Top 10 moments from the 2026 WSOP
Another World Series of Poker is behind us, and we have seen well-known poker champions extend their records, newcomers burst onto the scene and win big, and some surprise players impress with their performances.
It was a marathon tournament series as always, and it brought some amazing moments that will go down in poker history books.
For all of you who were too busy to keep track of everything that was happening throughout the summer, here is a quick rundown of the top 10 moments of the 2026 WSOP.
10. Hellmuth comes close but does not finish with a cigar
The summer was mostly a flop for one of the greatest poker players of all time, Phil Hellmuth, as he failed to win another bracelet or get very close to it until the very last day of regular action.
As luck would have it, the Poker Brat was able to get down to heads-up action in Event #99, the $5k No Limit Hold’em, and was given one last shot at bracelet #18.
Unfortunately for the self-proclaimed GOAT, it simply wasn’t meant to be this time, as Darren Rabinowitz got the better of the 17-time bracelet winner, while Hellmuth had to contend with “just” $464k in prize money.
Phil will get plenty of opportunities to extend his record in the coming years, but the advancing bracelet counts of the likes of Shaun Deeb, Benny Glaser, and Jeremy Ausmus are guaranteed to be putting Hellmuth’s legacy dreams in some jeopardy.
9. Benny Glaser wins ninth WSOP bracelet
Benny Glaser has long been considered one of the best mixed-game players in the world, thanks to his dominant performances in both live and online mixed-game tournaments.
The 2026 WSOP gave Glaser a chance to cement his status in the poker community, as he took down the $50k Poker Players Championship, one of the most prestigious events of the entire poker calendar.
Not only is the $50k PPC a tournament with a big buy-in, but it’s also one played almost exclusively by top-tier players who play each game at a very high level.
To get to his historic ninth bracelet, Glaser had to work his way through every big mixed game player in the world, and eventually overcome a final table that included Phil Ivey, Josh Arieh, Jason Mercier, and Paul Volpe.
It all came down to Glaser and Arieh in the end, and the young Brit was able to overcome the more experienced Arieh and capture another accolade that will almost assuredly win him a place in the Poker Hall of Fame as soon as he becomes eligible.
8. Santhosh Suvarna adds another bracelet to his resume
Ever since emerging on the poker scene, Santhosh Suvarna has been viewed by many as just another wealthy businessman looking to donate millions to the cash game regulars.
While Suvarna is a recreational player and has lost a lot of money playing cash games on TV, it’s clear that there is more to the Indian entrepreneur than meets the eye.
At the cash game tables, Suvarna is likely looking to blow off steam and have a good time rather than play good poker. At the tournament tables, on the other hand, things seem to get a lot more competitive.
This time around, Suvarna was able to take down the $50k NLH High Roller, earning his third WSOP bracelet along the way, a feat that so many professional poker players who grind the WSOP every year never came close to.
Suvarna’s victory earned him just south of $2 million and made him the first and only Indian poker player to have three WSOP bracelets to his name.
7. The Foxen couple makes poker history
There are few last names in the poker world that elicit as much awe and appreciation as that of Foxen, carried by Alex and Kristen, poker’s favorite couple.
The two have been causing mayhem in the high-stakes tournament circles for years, and this time around, they managed to pull off a feat we’ve rarely seen before, as both spouses won a WSOP bracelet in a single summer.
It started with Kristen taking down the $25k NLH High Roller early in the series, winning her sixth bracelet in the process, and cementing her status as the best female poker player in the world.
Not to be outdone, Alex followed just days later, as he took down the $10k Super Turbo NLH event after eliminating six of the final eight players.
Combined, the Foxens now hold 10 WSOP bracelets, and these are only the most prestigious of their accolades, as they’ve won titles at every major tournament series between them.
6. Andrew Shelton becomes an instant millionaire
The Mystery Bounty tournament format has been all the rage in recent years, as it gives players a chance to win once-in-a-lifetime money for a limited buy-in.
For Andrew Shelton, whose biggest previous WSOP cash was just about the Main Event buy-in ($10k), the $550 Mini Mystery Millions was the time to create history.
Shelton wasn't lucky enough to win the event, an honor that went to Philip Chun instead, but he was the tournament’s biggest winner, as he pulled the $1,000,000 envelope when drawing his bounties.
