The buy-ins at the 2026 World Series of Poker have been increasing all week.
The High Rollers started with $25K buy-ins and moved up through the $50K and the $100K. While the final table of the $100K was playing out on Friday night, the first ever Million Dollar Live cash game was streaming from the same stage. Martin Kabrhel finished ninth in the $100K for $255,491, then jumped straight into the cash game and dropped close to $2 million.
On Saturday, the biggest buy-in event of the summer got underway, as 11 players sat down with a stack of 1.5 million chips, or 300 big blinds, to contest the $250K Super High Roller.
Meanwhile, over at the Horseshoe, more than 6,000 players were playing the $500 Colossus.
Same game. Different ends of the spectrum.
Grind Day 1 or late-reg Day 2?
The Super High Roller gives you choices. You can’t win the tournament on Day 1, but you can lose it – even with an optional single re-entry.
Late registration remains open until the end of Level 10 tomorrow, when $250,000 will still buy a more than playable stack of 30 big blinds.
By the end of Level 2, the field had grown to 20 players. By the same point last year, 26 players had entered, including eventual winner Seth Davies.
Dejan Kaladjurdjevic was the first player registered to play – and the first player to hit the rail.
He bluffed the majority of his first bullet off on the river with a missed straight draw, and ran into Aleksejs Ponakovs’ aces. Ponakovs tanked but slid out the call and left Kaladjurdjevic on fumes. He tripled up soon after but couldn’t avoid busting early in Level 4. He deployed his second bullet immediately.
Super High Roller field grows
By the end of Level 6, the field had grown to 37 players. Six had been eliminated, including Bernhard Binder and David Coleman.
Daniel Negreanu almost joined them. He got his last 537K in with 
on a 
flop. David Einhorn had 
and was almost equal in equity with Negreanu.
Negreanu moved to his rail and said, “Whatever, I’m good. My life is amazing, I’m going to have a baby boy, whatever, life is good.”
It’s easier to be sanguine when you’ve got another $250,000 bullet waiting in the chamber.
Negreanu survived and doubled up, and then eliminated Alex Foxen – who re-entered immediately and sat down in the same seat.
There were 46 entries on Day 1 last year, with another 17 buying in on Day 2. Eight were eliminated on Day 1. By the end of today, there were 41 entries and 10 players had hit the rail. The tournament needs 22 more entries on Day 2 to match last year's 63-entry field.
Day 1 eliminations (one re-entry permitted)
- Dejan Kaladjurdjevic
- Adrian Mateos
- David Coleman
- Bernhard Binder
- Alex Theologis
- Alex Foxen
- Jans Arends
- Michael Moncek
- Eelis Parssinen
- Danny Tang
Samuel Mullur and Brandon Wilson finished Day 1 tied for the chip lead with 4.3 million. Negreanu found another double and ended with 3 million, good for fourth. Kaladjurdjevic made his second bullet count with a top-ten stack. Kristen and Alex Foxen both finished below their starting stacks, while Leon Sturm returns with just 385K, or 15 big blinds, though he still has a re-entry available.
The bubble burst on Day 2 last year, with 10 players getting paid at least $516,393.
How many players will buy in over the first two levels tomorrow? Action resumes at noon local time, with late registration remaining open until 2:15pm.
$250K Super High Roller stacks
- Samuel Mullur (Austria) – 4.3M
- Brandon Wilson (USA) – 4.3M
- Christoph Vogelsang (Germany) – 4.2M
- Daniel Negreanu (Canada) – 3.0M
- Sean Winter (USA) – 2.9M
- Aleksejs Ponakovs (Latvia) – 2.7M
- Dejan Kaladjurdjevic (Montenegro) – 2.7M
- Artur Martirosian (Russia) – 2.4M
- Johannes Straver (Netherlands) – 2.3M
- Ding Biao (Hong Kong) – 2.1M
- Martin Kabrhel (Czechia) – 2.0M
- Jesse Lonis (USA) – 2.0M
- Jason Koon (USA) – 2.0M
- Thomas Boivin (Belgium) – 2.0M
- Matthias Eibinger (Austria) – 2.0M
- Vinny Lingham (USA) – 1.9M
- Stephen Chidwick (UK) – 1.7M
- David Einhorn (USA) – 1.7M
- Santhosh Suvarna (India) – 1.7M
- Adrian Mateos (Spain) – 1.7M
- Nick Petrangelo (USA) – 1.5M
- Emilien Pitavy (France) – 1.5M
- Mikita Badziakouski (Belarus) – 1.4M
- Kristen Foxen (USA) – 1.4M
- Ignacio Moron (Spain) – 1.3M
- Alex Foxen (USA) – 1.3M
- Barak Wisbrod (Israel) – 1.2M
- Ben Heath (UK) – 835K
- Alex Theologis (Greece) – 665K
- Alex Kulev (Bulgaria) – 400K
- Leon Sturm (Germany) – 385K
Additional images courtesy of WSOP.
