Tuesday's Day 3 of the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship saw 17 players reach the money after a lengthy bubble that lasted well over 40 hands of hand-for-hand play.
From there, 15 players advanced to the penultimate day, with one of the best mixed game players in the world leading the charge at the top of the counts.
Eight-time bracelet winner Benny Glaser edged out Paul Volpe for the chip lead at the end of the night. Widely considered to be one of, if not the best, mixed game players today, a win in the PPC — considered by many to be the 'mixed games Main Event' — still eludes him.
Glaser's deepest run in this event was a fourth-place finish in 2022; the second of two times Glaser has made the PPC final table after a fifth-place finish in 2018.
A tale of two Phils
Two of the biggest names in poker, Phil Ivey and Phil Hellmuth, both made the money and advanced to Day 4.
Ivey ended the night with the seventh-largest stack, while Hellmuth finished second-shortest.
The two have 28 bracelets between them, but a victory in the most prestigious mixed game tournament of the series has eluded both.
Ivey's deepest run was a third-place finish in 2006, back when the event was the $50,000 HORSE. Hellmuth came even closer in 2011, finishing runner-up to Brian Rast.
Chip stacks heading into Day 4
- Benny Glaser: 4.7M
- Paul Volpe: 4M
- Kristopher Tong: 3.3M
- Nick Guagenti: 2.9M
- Jason Mercier: 2.8M
- Josh Arieh: 2.6M
- Phil Ivey: 2.6M
- Alex Livingstone: 2.3M
- Maxx Coleman: 1.8M
- Chris Brewer: 1.6M
- Chris Hunichen: 1.6M
- Roy Thung: 1M
- Jesse Lonis: 840K
- Phil Helmuth: 545K
- Maksiim Pisarenko: 135K
Max pain for Wells and Yockey on the money bubble
Robert Wells may have suffered the worst beat of the day, made even more painful given that it occurred during hand-for-hand play, two spots away from making the money in a hand of 7-Card Stud.
Wells began the hand with rolled-up trip sixes, committing his short stack on fourth street against Roy Thung and Paul Volpe.
Volpe got Thung to fold on fifth street, and the cards hit their backs, with Volpe showing two pair, jacks and eights, against Wells’ trips.
Thung had folded a jack earlier, meaning Wells had only three outs to fade, but an 8 on sixth street spelled a brutal end for Wells’ PPC run.
Matt Glantz, Bryce Yockey and Dara Taherpour were all navigating short stacks on the stone bubble.
Yockey, who finished runner-up in this event to Daniel Negreanu two years ago, earned the unfortunate title of bubble boy after two postflop folds left him with just 15,000 — less than a third of a big blind.
Yockey was forced all-in from the big blind the next hand, falling to Nick Guagenti to bring the PPC into the money.
Day 3 exits
2026 $100K High Roller champion Yuri Dzivielevski was among the early casualties on Tuesday. Other notable players eliminated before the money include Jared Bleznick, Gus Hansen and Brian Rast — the last remaining former champion of this event.
PokerOrg will continue to bring coverage of the 2026 Poker Players Championship for Day 4 on Wednesday and the final day on Thursday.
Additional images courtesy of the WSOP.
