Ren Lin has energy to spare.
During a break deep on Day 3 of the $5K 8-Handed No-Limit Hold'em event at the 2026 WSOP, Lin was doing star jumps by himself at the back of the room while the rest of the players headed out.
Then he dropped to the floor and started doing push-ups.
When he finished, he stood up, smiling – because Lin is always smiling – and sat back down to play his way onto the first final table of the summer series.
The field played down to five on Thursday, with Lin bagging fourth in chips. But his energy hadn’t faded.
Chenxiang Miao leads the final five in the $5K 8-Handed NLH. Ren Lin wants to win everything
Then he got another boost: Shaun Deeb – the reigning Player of the Year – walked past, stopped, and told Lin he'd have his own POY banner soon.
Asked what it meant to hear that from Deeb, Lin smiled.
"He's the best player at the WSOP, and he's always nice to me. I wish I could play like him."
What does it mean to make the first final table of the summer?
"It's great. It’s the first tournament, you know, and I think I will win."
And Player of the Year? Is that something you're chasing?
"Yeah, why not? I want to win everything. I want to win GPI Player of the Year this year, too. Everything. I need to win everything this year."
His quest resumes Friday when the five players return to play for the $502,985 first prize and the gold bracelet. All five players are guaranteed at least $120,035.
Play restarts at 1pm PT on Friday.
Event #2: $5,000 8-Handed NLH final five
- Chenxiang Miao (China) – 10,850,000 (90bb)
- Daniyal Gheba (USA) – 8,600,000 (71bb)
- Xiaohu Liu (China) – 3,365,000 (28bb)
- Ren Lin (China) – 3,000,000 (25bb)
- Peter Mugar (USA) – 2,640,000 (22bb)
Images courtesy of the WSOP.
