WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star 2026: Quoc Mai Leads Final Six into Las Vegas Finale

Day 3 of the $5,300 WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Championship in San Jose started with 55 players, including 12 Shooting Stars, the famous pros with bounties on their heads. By the end of the night, all 12 of them were gone.

Six players remain, and they’ll have a long wait. The final table won’t be played until December 15 in Las Vegas, so the finalists have seven weeks to think about what’s at stake. That includes a top prize of $470,500, which comes with a $10,000 WPT World Championship ticket.

Quoc Mai leads the way with 10,165,000 chips, just ahead of Chahn Jung on 9,075,000. Below them, there’s a big gap to the rest of the field.

Final Table Chip Counts

Seat	Player	Chips	Big Blinds	Share of Chips
1	Eric Zheng	2,065,000	52	7.1%
2	Ziao Guo	4,095,000	102	14.1%
3	Chahn Jung	9,075,000	227	31.2%
4	Shawn Daniels	3,000,000	75	10.3%
5	William Davis	700,000	18	2.4%
6	Quoc Mai	10,165,000	254	34.9%

The table splits into two groups. Mai and Jung together hold about 66% of the chips in play. The other four players share the remaining third. William Davis is in the most danger with just 18 big blinds, while Eric Zheng (52 bb) has enough chips to wait for a spot.

Tournament at a Glance

Detail	Info
Event	WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Championship
Venue	Bay 101 Casino, San Jose, California
Buy-in	$5,300
Entries	584
Prize pool	$2,613,200
Bounty per Shooting Star	$2,500
First prize	$470,500 (includes a $10,000 WPT World Championship ticket)
Min. final table payout	$94,000
Final table	December 15, 2026, Las Vegas

What Makes the Shooting Star Different

The Shooting Star is one of the most unusual events on the WPT calendar. Every starting table includes at least one well-known pro, a “Shooting Star”, with a $2,500 bounty on their head. Knock one out and you collect the bounty straight away.

That’s why a hand against a famous pro means so much more here. It also explains why local players love the event so much. You don’t just get to play against well-known pros. You get paid extra for beating them.

Day 3 Recap: How the Shooting Stars Fell

Moorman and the Hellmuths exit early

Chris Moorman was one of the first big names to go. He was short-stacked and got his last chips in with K♥6♠ against 8♦7♦. He didn’t improve, and his tournament was over.

The Hellmuth family had a frustrating day. Phil Hellmuth was chasing his first WPT title, but his son Nicholas Hellmuth went out early, and Phil followed in 48th place. His A♣J♠ ran into Michael Wang’s pocket nines. The board came J♥7♠6♣10♦9♥, giving Wang a set and ending Hellmuth’s run.

Chahn Jung’s double knockout

The biggest hand of the day sent Jung toward the top of the counts. Holding pocket kings, he got all-in against Aaron Massey (pocket threes) and Adam Hendrix (A♠J♥). The board ran 10♥7♠5♣2♠5♠, and Jung’s kings held against both.

He took a huge pot and both $2,500 bounties. Massey finished 10th for $41,500 and Hendrix 9th for $48,500.

Quoc Mai finishes off the last Shooting Star

At the unofficial seven-handed final table, Quoc Mai played his own big hand with pocket kings. He eliminated Jeremy Menard (A♥Q♠) and Joe Nguyen (pocket threes) together.

Nguyen was the last Shooting Star left in the field, so Mai collected the final $2,500 bounty. Nguyen took $56,500 for 8th and Menard $72,000 for 7th.

Payouts: 7th to 10th Place

Place	Player	Prize
7th	Jeremy Menard	$72,000
8th	Joe Nguyen (Shooting Star)	$56,500
9th	Adam Hendrix	$48,500
10th	Aaron Massey	$41,500

Remaining payouts: 1st: $470,500 · 6th: $94,000 (full 2nd–5th payouts will be confirmed on WPT.com)

Player to Watch: Shawn Daniels

Of the six finalists, only Shawn Daniels already has a WPT title. He’s a member of the WPT Champions Club, and he had a big tournament well before the final table. He burst the money bubble by eliminating Shooting Star Justin Liberto, and finished Day 2 second in chips with 1,409,000.

