Moneymaker Says Range Drove His WSOP Bubble Call
The Main Event hand ended with a three-way $10,000 split and a WSOP Paradise package flip for Zhaken Seitbekov
Chris Moneymaker has explained the river call that ended his run on the 2026 WSOP Main Event money bubble. He said the decision was driven by the range he put Antonio Vargas on, not by J-9 offsuit standing alone.
According to Card Player, Moneymaker said he had watched Vargas closely at the table and believed the same action would have meant something very different from a tighter player. He said, “He may be the only player I make that call against,” and added that he still had enough chips to play with about 27.6 big blinds.
At the time, the Main Event had drawn 9,208 entries and Day 4 began with 1,389 players. The top 1,382 would be paid, so the field was seven eliminations away from the $15,000 minimum cash when play resumed with blinds at 4,000-8,000 and an 8,000 big-blind ante.
Moneymaker opened to 17,000 from the hijack with J♥9♦, then called Vargas’s three-bet to 42,000. Vargas had A♥A♠. On the flop, 8♥7♠7♦, Vargas bet 20,000 into an estimated 96,000-pot and Moneymaker continued with a gutshot and two overcards.
Vargas kept barreling with 45,000 on the 7♣ turn, and Moneymaker called again. The 8♠ river made a full house on the board, and Moneymaker said the key point was that many possible bluffs did not improve either. He said he was not calling because he thought J-9 beat aces, but because enough of Vargas’s range played the board.
Vargas tabled the aces and Moneymaker was eliminated. Stoyan Madanzhiev and Zhaken Seitbekov were also knocked out in the same hand-for-hand sequence, and because only two $15,000 minimum-cash spots were available, the $30,000 was split three ways for $10,000 each. The three then flipped for a $25,000 WSOP Paradise package, which Seitbekov won.
