Bryce Yockey took down one of essentially the most prestigious mixed-game poker tournaments of the yr, and he did so in dominant vogue. The 38-year-old poker professional from Southern California ran away with the title down the stretch within the 2026 World Series of Poker $10,000 sellers selection championship, topping the sector of 163 entries to earn $371,664 and his third profession gold bracelet.
Six of the seven gamers who made the ultimate desk on this distinctive format, which permits gamers to select from greater than 20 completely different video games, already had a WSOP bracelet of their trophy case. The lone exception was Schwartz, who has over $4.9 million in earlier cashes on the circuit to his identify. Five of the seven already had a number of wins on the collection underneath their belts.
Yockey’s two earlier wins each got here in pot-limit Omaha variants. He took down the $10,000 pot-limit Omaha eight-or-better championship in 2017, and a $5,000 PLO in 2024. While he has had loads of deep runs in different blended recreation occasions, together with ending second within the 2024 $50,000 Poker Players Championship, he’d been eying an outright win on this explicit occasion for some time now.
“I’ve wanted to win this tournament for a really long time,” Yockey advised PokerInformation reporters. “In terms of, like, mixed game tournaments, this one’s really unique because there’s just a lot of strategy beyond just playing the game that goes into it. People actually try to choose games to target you. Whatever they think you’re bad at, whatever they think they have an advantage at. Part of the game is also just learning to play that game, too, and just avoiding them in those situations when you can. I wanted to win this one for a long time.”
This triumph elevated Yockey’s lifetime match earnings to just about $8.4 million. It additionally got here with 780 Card Player Player of the Year factors. This was his first qualifying final-table finiosh in the direction of the year-long race introduced by CoinPoker. The 372 PokerGO Tour factors moved him inside the highest 40 on that high-stakes-centric leaderboard.
Yockey’s Ascent Begins
The remaining day started with 11 gamers remaining and Schwartz within the lead and Yockey within the center of the pack. Duane Fontenot (eleventh), Koji Fujimoto (tenth), and Tomasz Gluszko (ninth) hit the rail within the first couple of hours of day 3 motion.
During that point, Yockey overtook the lead, along with his surge up the leaderboard beginning along with his elimination of Fontenot. He quickly took all however a couple of massive blinds from Lawrence Brandt to arrange the subsequent elimination. Owais Ahmed landed the ultimate blow, making the nut flush in Big O to scoop the final of Brandt’s stack. He earned $35,253 for his eighth-place exhibiting.
Ahmed was the subsequent to fall. He bought all-in on fifth avenue in stud eight or higher with a pair of sevens and 4 to a low. Ryan Miller got here alongside and wound up making the wheel to win each the excessive and low sides. Ahmed earned $44,592 because the seventh-place finisher.
As six-handed play wore on, Yockey continued to drag away from the remaining of the sector. At one level, not too lengthy earlier than the subsequent elimination happened, he had greater than six occasions as many chips as the closest competitor. He skilled a couple of small setbacks forward of six-time bracelet winner Jeremy Ausmus’s exit in sixth place, although. Four-time bracelet winner Chad Eveslage known as Ausmus’ shove in no-limit maintain’em with A♦J♣ and held towards A♣4♣ to slender the sector to 5. Ausmus earned $58,460 for his efforts, surpassing $29.7 million in profession cashes within the course of.
More Heavyweights Hit The Rail
Nick Schulman
Poker Hall of Famer Nick Schulman was despatched packing in a hand of razz. The seven-time bracelet winner dedicated his remaining wager after the deal and was known as by Eveslage, who wound up with a 10-9-8-4-3. Schulman was drawing reside with one card to come back holding J-7-5-3-A, however drew a king on the tip to complete fifth ($79,331).
This was Schulman’s second remaining desk of the collection, having positioned second within the $1,500 badugi to Michael Casella. With one title and eight final-table finishes on the yr, Schulman has climbed to twenty second within the POY standings. He’s additionally ranked sixteenth on the PGT leaderboard.
Yockey put a long way between himself and the remaining of the sector once more throughout four-handed motion. Both Schwartz and Eveslage had been left on fumes in his wake. Eveslage quickly made his remaining stand throughout a spherical of restrict Omaha, getting all-in preflop with A♦Q♣3♠3♦. Yockey confirmed down the winner on a Ok♣Q♥6♦J♦6♥ runout with A♠10♠8♣7♣ making broadway. Eveslage settled for $111,305 because the fourth-place finisher. The two-time World Poker Tour champion now boasts practically $13.3 million in recorded scores.
From Three To One In A Flash
Schwartz quickly adopted, replicating his third-place end within the 2021 operating of this occasion. He bought all-in with three to a low on third avenue in stud eight-or-better and was up towards break up jacks for Yockey. Schwartz improved to threes and deuces by fifth, however Yockey had made jacks up on fourth. Neither participant improved on sixth or seventh and Schwartz headed to the payout desk to gather $161,292. This was the sixth-largest payday of his profession.
Heads-up play started with roughly an 8:1 chip lead for Yockey over Miller. The two-time bracelet winner fell even additional behind when he bumped into journey queens for Yockey in a hand of restrict Omaha. His remaining few chips quickly went in after a J♠8♠8♥ flop in the identical recreation. Miller held Ok♠7♥3♦3♣ and was trailing the Ok♣J♦9♥6♣ of Yockey. The Q♥ flip and 5♥ river modified nothing and Miller was eradicated because the runner-up. The $241,152 payout was his third-largest but.
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points | PGT Points |
| 1 | Bryce Yockey | $371,664 | 780 | 372 |
| 2 | Ryan Miller | $241,152 | 650 | 241 |
| 3 | Jake Schwartz | $161,292 | 520 | 161 |
| 4 | Chad Eveslage | $111,305 | 390 | 111 |
| 5 | Nick Schulman | $79,331 | 325 | 79 |
| 6 | Jeremy Ausmus | $58,460 | 260 | 58 |
| 7 | Owais Ahmed | $44,592 | 195 | 45 |
Photo credit score: WSOP / Dominic Iaquinto, Travis Ball
