 chips by the end of the day.
At the end of the day, a total of 162 participants had entered the competition, with a total prize pool set at $1,506,600. However, these numbers could still grow as late registration continues until the end of the first level on the following day.
At the end of the first day, 78 players still had chips.
The 78 players include many well-known names such as James Obst (332,000), Robert Mizrachi (330,000), Todd Brunson (182,000), Josh Arieh (164,000), Mike Matusow (126,000), Jennifer Harman (112,000), and Gus Hansen (75,000) – for the latter, as always, it’s going to be a great summer.
These athletes will all return to the second day of the competition at 1:00 PM local time on May 31.
Top 10 chip counts on day 1
| Ranking | player | country | Chip quantity | Big Blind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | James Chen | United States | 359,000 | 45 |
| 2 | Qinghai Pan | United States | 342,000 | 43 |
| 3 | James Obst | Australia | 332,000 | 42 |
| 4 | Robert Mizrachi | United States | 330,000 | 41 |
| 5 | Dylan Lambe | United States | 318,000 | 40 |
| 6 | Nicolas Milgrom | France | 265,000 | 33 |
| 7 | Jason Daly | United States | 252,000 | 32 |
| 8 | Yong Wang | China | 239,000 | 30 |
| 9 | Yehuda Buchalter | United States | 223,000 | 28 |
| 10 | Maksim Pisarenko | Russia | 212,000 | 27 |
Seiver, Schulman, and Dzivielevski finished in the final ten of the Baduji tournament.
The tournament consisted of #8 and $1 rounds. A total of 554 players participated in the 500-player tournament in Baduji, with 99 advancing to the second day. By the end of the second day, only ten players remained.
The group of survivors is led by Michael Casella, who holds 4,065,000 chips.
But the situation could change at any moment with a single card, as Casela faces a strong lineup of competitors: Scott Seiver (2,120,000) is in second place, and Gary Benson (2,045,000) is in third. Nick Schulman (1,985,000) and Yuri Dzivielevski (295,000) are also still in contention, although Dzivielevski has less than three big bets left in his stack.
The total prize pool for this event is $735,435, with the champion receiving $141,963. The race for this gold bracelet will restart at 1:00 PM local time. The betting limit will be 50,000/100,000.
Event #8: $1,500 Badogee Day 2 Top 10 Chip Count
| Ranking | player | country | Chip quantity | Big bet |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Casella | United States | 4,065,000 | 41 |
| 2 | Scott Seiver | United States | 2,120,000 | 21 |
| 3 | Gary Benson | Australia | 2,045,000 | 20 |
| 4 | Nick Schulman | United States | 1,985,000 | 20 |
| 5 | Stephan Nussrallah | United States | 1,385,000 | 14 |
| 6 | Kyle Arora | United States | 905,000 | 9 |
| 7 | Walter Chambers | United States | 685,000 | 7 |
| 8 | Jon Turner | United States | 300,000 | 3 |
| 9 | Yuri Dzivielevski | Brazil | 295,000 | 3 |
| 10 | Brant Hale | United States | 115,000 | 1 |
The $550 Mini Mystery Million Tournament attracted 20,488 participants.
The #1:$550 Mini Mystery Million tournament featured two large-scale Day 1 events today.
Group 1e attracted 6,805 participants, while Group 1f (Speed Race) brought in 3,457. Together, these two groups brought the total number of participants across all six Day 1 groups to over 20,000, reaching a total of 20,488.
This amount of $9,352,772 has been added to the prize pool and will be distributed as a bonus ($3,649,482) and a reward ($4,097,600). The reward will be distributed starting the following day, with one lucky winner receiving $1,000,000.
A large number of players participated, including Martin Pineiro from Argentina, who bagged 4,205,000 chips. This put him at the top of the leaderboard as he entered Day Two.
The second day will begin at 1:00 p.m. local time on Sunday.
Event #1: $550 Mini Mystery Millions 1e - Top 10 Chip Counts at the End of Group 1
| Ranking | player | country | Chip quantity | Big Blind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maxime Broutier | France | 1,420,000 | 36 |
| 2 | Dong Chen | China | 1,415,000 | 35 |
| 3 | Michael Berk | United States | 1,205,000 | 30 |
| 4 | Nirath Rean | United States | 1,200,000 | 30 |
| 5 | Thomas Brown | United States | 1,180,000 | 30 |
| 6 | Julien Vanpelt | France | 1,175,000 | 29 |
| 7 | Vito Abramov | United States | 1,155,000 | 29 |
| 8 | Yaniv Peretz | Latvia | 1,145,000 | 29 |
| 9 | Elliott Hayes | — | 1,075,000 | 27 |
| 10 | Gnana Duddukuru | United States | 1,035,000 | 26 |
Event #1: $550 Mini Mystery Millions 1f: Top 10 chip stacks at the end of Group 1
| Ranking | player | country | Chip quantity | Big Blind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Martin Pineiro | Argentina | 4,205,000 | 105 |
| 2 | Anthony Reategui | United States | 3,560,000 | 89 |
| 3 | Alexander Kaviani | United States | 2,190,000 | 55 |
| 4 | Christopher Bissinger | United States | 2,120,000 | 53 |
| 5 | Steven Stillman | United States | 2,110,000 | 53 |
| 6 | Ugo Taurines | France | 2,040,000 | 51 |
| 7 | Jonathan Prince | United States | 1,920,000 | 48 |
| 8 | Leonard Sande | United States | 1,800,000 | 45 |
| 9 | Timothy Vu | United States | 1,735,000 | 43 |
| 10 | Peter Li | United States | 1,650,000 | 41 |
2026 WSOP Day 6 Preview
On May 31, the 2026 WSOP will enter its sixth day. Three new events will begin, and a gold bracelet is expected to be awarded.
This gold bracelet will be awarded to the champion of the event #8:$1,500 Baduji. The final table lineup will return at 1:00 PM local time, and the competition will continue until a champion is crowned.
The first new event is Event #10:$600 No-Limit Texas Hold'em Deepstack, which will begin at 10:00 AM local time.
Then came the match #11:10,000 GMillion The first starting group of the No-Limit Texas Hold'em High Roller event began at 12:00 noon local time. The final new event was Event #12:$1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Low-Stakes Draw, which is always a niche event for spectators, but low-stakes games usually attract the top poker players.
In addition, three events will run from Day 6 to Day 7 of the WSOP. The most important of these is Day 2 of the #7:$25,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em Championship. With its high stakes, strong reputation, and head-to-head action, this event is not to be missed.
The Day 1 participants for the #1:$550 Mini Mystery Million tournament will be merged, and more importantly, the mystery bounty will begin. At least one person will be offered a bounty of $1,000,000.
The second day of the #9:$10,000 Omaha High Low 8 or better tournament will also begin at 1:00 p.m., with a late entry period for the blinds level.
PokerNews will provide live coverage of all these events.
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