Foxen takes control on Day 2D of the WSOP Main Event as Negreanu & Ivey bust

Posted on: July 8, 2026 02:50 PDT

Alex Foxen is having a vintage summer.

He’s currently leading the WSOP Player of the Year race on the back of nine cashes, a bracelet, four more final tables and a third-place finish in the $25K Heads-Up Championship.

Now he’s fashioning a run in the Main Event.

He spent a large part of Day 2D on the featured table with a big stack – hitting hands, making great calls and generally having a really good time. It was tough to find him without a smile on his face today. And for good reason – it seemed like every time the cameras found him, he was knocking someone out.

Alex Foxen is building a big stack.

Hayley Hochstetler

There were smiles on a lot of faces when he played his part in one of the comedy moments of the day, in a pot with Vinh Nguyen.

Nguyen was on the beers way before the allotted 'beer level', and he raised in early position to 2.5K with . Foxen called behind with .

Yoshitaka Hayasaki lit the fuse by 3-betting to 6.5K with and Nguyen did something he’ll probably regret tomorrow morning – ripped in his remaining 64.6K.

“It’s the best hand I’ve had all day,” Nguyen said as Foxen fixed him with a stare and asked how much it was. “If it loses then GGs,” he added, taking another sip of his beer.

He kept talking and Foxen kept listening – and then made the call.

“F**k, f**k,” said Nguyen. “I was just squeezing him [Hayasaki].”

“Oh my god,” Nguyen said, flipping his hand. “That’s a really good call, how do you make that call? That’s a sick call man, I don’t know how you did it. Why did you do it?”

The board ran out despite Nguyen calling for his one time.

“I can’t believe I just punted,” Nguyen said. “Holy shit.”

That put Foxen above 400,000 in chips, and he built from there, ending the day with 493,500.

The stack that Liebert built

Kathy Liebert is among very good company on the women’s all-time money list. She sits third, with just Kristen Foxen and Vanessa Selbst above her, and Liv Boeree behind her in fourth.

She’s been registering tournament cashes since 1994 and won a WSOP bracelet in 2004, but despite having over $7 million in career earnings, she’s a real grinder.

Kathy Liebert is one of the greats.

Hayley Hochstetler

Look at her 2026 results and there’s a huge volume of cashes in buy-ins under $1,000. Of 30 cashes, only 5 are in buy-ins above $1K and the biggest buy-in she’s cashed in this year is the $1,700 WSOP Circuit Championship event this summer.

That could all change on Thursday.

Liebert has been quietly building a big stack in the 2026 Main Event, and although she suffered a late dip, she still ended Day 2D with a solid 255,000.

All eyes might have been on Foxen on the feature table, but Liebert could be the story that grows if she keeps building.

Her last six-figure cash came at the 2022 WSOP when she finished fifth in the $1K Seniors event for $186,541.

A deep run in the Main Event would shine a spotlight on a very deserving, if unassuming, player who’s done so much for the game through the years.

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Numbers confirmed, $10M up top

The final numbers for the 2026 WSOP Main Event were confirmed after two levels on Day 2D, when an extra 818 players joined the tournament. We didn’t get anywhere near 10,000 players, but a field of 9,208 makes it the fourth-biggest in history.

The last 10 years of the Main Event in numbers.

That’s not bad in anyone’s books – except for a few trolls on Twitter who are trying to spin it as the death of the WSOP.

Phil Ivey left it to the last minute to enter, along with Bryn Kenney – neither lasted long.

Phil Ivey won't be winning the big one this year.

Hayley Hochstetler

A short while later, the WSOP confirmed that this year’s winner will still get $10 million. Everyone on the final table – which is being broadcast by ESPN this year if you hadn’t heard – will get at least $1 million, and 1,382 players will get the min-cash of $15,000. We’re expecting the bubble to burst early on Thursday morning.

There’s still a long way to go to get there and the first step is the field combining for the first time on Day 3 on Wednesday.

Big names bubbling under

There are still some intriguing stories simmering away.

But before we get into these, there’s one that sadly ended today.

Amit Agarwal is the player who played like a maniac and then abandoned his stack to go and watch a movie (Obsession – for the second time during his Main Event run) and play a little $4/$8 limit hold’em for the first time.

His fans tracked his movements on his X account.

When he finally returned to the Main Event post dinner break he had one plan – get to 300K and then go on another adventure. Sadly, he didn’t make it, but read our interview with him – it’s one of the best stories of the summer.

Back in the Main Event, Viktor Blom built a solid stack today and will start getting attention the deeper he goes.

Viktor 'Isildur' Blom bagged for Day 2 but didn't make the money.

Can Viktor be the victor?

Phillip Hellmuth III made the headlines before the Main Event because of the bet struck between his dad and Shaun Deeb. Put simply, if PH III doesn’t cash, Hellmuth lowes Deeb $14,000. If he cashes, Deeb owes Hellmuth the amount he cashes for – up to that $10 million first prize. PH III ended with 75,500 and Deeb might start sweating if he carries that through to Days 4 and 5.

Talking of Deeb, after saying he was going to punt to get a big stack or bust in his quest for Player of the Year, he was remarkably quiet today on one of the feature tables.

Asked if he’d switched strategy because he’d got chips, Deeb said, “I’ve been trying to punt. I’m still going to be mutlit-tabling in the Main at some point. That’s guaranteed.”

Deeb started the day with 104,000 and ended it by more than tripling his stack to 368,500.

After finishing fourth in the WSOP Paradise Main Event for $3 million, Terrance Reid is building up a stack for another deep run this summer. He bagged 597,500 and he’s already proved he knows what to do with a big stack.

Terrance Reid is on the board with one of the heavier bags of Day 1D.

Is Terrance Reid about to make another deep WSOP run?

And after finishing second in the Ladies Championship, Aubrey Williams is looking for another spotlight run. She'll be back for Day 3 with 141,500.

Talking of spotlights, Will Kassouf and Martin Kabrhel were both in action today, and both were notably absent from the feature tables. Has the WSOP learned its lesson?

Everyone, except maybe the WSOP floor, wanted a Day 3 redraw that would see them both on the same table. Unfortunately, Kabrhel was eliminated towards the end of the day.

Maybe add Chicago club owner Jimmy D'Ambrosio to the mix, too. He kept the energy up on the feature table all day and it turned into its own party, with dancing, drinking and cheering. He might even be able to find a way to have fun with Kassouf.

Gaspar Fernandez was the clubhouse chip leader from Day 2ABC with 754K.

Early reports suggest that the biggest Day 2D stack belongs to Michael Rossito with 770,500. 2,034 players progress through to Day 3, which starts Wednesday at 11am when the entire field will play five levels together for the first time.

Other events start trickling back onto the schedule as well, with the first Day 1 flight in the $300 Gladiator and the $3K Mid-Stakes Championship kicking off. Might we see Deeb multi-tabling? All will become clear tomorrow.

Notable stacks