The crème is slowly rising to the top in the $50,000 Poker Players’ Championship, Event #60 on the 2026 World Series of Poker schedule. After three days of battle, the final fifteen men are left standing, one of whom will be a new champion for the event after the elimination of former PPC champion Brian Rast on Day Three. Leading the way before play on Day Four will be Benny Glaser, but an incredible array of talented players is behind him, headlined by multiple bracelet winners Josh Arieh, Phil Ivey, and the ever-present form of Phil Hellmuth.
Some Players Leaving Empty-Handed
With 39 players coming back on Tuesday for Day Three’s action, there was going to be some disappointment. With only seventeen players earning cash from the $5.13 million prize pool, that meant that 22 players were going to be leaving empty-handed. Thus, the battle was first on to avoid being one of those who left with nothing to show for their efforts.
Rast was one of those who left early, but it was not without a fight. Coming into Day Three with the shortest stack of the 39 survivors, Rast was able to parlay his skills in the mixed game format into a survivable stack. Eventually, Rast was outgunned by players with larger stacks as he fell short of the bubble. He would have plenty of familiar company, however; Yuri Dzivielevski, David ‘ODB’ Baker, Jared Bleznik, Gus Hansen, and John Racener would be among those who were not a part of the race to the money bubble.
The money bubble was a dogfight, taking more than forty hands before the final elimination occurred. Bryce Yockey, who lost nearly all of his stack in the previous hand, was forced all in during a round of Pot Limit Omaha and had to watch helplessly as the hand played without his involvement. In the end, Nick Guagenti would make Jacks full on the river and Yockey, lacking a better selection of cards, was ushered to the rail in eighteenth place ($0).
Deep Stacks Lead to Few Eliminations
Although the popping of the money bubble ensured that all the competitors would get a $102,474 payday, nobody was willing to leave the party. After Yockey’s departure, only two more players would be booted from the festivities, and one of them was the chip leader from earlier in the tournament.
In Deuce to Seven Triple Draw, Jesse Lonis would raise from the hijack, and Dara Taherpour popped it to three bets, with a solo 5K chip in the rear. Josh Arieh then decided he wanted to get in the game out of the small blind, firing a four-bet, and Lonis called while Taherpour committed his final chip. Everyone chose to make a one-card draw, which Arieh liked enough to fire a bet, and Lonis would call.
On the second draw, both Taherpour and Arieh stood pat (did not draw any cards), while Lonis decided he still needed a new card. Once again, Arieh bet out, and Lonis called the bet, and on the final draw, Lonis was still seeking a different card while Taherpour and Arieh liked what they held. Arieh and Lonis would check that final draw, with Arieh turning up an 8-7-6-3-2 that beat Lonis for the side pot. Taherpour then turned up his hand – 8-7-6-5-3 – and headed to the rail in seventeenth place ($102,474).
The game was No Limit Hold’em when the Reaper came for Day One chip leader Matt Glantz. After Lonis pumped the action under the gun, Glantz pushed his remaining stack to the center, and Lonis called off the matching chips. Glantz was behind all the way:
Glantz (big blind): J-3
Lonis (UTG): K-5
And the flop was certainly against Glantz. Coming down K-Q-K, the trips of Lonis were way out in front, and Glantz was left looking for a flush draw as his only way to win the hand. Neither the 9♥ nor the 3♠ was the card that Glantz needed, however, sending him out of the tournament in sixteenth place ($102,474) and closing the action for the night.
1. Benny Glaser, 4.705 million
2. Paul Volpe, 4.02 million
3. Kristopher Tong, 3.305 million
4. Nick Guagenti, 2.85 million
5. Josh Arieh, 2.64 million
6. Phil Ivey, 2.555 million
7. Alex Livingston, 2.53 million
8. Jason Mercier, 2.18 million
9. Maxx Coleman, 1.78 million
10. Chris Brewer, 1.565 million
11. Chris Hunichen, 1.55 million
12. Roy Thung, 1.025 million
13. Jesse Lonis, 840,000
14. Phil Hellmuth, 545,000
15. Maksim Pisarenko, 135,000
Action has resumed at Paris Las Vegas, with plans to winnow the fifteen players to a final table of seven before the night closes. The Day Four play for the PPC will NOT be on WSOP YouTube broadcasts (much to viewers’ chagrin), but the final table will be a focal point of the broadcast Thursday evening.
