We may have passed the halfway point of the 2026 World Series of Poker, but it seems that some players still have more than enough bankroll to take swings. The first day of the $50,000 Poker Players’ Championship is in the books, although the survivors still don’t know what they are playing for. In another $50,000 buy-in tournament, the PLO High Rollers, there were quite a few familiar names in the mix, with Brazil’s Joao Simao emerging as the champion.
Day One of PPC Brings Out the Big Guns
The $50,000 Poker Players’ Championship, Event #60 on the 2026 WSOP agenda, is always noted for the number of superstars at the tables. Because of the high buy-in and the quality of the opponents, the PPC has become one of the marquee events of the WSOP, and last year it was notable because of the victory by eventual World Champion Michael Mizrachi’s fourth victory in the tourney. Alas, there will not be a #5 in the mix for ‘The Grinder’ as he was felled in the Day One action.
By the time the Day One festivities concluded, 87 players had stepped up to the tables, but that is not the final number for the tournament. Late registration is open until a ludicrous point, the start of Level 10 of the tournament, which will be approximately 7:30 on Monday evening. At that point, the final numbers for the tournament will be known, and the prize pool will be released.
Of the original 87 entries, 66 are remaining for the start of Day Two, and nobody is more excited about that than Daniel Negreanu. Negreanu, who has been having a less-than-stellar start to this year’s Series, seemed destined to make a quick exit from the PPC after a misstep in the early going. In one of his power games, No Limit Hold’em, Negreanu would try to power a preflop raiser and a caller off their hands on a K-J-8-2-7 board with flush potential. Negreanu would lose four-fifths of his opening stack of 300K chips, but he would grind it out for the rest of the day to be around for Monday’s play.
Taking the top slot on the leaderboard is Matt Glantz, who powered his way up the ladder after a PLO battle against Scott Seiver. Six players saw a K-6-3 flop, and when the smoke cleared, Seiver was all in against Glantz. Seiver, who had flopped top two pair, was up against Glantz’s top pair and flush draw, with that flush draw coming in on the river. Glantz would stack Seiver’s chips and, by the end of the night, was in control of the tournament.
1. Matt Glantz, 989,000
2. Benny Glaser, 826,000
3. Robert Wells, 790,000
4. David ‘Chino’ Rheem, 763,000
5. Kristopher Tang, 739,500
6. Chris Brewer, 694,500
7. Josh Arieh, 652,500
8. Frank Brannan, 649,000
9. Jesse Lonis, 643,500
10. Carlo van Ravenswoud, 605,000
Negreanu is one of the former PPC champions still in the field, along with Phil Hui and three-time PPC champion Brian Rast. Action resumes in the tournament at 1 PM (Pacific), with late registration open until the start of Level 10.
Joao Simao Up to the Test in $50K PLO
Not for the faint of heart – or those who do not know how to play the four-card game – the $50,000 Pot Limit Omaha High Roller brought out the best of the four-card brigade. Holding court for this championship was 2026 WSOP double bracelet winner Naoya Kihara, who was looking to become only the ninth player ever to win three bracelets in a year. Alongside Kihara was businessman Santhosh Suvarna, who looked to be having the most fun on the felt, Robert Cowen, and Yuri Dzivelevski.
Over the course of the ten-hour final table battle, Suvarna looked to be having the most success among the players, as he constantly found the hands – and got paid off on them. After doubling through Simao, Suvarna did the trick again in rivering a straight against Cowen to fortify his stack. Despite that double-up, Cowen was having enough success against the rest of the table to hold the lead with his 12.5 million stack.
Simao was on the offensive, however, knocking out Kihara in seventh place and van Ravenswoud in fifth as he joined Cowan in the eight-figure stack club. He would take the lead from Cowen soon after that, forcing him and Venkat Chivukula out with a three-bet on the flop. The three men – Simao, Cowen, and Suvarna – would be the major power players of the night, with at least one of the men consistently in every contested pot.
In the end, it would come down to those three men to decide the championship. Cowen was first to go after not finding a flush with his double-suited A♦ Q♥ 9♥ 4♦ against Suvarna’s 7-5-5-3 on a 9x 8♥ 6♥ Jx 6x board. That hand pushed Suvarna into the lead, but it would not be enough to stop the rush of Simao.
Simao found a double through Suvarna when his A-A-A-K was able to top the K-Q-8-6 of Suvarna when the board ran out 5-2-5-7-5, taking over the lead. He would then put the finish on the event, and pick up his fourth bracelet, when he got Suvarna all-in with a lesser hand:
Suvarna (small blind): 10-10-8-6
Simao (big blind): A-A-J-9
The A-8-7 gave Simao a set on the flop, but he still had to fade Suvarna’s potential straight draw. A five on the turn did open some more chances for Suvarna to stay alive (a four now also gave Suvarna a straight), but an innocuous King did not help anyone, earning Simao the checkmark and the championship.
1. Joao Simao, $1,368,700
2. Santhosh Suvarna, $912,420
3. Robert Cowen, $628,510
4. Venkat Chivukula, $445,440
5. Carlo van Ravenswoud, $325,080
6. Yuri Dzivelevski, $244,510
7. Naoya Kihara, $189,720
8. Veselin Karakitukov, $152,020
