WSOP 2026: PokerStake Pros Enjoy Winning Weekend, Will Arieh Stop Hellmuth Winning #18?
A bumper weekend of action thrilled poker fans in Las Vegas as the new Mothership stage was revealed, Renji Mao, Brock Wilson and Justin Saliba went close to glory and there were debut bracelet winners in the shape of Daniyal Gheba, Michael Casella and James Cheng. In the $25,000 Heads-Up Championship, Alex Foxen put himself in with a chance of the ultimate glory, while Josh Arieh and Dylan Weisman will look to stop Phil Hellmuth winning his 18th WSOP bracelet.
Alex Foxen Down to Final Four in Heads-Up Championship
The $25,000 Heads-Up Championship has reached its final day, and just four players remain in with a chance of winning one of the most unique bracelets of the 100 awarded this summer. Up for grabs is a huge top prize of $800,000 and it is Alex Foxen who headlines those chasing glory tomorrow in the Paris Ballroom.
Foxen (below) beat PokerStake’s Brandon Wilson and Belgian Thomas Boivin on Day 2 of the event to book his place in the semifinal against Nikita Kuznetsov as the Russian made his way past PokerStake player Justin Saliba before dispatching Henri Puustinen in the quarterfinal.
In the other half of the draw, Dimitar Danchev will represent Bulgaria when he takes on Japanese player Ryuta Nakai in the last four. Danchev beat Daniel Negreanu’s conqueror Biao Ding in the quarterfinal after previously getting the better of Florian Pesce earlier in the day. Nakai took an extraordinarily difficult route to the semis, with victory over the reigning world champion Michael Mizrachi before beating PokerGO creator Cary Katz in the quarters. Nakai will be long odds to win the gold again, but won’t care if he can win two more heads-ups.
Gheba Wins Debut Bracelet in Brand New Mothership
Sticking with Alex Foxen, the poker legend has already helped to coach a player to victory this summer. Daniyal Gheba won his first-ever WSOP bracelet in the $5,000-entry 8-Handed No-Limit Hold’em Event #2, beating 569 other entries to a top prize of $502,985, the biggest of his career.
Gheba finished ahead of 569 other entries as he won the first bracelet to be awarded inside the new Paris Ballroom ‘mothership’. Coached by both Chance Kornuth and Alex Foxen on his way to victory, Gheba credited them both (below) for their support on his road to victory.
“I think I was so focused on every hand, every spot, that I didn’t feel the pressure of the situation. Having them there at the end on the rail and for the picture was really good. It’s important to stay focused in these spots, think of the strategy, and play each hand at a time.”
Also running deep in the event were three PokerStake players in the top 25. Renji Mao (20th) , Justin Saliba (22nd) and Brock Wilson (23rd) all cashed for $19,253 as they performed strongly in their first WSOP event of the series.
| WSOP 2026 Event #2: $5,000 NLHE 8-Max Final Table Results: | |||
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
| 1st | Daniyal Gheba | United States | $502,985 |
| 2nd | Chenxiang Miao | China | $335,290 |
| 3rd | Xiaohu Liu | China | $234,432 |
| 4th | Ren Lin | China | $166,448 |
| 5th | Peter Mugar | United States | $120,035 |
| 6th | Ivan Ruban | Russia | $87,945 |
| 7th | Anatoly Nikitin | Russia | $65,479 |
| 8th | Casey Hatmaker | United States | $49,556 |
Phillips Goes Close in Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better
Event #4 of the 2026 WSOP was the first non-Hold’em title of the summer and saw the American professional Jason Daly win his third WSOP bracelet for $191,362 in the $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo Eight or Better event. There were some more deep runs for PokerStake players, with Tyler Phillips getting all the way to 11th place for $13,155, with Kathy Chang coming 30th for $5,638. The always stylish ‘ETay’ a.k.a. Esther Taylor came 39th for $4,823.
There were a couple of phenomenal stories that lost their last chapter before making it to print, with Vanessa Selbst coming ninth for $17,149 as she came out of poker retirement briefly only to threaten winning her fourth bracelet. Coming sixth for $30,973 was an even better potential story, as 90-year-old Perry Green fell five places short of becoming the oldest ever WSOP bracelet winner by seven clear years from 2018, Super Seniors winner Farhintaj Bonyadi, who was 83 when she grabbed gold in Las Vegas.
Green, who was runner-up when Stu Ungar won the second of his three Main Event titles in 1981, might have missed out but it was the Texan Daly who won gold, after he took out Green then eventually beat Venezuela’s Dorian Rios heads-up for his third WSOP title and $191,362.
