The WSOP Circuit Main Event at Grand Casino Liechtenstein has pushed past its CHF750,000 guarantee, with 587 total entries creating a prize pool of CHF760,762 and CHF150,000 waiting for the eventual champion.
That is not a monster overlay story or a seven-figure field, but it is another useful marker for the international Circuit. Five starting flights produced 432 unique entries and 155 re-entries, with 90 players surviving to Day 2 already in the money.
For a CHF1,500 tournament squeezed into a busy European poker calendar, getting the guarantee over the line before the serious business starts is a solid result.
Safwane Bahri Leads the Last 90
French player Safwane Bahri will take the biggest stack into Day 2 after bagging 1,287,000 chips. Switzerland’s Agonit Sallaj is the only other player above the million mark with 1,010,000, while Andrea Scarrone sits third on 875,000 and Artsiom Batsian follows with 834,000 after topping the turbo flight.
There are plenty of familiar names still hanging around rather than simply making up the numbers. 2019 WSOP Main Event champion Hossein Ensan returns with 405,000, Martin Zamani has 570,000, Tobias Peters has 373,000 and Benjamin Hammann has 334,000. Hammann is especially interesting here because he won the previous WSOP Circuit Liechtenstein Main Event in March.
The five opening flights finished once the field reached the money, so every Day 2 player has already locked up at least CHF3,000. Levels now stretch to 60 minutes, with play restarting at 3,000/6,000 with a 6,000 big blind ante. That should give the healthier stacks room to play some proper poker after the 20-minute turbo used for the final starting flight.
Late Rush Gets the Guarantee Over the Line
The Main Event needed a decent final-day turnout after the first three flights generated 267 entries and re-entries between them. Day 1D did most of the heavy lifting, attracting 165 players plus 76 re-entries for 241 entries. The final turbo then added another 79, enough to move the tournament beyond its CHF750,000 guarantee.
| Flight | Entries | Re-entries | Total | Day 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1A | 58 | 19 | 77 | 12 |
| 1B | 114 | 39 | 153 | 23 |
| 1C | 30 | 7 | 37 | 6 |
| 1D | 165 | 76 | 241 | 37 |
| 1E | 65 | 14 | 79 | 12 |
| Total | 432 | 155 | 587 | 90 |
The final figure also gives some context to the wider WSOP Circuit’s international expansion. Poker Type has already followed the Circuit from the huge Montreal Super Circuit to Council Bluffs in Iowa, and the Liechtenstein stop is operating at a very different scale. What matters is that the same ring chase is finding viable fields across very different poker markets.
Liechtenstein Has Already Proved It Can Go Bigger
This is the second WSOP Circuit festival at Grand Casino Liechtenstein in 2026. The March Main Event was a bigger affair, drawing 827 entries and building a CHF1,071,792 prize pool. Hammann won that tournament for CHF190,392 after beating Neculai Macovei heads-up, so his return to Day 2 this time gives the event a neat defending-champion subplot.
The September edition runs from September 10 to 22 and features 12 ring events. The Main Event itself costs CHF1,350 plus a CHF150 fee, while the remaining schedule includes a CHF2,500 High Roller and several smaller side events. For players still alive in the flagship event, though, the target is straightforward: survive the next stage and keep moving towards the CHF150,000 first prize and a WSOP Circuit ring.
What Happens Next?
Day 2 begins with 90 players, and the longer levels should quickly separate the stacks that merely survived from those capable of applying pressure. Bahri starts with more than 200 big blinds, giving him a stack that can bully shorter tables without needing to take unnecessary flips.
There is still a long way to go before the ring finds an owner. The guarantee has been beaten, the remaining field is paid and the tournament has several proven live players still in contention. From here, the more interesting question is no longer whether the numbers add up. It is who can turn a stack into CHF150,000 when the blinds finally start to bite.
