Abhishek Mhatre, Zachary Gruneberg Win At World Series of Poker

The 2026 World Series of Poker has raced previous its midway level with greater than 50 dwell bracelets already awarded. Another busy day contained in the ballrooms of Paris Las Vegas produced one other trio of bracelet winners.

While Calvin Anderson stole some headlines together with his second victory of the summer time and seventh profession bracelet, two different large winners emerged in the identical second. Abhishek Mhatre, who started the $3,000 six-handed no-limit maintain’em occasion with only a handful of profession event outcomes, navigated a star-studded subject to win his debut bracelet and the $492,050 first-place prize.

Zachary Gruneberg, who’d beforehand received a pair of on-line bracelets in his residence state of Pennsylvania, earned a much more substantial prize within the first-ever $1,500 five-card pot-limit Omaha bracelet occasion on the WSOP. He claimed his third profession WSOP bracelet and $271,552 for his troubles.

As the stakes get greater and the WSOP most important occasion attracts nearer by the day, right here’s the newest from the 2026 WSOP.

Mhatre Makes It Happen

Tournament poker is, by most measures, a real meritocracy. If you will have the buy-in, you possibly can take your shot towards the very best gamers on this planet on the WSOP, no {qualifications} required.

Abhishek Mhatre might not have been a favourite when the $3,000 six-handed no-limit maintain’em occasion started, however when the ultimate card of the event was dealt, he was the one hoisting the bracelet. The Canadian had precisely two dwell event outcomes previous to this occasion, each on the 2025 WSOP. But he defeated 2014 WSOP most important occasion champion Martin Jacobson heads-up on this occasion to safe the victory, a career-best payday of $492,050, and 1,440 Card Player Player of the Year factors.

The ultimate desk additionally featured three-time bracelet winner Christopher Vitch (sixth – $82,530), in addition to the enigmatic ‘Poker Bunny,’ Paulina Loeliger (4th –  $159,050).

The 1,150 entrants on this occasion produced a prize pool of $3,075,500, and after one lengthy day of poker, simply 53 returned to battle for the bracelet. Mhatre began the day in second place and was close to the highest of the chip counts as soon as the ultimate desk started. He discovered himself on the brink after operating pocket queens into Loeliger’s pocket aces, however doubled twice after which flopped a set of eights towards Loeliger’s pocket queens to come back roaring again.

Mhatre eradicated the ultimate 4 gamers within the occasion, culminating with a fortunate runout with 10♠9♥ towards a short-stacked Jacobson’s J♠10♦ to seal the victory.

Final Table Results – $3,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em

Five Is The Luckiest Number For Gruneberg

Pot-limit Omaha has been the fastest-growing event sport in poker over the past a number of years, and its variants appear to extend by the day. While Big O, a five-card pot-limit Omaha eight-or-better format, has been provided for a number of years on the WSOP, 2026 noticed the debut of a high-only five-card occasion.

Zachary Gruneberg, a Pennsylvanian with two on-line bracelet wins in his residence state, claimed his first dwell WSOP bracelet on this inaugural $1,500 buy-in occasion. He outlasted a subject of 1,319 entrants to win a first-place prize of $271,552. He now has greater than $2.9 million in recorded scores.

Along with the most important share of a $1,750,973 prize pool, Gruneberg earned 960 Card Player POY factors in his first qualifying outcome in the direction of a yearlong leaderboard introduced by CoinPoker.

Gruneberg defeated Hong Kong’s Hokyiu Lee, the one different bracelet winner on the ultimate desk, heads-up to safe the victory. It was a large come-from-behind win, as Gruneberg was the shortest stack among the many seven gamers who returned for day 3, staring up at a chip chief with greater than six instances as many chips as him.

It was largely an upward trajectory from there, although. On the ultimate hand, Gruneberg turned a wheel and dodged a giant wrap straight draw and diamond flush draw from Lee to safe his third profession bracelet.

Final Table Results – $1,500 5-Card Pot Limit Omaha

Photo credit: WSOP / Travis Ball, Lennart Hennig