He arrives in Las Vegas fourth in chips with 75 big blinds. That’s a comfortable stack for someone with final-table experience. If either chip leader stumbles, Daniels is well placed to take advantage.

2025 vs 2026: How This Year Compares

	2025	2026	Change
Entries	672	584	−13.1%
Prize pool	$3,225,600	$2,613,200	−19.0%
First prize	$480,700	$470,500	−2.1%
Champion	Kharlin Sued	TBD (Dec 15)	—
Final table location	Las Vegas (delayed)	Las Vegas (delayed)	Same format

The 2026 field was smaller than last year’s, when the event returned to Bay 101 for the first time since 2017. Even so, the first prize only fell by about 2%. That’s because the payout structure keeps most of the money for the top finishers.

Last year’s final table ended with Kharlin Sued beating Danny Wong for the title, while Chance Kornuth was the last Shooting Star standing and finished sixth.

Places 7–73

Rank	Player	Prize Money
7	Jeremy Menard	$72,000
8	Joe Nguyen	$56,500
9	Adam Hendrix	$48,500
10	Aaron Massey	$41,500
11	Vishtasb Mazdeh	$41,500
12	Adam Adler	$35,000
13	Mitchell Halverson	$35,000
14	Haidang Nguyen	$30,500
15	Joe McKeehen	$30,500
16	Lee Pham	$27,000
17	Stephen Graner	$27,000
18	Mike Meskin	$23,900
19	Matt Salsberg	$23,900
20	Zhongtian Jiang	$23,900
21	Jack Corrigan	$21,000
22	Kelvin Ng	$21,000
23	Jeffery McKee	$21,000
24	Ron Fetsch	$18,200
25	Charles Wiper	$18,200
26	Dong Meng	$18,200
27	Justin Zaki	$18,200
28	Michael Wang	$18,200
29	Quanliang Gao	$18,200
30	Vijay Ramani	$18,200
31	Adam Geyer	$18,200
32	Rahul Konale	$15,500
33	D.J. MacKinnon	$15,500
34	Toko Luu	$15,500
35	Srini Godavarthy	$15,500
36	Lokesh Prakash Manohar	$15,500
37	Brian Yoon	$15,500
38	Timothy Lin	$15,500
39	Faraz Jaka	$15,500
40	Sang Sim	$13,100
41	Soheb Porbandarwala	$13,100
42	Bryan Chen	$13,100
43	Viny Lima	$13,100
44	Thien Tran	$13,100
45	Tyler Patterson	$13,100
46	Terrence Byrnes	$13,100
47	Saurabh Patel	$13,100
48	Phil Hellmuth	$11,400
49	Nicholas Ralph	$11,400
50	Chris Moorman	$11,400
51	Nicholas Hellmuth	$11,400
52	David Hallmark	$11,400
53	Tsolmon Jargalsaikhan	$11,400
54	Timothy Converse	$11,400
55	Harvey Castro	$11,400
56	Jeff Madsen	$10,300
57	Andrew Ostapchenko	$10,300
58	Mohammad Pourmandi	$10,300
59	Shannon Shorr	$10,300
60	Stanislav Kriventsov	$10,300
61	Kevin Eyster	$10,300
62	Antonio Vargas	$10,300
63	Brian Park	$10,300
64	Sanjeev Sisodiya	$9,600
65	Jesse Stephens	$9,600
66	Ky Nguyen	$9,600
67	Loni Hui	$9,600
68	Yang Zhou	$9,600
69	Nicholas Palma	$9,600
70	Jared Hemingway	$9,600
71	Paul Richardson	$9,600
72	Matt Affleck	$9,600
73	Turbo Nguyen	$9,600

What Happens Next?

The six finalists will play for the title in Las Vegas on December 15. Last year’s Shooting Star final table was played during the WPT World Championship festival at Wynn Las Vegas, and this year follows the same delayed format.

Our take: Mai and Jung have the stacks to play aggressively and put pressure on everyone else. Daniels has the experience. Davis has to find a double-up quickly. With the chip lead this close at the top, the first big pot between Mai and Jung could decide who becomes the clear favourite.

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