The final 20 players are on a 1 hour dinner break. These last couple levels Mike Cerlante has managed to not only hang onto his chip lead but also has grown it by over 75% and not has 5.345M going into dinner break. Play will resume at 8:40pm with the field playing through 4 more levels tonight through level 26 or until a final table is reached (whichever is sooner).
Pre flop UTG Rishi Mehti raised to 50k, chip leader Mike Cerliante called, followed by Meir Becker in the hijack, Gilberto Solano re raised on the button to 175k, and all 3 players called.
Flop: 9♠5♣J♦ action checks back to the raiser and Solano bets 400k, Mehti folds and Cerlante moves all in. Becker folds and Solano tanks a couple minutes as Cerlante is the only player at the table that can take him out and eventually makes the fold. Cerlante shows pocket 5’s for bottom set.
Pre flop Meir Becker opened and Eric Riley moved all in pre flop for about 280k. Becker had him covered and made the call.
Riley: 44
Becker: A10
The board ran out 10 high for Becker’s pair of tens to win the hand and eliminate Riley in 25th place for $2,846.
With just under 13BB Nate Lindquist moved all in pre flop with pocket 6’s and called by Kat Khaterzai with A8. Khaterzai hit a pair to knock Lindquist out in 27th place for $2,846. Khaterzai is now 2nd in chips with about 3.1M. Mike Cerlante won close to 500k in a pot against Rishi Mehta who had flopped top pair and turned 2 pair and Cerlante had turned a flush. Cerlante now has about 3.6M in chips and is holding onto the chip lead.
With just 27 players remaining, the final 3 tables have just redrawn for new seats.
| 28 | James | Kaplan | $2,386 | Brooklyn, NY |
| 29 | Vinod | Avula | $2,386 | Freehold, NJ |
| 30 | Angel | Lopez | $2,386 | Cherry Hill, NJ |
| 31 | John | Trench | $2,386 | Langhorne, PA |
| 32 | Jonathan | Riegler | $2,386 | Philadelphia, PA |
| 33 | Shane | Lawler | $2,386 | Malvern, PA |
| 34 | Bartholomew | Golik | $2,386 | Brooklyn, NY |
| 35 | Joseph | Ritchie | $2,386 | Bensalem, PA |
| 36 | Daniel | Daconti | $2,386 | Mount Laurel, NJ |
Kat Khaterzai is the last woman standing. Currently 3rd in chips at about 2.5M she is just behind Solano who is at her table at the moment and about half a million from the chip lead. With over 500k in live earning Khaterzai has proven in the past to be a fierce competitor and is well on her way to a deep run.
The final 29 players are on a 15 minute color up break. Mike Ciarlante has taken the chip lead with 2.985M with Gilberto Solano and Kat Khaterzai close behind both around 2.5M in chips.
| 37 | Lingyu | Zen | $2,051 | Lake Hiawatha, NJ |
| 38 | Boris | Kravets | $2,051 | Feasterville Trevose, PA |
| 39 | Tiffany | Wong | $2,051 | North Bergen, NJ |
| 40 | Joseph | Reddick | $2,051 | Las Vegas, NV |
| 41 | David | Kilcoyne | $2,051 | Holland, PA |
| 42 | Metin | Adam | $2,051 | New York, NY |
| 43 | Matthew | Cerbone | $2,051 | West Harrison, NY |
| 44 | Roosevelt | Williams | $2,051 | West Hempstead, NY |
| 45 | James | Greenland | $2,051 | Denver, CO |
Pre flop Zen Lingyu had moved all in for his final approx. 100k after Rishi Mehta had opened, and Mehta called.
Lingyu: KK♥
Mehta: A♦A♠
The board gives Lingyu a heart flush draw on the turn but the river is a miss to Mehta to hold up and knock out Lingyu in 37th place for $2,051.
Rishi Mehta has close to 400k in live cashes with his largest coming from back to back final tables in the live cup in 2024 and 2025 for 82k and 98k and in 2026 year to date has won around 86k already. This is his first Big stax cash and just his second time playing in a Big Stax event after being knocked out very early in another event last year with set over set. He is now right around average in chips and will be one to watch.
Pre flop Tifanny Wong defended her BB vs Brian Gelman who raised from the button.
Flop: 9×5♣x both players checked
Turn: 9♣ Wong led out her final approximately 140k and Gelman called
Wong:4♥5♥
Gelman: A♣J♣
River: A♦ giving Gelman a pair of Aces to win the hand and knock out the former Big Stax champ in 39th Place for $2,051
Not even 10 minutes later the last standing former Big Stax champ, Dan DaConti was all in for his final 10BB pre flop with A♦3♦ and lost to KQ to go out in 36th place for $2,386.
