A Man Who Plays Twice A Year Beat 1,282 People, Then Quit

Today's Big Question

What happened

Pierre Chevalier won the 1,500 euro WSOP Circuit Paris Main Event at the Partouche Pasino Club on Tuesday, beating 1,282 entries for 260,000 euros, his first Circuit ring and a 5,000 euro package to WSOP Paradise. It is the largest field a WSOP Circuit Main Event has ever drawn in Europe. Chevalier plays once or twice a year, has cashed in 13 or 14 of the 15 or 16 tournaments he has entered in his life, and had to change his train to be there for the final table. The table he beat included Davidi Kitai in fifth for 63,000 euros and Luca Bernardi, the start-of-day chip leader, in third for 123,000 euros. Hervé Gouzil finished second for 175,000 euros. Chevalier then announced he is almost done playing.

Why it matters

Every incentive in tournament poker points one direction, which is that a score buys you entry into bigger tournaments so you can chase a bigger score. Chevalier took the exit instead, on the grounds that he is happy with his friends and his family and does not want to get drawn into that world. That is either the best risk management anyone displayed in Paris this week or a problem with the business model, and nobody at the Pasino Club seemed sure which.

In the Spotlight

Thirty-Five Men Played A Turbo And $1,750,000 Changed Hands

What happened

Ben Tollerene won the $50,000 turbo bounty at Triton Jeju II on Monday night, taking $412,000 in prize money plus $240,000 in bounties for a $652,000 night and his fifth Triton title. The field was 28 unique players and seven re-entries, 35 total, for a $1,750,000 prize pool. Six places paid.

Tollerene lost about three quarters of his stack to Daniel Rezaei without a showdown, doubled back, and finished the heads-up match in two hands. Rezaei took $465,000 for second and Ding Biao $241,000 for third, one night after Ding lost the $200,000 Invitational heads-up for a career-best $4,940,000.

Why it matters

The buy-in is $50,000 and the tournament lasts one evening, which is the format Triton has quietly perfected: fewer people, more money, less time. Five of the six players who cashed sit inside the top 50 of the Card Player Player of the Year race.

The Explainer

Congress Is Now Discussing Repealing What Congress Did

What happened

The House Ways and Means Committee is taking up the FULL HOUSE Act this week. The bipartisan bill, filed in January by Steven Horsford of Nevada and Max Miller of Ohio, would repeal the gambling provision in last year's One Big Beautiful Bill Act that caps deductible gambling losses at 90 percent. A player who breaks even for the year now owes tax on money that does not exist.

Separately, Dina Titus of Nevada said her FAIR BET Act has finally been attached to a tax package moving through the House, after it was cut from a defense bill in September 2025 and rejected from a spending bill in January. A floor vote is not guaranteed.

Why it matters

Erik Seidel announced in April that he was cutting back his schedule over the math. When a Poker Hall of Famer starts playing less because of a line in a tax bill, the line is doing more to shape the tournament calendar than any tour director is.

Follow the Money

16,455 People Entered A $400 Tournament And Brazil Won It

What happened

Roberto Firmino Santos Filho won the $400 Colossus at the 2026 WSOP Online on GGPoker for $752,277 and a bracelet, topping 16,455 entries. The prize pool came to $6,187,080 against a $5,000,000 guarantee. Evaldas Narmontas finished second for $579,973 and Matthew Vengrin fourth for $344,876, denying Vengrin a second bracelet. It is Brazil's sixth bracelet of this online series, putting the country on top of the leaderboard and in line for a $200,000 country freeroll.

The Circuit

Virginia Held Its First Ring Series And Doubled The Guarantee

What happened

Valentin Lita won the inaugural Caesars Virginia WSOP Circuit Main Event in Danville for $181,853 and his first ring. The $1,700 event drew 665 entries for a $1,007,475 prize pool against a $500,000 guarantee. Lita, who was born in Romania and lives in Ashburn, Virginia, beat Marshall White, who had led at the start of play and took $121,214 for second. Every 2026 Circuit ring winner also collects a $5,000 package to WSOP Paradise in December.

Beyond the Felt

He Won Five Tournaments In Two Weeks And Made $29,036

What happened

Sergei Saakian of Las Vegas won five titles in two weeks at the Venetian's August DeepStack Showdown, paying $2,100, $4,079, $19,371, $1,823 and $1,663, for a combined $29,036. Four of the five were $200 bounty events. The 37-event series drew 4,731 entries, awarded $1,184,245 and paid out $103,144 in overlays, more than Saakian earned across his five wins. He also took three titles in five days in March.

Also Filed

A Poker Show Will Now Broadcast Your Pulse While You Tank

What happened

Deepstack, an episodic cash game show created by Elton Tsang and launching later this year, will display players' live heart rates on screen using remote photoplethysmography, a camera technique that reads a pulse off the skin of a face. In a first-look clip, the overlay shows Wiktor Malinowski's heart rate rising while he tanks before he folds to a river bluff from Tsang. Season one is being edited, not streamed.

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SEPT 15 Day 010 - The Hero Call Edition

Joao Simao Bluffed Twice, Got Caught Twice, and Won $7,250,000

The $200,000 Invitational at Triton Jeju II closed on Monday with a record 173 entries, a $34,600,000 prize pool and Joao Simao of Brazil holding the only part of it anybody remembers. He reached heads-up play with 66 big blinds against Ding Biao's 38. A deal was discussed and not agreed. Ding then looked up a Simao bluff with top pair, looked up a second one with second pair, and turned that deficit into a lead of nearly five to one. Simao got value with queen ten on a board of ten, nine, nine, three, three, drew a hero call out of Ding holding king six, and was level again. Trip eights put him in front. On the final hand Ding limped the button for 1,000,000 with the ten of hearts and the nine of spades and Simao raised to 2,300,000 with the king of spades and the king of diamonds. The flop came nine of hearts, five of spades, five of diamonds. Simao led for 1,400,000, Ding raised to 3,000,000, Simao called. The two of spades turned, Ding moved all in for 5,600,000 and Simao called quickly. The seven of diamonds finished it. Simao took $7,250,000, Ding $4,940,000 and Seth Davies $3,470,000 in third.

AlsoThey Chopped $1,647,000 and Then Played Heads-Up for $30,000 Read this brief →

Semi Sun Turned a Pair of Eights Into a Bluff. Yang Wang Turned It Into $2,820,000.

SEPT 14

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