The Muck · WSOP Daily Brief
Day 24 Updated Edition
Alex Foxen has taken the Player of the Year lead overnight. Three bracelet winners from June 15 never got their due because Adrian Mateos won $4.3 million on the same day. Casino compliance pulled a high roller off the Hustler WSOP stream after she'd already lost money following the rules she was given. And today, eight events run simultaneously -- including the $25K PLO final where Foxen is chasing bracelet five, the $2,500 Freezeout where Faraz Jaka is the chip leader, a 239-person Seniors Championship crowning a winner, and the $10K H.O.R.S.E. Championship firing at 2pm. Day 24 is the busiest day of the series.
Story 01 of 5
Updated POY standings as of June 18 show Alex Foxen at the top of the leaderboard with 2,237 points -- 232 ahead of Nick Schulman's 2,005. The change reflects Foxen's full point accumulation from deep runs across multiple events beyond his fourth bracelet in the $10K Super Turbo Bounty. Justin Liberto, winner of Event #14: $1,500 Mixed Omaha ($265,297) and a multiple deep-runner this summer, sits third at 1,895 -- a ranking that wasn't surfaced in prior POY coverage. Chris Hunichen has entered the top ten in sixth at 1,653. Benny Glaser is tenth at 1,513. Stephen Hubbard jumped to seventh at 1,640 after leading Day 2 of the $3,000 Nine Game Mix. Shaun Deeb fell to eighth at 1,606.
Why it mattersFoxen's jump to the lead changes the narrative heading into a pivotal day. He's also leading the $25K PLO High Roller with 31 players left -- a win today would push his total to a figure that would require a major bracelet run to overcome. Schulman held the lead for weeks and is now 232 points back. Liberto at third is the emergence story nobody saw coming: he has multiple scores this summer and is quietly positioned to matter in the second half. The POY is no longer a two-horse race.
Story 02 of 5
June 15 awarded five bracelets total, but two got nearly all the coverage. The three that didn't: Juan Rodriguez won Event #39: $5,000 Seniors NLH High Roller for $673,011 and his first bracelet, rivering a king to crack Nariman Yaghmai's ($448,634) ace-high heads-up from an 844-entry field with a $3,882,400 prize pool. Matthew Moss won Event #43: $800 NLH Deepstack 8-Handed for $318,556 and his first bracelet, rallying from behind to beat Darryl Ronconi ($212,106) heads-up in a 3,903-entry, $2,732,100 prize pool. Sebastian Pauli won Event #40: $1,500 Razz for $135,564 and his first bracelet from 519 entries.
Why it mattersWhen Mateos wins $4.3 million in a $250K Super High Roller, everything else that day gets a footnote. But Rodriguez outlasting 843 opponents in a $5K field for $673K as a first-time cash winner is legitimately a career result. Moss winning a 3,900-person deepstack field on his first bracelet is the kind of story the $800 events are designed to produce. Pauli winning the $1,500 Razz puts three different players winning Razz bracelets this summer -- Anderson, Pauli, and Jon Turner's event still TBD -- which says something about the depth of Razz play in 2026.
Story 03 of 5
Britney Jing, a high-stakes player known as 'allinbritney' on Hustler Casino Live, was removed from the WSOP's first HCL-produced livestreamed cash game by casino compliance officers mid-session. Jing had been instructed to obtain a cashier's check from another casino in lieu of a cash buy-in -- which she did -- and was approved to play. After she had already lost a portion of her stack, a compliance officer intervened and removed her pending further source-of-funds review tied to anti-money laundering regulations. Jing issued a public statement saying she 'followed the instructions given to me' and described the timing as 'confusing and unfair,' adding that 'If there was a compliance concern, it should have been identified before I was allowed to buy in and put money at risk -- not after the game had already begun.' The WSOP and Paris Las Vegas did not provide detailed comment on the specifics. The incident is connected to a broader Las Vegas-wide compliance crackdown on cash buy-ins at card rooms.
Why it mattersThis is the first significant on-stream compliance removal at a WSOP-adjacent cash game in recent memory. The procedural problem Jing identified is real: she followed the instructions she was given, was cleared to play, took her seat, and was removed after she'd already lost. The question of whether compliance review should happen before a player puts chips at risk -- not during or after -- is not a frivolous one. The HCL WSOP stream was a high-profile debut and this was not the highlight anyone expected.
Story 04 of 5
Stephen Hubbard leads 164 survivors of Event #52: $3,000 Nine Game Mix heading into Day 2 (today) with 366,500 chips. Hubbard won Event #12: $1,500 NL 2-7 Lowball Draw for $155,819 earlier in the series -- his first career bracelet -- then finished fourth in the $1,500 Razz. He is seventh in the POY race at 1,640 points. A Nine Game Mix victory today would generate a significant point haul and push him into the top five. Bryn Kenney (242,500), who finished runner-up in the $250K Super High Roller, is in the field. David Williams (282,500), a longtime WSOP regular, is also in contention. First place pays $254,470.
