The list of former champions to fall in the 2026 Poker Players Championship grew early on Monday, as 2024 winner Daniel Negreanu was eliminated in the early stages of play on Day 2 – before registration had even closed.
Negreanu had managed to boost his start-of-day count back over the starting point of 300,000, but when we found him early in Level 8 putting his last couple of bets in during a hand of Seven Card Stud 8 or Better, Negreanu was under 50,000. And that was soon to be zero.
Kalas ends Negreanu's PPC
After Dylan Weisman bowed out of the three-way pot on fifth street, Negreanu was left facing Kane Kalas with just over one 16,000-chip big bet left, and holding just queen-high with backdoor flush, straight, and low draws, and two cards to come.
Negreanu elected to continue and committed his final T-1,000 on sixth street, holding a gutshot to an eight-high straight. Kalas, though, had already made an ace-high flush to lock up the high half of the pot and was drawing to a better low as well.
Negreanu made a pair on seventh street, missing his low draw for half the pot to survive, and with no re-entry available, his favorite event of the summer has come to an end.
Champions and big names out early
While the entire PPC field is littered with highly decorated players, Negreanu becomes the latest marquee name to find himself on an impressive list of early eliminations.
Defending champion Michael Mizrachi headlined Day 1's notable early eliminations. Former champions Dan ‘Jungleman’ Cates and Elior Sion joined him on the rail Sunday.
Today, along with Negreanu, last year’s third-place finisher Esther ‘ETay’ Taylor and 2026 double bracelet winners Naoya Kihara and Calvin Anderson have also met their demise early on Day 2.
Enter the Phils
At the time of Negreanu's elimination, the field had yet to see a pair of the biggest names in poker, Phil Hellmuth and Phil Ivey.
Ivey has been seen in the biggest buy-in tournaments of the summer with a pair of cashes in the $10K Limit Hold ‘em Championship and the $250K Super High Roller.
Hellmuth entered at the start of Level 8 and has a trio of Championship event cashes this summer in Limit Omaha 8 or Better, Pot-Limit Omaha 8 or Better, and No-Limit 2-7 Single Draw.
His entry marked his return to the 2026 WSOP after a brief battle with COVID, for which he tested negative on Sunday night.
PokerOrg will continue to bring coverage of the 2026 Poker Players Championship until a champion is crowned on Thursday.
