The Muck · WSOP Daily Brief
Day 17 Edition
The two developing stories from yesterday's brief both resolved on Day 16 - and in both cases the chip leader entering the final day lost. Santhosh Suvarna won the $50K High Roller for $1,992,870 and his third WSOP bracelet (all in buy-ins of $25K or more), becoming the first Indian player to win three live WSOP bracelets. Richard Alsup won the Monster Stack for $1,302,125 after entering the final day sixth in chips, spending most of the heads-up battle behind, and rivering a seven with ace-seven against Salvatore DiCarlo's ace-king. Kevin Eyster, who entered the Monster Stack final day with 126.7 million chips - the largest stack - finished seventh. Dennis Weiss also won Event #30 ($1,500 Limit Hold'em) for his third bracelet. And now Ren Lin, who was banned from GGPoker in October 2025 for real-time online cheating assistance and subsequently returned to the live circuit, leads 31 survivors in the $100,000 High Roller with Day 2 underway today.
Story 01 of 6
Santhosh Suvarna won Event #29: $50,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold'em for $1,992,870 and his third WSOP bracelet - all three of which have come in high roller events with buy-ins of $25,000 or more. Suvarna defeated Chang Lee (South Korea) heads-up after an all-Asian final two - a first in the event's history. Colin Robinson entered heads-up play on two big blinds with six players left, battled his way to third place for $893,225. Chris Brewer, the last active 25K Fantasy Draft player in the field, finished fourth for $634,870. Anatoly Zlotnikov surged to chip lead mid-final table before falling fifth. Early eliminations included Turbo Nguyen (pocket aces), Ben Heath (ace-six vs. six-four), and Sergio Aido (also pocket aces). The 167-player field generated a $7,932,500 prize pool. Suvarna's career earnings are now over $22.7 million, extending his lead at the top of India's all-time money list. His three WSOP bracelets came in the €50K Diamond High Roller at 2023 WSOP Europe, the $250K Super High Roller at the 2024 WSOP, and this event.
Why it mattersThree bracelets in three different WSOP high roller events, across two continents, in consecutive years. Suvarna has now accomplished something no other Indian player has, and he did it in the formats where the field is specifically constructed to eliminate you. He has also articulated a clear finish line: win the Main Event and retire. That is a headline waiting to happen.
Story 02 of 6
Richard Alsup, of Minnesota, won Event #18: $1,500 Monster Stack No-Limit Hold'em for $1,302,125 and his second WSOP bracelet - the largest cash of his career by a wide margin. Alsup entered the final day sixth in chips with 65 big blinds. Kevin Eyster, who had led the tournament with 126.7 million chips entering the day, was eliminated in seventh place after doubling up Pierce Mckellar and then blinding down. The heads-up battle between Alsup and Salvatore DiCarlo lasted nearly three hours. DiCarlo built a four-to-one chip lead at one point; Alsup cracked DiCarlo's aces with rivered trip sixes to take the lead, then won the final hand with ace-seven versus DiCarlo's ace-king when a seven hit the river. DiCarlo earned $900,000 for second. Alsup attributed the win partly to 'new baby run good.' The event drew a record 11,933 entries.
Why it mattersThe Monster Stack chip leader entering the final day finished seventh. The player who entered sixth in chips, with a fraction of Eyster's stack, won over a million dollars. The Monster Stack's structure promotes chip volatility, but Eyster's collapse from 126 million chips to seventh place is a particularly stark example of how much poker remains at a final table even when one player starts with one-fifth of all the chips in play.
Story 03 of 6
Germany's Dennis Weiss won Event #30: $1,500 Limit Hold'em 7-Handed for $133,704 and his third WSOP bracelet. Weiss' first two bracelets came in Pot-Limit Omaha events - a $5,000 PLO at 2024 WSOP Europe and a $25,000 PLO High Roller at the 2025 WSOP for over $2 million. He told PokerNews he only started exploring $1,500 mixed games last year. Eight players returned for the final day. Chip leader Vo Ngo was eliminated seventh. Patrick Leonard finished sixth, never getting his stack going after Day 2. Ronnie Bardah built a chip lead three-handed before Weiss got paid on three streets with a flush and then eliminated Bardah in third by making quads over pocket nines. Weiss entered heads-up with a near 3-to-1 chip lead over Omar Mehmood and closed it out when his nine-eight flopped two pair against Mehmood's ace-seven.
Why it mattersA PLO specialist winning his third bracelet in a format he only recently started studying is the kind of cross-discipline achievement that tells you more about the player than three wins in the same game would. Weiss has career earnings over $3.6 million and continues to expand the range of events he can seriously compete in.
Story 04 of 6
Event #36: $100,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold'em completed Day 1 with 31 of 67 entries surviving. WPT Global's Ren Lin (China, based in New York) bagged 3,175,000 chips - the largest Day 1 stack - to lead the field into Day 2, which plays today at 1:00 p.m. local time. Lin carries a notable backstory: in October 2025, he was disqualified from the WSOP Super Circuit Cyprus Main Event and received an indefinite suspension from GGPoker (the WSOP's owner) after being found to have provided real-time assistance to another player who won a $10,300 GGMillion$ online event. Lin contributed $96,380 of his own money to cover a restitution shortfall for the affected players, received a time-limited suspension rather than a permanent ban, and returned to competition in 2026 with four event wins in his first month back. He has $19.6 million in live tournament earnings but has never won a WSOP bracelet, with three runner-up finishes in bracelet events. Galen Hall bags second (2,525,000), Mikita Badziakouski third (2,255,000), Vinny Lingham fourth (2,200,000), Sean Winter fifth (1,920,000), Jason Koon sixth (1,715,000). Artur Martirosian returns with 1,590,000; Daniel Negreanu has 1,190,000 with work to do.
