Martirosyan, Mizrachi, and Foxen busted from the WSOP Main Event

Martirosyan, Mizrachi, and Foxen bust from the WSOP Main Event
The WSOP Main Event field has narrowed to 174 players after Day 5. A whole host of star poker players failed to advance further, among them Artur Martirosyan, Alex Foxen and the reigning champion Michael Mizrachi.

The first of this trio of superstars to leave the table was Alex Foxen. The Canadian with ♥️♠️ put all his 365,000 chips in a hand against Ryan Miller (♦️♣️) and Dan Stavila (♠️♦️), who moved all-in for 3.165 million. The ♥️♣️♣️ flop helped no one, and on the ♣️ turn Stavila made a set. The ♠️ river changed nothing, and Foxen headed to the rail, earning $50,000.

Soon after, Michael Mizrachi was eliminated. The 2025 Main Event champion with ♠️♥️ got his last 9 BB in against Hossein Ensan's ♦️♣️. On the ♣️♠️♥️♠️♥️ board, the German had already made a full house by the turn. Mizrachi failed to become the first player since Johnny Chan (1987, 1988) to defend a WSOP Main Event title. "The Grinder" finished 241st and took home $50,000.

Artur Martirosyan earned a bit more — $57,500 for 211th place. The Russian busted after a cooler, pushing with two pair into a set of nines. The high roller told the story of this hand on his channel:
"Unfortunately, the American dream didn't come true. Got dealt a brutal cooler. Everything was okay, I played well. Got dealt a couple of coolers, was left with 1.5 million at that point.
Raise from early position, call behind, I call on the BB with 54s. Flop 954 rainbow. Bet 150K into 375K, call, I check-raise 500K, fold, call. It was clear we lose to one combination — two nines. Turn 6. I pushed 980K, and there's a call with nines. Unpleasant, but what can you do."

According to WSOP Live, the chip count after Day 5 is led by American Zhao Liu with 126 big blinds. Behind him are Dhiraj Sharma from Canada (123 BB) and Xinyu Liu from China (113 BB). Also still in the game are Igor Soika (65 BB), Shaun Deeb (53 BB), 2019 Main Event champion Hossein Ensan (43 BB), Vladimir Belekhov (13 BB) and Alexei Boyko (9 BB).