The $1,922,870 up top is the biggest prize of the 2026 WSOP so far, but when it comes to grabbing the headlines on Tuesday the $50K High Roller NLH had some stiff competition.
For one thing, there was Day 1 of the $10K PLO8 Championship, where a bevy of big names were hunting high and low for chips all day.
Multiple bracelet winners including Joao Vieira, Brad Ruben and Erik Seidel were looking for another one. Those with bare wrists, such as Chino Rheem and Jon Kyte, and Viktor Blom were looking to put that right.
Viktor 'Isildur1' Blom is still seeking his first WSOP victory.Another $10K Championship — the Dealers Choice — was also playing down to a finish, replete with established winners and poker royalty such as Nick Schulman, Jeremy Ausmus and Bryce Yockey.
And then there was a less expected must-see event, with the final table of the $600 Mixed PLO/NLH featuring the likes of Daniel Negreanu, Alex Foxen, Maurice Hawkins and Josh Reichard.
But — this being the World Series of Poker, after all — there was still no shortage of star power in the High Roller.
Hellmuth among the stragglers
Brandon Wilson finished Monday’s Day 1 at the top of the chip counts in the $50K High Roller, but an influx of major leaguers soon arrived to ramp up the pressure.
Registration remained open for a couple of levels, and those latecomers hopping in at the last minute — for a starting stack of 12bb for their $50K buy-in — included all manner of poker A-listers.
Phil Hellmuth joined the high rollers late.Those taking a shot at a max-late-reg spin-up included several firing their second bullet of the event. The bubble burst at 26 players left, and the min-cash was $100K.
Breaking even doesn’t sound so bad when there’s $100K on the line.
The stragglers included:
- Pavel Plesuv and Artur Martirosian, fresh from their $25K High Roller duel
- High roller regs Mikita Badziakousi, Roman Hrabec and Samuel Mullur
- Fantasy Freeroll draftees Michael Moncek, Chris Brewer, Klemens Roiter and Andrew Lichtenberger
- Former WSOP champion Phil Hellmuth
After a long, grueling battle on Day 2, the field was whittled down to just 12 remaining players.
Santhosh Suvarna, no stranger to mixing it up with the super high rollers despite his recreational status, holds a sizable chip lead headed into the final day. The Indian businessman knows how to close an event of this magnitude – in 2023, he won the $50K Diamond High Roller at WSOP Europe and, the following year, the $250K Super High Roller.
Suvarna's competition for the bracelet is rather stiff, however, with the likes of Brewer, Wilson, Jans Arends, Sergio Aido, and Benjamin Heath still in the hunt.
The event will play to a winner on Wednesday, who'll pick up one of the biggest prizes of the summer.
$50K High Roller Chip Counts (Final 12)
| Place | Player | Chip Count (BBs) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santhosh Suvarna | 7.7M (51 BBs) |
| 2 | Chang Lee | 5.9M (39 BBs) |
| 3 | Brandon Wilson | 5.2M (34 BBs) |
| 4 | Chris Brewer | 5.1M (33 BBs) |
| 5 | Jans Arends | 4.7M (31 BBs) |
| 6 | Colin Robinson | 4.7M (31 BBs) |
| 7 | Anatoly Zlotnikov | 4.2M (28 BBs) |
| 8 | Pieter Aerts | 3.8M (25 BBs) |
| 9 | Sergio Aido | 3.6M (23 BBs) |
What can you get for $1.9 million?
So, what could the eventual winner of the $50K High Roller get with the close to $2M prize money up top?
Maybe a luxury 5-bedroom house in a Las Vegas gated community, with cathedral ceilings and a pool?
Or possibly an Aston Martin Valhalla supercar? Or how about a 1952 Topps #311 Mickey Mantle baseball card.
You could simply indulge your inner child with 1.2 million bags of Skittles.
Or you could play every remaining WSOP event this summer, and still have a million dollars left over.
It’s a flight of fancy, but for one person on Wednesday, this question will become very real.