Why it mattersThe $100K High Roller is the highest buy-in non-Super High Roller event at the 2026 WSOP. Having the chip lead at that buy-in after a year's worth of cheating-adjacent controversy is a significant story regardless of how Day 2 resolves. Lin's return has been successful on the felt; whether the poker community has fully processed what happened is a separate question that the coverage of this final table will answer.
Story 05 of 6
Event #34: $500 COLOSSUS No-Limit Hold'em launched its first flight on Day 16. Day 1a drew 2,684 players, with 501 surviving to Day 2a. Joseph Ozimok of Pennsylvania leads Day 1a at 1,065,000 chips (133 big blinds). Ozimok finished 12th in last year's Main Event for $560,250. John Hardie bags second at 1,046,000. Day 1b runs today at 10:00 a.m. local time and is expected to draw 3,000 or more players. Day 2a also begins today at 11:00 a.m. for the surviving Day 1a field. Four flights total.
Why it mattersThe COLOSSUS is one of the traditional mid-series attendance bellwethers for the WSOP. Early Day 1a attendance of 2,684 is a strong starting number for a $500 event. The combined field will produce one of the series' larger prize pools at a mid-range buy-in and represents the moment the series pivots from championship events toward recreational volume.
Story 06 of 6
At Day 2 of the Bar Poker Open (running concurrently in Las Vegas), player Ian Auvil looked down at his hand facing an all-in and told the table 'everybody knows what I got' before revealing the 7h and asking 'should I play 6-7 one more time?' - referencing his daughter's favorite hand. The dealer flagged the exposed card. Auvil put both cards face-up on the table and explained it was a joke between him and the all-in player, Joshua Bergman. The floor assessed a one-round penalty for exposing a hand with action pending, citing the rules regardless of intent.
Why it mattersThe 6-7 suited meme has been poker Twitter's unofficial hand of the year for multiple cycles. Getting penalized for making a live-action reference to it at the Bar Poker Open is a very specific kind of internet-meets-poker-floor collision that confirms the meme has fully escaped the online ecosystem.
33 confirmed bracelets awarded through Day 16 (June 10). Three bracelets were awarded on Day 16: Dennis Weiss (Event #30), Santhosh Suvarna (Event #29), and Richard Alsup (Event #18). The $100K High Roller (Event #36) plays Day 2 today; the $10K PLO8 Championship and $3K NLH also play toward finishes today.
Third bracelet. PLO specialist winning in a format he recently started studying. Quads in third place, two pair on final hand.
Third bracelet. All three in high roller events ($25K+). First Indian with 3 live WSOP bracelets. Beat Chang Lee heads-up.
Second bracelet. Minnesota. New baby. Entered 6th in chips, rivered A-7 vs A-K to beat DiCarlo heads-up. Chip leader Eyster finished 7th.
Second bracelet. 'Daddy's Got 2 Now.'
First bracelet. Three consecutive doubles to beat Maurice Hawkins heads-up.
Third bracelet. Dominated final table. Eveslage led by double entering day, finished 4th.
Second bracelet.
First bracelet. 21 years old, fourth live tournament. Came back from 26M vs. 76M heads-up.
Fourth bracelet at age 28. Beat friend Pavel Plesuv heads-up.
Second bracelet in three days.
First bracelet.
Sixth bracelet.
First bracelet. Never played format competitively.
Fifth career bracelet.
Came back from a single chip.
First bracelet. Coached by Faraz Jaka.
First bracelet.
Second bracelet.
Fourth bracelet. Denied Hellmuth bracelet #18.
Second bracelet.
First bracelet.
Chip counts reflect the most recent confirmed figures. $100K High Roller Day 1 counts. $10K PLO8 Championship Day 2 counts. Active events continue today.
Notable eliminations from the past 24 hours.
Entered the final day as chip leader with 126.7 million chips - more than any other player. Doubled up Pierce Mckellar, then lost his last chips in 7th place. The second-largest starting stack in the event's final-day history produced a 7th-place finish.
South Korea. Fought Suvarna even in a close heads-up match before Suvarna picked off a bluff and then hit a river to clinch.
Was reduced to two big blinds with six players left. Battled back to finish third. One of the better short-stack runs of the series.
Built the chip lead three-handed, lost to Weiss making quads over his pocket nines.
Built a four-to-one chip lead heads-up against Alsup. Alsup rivered the winning seven with ace-seven against his ace-king.
Never got his stack going. Returned to the felt after his CoinPoker patch controversy earlier in the series and finished 6th in Limit Hold'em.
Third WSOP bracelet won June 11 in the $50K High Roller for $1,992,870. All three bracelets in events with buy-ins of $25K or higher. Career earnings now exceed $22.7M. High roller wins carry among the heaviest POY point values. He has stated his one remaining goal is the Main Event.
Two $10K championship bracelet wins (Events #17 and #23) in three days remain the most concentrated POY point burst of the series. No player has matched that output at championship buy-in level.
Fourth bracelet in the $25K Six-Handed. Now entering Day 2 of the $100K High Roller with 1,590,000 chips. A deep run today would add substantially to his POY total.
Leads 25 survivors in Event #33: $10,000 PLO Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship with 1,995,000 chips. A fourth bracelet win today would push him firmly into the POY conversation.