PokerNews live coverage of this event will begin on Day 3 (June 15). Until then, we will be keeping readers informed with updates on chip counts and core event statistics, including entries and prize pool. Scroll down to see more.
Event #34: $500 COLOSSUS
Day 1b Completed
The second of four scheduled flights in Event #34: $500 COLOSSUS No-Limit Hold'em is done and dusted here at the 2026 World Series of Poker (WSOP). As expected, Day 1b was larger than the opening flight, with 3,129 players buying in. However, only 612 of those starters bagged chips after completing 15 levels.
Cody Little (1,094,000) was, according to the WSOP LIVE app, this flight's chip leader. Try as we might, we were unable to find any information on Little, so it is probable that this is their first WSOP. What a story that would be if they went all the way and won this event's bracelet.
Two other players finished Day 1b with a seven-figure stack: Kristaps Kalva (1,011,000) and Brian Bishop (1,000,000), being that duo.
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cody Little | United States | 1,094,000 | 137 |
| 2 | Kristaps Kalva | United States | 1,011,000 | 126 |
| 3 | Brian Bishop | United States | 1,000,065 | 125 |
| 4 | Qun Dang | China | 874,000 | 109 |
| 5 | Bin Duan | United States | 853,000 | 107 |
| 6 | Davide Marangio | Italy | 810,000 | 101 |
| 7 | Bryan Wienhoff | United States | 791,000 | 99 |
| 8 | Ruman Meman | United States | 787,000 | 98 |
| 9 | Paulo Villena Gini | Brazil | 780,000 | 98 |
| 10 | Todd Butts | United States | 779,000 | 97 |
Despite this event having a low buy-in, quite a few $25K Fantasy Draft picks entered on Day 1b, with six punching their Day 2b tickets.
Brandon Sheils (290,000), Brian Battistone (257,000), Joey Couden (152,000), Malcolm Trayner (146,000), Shawn Buchanan (141,000), and Stephen Song (33,000) all navigated their way through the minefield that was Day 1b.
Several bracelet winners also made it through. They included Scott Ball (425,000), Timur Margolin (290,000), Darius Samual (170,000), Kathy Liebert (15,500), and a certain 2024 WSOP Main Event champion, Jonathan Tamayo (275,000).
The 612 survivors from this flight return to the action on Day 2b at 11:00 a.m. local time on June 12, an hour after Day 1c shuffles up and deals.
There are brutal ways to bubble a poker tournament, and then there is what’s just happened to Artur Martirosian.
The Russian high-stakes crusher has just exited this year’s World Series of Poker (WSOP) $100,000 High Roller in perhaps the most painful fashion imaginable, after seeing pocket aces cracked twice in quick succession to fall just short of a $201,754 min-cash.
Here are the two hands that ended the four-time WSOP bracelet winner’s hopes, as he hit the rail at the Paris feature table in the bitterest of circumstances:
A total of 612 players progressed from Day 1b. Here are their chip counts, according to the WSOP LIVE app.
According to the WSOP LIVE app.
According to the WSOP Live App
According to the WSOP LIVE app.
In the 973rd episode of the PokerNews Podcast, which is sponsored by FanDuel Poker, Chad Holloway is at the 2026 World Series of Poker (WSOP) where he sits down with high-stakes poker superstar Alan Keating.
Arguably one of the most popular poker players in this day and age, Keating talks about why he conceded the first round of the $25K Heads-Up Championship, whether or not he'll be playing some tournaments, and how he feels about High Stakes Live coming to the WSOP. That includes the upcoming Million Dollar Cash Game, which Keating admits he's happy to be a part of, and even hints that Phil Hellmuth might play. But then again, maybe not.
Keating then shares which reality TV show he applied for, hosting epic Ultimate Werewolf parties, and his thoughts on the Poker Hall of Fame now that he's turned 40 and is officially eligible.
According to the WSOP LIVE app.
The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is set to usher in a new era for its winter flagship, WSOP Paradise, after confirming the festival will move from Atlantis Paradise Island to the luxury Baha Mar resort, also in the Bahamas.
The 2026 edition, slated to run from Tuesday, December 1 to Friday, December 18, will shuffle up and deal in a new home roughly six miles up the Bahamian coast from where Austria’s Bernhard Binder announced himself to the wider poker world, capturing the record-breaking 2025 WSOP Paradise Super Main Event just a few months ago.
In an announcement on social media platform X, the WSOP wrote, "The next chapter of WSOP Paradise is coming... Bigger. Better. Unmissable. This December, the world's fastest-growing poker event arrives at the stunning Baha Mar."
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