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2026 WSOP Day 41 Recap: Main Event Explodes with 4,694 Entrants on Day 1d

By Mrinal Gujare

4 hours ago

Mrinal Gujare 4 hours ago

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Main Event Day 1d attracted 4,694 entrants; Taylor von Kriegenbergh leads survivors.
Zixuan Liu wins Event #85, earning first bracelet and $219,391.
11 past Main Event champs advance; Event #86 sees 1,366 entries, 98 survive Day 1a.

Image by Eloy Cabacas / Pokernews

Day 41 of the 2026 WSOP featured 4,694 entrants in Main Event Day 1d, with Taylor von Kriegenbergh leading 3,638 survivors. Zixuan Liu won Event #85 for $219,391, while Event #86 opened with 1,366 entries.

The 41st day of the 2026 World Series of Poker (WSOP) featured a condensed schedule of three concurrent events.

Despite the lower number of active tournaments, the tournament areas at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas remained crowded due to a massive turnout for the signature world championship flight.

A single gold bracelet was awarded during the July 5 proceedings. Zixuan Liu emerged victorious in Event #85: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em, securing his first career bracelet along with a top prize of $219,391.

Following his win, Liu stated that he intends to use a portion of the prize money to buy a new car for his supportive wife.

Event #82: $10,000 WSOP Main Event World Championship continued with Day 1d, attracting a total of 4,694 entrants for the flight. Driven by the tournament blind structure, 3,638 players successfully completed the levels and advanced.

Taylor von Kriegenbergh, a Massachusetts native without a previous WSOP bracelet victory, secured the largest stack of the flight by bagging up 312,800 chips.

A group of 11 former WSOP Main Event champions successfully moved on to Day 2d, led by Max Neugebauer with a stack of 198,700 chips. The remaining former champions who advanced include:

Stoyan Madanzhiev (121,000)
Jonathan Tamayo (109,300)
Ryan Riess (106,800)
Scott Blumstein (105,600)
Simone Andrian (97,200)
Joe McKeehen (75,000)
Hossein Ensan (50,000)
Chris Moneymaker (39,500)
Alexandros Kolonias (36,700)
Robert Varkonyi (33,100)

The opening flight of Event #86: $600 Ultra Stack No-Limit Hold'em played out concurrently with the Main Event action.

Out of 1,366 entrants who registered for Day 1a, only 98 players remained to bag and tag their chips after completing 22 levels of play. Notable players advancing into the next stage include Ryan Bambrick, Naoya Kihara, and Ian Simpson.

Day 42 of the series on July 6 features two events on the schedule. The day opens with Day 1b of Event #86: $600 Ultra Stack No-Limit Hold'em.

Following that, Day 2abc of Event #82: $10,000 WSOP Main Event World Championship will begin at 11:00 a.m. local time, bringing back ,468 players.

Ryuta Nakai of Japan holds the overall chip lead for the returning Day 2abc field with 323,000 chips, tracked closely by Yulian Bogdanov with 315,000 and Igor Pansovoi with 300,300.

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