Image courtesy of the World Series of Poker (Miguel Cortes)
The first week of the 2026 World Series of Poker was a short and quick one, with just a few bracelets awarded and not much else happening. But that’s how it always is at the start of the summer, before things start to take off.
And during the second full week, take off they did!
Event #1, $550 Mini Mystery Millions, drew in a record field, and although the winner took home $400,000 and the bracelet, the focus was mainly on a lucky player who found that $1,000,000 bounty for a crazy instant win.
The $10k GGMillion$ High Roller event saw quite a bit of drama when, with only about twenty players left in the field, Ricky Landais was eliminated in a hand that saw a flop of not three but four cards. The discussion about what should have happened and if the tournament director made the right call is still ongoing.
Bulgaria’s Dimitar Danchev triumphed in one of the toughest events of the series, outlasting the other 127 competitors in the $25k Heads-Up Championship. This was the first time the tournament had two starting flights, doubling the prize pool, so the Bulgarian walked away with $800,000 to go with his second bracelet.
2026 WSOP Week 1 Bracelet Winners
| Event | Winner | Prize Money | Total Entries |
| #1 – $550 Mini Mystery Millions | Philip Chun | $400,000 | 20,488 |
| #5 – $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha | Yang Wang | $595,388 | 716 |
| #6 – $1,500 Seven Card Stud | James Cheung | $103,185 | 359 |
| #7 – $25k Heads-Up NLHE Championship | Dimitar Danchev | $800,000 | 128 |
| #8 – $1,500 Badugi | Michael Casella | $141,963 | 554 |
| #9 – $10k Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship | Scott Clements | $450,176 | 204 |
| #10 – $600 Deepstack No-Limit Hold’em | Karapet Galstyan | $259,829 | 4,622 |
| #11 – $10k GGMillion$ High Roller No-Limit Hold’em | Naseem Salem | $1,089,964 | 627 |
| #12 – $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw | Stephen Hubbard | $155,819 | 626 |
| #13 – $1,500 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em | Honghao Zhang | $346,108 | 1,840 |
| #14 – $1,500 Mixed | Justin Liberto | $265,297 | 1,287 |
| #15 – $600 Deepstack Pot-Limit Omaha | Philip Ardire | $171,589 | 2,636 |
| #16 – $1,700 U.S. Circuit Championship No-Limit Holdem | Antonio Vargas | $439,605 | 2,148 |
| #17 – $10k No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship | Naoya Kihara | $428,923 | 198 |
| #20 – $1,500 Dealers Choice | Jeff Madsen | $161,057 | 656 |
Event #1 Draws in a Huge Crowd
The opening event of this year’s World Series of Poker, $550 Mini Mystery Millions, concluded last week, and, as expected, the tournament drew in a massive field.
By the time the registration was finally over, the tournament clock was showing 20,488 entries, which was enough to put the tournament in the top-ten list of the largest events in WSOP history.
Players from six starting flights were all reunited for Day 2 action, and the tournament played down to the last 13. These 13 returned once more to find the winner on Day 3, and the poker gods favored Philip Chun.
This was Chun’s first bracelet, and the $400,000 he picked up for his victory in the enormous field is also the biggest cash of his poker career.
However, long before Chun claimed the win, Event #1 produced the biggest story of the 2026 World Series of Poker so far, and that story was about Andrew Shelton, a recreational player who struck gold and pulled out the $1,000,000 mystery bounty envelope.
In a later interview, Shelton said he was pretty much done with poker for the summer and would spend the rest of it celebrating his huge win instead of grinding. And who can blame him?
The Unlucky Four-Card Flop
With hundreds of tables and thousands of players playing every day, some mistakes are bound to happen. Earlier in the series, we saw an instruction card make an appearance on the board, and it was a source of entertainment for a couple of days.
However, some errors do have bigger consequences, and we saw one of that nature in the $10,000 GGMillion$ High Roller event.
With only 22 players remaining, Ricky Landais was grinding it out on a very short stack, looking for a much-needed double-up. His patience finally paid off when he managed to get his stack in the middle with A♠K♣ against the opponent’s A♦9♠.
The dealer burned the card and spread the flop. But, instead of the usual three cards, by accident, she dealt out four: K♦6♦5♦4♥.
The confusion ensued, and the tournament director was called over to make the ruling. As it turned out, the WSOP has an official rule in place for these situations, which is to take all four cards, shuffle them face down, and then randomly take one out. The remaining three make up the flop.
As luck would have it, the randomly removed card was the king, so the official flop was 6♦5♦4♥. Then, an 8♥ came on the turn, giving Bobby James, the opponent in question, a gutshot straight draw.
Everyone knew it before the river was even dealt. The final card to hit the board was 7♣, completing the straight for James and sending Landis to the rail.
Even though the TD did everything by the book, the discussion on whether it was fair to Landis is still going on. Landis himself isn’t very happy, naturally, and it was a brutal bad beat so deep in the tournament, but I’m not sure if much else can be done.
The official rules exist for a reason. They are there so that TDs and dealers wouldn’t have to make up things on the fly. That said, maybe this situation will lead to some revisions for future tournaments.
Jeff Madsen Going After His Second POY Title
There are so many great stories to cover during the WSOP, and it’s impossible to squeeze them all into this weekly recap. However, one that certainly deserves some attention is that of Jeff Madsen and his chase after the second WSOP Player of the Year title, 20 years after winning it the first time.
Madsen is certainly on the right path, having just won Event #20 – $1,500 Dealer’s Choice. He triumphed in a field of 656 entries, claiming just over $160k, his fifth bracelet, and some very valuable POY points.
It was twenty years ago that Madsen claimed this coveted title, becoming the youngest player to do so. If he were to go on a hot streak and do it again in 2026, it would be the best possible way to mark the momentous occasion.
What’s Coming Up?
The madness continues at poker’s summer camp. Later today, 22 players will come back to battle it out for the title in the $25k High Roller. Among them is Jesse Lonis, the man who already came close to winning a bracelet this summer, finishing as a runner-up in a PLO event.
Event #21 – Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better started with over 1,000 entries, and it is now down to just 13. Among them is Josh Arieh, who will be starting the day third in chips.
Of course, you can tune in for free live coverage of the 2026 World Series of Poker every evening. Check out the official WSOP YouTube channel for the full list of completed and upcoming streams.
