2026 WSOP Day 48 Recap: Alex Foxen Leads Early in $3K PLO 6-Max as Main Event Field Shrinks to 21

Last Updated on July 13, 2026 by Bala Kumar

The 2026 World Series of Poker keeps rolling through the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, and Day 48 (July 12) delivered exactly the kind of packed schedule this WSOP summer has become known for. Seven events ran simultaneously, one new bracelet went out, and four more tournaments are down to their final tables heading into Day 49. If you’re tracking WSOP 2026 results, poker tournament news, or just want to know where the Main Event stands right now, here’s the full breakdown.

WSOP Day 48 at a Glance

Only one champion was crowned on Day 48: Sterling Lopez took down the $3,000 T.O.R.S.E. event, defeating two-time bracelet winner Jesse Lonis heads-up for a first career bracelet and a healthy six-figure payday. Beyond that single finish, the day was mostly about survival — six-figure fields getting whittled down and stars jockeying for position across a stacked lineup of mixed-game and No-Limit Hold’em events.

Meanwhile, the WSOP Main Event pushed through its seventh day, cutting the field down to just 21 players. Reigning Aussie Millions Main Event champion Malcolm Trayner emerged with the chip lead, and the remaining field still includes recognizable names like Shaun Deeb, Hossein Ensan, and Todd Brunson — all part of one of the deepest, most star-studded WSOP Main Event runs in recent memory.

$3,000 6-Handed Pot-Limit Omaha: Alex Foxen and Vivian Saliba Lead the Chase

This is the event generating the most buzz heading into Day 49. Day 1 of the $3K PLO 6-Max drew 892 entries, and only 158 survived to bag chips for the second day.

Ukraine’s Stanislav Halatenko finished as the outright chip leader with 950,000, but the story of the day was the strength of the chasing pack. 888poker ambassador Vivian Saliba bagged the second-largest stack, backing up her reputation as one of the sharpest Pot-Limit Omaha players on the women’s circuit. A few spots behind her sits Alex Foxen, fresh off his fourth career bracelet and now hunting a fifth piece of jewelry in a discipline he’s clearly comfortable in.

The rest of the Day 2 field reads like a who’s who of modern poker: Robert Cowen, Ryan Riess, Sam Soverel, Robert Mizrachi, Daniel Negreanu, Erik Seidel, and Chance Kornuth all survived to fight another day.

Top 10 Chip Counts — $3,000 PLO 6-Max, Day 1

Rank	Player	Country	Chips	Big Blinds
1	Stanislav Halatenko	Ukraine	950,000	238
2	Vivian Saliba	Brazil	788,000	197
3	Hen Rosilio	Israel	704,000	176
4	Krasimir Yankov	Bulgaria	637,000	159
5	Alex Foxen	United States	588,000	147
6	Michael Hahn	United States	550,000	138
7	Tony Diehl	United States	512,000	128
8	Brevin Andreadis	United States	475,000	119
9	Robert Cowen	United Kingdom	472,000	118
10	Michael Zulker	United States	471,000	118

Day 2 resumes at 1:00 p.m. local time, with ten more levels on the schedule.

$300 Gladiators of Poker: A First-Time Champion Guaranteed

From a field of 11,185 entries,  one of the largest of the entire series — Event #88 is now down to its final 12 players, and none of them has ever won a WSOP bracelet before. That guarantees a brand-new name on the winners’ list once the final table wraps.

Luis Genel leads the way with 61,800,000 in chips, trailing Johnny Oshana and Kenneth Baime. The eventual champion walks away with $250,000, a huge score relative to the tournament’s modest $300 buy-in and a reminder of why low buy-in guaranteed events remain some of the most popular WSOP tournaments among recreational players.

$3,000 Mid-Stakes Championship: Yanting Jiang’s Big Birthday

Yanting Jiang picked an appropriate day to build a monster stack — Day 3 of Event #89 happened to fall on her birthday, and she used it to bag almost double the chips of anyone else left in the field. With only 16 players advancing to the final day, Jiang’s lead gives her a real structural advantage heading into four-handed and shorter-handed play.

Maurice Hawkins, Punnat Punsri, Roberto Romanello, and WSOP veteran Barry Shulman are among those still alive and looking to close the gap.

The Closer: Nick Guagenti Survives a Brutal Flight

Event #93’s second Day 1 flight told a familiar WSOP story — a huge field, a brutal cut. Of 2,646 entries in Day 1b, only 292 made it through to Day 2. Nick Guagenti, still riding momentum from a deep run in the $3,000 T.O.R.S.E. event, bagged the fourth-largest stack of the flight and keeps alive his chances at a fourth career bracelet.

Combined with the 129 who survived Day 1a, 421 total players return for Day 2, all playing down toward a single champion.

$10,000 6-Handed NLHE Championship: Fahredin Mustafov Out Front

Bulgaria’s Fahredin Mustafov, already a bracelet winner from this year’s WSOP Europe festival, carries a commanding lead into Day 3 of the $10K 6-Max Championship. His 35-big-blind edge over second place is significant with only 33 players left chasing the $1,001,391 top prize.

The remaining field still features Calvin Anderson, David Peters, Aliaksei Boika, John Racener, and short-stacked former Main Event contender Dario Sammartino, among others.

$500 Summer Saver: Kabrhel in the Mix Early

Martin Kabrhel — a player better known for high-stakes cash and mixed-game action — showed up in the fourth chip position after Day 1a of this $500 buy-in event, which drew 1,414 entries. Day 1b is expected to be considerably larger when it kicks off, adding to what’s shaping up as one of the bigger guarantee-busting fields of the summer.

Main Event Update: Trayner Leads Final 21

The headline story of the entire series remains the Main Event. Day 7 trimmed the field down to 21 survivors, with reigning Aussie Millions Main Event champion Malcolm Trayner bagging the overnight chip lead. Poker legends Shaun Deeb, Hossein Ensan, and Todd Brunson — the latter chasing a bracelet 50 years after his father’s own Main Event glory — remain in the mix as the tournament heads toward its final table.

Day 8 begins at 11:00 a.m. local time and is expected to set the nine-handed WSOP Main Event final table, instantly turning each survivor into a millionaire.

What to Expect on WSOP Day 49

Day 49 is stacked with eight scheduled events, four of which are expected to crown champions:

• Event #95 ($500 Summer Saver): Day 1b begins at 10:00 a.m.
• Event #82 (Main Event): Day 8 starts at 11:00 a.m. and should set the final table.
• Event #88 ($300 Gladiators of Poker): Final day, also starting 11:00 a.m.
• Event #89 ($3,000 Mid-Stakes Championship) and Event #93 (The Closer): Both play to a finish starting at noon.
• Event #94 ($10,000 6-Max NLHE Championship): Final day begins at 1:00 p.m.
• Event #96 ($3,000 PLO 6-Max): Day 2 also starts at 1:00 p.m.
• Event #97 ($25,000 High Roller H.O.R.S.E.): A brand-new event launching at 2:00 p.m., last year’s edition produced a $3,525,000 prize pool won by Chad Eveslage for $883,841.

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