16 sharks and a HORSE: Why one of the last WSOP events may be the toughest

Posted on: July 15, 2026 03:37 PDT

After two days’ play, the WSOP $25K HORSE event reached its final 16 on Tuesday night. If ever there was a tough field, this is it.

There are good reasons why.

For one, it’s the end of the series, well past the point when most tourists and out-of-towners will have turned tail and headed home.

If you’re still mooching about the halls of the Paris and Horseshoe while the tables are being packed up, there’s a good chance you're one of the many pros who live around here.

Closing time at the 2026 WSOP is imminent.

Hayley Hochstetler

Secondly, HORSE is something of a specialist game — ironically, given it requires a broad range of skills across five different poker variants (hold’em, Omaha hi-lo, razz, 7-card stud and stud hi-lo).

Perhaps ‘niche’ would be a better description; in a world which has decided that no-limit hold’em is the de facto poker game to play, stud variants and the like simply don’t pull the same crowds.

And when the two-handed all-in shove is the physical embodiment of poker’s spirit of adventure, the same goes for limit games in general. For many, squeezing one extra bet out of an opponent on the river can’t compare with the drama of stacking someone for 80bb in a single move.

Finally, the most obvious barrier to entry: this tournament costs $25,000 to enter. If you’re not properly bankrolled to play at these stakes, that's more of a major life decision than something fun to do on a Tuesday afternoon.

So who are these sharks?

This final 16 is a murderers’ row of existing bracelet winners, Player of the Year contenders and future Hall of Famers.

Shaun Deeb didn't stop to enjoy his deep run in the Main Event - not when there are PoY points to be won.

Hayley Hochstetler

Just four of the 16 are chasing their first WSOP bracelet: Alexander Kostritsyn, Walter Chambers, Matthew Beinner and William Kerkaert, and they have over $7 million in lifetime tournament cashes between them.

Of the 12 others who all have WSOP hardware already, seven are multiple winners. For Shaun Deeb (9 bracelets), Josh Arieh (7), Alex Foxen (4), Qinghai Pan (3), Naoya Kihara (3), Ari Engel (2) and Maxx Coleman (2), this isn’t even their second rodeo, let alone their first.

And then there’s the chase for WSOP Player of the Year, with four of the leading five contenders still stacking chips as the race rounds the final bend. Alex Foxen, Shaun Deeb, Naoya Kihara and Josh Arieh may want the points more than the money.

Naoya Kihara is a mixed game specialist who has been having the summer of his career.

Hayley Hochstetler

Although that may be stretching the PoY romance too far, given there’s a first prize of $872,052 to be won on Wednesday. Even for these sharks, that's a lot of bait.

The next man out will receive a min-cash of $50,340. 23 of the 148 entries get paid, and the likes of Jeremy Ausmus, Bryce Yockey and Carol Fuchs — the last woman in the field — have already punched their tickets for a min-cash of their own.

Julien Sitbon of France may not have a World Cup final for his home nation to look forward to, but is in pole position to win this one with a big lead over most of the field.

Julien Sitbon carries a healthy lead into the final day.

Omar Sader

He and Kostritsyn have each built comfortable leads over the chasing pack, while ‘Team Lucky’ members Shaun Deeb and Josh Arieh may need a little of that luck to claw their way back up the chip counts after falling into the bottom three.

Action in this, one of the final WSOP events of the summer, will resume at 1pm PT on Wednesday, with limits at 80K/160K.

$25,000 HORSE High Roller - final 16