Atchison, Smith Score Debut Bracelets At World Series Of Poker

Two of the most recent bracelets to be handed out on the 2026 World Series of Poker highlighted one of many strengths of the competition: its vast number of video games and codecs.

The first winner was Taylor Atchison, who took down the $1,500 stud eight-or-better occasion for his first victory on the collection.

The second noticed World Poker Tour champion Dylan Smith emerge victorious within the $2,500 massive guess combine, which incorporates seven poker variants with no-limit and pot-limit betting. Like Atchison, Smith made his debut within the winner’s circle on the collection with this victory.

Read on for more information on these two newest triumphs.

Event No. 69 – $1,500 Stud Eight-Or-Better

Taylor Atchison has upped his event recreation in an enormous manner this summer time. The Minneapolis, Minnesota resident recorded his first five-figure rating halfway by means of June with a Fifteenth-place displaying within the $10,000 Big O championship for $39,786.

Less than two weeks later, with simply the sixth money on his resume, Atchison captured his first WSOP gold bracelet. He beat out 647 entries within the $1,500 stud eight-or-better to earn the {hardware} and $159,276.

“Nowadays, I play everything except no-limit hold’em,” Atchison instructed PokerNews. “Like everybody, I grew up playing hold’em, but now I play a lot of Big O. Over the past couple of years, I have tried to expand to play all of the mixed games.”

This breakthrough win additionally got here with 840 Card Player Player of the Year factors. This was his first-ever POY-qualified rating.

The robust turnout for this occasion (up over 5 % from the 615 entries of 2025) created a prize pool of $858,892. The high 99 finishers made the cash, with notables like Jason Daly (twenty first), Ben Yu (twentieth), Brian Rast (18th),  Ryan Hoenig (Fifteenth), Kane Kalas (ninth), David Bach (sixth), and Adam Owen (fifth) working deep.

Reno’s Daniil Fedunov was finally the runner-up, along with his flush working into Atchison’s full home within the remaining hand. Neither participant had a qualifying low, which despatched the news and the title to Atchison. Fedunov earned $106,162 for his second-place displaying.

Final Table Results

Event No. 71 – $2,500 Mixed Big Bet

Dylan Smith’s largest win on the circuit got here when he took down the 2024 WPT Rock’n’Roll Poker Open primary occasion in December of 2024, incomes $662,200 for that win in a large-field no-limit maintain’em event.

While he has had loads of his success within the NLH streets, Smith is hardly a one-trick pony. He has additionally confirmed succesful within the mixed-game realm, with marquee deep runs in each the 2025 WSOP $10,000 sellers alternative championship (2nd – $230,374) and the 2024 WSOP $50,000 Poker Players Championship (4th – $363,914).

With a few massive wins in pot-limit Omaha as effectively, Smith is strictly the kind of participant who would possibly excel within the $2,500 massive guess combined occasion, a event that includes a rotation of no-limit maintain’em, no-limit deuce-to-seven single draw lowball, pot-limit Omaha eight-or-better, pot-limit five-card double draw excessive, pot-limit Omaha, Big O, and pot-limit deuce-to-seven triple draw lowball.

It ought to come as little shock, then, that Smith was capable of navigate his manner by means of a area of 388 entries on his method to securing his first bracelet and the $182,591 high prize. This rating grew the New Jersey native’s earnings to almost $5.9 million.

This win additionally got here with 900 POY factors. This was his second title and fourth final-table end of the yr. He’s now ranked 161st within the general standings offered by CoinPoker.

Big Names In Big Bet

Smith was not the one well-rounded rounder within the combine, although. He needed to take care of the likes of Patrick Leonard (18th), Carol Fuchs (14th), Nick Marchington (ninth), Brad Owen (eighth), Steve Billirakis (seventh), and Renan Bruschi (4th) down the stretch. This was simply the second WSOP remaining desk for Owen. The popular poker vlogger beforehand completed sixth in a web based no-limit maintain’em occasion again in 2023.

Three-time bracelet winner Naoya Kihara got here agonizingly near a 3rd bracelet of this summer time and fourth general, however finally bowed out in third place ($78,984).

That left Smith with roughly a 4:1 chip lead over bracelet winner Matt Vengrin going into heads-up play. He was quickly capable of convert that benefit into the title, successful the ultimate hand with an 8-7-6-4-3 in opposition to a 10-8-7-5-2 for Vengrin in pot-limit triple draw deuce-to-seven lowball. Vengrin earned $118,647 because the runner-up. 

Final Table Results

Photo credit score: WSOP / Miguel Cortes, Dominic Iaquinto