Michael Mizrachi and Alex Foxen are out of the 2026 Main Event after rocky trips to the TV table late on Day 5.
Both players entered Day 5 with plenty of room to operate, and both started play on ESPN after the mid-day dinner break with more than a million chips. But both are now out, and the 2026 Main Event will have a new champion.
Flush no good
Mizrachi sat down with around 1.1 million after the dinner break, sharing a table with friendly faces like Lara Eisenberg, Ralph Perry, and Hossein Ensan.
Trouble started with a flush, and it wasn't strong enough. Mizrachi had 
on a board showing 
, but Amarender Puri had 
. The champ tossed out 180K to a quick call, so it could have been worse.
The big hurt came later with another flush against Eisenberg, who had 
. Mizrachi had 
with three diamonds on the board, so he called Eisenberg's 500K shove and was left with just over 100K.
Mizrachi found a hope spot against Ensan in a champ vs. champ clash, where Ensan had 
and Mizrachi had 
— the exact hand that just so happens to be tattooed on his arm. The tattoo worked, and Mizrachi dragged a small double with his 200K shove.
A few moments later, Mizrachi doubled through Ensan once again. This time he had 
against 
, and a clean runout put his quest for back-to-back on track once again with around one million chips.
But the moment was fleeting. Billy Tarango soon shoved with 
, drawing a heat check from Mizrachi with 
. The board ran out 
, and Mizrachi was back to 475K.
The champ took a few steps forward with a pot against Francisco Fragoso, and then he folded the best hand to Ross Tyler, setting up his demise against Ensan.
Mizrachi got it in with 
, and Fragoso called with , but Ensan swooped in with . He shoved 1.2 million, pushing Fragoso out of the way to set up a champ-on-champ showdown. The board ran out clean for Ensan, and it was curtains for Mizrachi's back-to-back title run.
"Pretty amazing," Mizrachi called the run. "I don't know how I survived this long."
Foxen falls, too
Meanwhile, Alex Foxen was running into trouble of his own on one of the other TV tables.
Foxen started his trip to the stage with around 1.7 million, but the wrong call would cut that by more than half.
It started with a flop of 
, and Foxen had 
. Ryan Miller had 
, and both players checked to Phillip Hasenberger with . Hasenberger tossed out 55K and everyone called to see 
.
Foxen threw out 160K, and Miller just called, setting a juicy trap. Hasenberger came along, too, hoping for another club.
The river was , and Foxen checked. Miller shoved, and Hasenberger got out of the way for Foxen to talk himself into the call. Foxen was left with 705K, but he doubled right back to around 1.2 million a few moments later.
The trip was all downhill from there, and he eventually found a spot with 365K and 
. Unfortunately, Ryan Miller had 
and Dan Stavila had 
. Foxen sat back while the other two created a giant side pot, and he walked off the stage when the board ran out 
. Stavila, meanwhile, dragged in a top-three chip stack with Miller's 3.1 million.
"A lot of wild cards at the table," Foxen told Jeff Platt after the whiplash. "This is the one everyone dreams about winning. Having a shot is fun, coming up short is less fun."
Foxen will now resume his pursuit of WSOP Player of the Year, while a trailing Shaun Deeb remains in the Main Event.
