WSOP 2026: Max Kruse Reaches Day 2 of the $50k Poker Players Championship

The most important event beside the Main Event of the World Series of Poker 2026 at Horseshoe & Paris Las Vegas has begun. Day 1 of the $1,000 Poker Players Championship (#60) saw 87 big names at the tables, with Max Kruse being the only representative from the DACH region so far in Day 2.Last year, Michael Mizrachi made history before his historic Main Event win by securing the title at the $1k Poker Players Championship for the fourth time. This year, he won’t be writing any new record story, as his run ended on Day 1. Key facts about the tournament: Everyone starts with 300,000 chips, and the levels last for 100 minutes. Six levels needed to be completed on Day 1, with late registration open until the end of Level 9.On Day 1, 87 players were recorded, with a quarter already having to hit the rail. Among them was Michael Mizrachi, who had previously given away many chips to Chino Rheem. When he went all-in with against from Brad Ruben, against from Ruben did not help, and the grinder had to hit the rail before the end of Day 1.But the dream has also ended for Robert Mizrachi, Scott Seiver, Joao Vieira, Jeremy Ausmus, Dan Cates, Patrick Leonard or Nacho Barbero.Of the 87 players, 66 remained, with Matt Glantz leading the star-studded field with 989,000 chips ahead of British all-round talent Benny Glaser (826,000). The German-speaking community is currently represented only by Max Kruse, who managed to get to Day 2 with 173,500 chips short.Late registration is still open for three more levels, last year there were 107 starters.

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World Series of Poker 2026

Date: May 26 to July 15 / ME FT August 3 – 5 Location: Horseshoe Las Vegas Events: 100 live & 30 online Buy-Ins: $1 to $1,000, online from $1 –> WSOP Bracelet Schedule –> WSOP.com Online Bracelet Schedule –>> Las Vegas Poker  –> Daily Deepstacks Schedule –> WSOP Live Satellites –> 2026 World Series of Poker Official Tournament Rules

WSOP Event #60: Poker Players Championship

Buy-In: $1,000 Entries: 87 / tba Prize Pool: tba Paid Places: tbaRemaining Players: 66 Blinds: 1,500/3,000 Limits: 6,000/12,000Chip Counts from Day 1

Rank	Name	Nation	Chip Count
1	Matt Glantz	USA	989,000
2	Benny Glaser	United Kingdom	826,000
3	Robert Wells	United Kingdom	790,000
4	Chino Rheem	USA	763,000
5	Kristopher Tong	USA	739,500
6	Chris Brewer	USA	694,500
7	Josh Arieh	USA	652,500
8	Frank Brannan	USA	649,000
9	Jesse Lonis	USA	643,500
10	Carlo van Ravenswoud	Netherlands	605,000
11	Ariel Mantel	Argentina	602,500
12	James Obst	Australia	594,000
13	Ryan Hoenig	USA	590,000
14	Dylan Weisman	USA	582,000
15	Brian Tate	USA	578,000
16	Ray Dehkharghani	USA	560,500
17	Chance Kornuth	USA	551,500
18	Maximilian Schindler	USA	519,000
19	Brad Ruben	USA	500,000
20	Jason Mercier	USA	499,500
21	Bryce Yockey	USA	495,500
22	Eric Wasserson	USA	487,000
23	Dario Sammartino	Italy	479,000
24	Paul Volpe	USA	475,000
25	Roy Thung	USA	470,000
26	Luke Schwartz	United Kingdom	462,500
27	Renan Bruschi	Brazil	451,500
28	Qinghai Pan	USA	425,500
29	Aaron Kupin	USA	422,500
30	Matt Vengrin	USA	408,000
31	Ben Yu	USA	404,000
32	Gus Hansen	Denmark	401,500
33	Dara Taherpour	USA	388,000
34	John Monnette	USA	370,500
35	David Benyamine	France	356,000
36	Phil Hui	USA	330,000
37	Eli Elezra	Israel	325,000
38	Mike Wattel	USA	322,500
39	Yuri Dzivielevski	Brazil	313,000
40	Maxx Coleman	USA	303,500
41	Ryan Miller	USA	302,500
42	Christopher Vitch	USA	298,500
43	Hal Rotholz	USA	296,500
44	Marco Johnson	USA	295,000
45	Mike Matusow	USA	295,000
46	David “ODB” Baker	USA	289,500
47	Brian Rast	USA	276,000
48	Nick Guagenti	USA	254,000
49	Daniel Negreanu	Canada	247,000
50	Justin Liberto	USA	232,000
51	Kane Kalas	USA	228,000
52	Matthew Beinner	USA	222,500
53	Alexander Kostritsyn	Russia	180,000
54	Nick Schulman	USA	177,000
55	Albert Daher	Lebanon	177,000
56	Max Kruse	Germany	173,500
57	Shaun Deeb	USA	159,000
58	Calvin Anderson	USA	130,000
59	Naoya Kihara	Japan	119,500
60	Dan Smith	USA	111,500
61	Esther Taylor	USA	110,000
62	Viktor Blom	Sweden	108,000
63	John Racener	USA	95,500
64	Brian Battistone	USA	85,500
65	Ioannis Angelou Konstas	Greece	68,500
66	Aaron Katz	USA	58,000