Having only fired a single bullet in the event, Shelton easily turned one of the highest ROIs in tournament poker history. Pulling a seven-figure envelope takes the kind of jackpot luck you would sooner expect at an online casino than at the poker tables, and it is a big part of what makes the Mystery Bounty format so exciting.
He became an instant millionaire in one of the smallest buy-in events of the summer.
5. Naoya Kihara dominates the mixed game events
Naoya Kihara is not a newbie at the WSOP, but he wasn't a household name heading into the 2026 Series either. His mixed-game specialty has earned him quite a few solid results, but the lack of big wins over the years almost drove the Japanese player to retire from poker at one point.
Instead, Kihara showed up at the 2026 WSOP with a point to prove, and he did more than that, as he won not one, but two, $10k Championship events, going back-to-back in the NL 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship and the Seven Card Stud Championship.
Before this year, Kihara had just one bracelet that he won back in 2012, but 2026 was the year that truly launched him onto the big stage.
Kihara’s victories not only bagged him enough money to bankroll his play for a while, but proved that discipline, hard work, and regularly showing up can pay off in the end.
4. Daniel Negreanu finally wins the $25k Fantasy Draft
Daniel Negreanu, commonly known as Kid Poker, has been running the $25k Fantasy WSOP Draft for years, but luck in this event has eluded him before 2026.
This time around, Negreanu’s team was finally victorious, as he took down the top prize, thanks in big part to Naoya Kihara, who earned 510 points single-handedly and gave Negreanu the victory.
Kihara’s dominant performance at the Series was enough to give Negreanu the win in the Fantasy Draft, allowing him to win all the side bets he placed on this event before the summer started.
While the exact numbers behind these side bets are not public, we do know that winning them all has likely earned Daniel millions in extra cash, on top of anything he may have won at the tables.
3. Nick Schulman continues his streak
For the fourth consecutive year, Nick Schulman has won a WSOP bracelet. He took down his eighth in the $1,500 HORSE event, while also coming close in a couple of others along the way, once again proving his Hall of Fame induction last year was not a fluke.
While Shulman’s victory wasn’t as impressive as some of his others, purely due to the low buy-in of the event he took down, the fact that he was able to win an event four years in a row puts him in an elite group of players.
Shulman has become a fan favorite not only because of his tournament performances, but also his incredible hosting skills, as he is now widely considered the best poker host out there.
2. Lucas Jumalon becomes the world champion
The 2026 WSOP Main Event crowned a new world champion: Lucas Jumalon. The 22-year-old American beat Finnish player Lauri Saaskhilahti in the final heads-up battle to take home the coveted bracelet and $10,000,000 in cash, the biggest prize money of the entire Series.
The life-changing victory came at a young age, as he was just discovering himself as a poker player, allowing him to jump-start his career and take it in any direction he chose.
On his path to victory, Jumalon showed great resilience, but also a willingness to bluff in key moments and make the right call when called upon.
He entered the final table as a chip leader and went wire-to-wire, riding the chip lead all the way to victory, and eventually forcing Saaskhilati to make a dubious call with third pair during their heads-up battle, which many consider one of the worst calls in the history of the WSOP.
1. Jason Koon joins the Poker Hall of Fame
The 2026 Poker Hall of Fame voting process was changed to allow the living HOF members to induct more than one new entrant for the first time in years. Yet, despite that, only Jason Koon made the cut, while a number of other players were snubbed.
Jason Koon made the HOF for a good reason, as his impressive results in both the toughest tournaments in the world and cash games made him an easy pick for every Hall of Famer.
Koon’s experience working with major online poker operators and live tournament series in promoting safe and responsible gambling has also been a breath of fresh air, which is why Koon made the HOF without much hassle.
The likes of Shaun Deeb and Scott Seiver, on the other hand, will have to wait another year or two before their names join the elite, despite many in the poker world believing they were even more deserving than Koon himself in 2026.
It was a marathon tournament series as always, and it brought some amazing moments that will go down in poker history books.
For all of you who were too busy to keep track of everything that was happening throughout the summer, here is a quick rundown of the top 10 moments of the 2026 WSOP.
10. Hellmuth comes close but does not finish with a cigar
The summer was mostly a flop for one of the greatest poker players of all time, Phil Hellmuth, as he failed to win another bracelet or get very close to it until the very last day of regular action.
