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Danchev Wins WSOP $25k Heads-Up For 2nd Bracelet
Dimitar Danchev won one of the biggest live heads-up poker tournaments of all time, taking down the 2026 World Series of Poker $25,000 heads-up championship for $800,000 for his second career gold bracelet. Danchev navigated through an expanded 128-player field, defeating Nikita Kuznetsov in the finals to seal his victory. The Bulgarian's first bracelet win came in a WSOP Online $10,000 heads-up event on GGPoker in August 2022, in which he won a $327,668 first-place prize. Along the way, Danchev won seven heads-up matches over three days. This $800,000 result is the fourth-largest of Danchev's career, behind his second-place finish in the European Poker Tour San Remo in October 2011, a career-best $1,859,000 for his 2013 victory in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure main event, and a 2024 Triton title in Jeju, South Korea. His total recorded earnings now sit at nearly $13.1 million. Danchev's latest win also came with 924 Card Player Player of the Year points, in the yearlong race presented by CoinPoker. That puts Danchev just outside the top 100 to this point in 2026. As one of 31 qualified events on the 2026 WSOP schedule, Danchev also earns 480 PokerGO Tour points, in his best-ever PGT result. He sits in 16th place on the season-long PGT leaderboard. For his run into the semifinals, Alex Foxen earned 180 PGT points, which puts him one spot behind Danchev on that leaderboard, in 17th.
Chun Tops 20,488 Entries In WSOP Mini Mystery Millions
The dramatic envelope drawings add a whole new level of sweat to the late stages of mystery bounty events like the 2026 World Series of Poker $550 Mini Mystery Millions. The no-limit hold'em event drew a massive field of 20,488 entries across six starting flights, making for a prize pool worth over $9.3 million. The single largest payout in this event was ultimately awarded via one of the envelopes: a $1,000,000 bounty. Andrew Shelton let forth a flood of excited curses when he realized that he was the lucky player to lock up the seven-figure score. While he was the biggest winner, in terms of prize money, this tournament still had a bracelet and a hefty main prize pool to award. The largest share was ultimately captured by Philip Chun. He earned $400,000 and his first bracelet as the last player standing. This was the largest score yet for the California resident, easily surpassing the $88,193 he earned for a win in a $1,100 event at the 2022 Wynn Signature Series. Chun now boasts nearly $719,000 in lifetime cashes after his big victory at the series. Chun attributed his win to guidance he received via Chip Leader Coaching's Kristen Foxen. The five-time bracelet winner and women's all-time money leader did an hour coaching session with Chun ahead of the final day of play, and Chun said that he wouldn't have won without it. In addition to the hardware and the money, Chun also earned 720 Card Player Player of the Year points for this victory. This was his second POY-qualified score of 2026.
Clements Wins WSOP $10k O8 For Fourth Bracelet
Just shy of 20 years after he won his first World Series of Poker gold bracelet in a $3,000 Omaha eight-or-better tournament, Scott Clements emerged victorious from a field of 204 in the 2026 WSOP $10,000 championship in the same game for $450,176 and his fourth title at the series. This was the second-largest payday yet for the 44-year-old, trailing only the $1.5 million he earned with a win in the 2006 World Poker Tour North American Poker Classic. Clements now has nearly $8.7 million in career tournament earnings. This latest win was the first six-figure score of the 2020's for the two-time WPT champion, and his first recorded cash of 2026. In addition to his pair of bracelets in this game, Clements also took down a $1,500 pot-limit Omaha event at the 2007 WSOP and the $1,500 dealers choice title a dozen years after that. Clements overcame a stacked field down the stretch in this event, with 40 bracelets amongst the other players who made the final day of this event, including 17-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth and several other multi-time bracelet WSOP champions. The 900 Card Player Player of the Year points that came with this victory moved Clements inside the top 400 in the POY race standings presented by CoinPoker. He also secured 450 PokerGO Tour points as the champion, enough to join the top 20 on that high-stakes-centric leaderboard.
Daniel Negreanu Announces He'll Be A Father
Kid Poker is becoming a father. Seven-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu announced on Thursday that he and wife Amanda were expecting a baby. The news came via his annual WSOP vlog and began with Negreanu sitting on the couch reading a book. His casual reading was revealed to be "The New Father: A Dad's Guide to the First Year." The video includes an ultrasound of the forthcoming newest addition to the Negreanu family. Negreanu said the couple was 15 weeks along in the pregnancy via a surrogate and were delighted to be having their first child. He later revealed that they were having a boy.
