Jean Bellande Leads the $3,000 NLH with 18 Left, Chasing Bracelet No. 2

Jean Bellande's last WSOP final table feels like a lifetime ago, but at 12:35 a.m. on June 12 he's sitting on 3,120,000 chips with 18 players left in the $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em.

The chip lead is his. Bracelet number two is nine eliminations away. And the poker world is doing a collective double-take.

The Résumé People Forget

Bellande has $2,547,254 in lifetime live tournament earnings and five career WSOP final tables. He already owns a gold bracelet. None of that is new.

What's new is that most of the poker public knows him for prop bets, commentary, and social media rather than deep WSOP runs. He's the guy who bet six figures on his own weight loss. He's the guy whose Instagram stories from Bobby's Room get more engagement than most players' biggest wins. The bracelet on his shelf has been gathering dust in the public imagination, even if Bellande himself never stopped grinding.

Bellande has $2,547,254 in lifetime live tournament earnings and five career WSOP final tables, but most of the poker public knows him for prop bets, commentary, and social media.

The Run Through Day 3

Event #32 entered Day 3 with a full field still battling. When the count hit 27, Bellande held 1,800,000 chips. Already a top stack, already dangerous.

Over the next stretch of play, he didn't just survive. He grew. By the time the field condensed to 18 and the two-table redraw locked in, Bellande had ballooned to 3,120,000. That's a 73% increase during one of the most volatile phases of a $3,000 event, when pay jumps start to matter and most stacks are either shipping it or folding.

Who's Still in His Way

The field around Bellande at 18 is a mix of credentials and chaos.

Adam Kharman, representing Australia, sits second in chips with 2,800,000. His lifetime earnings total just $8,850. This is the kind of player who either folds into a ladder or becomes a folk hero. There is very little middle ground at a two-table redraw.

Frank Funaro Jr. busted in 19th, meaning one serious threat is already gone. Funaro holds two bracelets, two Circuit rings, 38 career final tables, and $4,278,736 in lifetime earnings. His exit clears a path but also signals how brutal the eliminations have been.

Other notable departures before the final 18: Omar Zazay, who held 3,000,000 chips at 27 players and couldn't hold on; Christian Roberts, a one-bracelet, two-ring Venezuelan grinder with $2,451,665 in career earnings and 18 final tables; and Stephen Dauphinais of Canada, who carries a Circuit ring and $791,189 in lifetime cashes.

Why This Matters

Bellande is 18 players from a second bracelet that would rewrite how people talk about his career. Five lifetime final tables is a solid number. Two bracelets across two decades of WSOP play is a different sentence entirely.

The player closest to him in chips has less than $9,000 in career earnings. The most decorated remaining competitor just busted. And Bellande has the stack to dictate the pace of the final table when it forms.

A second bracelet won't make anyone forget the prop bets or the commentary. But it might remind them that the man placing the bets has been a tournament threat all along.