As luck would have it, the Poker Brat was able to get down to heads-up action in Event #99, the $5k No Limit Hold’em, and was given one last shot at bracelet #18.
Unfortunately for the self-proclaimed GOAT, it simply wasn’t meant to be this time, as Darren Rabinowitz got the better of the 17-time bracelet winner, while Hellmuth had to contend with “just” $464k in prize money.
Phil will get plenty of opportunities to extend his record in the coming years, but the advancing bracelet counts of the likes of Shaun Deeb, Benny Glaser, and Jeremy Ausmus are guaranteed to be putting Hellmuth’s legacy dreams in some jeopardy.
9. Benny Glaser wins ninth WSOP bracelet
Benny Glaser has long been considered one of the best mixed-game players in the world, thanks to his dominant performances in both live and online mixed-game tournaments.
The 2026 WSOP gave Glaser a chance to cement his status in the poker community, as he took down the $50k Poker Players Championship, one of the most prestigious events of the entire poker calendar.
Not only is the $50k PPC a tournament with a big buy-in, but it’s also one played almost exclusively by top-tier players who play each game at a very high level.
To get to his historic ninth bracelet, Glaser had to work his way through every big mixed game player in the world, and eventually overcome a final table that included Phil Ivey, Josh Arieh, Jason Mercier, and Paul Volpe.
It all came down to Glaser and Arieh in the end, and the young Brit was able to overcome the more experienced Arieh and capture another accolade that will almost assuredly win him a place in the Poker Hall of Fame as soon as he becomes eligible.
Benny Glaser Wins the $50,000 Poker Players Championship ($1,343,764)@BennyGlaser has captured one of poker's most prestigious titles, defeating Josh Arieh heads-up to win the $50,000 Poker Players Championship.
— WSOP - World Series of Poker (@WSOP) June 26, 2026
Glaser topped a field of 108 entries to earn the Chip Reese… pic.twitter.com/LgsYbUJ0jm
8. Santhosh Suvarna adds another bracelet to his resume
Ever since emerging on the poker scene, Santhosh Suvarna has been viewed by many as just another wealthy businessman looking to donate millions to the cash game regulars.
While Suvarna is a recreational player and has lost a lot of money playing cash games on TV, it’s clear that there is more to the Indian entrepreneur than meets the eye.
At the cash game tables, Suvarna is likely looking to blow off steam and have a good time rather than play good poker. At the tournament tables, on the other hand, things seem to get a lot more competitive.
This time around, Suvarna was able to take down the $50k NLH High Roller, earning his third WSOP bracelet along the way, a feat that so many professional poker players who grind the WSOP every year never came close to.
Suvarna’s victory earned him just south of $2 million and made him the first and only Indian poker player to have three WSOP bracelets to his name.
7. The Foxen couple makes poker history
There are few last names in the poker world that elicit as much awe and appreciation as that of Foxen, carried by Alex and Kristen, poker’s favorite couple.
The two have been causing mayhem in the high-stakes tournament circles for years, and this time around, they managed to pull off a feat we’ve rarely seen before, as both spouses won a WSOP bracelet in a single summer.
It started with Kristen taking down the $25k NLH High Roller early in the series, winning her sixth bracelet in the process, and cementing her status as the best female poker player in the world.
Not to be outdone, Alex followed just days later, as he took down the $10k Super Turbo NLH event after eliminating six of the final eight players.
Combined, the Foxens now hold 10 WSOP bracelets, and these are only the most prestigious of their accolades, as they’ve won titles at every major tournament series between them.
Kristen Foxen has done it again!
— WSOP - World Series of Poker (@WSOP) June 8, 2026
After four grueling days against one of the toughest fields of the summer, Foxen outlasted 345 entries in the $25,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold'em, defeating Galen Hall heads-up to win her sixth WSOP gold bracelet and $1,773,083.
Congratulations… pic.twitter.com/cR5F7c3HEX
6. Andrew Shelton becomes an instant millionaire
The Mystery Bounty tournament format has been all the rage in recent years, as it gives players a chance to win once-in-a-lifetime money for a limited buy-in.
For Andrew Shelton, whose biggest previous WSOP cash was just about the Main Event buy-in ($10k), the $550 Mini Mystery Millions was the time to create history.
Shelton wasn't lucky enough to win the event, an honor that went to Philip Chun instead, but he was the tournament’s biggest winner, as he pulled the $1,000,000 envelope when drawing his bounties.