Why it mattersWinning two bracelets in mixed-game formats in a single summer is a marker of genuine breadth. Hubbard is not a name that appeared on most pre-series POY watch lists and he is now in the top ten. The nine-game field at $3,000 is self-selecting for players who can navigate multiple disciplines -- 164 survivors from a $3K mixed event are not going quietly. Williams has been a WSOP fixture for over two decades without a bracelet. Kenney added $2.7 million to his live earnings last week but has never won a bracelet. Hubbard has one and is leading the event.
Story 05 of 5
Day 24 is the most event-dense single session of the summer. At 11am: Event #46 Seniors Championship Day 3 (239 players, Sridhar Sangannagari leads at 2,625,000, Farzad Bonyadi in ninth at 1,425,000 chasing bracelet five). At noon: Event #47 $25K PLO High Roller Day 3 (31 players, Foxen leads at 6,820,000, Negreanu returns with 995,000). At 12pm: Event #53 $1,500 Five Card PLO Day 1. At 1pm: Event #49 $2,500 Freezeout Final Day (28 players, Jaka leads at 4,470,000, $513,885 top prize). Running all day: Event #50 $1,500 Millionaire Maker Flight B and Day 2a. Event #51 $10K Mystery Bounty Day 2 (88 survivors, Ireland's Simon Wilson leads at 249,200). Event #52 $3K Nine Game Mix Day 2 (164 survivors, Hubbard leads). At 2pm: Event #54 $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship Day 1.
Why it mattersThe $10K H.O.R.S.E. Championship is the premier remaining mixed-game title of the summer. Nick Schulman won his eighth bracelet in the $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. earlier in the series; the $10K format draws deeper fields of mixed-game specialists. Benny Glaser (10th in POY at 1,513 points) is exactly the kind of player this event was built for. The Seniors Championship will crown today's first bracelet at the earliest starting time of any event on the floor. Three to four bracelets could reasonably be awarded before midnight.
46 bracelets awarded through end of Day 23 (June 17). Events #39, #40, and #43 below were won on June 15 and received minimal coverage at the time due to the Mateos $250K win dominating the session. No new bracelets awarded on Day 24 (June 18) as of time of writing.
First bracelet. 844 entries, $3,882,400 prize pool. Rivered a king to crack Nariman Yaghmai's ($448,634) ace-high heads-up.
First bracelet. 519 entries. Won on the same day as the Mateos $4.3M Super High Roller score.
First bracelet. 3,903 entries, $2,732,100 prize pool. Rallied from behind to beat Darryl Ronconi ($212,106) heads-up.
Chip counts from live Day 24 events as of start of play. Counts reflect end-of-session bags from prior days per VIP-Grinders and PokerNews.
Notable exits from Day 23 events and additional detail on the $25K PLO and $2,500 Freezeout bubble periods.
Defending champion of this event. His flopped trips fell to Manuel Fischer's flopped full house. Three-time bracelet winner this summer, but couldn't defend in the event he won in 2025.
Pocket aces cracked by Brevin Andreadis's rivered flush. One of several high-profile names who couldn't navigate Day 2 of the $25K field.
Bubbled when Dylan Linde made the nut straight on the first hand after dinner. 68 spots paid. Neugebauer was the first one out in 69th.
Defending POY and Main Event champion. Saw a large chunk of his stack vanish before elimination. A difficult stretch mid-series for the 2025 double champion.
2015 Main Event champion. Knocked out by Brandon Sheils during Level 21. Jonathan Tamayo was eliminated at roughly the same time.
Became the bubble boy when his ace-queen fell to Yuanzhi Cao's pocket eights. Only one hand needed to burst the bubble.
Jumped from second to first between the June 17 and June 18 standings on additional deep-run scoring. Now leads Schulman by 232 points. Also the chip leader in the $25K PLO with 31 players remaining, playing today at noon. If he wins the PLO he will be nearly out of reach for the summer Las Vegas leg.
Led the POY race for weeks. Now second after Foxen's accumulation pushed past his total. Still a remarkable summer -- eighth bracelet, runner-up in Badugi, four final tables. Points gap of 232 is not insurmountable, but Foxen is adding to his total today.
Won Event #14: $1,500 Mixed Omaha ($265,297) and has collected multiple deep-run scores. Wasn't in the top tier of POY discussion until the June 18 standings. Now only 110 points behind Schulman and sitting third overall.
Leads the $3K Nine Game Mix Day 2 at 366,500. Won the $1,500 2-7 Lowball Draw earlier in the series. A Nine Game Mix bracelet today would push him into the top five and make him one of the mixed-game stories of the summer.
Dropped from seventh to eighth as the field around him expanded. Still four places and roughly 630 points behind Foxen. One bracelet run closes the gap. Nobody has written him off. The summer has about six weeks left and Deeb plays a lot of poker.