The stars always come out for the $10K No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship, one of the summer's most prestigious tournaments.
Nick Schulman won his seventh bracelet in the event last year, beating Darren Elias heads-up.
We're guaranteed a new champion in 2026, after Phil Hellmuth took Schulman out on Day 2 with an 8-5. But there was no shortage of star power waiting in the wings.
One table boasted Hellmuth, Ren Lin, Gus Hansen, Chris Moneymaker and Ryan Riess. Next to them were Daniel Negreanu, Alex Foxen and the freshly-cursed Shaun Deeb.
It's a swingy game. Negreanu started Day 2 second in chips. By the second break of the day he was second bottom. Moneymaker was second, Hellmuth was 16th.
Moneymaker rollercoaster
Moneymaker got a lot of his chips from Jesse Lonis after busting him twice in successive hands.
Both players drew one in the first hand. Lonis made an eight but Moneymaker had the wheel with 
.
"I hope I get the same table again," Lonis said as he re-entered.
Careful what you wish for. On the very next hand, Moneymaker patted a 10-8 and Lonis drew one to make a 10-9 and hit the rail again.
The swings kept coming, though. Moneymaker didn't end up making the money – he was eliminated in 34th after running into Ryutaro Suzuki's wheel.
30 would get paid. With 31 left, Foxen and Negreanu were the short stacks. "Shall we do a last shortest?" Foxen asked Negreanu.
Foxen had the blinds coming round and decided to min-raise UTG. He got his stack in, showed a pat wheel and doubled up to leapfrog Negreanu.
Hellmuth was now in second place and rocking a big smile.
Shoreman bubbles, Deeb soars
Negreanu was down to fumes when he made a stand in a hand against Ren Lin.
Lin showed 
, Negreanu flipped 
and drew one. He peeled it slowly and celebrated when he saw the nine.
With that double, Negreanu – and Foxen – made the money as Jon Shoreman was eliminated in 31st.
A huge rail had gathered, hoping to see a Negreanu comeback. He rallied but couldn't survive past 20th. His exit hand saw him stand pat with 
. Per Hildebrand drew one and showed , but caught a nine to win.
Deeb chose the right time to make his move.
He had a dream final level of the night to bag the chip lead with 13 players left.
Hellmuth was sinking but still ended the night with a playable stack of 620K for the final day – and he'll be dreaming about bracelet number 18 tonight.
He would love it to be in this one. Posting on X earlier he said, "I have wanted to win this tourney since 1990, and have two second place finishes in it."
In 1993 he was runner-up to Billy Baxter. In 2011, John Juanda pipped him to the bracelet. Could it be third time lucky for Hellmuth on Thursday?
Play resumes at 1pm PT.
$10K No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship stacks
- Shaun Deeb (USA) – 1.5M
- Ryutaro Suzuki (Japan) – 1.3M
- Per Hildebrand (Sweden) – 1.1M
- Naoya Kihara (Japan) – 1M
- John Monnette (USA) – 955K
- David Lin (USA) – 945K
- Dan Shak (USA) – 875K
- Jason Daly (USA) – 797K
- Alex Foxen (USA) – 785K
- John Cynn (USA) – 662K
- Chad Eveslage (USA) – 626K
- Phil Hellmuth (USA) – 620K
- Robert French (USA) – 407K
