Rob Damelian Won His Second WPT Trophy In Two Days. It Paid AUD 7,631.

Daily Brief  ·  09/20/26  ·  The Boomerang Edition  ·  Published

Rob Damelian Won His Second WPT Trophy In Two Days. It Paid AUD 7,631.

Damelian became the first two-time winner of WPT Australia 2026 on Saturday, taking the AUD 460 Bonzai Bounty at The Star Sydney out of a field of 117. His first trophy came two days earlier in a AUD 1,200 event and paid AUD 24,975. Both wins needed a comeback heads-up.

Behind Heads-Up Twice, Back Both Times

He was behind heads-up in both wins and came back both times, against Michael Kanaan in the Outback Survivor Bounty two days earlier and against David Hirst in Saturday's Bonzai. Hirst took AUD 4,986 for second and Chang Yoo AUD 3,483 for third. Damelian has played the Australian circuit for more than 15 years and has over USD 1.45 million in career live earnings. The festival runs at The Star from September 10 to September 30.

The Two Trophies Are the Same Trophy

The two trophies are the same trophy. The boomerang handed to the winner of a AUD 460 one-day event is the one the festival has been handing out all month. Damelian now holds two of them for a combined AUD 32,606.

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In the Spotlight

David Stefanski Won The Borgata's $10,200 Event. Third Place Out-Earned Second By $28,925.

What happened

David Stefanski won Event 6 of the Borgata Big, Big Series, the $10,200 Big, Big Baller in Atlantic City, taking $169,220 from a 69-entry field and a $690,000 prize pool. Three-handed, Stefanski, Michael Wang and Drew O'Connell agreed an ICM deal and left $19,960 to play for.

O'Connell, chip leader when the deal was struck, locked up $156,675 and then busted third. Wang locked up $127,750 and lost the heads-up match. Stefanski's $149,260 from the chop plus the $19,960 he played for came to $169,220. Matt Glantz took $62,530 for fourth.

Why it matters

Deal math does not care about finishing order. O'Connell had the chips when the three stopped playing for most of the money, so he was paid like a winner and went out in third, $28,925 ahead of Wang. The $19,960 left on the table was 2.9 percent of the prize pool.

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The Explainer

BetRivers Will Award A Trophy In All 100 Events. The Cheapest Costs $3 To Enter.

What happened

BetRivers Poker announced the 2026 BetRivers Poker Championship, a 15-day online series running September 27 through October 11 with 100 tournaments and more than $600,000 in total guarantees. Buy-ins run from $3 to $500. Every tournament awards a trophy, and six designated Championship events award an exclusive Championship trophy on top of that.

The Main Event is a $200 buy-in with a $40,000 guarantee and the Mini Main Event is $20 with a $6,000 guarantee. The series closes on October 11 with a $3 Silver Last Chance Saloon PKO carrying a $300 guarantee.

Why it matters

A hundred events across fifteen days is under seven a day, and $600,000 across a hundred events averages $6,000 of guarantee each. A trophy in every one means the trophy has become a line item on the schedule.

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Follow the Money

The WSOP Guaranteed $1 Million In Bonuses. If Nobody Earns It, It Gets Split Anyway.

What happened

The World Series of Poker brought back the Paradise Parlay for WSOP Paradise 2026, a $1 million promotion for players who won a 2026 bracelet or reached a bracelet-event final table. Qualifying finalists collect from $500 for registering for Super Main Event Day 1A up to $250,000 for its bracelet; 2026 bracelet winners collect from $1,000 up to $500,000. Each category pays once. If the total falls short of $1 million, the WSOP divides the difference equally among qualifiers.

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The Circuit

Illinois Taxed Prediction Markets In June. A Repeal Bill Was Filed This Month.

What happened

Illinois Rep. Travis Weaver filed HB 5811 to repeal the state's per-trade tax on prediction market sports contracts, passed in June in the budget signed by Gov. JB Pritzker. It charges 1.75 percent on each wager for an operator's first 5 million transactions, then 3.5 percent beyond that. Weaver said the budget included no revenue from many of its new taxes but did include money for the attorney general to defend them. Illinois' 2025 sports betting tax was followed by a repeal bill in February.

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Beyond the Felt

The WPT Prime Championship Is At 707 Entries And 97 Survivors, With One Flight Left

What happened

Day 1c of the AUD 1,500 WPT Prime Championship at The Star Sydney drew 249 entries, the largest opening flight so far. Sasha Skalrud bagged 985,000 for the overall chip lead, ahead of Ehsan Amiri on 687,000 and Ken Demlakian on 667,000. Across the three completed flights the event has 707 entries and 97 players into Day 2. Players start with 40,000 chips and can re-enter until the start of level 11. The fourth flight began Sunday at 12:30 p.m.

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Also Filed

The WSOP Has Three Circuit Stops Running. Its Last Published Result Was Tuesday.

What happened

Three WSOP Circuit stops are running: Liechtenstein through September 22, Texas Card House in Austin through September 21, and Horseshoe Council Bluffs, which opened September 17 and runs through September 28. The WSOP's latest published result is Valentin Lita's win in the inaugural Caesars Virginia Circuit Main Event for $181,853, posted September 15. The three items since are the Paradise Parlay promotion, a Council Bluffs curtain-raiser and WSOP Paradise media credentials.

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