Phil Ivey held a large chip stack when the WSOP Poker Players Tournament prize bubble burst.

Phil Ivey has never won the $50,000 WSOP Poker Players Championship—one of the few achievements he has yet to attain in poker. But the poker legend is on his way to that goal.This could become the biggest victory of his career, launching an attack.。

This 11-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner not only made it into the money in this prestigious mixed event, but also held a top position on the chip leaderboard when the bubble burst on Tuesday night, leaving 17 players remaining.

Ivey chases his 12th WSOP gold bracelet

Ivey won his last gold bracelet in 2024 and finished second on the WSOP leaderboard. However, he has yet to win either the Main Event or the Poker Players Championship. That could change if he makes it to the PPC final table on Thursday.

He is currently in fifth place with 2,400,000 chips, behind chip leader Benny Glaser—the prize bubble burst after Bryce Yockey was eliminated in 18th place. Ivey and the other 17 players have secured at least $100,934 in prize money, with the winner of this summer's top event confirmed at $1,343,764.

This poker Hall of Famer maintained a relaxed demeanor throughout the long evening of poker games, even taking breaks to watch the World Cup football matches on the Horseshoe and Paris big screens.

During a hand between Paul Volpe and Bryce Yockey, PokerNews' David Salituro reported that Ivey stood up the entire time, watching the Colombia vs. Congo match on TV. "Phil, play some poker," Eric Wasserson told him, earning Ivey's signature death stare.

Colombia scored at that very moment. "Wass, don't talk to me while I'm watching football," Ivey told him.

Hellmuth is still vying for Article 18.

Besides this WSOP's second-most gold bracelet winner, Phil Hellmuth is still in contention for the series' all-time most gold bracelet winner.

This "poker prodigy" caught up with this year's PPC in time after recovering from COVID, only joining the tournament around dinner break on the second day. Despite his late start, he tripled his chips by the end of the night and continued to accumulate on the third day.

Unlike Ivey, who is among the chip leaders, Hellmuth is in the mid-to-late stages with 875,000 chips, ranking 14th. Nevertheless, with plenty of play before Thursday's final day, he has enough ammunition to launch a deep run in what many players consider the most challenging tournaments in all-around poker.

Despite Hellmuth's record-breaking 17 WSOP gold bracelets, the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy is conspicuously absent from his illustrious list of accolades. However, unlike Ivey, Hellmuth can proudly say he has won one of poker's most prestigious titles—his victory in the renowned 1989 WSOP Main Event.

Latest chip count – WSOP 2026 1TP 4T 50,000 Poker Players Tournament

With the prize bubble bursting, here are the latest chip counts for the evening of Day 3 of this year's PPC (as of approximately 00:30 AM Pacific Time):

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