“It is nice to get a win at the beginning of the summer, rather than spending $100k chasing the losses,” Daly said afterwards. “A couple of guys in my hometown know [Perry Green]. They talked about him being an old-school legend. I did talk to Perry about it, and it was great to see him play. We all hope that we can still be doing what he was doing at 80 or 90 years old.”
| WSOP 2026 Event #4: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo Final Table Results: | |||
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
| 1st | Jason Daly | United States | $191,362 |
| 2nd | Dorian Rios | Venezuela | $127,528 |
| 3rd | Per Hildebrand | Sweden | $87,038 |
| 4th | Amnon Filippi | United States | $60,517 |
| 5th | Andrew Voor | United States | $42,879 |
| 6th | Perry Green | United States | $30,973 |
| 7th | Joseph Hallock | United States | $22,817 |
Gorilla Goes Close, Chess King Topples Schulman
Yang Wang won $595,388 and his first ever WSOP bracelet after defeating Jesse Lonis heads-up in Event #5, the $5,000 entry Pot Limit Omaha event. Wang, who went past $6 million in live tournament winnings, got the better of Lonis after stars such as Dyland Weisman (6th for $104,359), Jeff Madsen (11th for $35,704) and Kane Kalas (17th fior $25,183) fell just short of glory. Still, Lonis wasn’t too down. As he said on X: “Thanks for all the support! Good start to the summer! Can’t be mad any time you turn $5,000 into $400,000.”
| WSOP 2026 Event #5: $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Final Table Results: | |||
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
| 1st | Yang Wang | China | $595,388 |
| 2nd | Jesse Lonis | United States | $396,892 |
| 3rd | Evan Krentzman | United States | $277,537 |
| 4th | Justin Scott | United States | $197,139 |
| 5th | Stephen Hubbard | United States | $142,279 |
| 6th | Dylan Weisman | United States | $104,359 |
| 7th | Jarred Graham | Australia | $77,815 |
| 8th | Zackary Estes | United States | $59,001 |
| 9th | Edward Leonard | United States | $45,502 |
Michael Casella transferred his chess skills to the poker felt in winning the $1,500 buy-in Badugi Event #8 for $141,963 up top, taking the title after outlasting Nick Schulman and Scott Seiver in the final three. The chess champion, who now plays mixed games in Los Angeles at The Bike and Commerce Casino, said that he found poker easier than chess.
“I’ve been competing my whole life in chess,” Casella said. “It’s very demanding – physically and emotionally – so I can handle heads-up poker better.”
After reaching heads-up with a 3:1 chip lead, Casella had Nick Schulman all-in and at risk on six occasions only for the PokerGO commentator legend and seven-time WSOP bracelet winner to double back into contention. Finally, on the seventh time Schulman was all-in and at risk, he couldn’t find a reprieve, to Casella’s doubtless relief.
“He was all-in so many times, and he’s such a good player so anything can happen,” Casella continued. “Each time he won, I felt like I could lose at any time.”
Big in Badugi in cash games, Casella will be tempted to play it again in tournaments at his earliest opportunity.
| WSOP 2026 Event #8: $1,500 Badugi Final Table Results: | |||
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
| 1st | Michael Casella | United States | $141,963 |
| 2nd | Nick Schulman | United States | $94,607 |
| 3rd | Scott Seiver | United States | $62,920 |
| 4th | Gary Benson | Australia | $42,815 |
| 5th | Brant Hale | United States | $29,824 |
| 6th | Stephan Nussrallah | United States | $21,279 |
Can Josh Arieh Prevent the Poker Brat’s 18th Bracelet?
PokerStake players have got off to a great start during this 57th annual World Series of Poker and Event #9 could well see our first bracelet winner. Josh Arieh is fifth in chips as he chases an eighth WSOP bracelet and sixth in five years in the $10,000 buy-in Event #9, the Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship.
With a total of 204 entries, just 15 players remain but while that bodes well for anyone chasing the title, the quality of those still involved is a strong caveat. Both the chip leader Scott Clements (1,980,000) and mixed game specialist Dylan Weisman (1,940,000) have more chips than Josh, who sat behind 1,120,000 when the bags were passed round at the end of the day. It is the presence of the 17-time WSOP champion Phil Hellmuth, one place behind Arieh, which will grab headlines, however. Hellmuth (below) took out Brian Yoon on the bubble before bagging a sixth-place stack of 665,000 chips at the end of Day 2.
Who’ll take home the top prize of $450,176 and the latest WSOP bracelet? We cant wait to find out, especially since the WSOP’s new mothership stage was unveiled at the Paris casino over the weekend.
The rough length of an NFL football field, the new set includes a video wall, a vast broadcast horseshoe, five feature tables, and a dozen outer tables. Unveiled by WSOP broadcast lead Jeff Platt on Friday, it has already played host to WSOP Countdown, the new pre-game WSOP show hosted by Jeff Platt and Joe Stapleton, featuring broadcasting legend Norman Chad.
Tonight, it will award gold yet again… but to who?
| WSOP 2026 Event #9: $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship Chipcounts: | |||
| Position | Player | Country | Chips |
| 1st | Scott Clements | United States | 1,980,000 |
| 2nd | Dylan Weisman | United States | 1,940,000 |
| 3rd | Todd Brunson | United States | 1,280,000 |
| 4th | Nam Le | United States | 1,180,000 |
| 5th | Josh Arieh | United States | 1,120,000 |
| 6th | Phil Hellmuth | United States | 665,000 |
| 7th | John Esposito | United States | 650,000 |
| 8th | James Chen | United States | 580,000 |
| 9th | James Obst | Australia | 530,000 |
| 10th | David Lin | United States | 490,000 |
If you’re looking to back the next big winner at the 2026 WSOP, head to our official PokerStake staking page and choose your champion!
Photography by Jess Beck and Eloy Cabascas for the World Series of Poker.