3 Titles, 1 Series: Dvoress Crushes Triton Montenegro
More than two weeks ago, Daniel Dvoress opened the Triton Super High Roller Series Montenegro festival by winning the kickoff event, a $25,000 buy-in no-limit hold'em tournament. It was his third career Triton victory. The all-time winningest Canadian tournament player in history then added one of the biggest victories of his career, taking down the $100,000 pot-limit Omaha main event at the same series for $2,018,000. And to close out the stop, Dvoress played into the wee morning hours on the final day to earn himself another piece of poker history. Dvoress emerged victorious in the $25,000 PLO turbo bounty quattro event at the Triton Montenegro festival presented by CoinPoker, becoming the first player in the tour's 10-year run to win three trident trophies at a single tour stop. He leaves Montenegro with five career Triton wins. This third triumph was worth $367,500 in total, including $112,500 in bounty prizes. Dvoress outlasted a single-day field of 46 entrants, fighting with the last vestiges of energy and adrenaline that he could muster.
Tilman Fertitta Enters Online Poker Industry With Caesars Purchase
Only a couple years after Caesars sold the World Series of Poker brand to GGPoker, Golden Nugget owner Tilman Fertitta is acquiring Caesars Entertainment for $5.7 billion. As part of the purchase, Fertitta also takes on $11.9 billion in debt. The acquisition includes Caesars' Las Vegas Strip properties like the Horseshoe and Paris, home to the WSOP. Beyond adding Caesars properties across the country, Fertitta is back in the online gambling industry. Fertitta takes control of the company's digital casino, poker, and sports betting operations. In 2021, Fertitta sold Golden Nugget's online gaming platform to DraftKings for $1.56 billion. He now acquires a large online gaming enterprise that produced earnings of $69 million in the first quarter of this year. Those figures are up from the $43 million in the same quarter of 2025.
Gheba Wins WSOP $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Bracelet
Daniyal Gheba came into the 2026 World Series of Poker looking for his first gold bracelet. The Las Vegas resident didn't have to wait long, as just a few days into the festival he struck gold in the $5,000 no-limit hold'em eight max event. This was the series' first bracelet awarded in an open event, and second overall after New Mexico poker dealer Jerome Neppl triumphed in the industry employees event. Gheba now has nearly $1.9 million in career tournament scores to his name after adding the $502,985 top prize in this event. This is his largest score yet, topping the $185,000 he took home as the runner-up in a $10,000 buy-in Poker Masters event last fall. "It's obviously life-changing money," Gheba told PokerNews live reporters after his win. "But coming into the final table, the pay jumps I wasn't really concerned about. I don't think anyone at this table really cared about the pay jumps, they were all wealthy." In addition to the money and the hardware, Gheba also secured 1,680 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This was his second POY-qualified score of the year, having finished third in a $3,300 PokerGO Cup event this spring for $61,000 and 360 points. With 2,040 total points, Gheba now sits in 66th place in the 2026 standings presented by CoinPoker.
WATCH: WSOP Player's Expletive-Laden $1M Celebration
Since the debut of the mystery bounty format at the 2022 World Series of Poker, and beyond the WSOP's walls, the thrill of massive bounty pulls has drawn massive fields of players from all walks of life. Multi-time WSOP champions and casual weekend players alike have just as good a chance to draw a prize equivalent to winning the tournament, so long as they play deep enough into the tournament and score an elimination, or preferably several. In recent years, player reactions to mystery bounty pulls cover the full spectrum of potential reactions. Some players, often professionals, try to play it cool despite winning thousands of times their buy-in in a single moment. Others, including Matt Glantz in the inaugural WSOP mystery millions event, shouted in triumph. Andrew Shelton certainly falls in the latter category. Shelton, a recreational player from Connecticut, was one of 20,488 hopefuls in the $550 buy-in mini mystery millions event, a smaller buy-in tournament debuting at the 2026 WSOP. He had just been eliminated from the tournament deep into day 2, finishing 102nd for $3,350. But he had a golden ticket in his possession, in the form of a bounty prize that he hadn't yet cashed in.
