As expected, the first $5K event of the summer’s World Series of Poker — the $5K 8-Handed NLH — has drawn a crowd of big names, with some big reputations, egos and fireworks to match.
And two of the game’s most recognizable faces have already been at the center of the drama.
The first was purely on the felt as Daniel Negreanu, who had the 8th biggest stack at the evening break, got all his chips in on the turn holding pocket aces while the board showed 
.
Check the video above to see the hand play out.
Sadly for Kid Poker and his fans, his opponent Ryuta Nakai had flopped top set holding two red tens.
Negreanu turned his camera on the action before calling off his stack and seeing the bad news. He needed an ace to stay in the game, and as soon as the river bricked he needed something else to do.
With multiple events running here in Las Vegas every day, he’ll surely find it quickly.
Phil Hellmuth and Nicky P get into it
The second big moment involved the WSOP’s all-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, who got into a war of words with Nicky Palma, one of poker’s more outspoken characters.
According to a clip posted by Hellmuth, tablemate Palma called him a ‘pansy’, told him he hates him and that he stinks. Palma received a warning.
The playground beef was eventually squashed by none other than Hellmuth’s great friend and fellow multiple bracelet-winner Mike ‘The Mouth’ Matusow.
“Matusow’s saying [Nick Palma] is a great guy,” Hellmuth shared a little later, “and that he doesn’t mean anything negative. He might hate me, but Mike Matusow’s saying great things about [him]. And Mike’s a pretty smart guy.”
“I’ll stop being mean to Phil, alright Mikey?” Palma added, “I’m sorry.”
Hellmuth recorded the exchange and posted that one, too. All while stepping away from the table and leaving his stack of just 10bb. He hurried back in time for the next hand but couldn’t spin it up and busted the tourney before the bubble.
Palma made it to 80th place for a min-cash of $9,947.
Russian duo top the pile
Back to the actual poker, and the $5K NLH broke for the day with 24 players remaining, all in the money after the bubble burst with the double eliminations of Manuel Fritz and Micah Raskin, meaning no hand-for-hand play was needed. 86 of the 570 entrants made the payout spots.
Heading into Thursday’s Day 3 it’s the Russian pair of Anatoly Nikitin and Ivan Ruban who sit atop the chip counts.
Nikitin leads by a healthy margin, bringing 160+ big blinds back with him for the start of Day 3, with Ruban behind in 2nd with around 115bb. They’re the only two players who will start the day with more than 100bb (play restarts with blinds at 10K/20K with a 20K big blind ante).
Action resumes at 1pm PT on Thursday and play will end when five remain.
All players have locked up $15,879, but the top 3 will split over a million dollars between them: $502K is set to go to the winner, with 2nd and 3rd paying $335K and $234K respectively.
The resumption of play coincides with the deadline for entries to the PokerOrg 2026 WSOP Fantasy Freeroll, and five draft-eligible players remain in the field.
If you want to add some guaranteed point-scorers into your team at the last minute, check the details here.
Images courtesy of the WSOP/Tyler Abrams.
