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Twelve Return for Final Day in Hunt for Gladiator Glory
Day 3 of Event #88: $300 Gladiators of Poker No-Limit Hold'em at the 2026 World Series of Poker is prepped to get underway with just 12 hopefuls returning to Horseshoe and Paris, Las Vegas to battle it out for victory. This number represents the last players standing from the massive field of 11,185 entries across four Day 1 flights.
With no previous victors left in the field, the eventual champion will be receiving a maiden WSOP bracelet, and it’s Luis Genel who has put himself in pole position to do so, having bagged a huge stack of 61,800,000 following an onslaught of eliminations towards the end of Day 2
His nearest competitor is Johnny Oshana, who comes in slightly behind with 51,600,000, and Ken Baime rounds out the podium. He will be returning with 40,500,000, which, despite being impressive, still leaves him with some catching up to do.
Start of Day 3 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luis Genel | United States | 61,800,000 | 41 |
| 2 | Johnny Oshana | United States | 51,600,000 | 34 |
| 3 | Kenneth Baime | United States | 40,500,000 | 27 |
| 4 | Gianluigi Zaniboni | Italy | 36,600,000 | 24 |
| 5 | Ryan Hull | United States | 32,900,000 | 22 |
| 6 | David Hirst | Australia | 23,400,000 | 16 |
| 7 | Vu Tran | United States | 22,500,000 | 15 |
| 8 | Valentin Farkas | Croatia | 15,500,000 | 10 |
| 9 | Gary McCoy | Ireland | 14,900,000 | 10 |
| 10 | Emma Stevenson | United States | 14,000,000 | 9.5 |
| 11 | Sumit Kumar | United States | 11,100,000 | 7.5 |
| 12 | Said El Harrak | United States | 8,500,000 | 5.5 |
The comeback story award goes to Croatia’s Valentin Farkas, who was down to just north of one big blind late last night, but managed to rally back and spin up a stack to come into the final day ninth in chips.
Those left battling have already locked up, at the very least, a very healthy payout of $16,000. That being said, all eyes will be on the mammoth $250,000 prize reserved for the eventual champion, alongside a WSOP gold bracelet. That number stems from the $1,873,520 total prize pool that was accrued during registration.
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | ||
| 2 | $166,000 | ||
| 3 | $124,500 | ||
| 4 | $94,000 | ||
| 5 | $71,350 | ||
| 6 | $54,600 | ||
| 7 | $42,100 | ||
| 8 | $32,700 | ||
| 9 | $25,550 | ||
| 10-11 | $20,110 | ||
| 12 | $16,000 |
Action will resume at 11 a.m. sharp, and at Level 38, with blinds at 1,000,000/1,500,000, with a big blind ante of 1,500,000. Level duration will remain at 40 minutes throughout, and play will go on until a victor is determined. Stay tuned as PokerNews brings you full live updates during the final day of the Gladiators of Poker.