Having only fired a single bullet in the event, Shelton easily turned one of the highest ROIs in tournament poker history. Pulling a seven-figure envelope takes the kind of jackpot luck you would sooner expect at an online casino than at the poker tables, and it is a big part of what makes the Mystery Bounty format so exciting.
He became an instant millionaire in one of the smallest buy-in events of the summer.
5. Naoya Kihara dominates the mixed game events
Naoya Kihara is not a newbie at the WSOP, but he wasn't a household name heading into the 2026 Series either. His mixed-game specialty has earned him quite a few solid results, but the lack of big wins over the years almost drove the Japanese player to retire from poker at one point.
Instead, Kihara showed up at the 2026 WSOP with a point to prove, and he did more than that, as he won not one, but two, $10k Championship events, going back-to-back in the NL 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship and the Seven Card Stud Championship.
Before this year, Kihara had just one bracelet that he won back in 2012, but 2026 was the year that truly launched him onto the big stage.
Kihara’s victories not only bagged him enough money to bankroll his play for a while, but proved that discipline, hard work, and regularly showing up can pay off in the end.
4. Daniel Negreanu finally wins the $25k Fantasy Draft
Daniel Negreanu, commonly known as Kid Poker, has been running the $25k Fantasy WSOP Draft for years, but luck in this event has eluded him before 2026.
This time around, Negreanu’s team was finally victorious, as he took down the top prize, thanks in big part to Naoya Kihara, who earned 510 points single-handedly and gave Negreanu the victory.
Kihara’s dominant performance at the Series was enough to give Negreanu the win in the Fantasy Draft, allowing him to win all the side bets he placed on this event before the summer started.
While the exact numbers behind these side bets are not public, we do know that winning them all has likely earned Daniel millions in extra cash, on top of anything he may have won at the tables.
3. Nick Schulman continues his streak
For the fourth consecutive year, Nick Schulman has won a WSOP bracelet. He took down his eighth in the $1,500 HORSE event, while also coming close in a couple of others along the way, once again proving his Hall of Fame induction last year was not a fluke.
While Shulman’s victory wasn’t as impressive as some of his others, purely due to the low buy-in of the event he took down, the fact that he was able to win an event four years in a row puts him in an elite group of players.
Shulman has become a fan favorite not only because of his tournament performances, but also his incredible hosting skills, as he is now widely considered the best poker host out there.
2. Lucas Jumalon becomes the world champion
The 2026 WSOP Main Event crowned a new world champion: Lucas Jumalon. The 22-year-old American beat Finnish player Lauri Saaskhilahti in the final heads-up battle to take home the coveted bracelet and $10,000,000 in cash, the biggest prize money of the entire Series.
The life-changing victory came at a young age, as he was just discovering himself as a poker player, allowing him to jump-start his career and take it in any direction he chose.
On his path to victory, Jumalon showed great resilience, but also a willingness to bluff in key moments and make the right call when called upon.
He entered the final table as a chip leader and went wire-to-wire, riding the chip lead all the way to victory, and eventually forcing Saaskhilati to make a dubious call with third pair during their heads-up battle, which many consider one of the worst calls in the history of the WSOP.
WOW. He did it in style. ??
— WSOP - World Series of Poker (@WSOP) August 6, 2026
Congratulations to 22-year-old Lucas Jumalon ???? on winning the 2026 WSOP Main Event.
Just one month after buying in for $10,000, he walks away with $10,000,000, poker’s most prestigious bracelet, and a place in history.
We can’t wait to see where… pic.twitter.com/vEsirUkYd8
1. Jason Koon joins the Poker Hall of Fame
The 2026 Poker Hall of Fame voting process was changed to allow the living HOF members to induct more than one new entrant for the first time in years. Yet, despite that, only Jason Koon made the cut, while a number of other players were snubbed.
Jason Koon made the HOF for a good reason, as his impressive results in both the toughest tournaments in the world and cash games made him an easy pick for every Hall of Famer.
Koon’s experience working with major online poker operators and live tournament series in promoting safe and responsible gambling has also been a breath of fresh air, which is why Koon made the HOF without much hassle.
The likes of Shaun Deeb and Scott Seiver, on the other hand, will have to wait another year or two before their names join the elite, despite many in the poker world believing they were even more deserving than Koon himself in 2026.