The defending World Series of Poker Main Event champion has positioned himself among the tournament's elite contenders after Day 3, building a formidable stack of 890,000 chips despite running into one of the cruellest coolers of the tournament.
- Mizrachi bagged 890,000 chips after Day 3 — last year at the same stage he sat in 1,056th place.
- His heater peaked at 1.2 million before he ran ace-king suited into Marshall Daigle's flopped quad queens.
- GGPoker's Sasha Liu leads the field with 1,450,000 chips.
- Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, Martin Kabrhel and Will Kassouf have all busted.
- Another Main Event title would give Mizrachi his tenth WSOP bracelet in sixteen years.
From 60,000 to 890,000
Mizrachi's remarkable trajectory through the early stages showcases his resilience as a player. Beginning Day 1b with the standard starting stack of 60,000 chips, he modestly increased his holdings to 73,200. His Day 2abc performance proved far more impressive, as he nearly tripled his stack to reach 202,500 chips.
The defending champion's Day 3 work proved exceptional, expanding his holdings to 890,000 chips — a dramatic contrast to his previous year's tournament, when he finished Day 3 in 1,056th place and still went on to win the whole thing.
The Hands That Built the Stack
Several memorable hands illustrated Mizrachi's aggressive play. In one significant pot, he rivered a flush after initially holding only a backdoor draw, extracting value from opponent Dominic Cullen, who held two pair. Another hand saw Mizrachi eliminate Haoxin Tong when his ace-seven proved superior to king-queen in an all-in preflop situation. He also engineered an elimination against Kyle Arora, rivering a straight while Arora held two pair.
Mizrachi's heater peaked when his stack reached 1.2 million chips — and then came the ice bath. Against Marshall Daigle's pocket queens, Mizrachi held ace-king suited. Daigle flopped quad queens, halting Mizrachi's momentum and reducing his stack back to 890,000.
Other Tournament Notables
Chip leader Sasha Liu of GGPoker accumulated 1,450,000 chips. Other significant stacks include Shaun Deeb with 1,075,000, Artur Martirosian with 890,000 and Alex Foxen with 830,000 chips.
Several notable players have been eliminated, including Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, Martin Kabrhel and Will Kassouf.
Historic Context — and a Bad Omen
Should Mizrachi win the Main Event again, he would capture his tenth WSOP bracelet within sixteen years and secure his second bracelet of the 2026 series. He previously earned bracelet number nine following a dominant performance in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship.
One statistic urges caution, though: Day 3 chip leaders have historically faced diminishing success in modern WSOP Main Events. While between 1975 and 2002 overnight leaders won the title fifteen times, the most recent Day 3 chip leader to reach the final table was Kenny Hallaert in 2016, who ultimately finished sixth.
