The Muck · WSOP Daily Brief
Day 37
Michael Mizrachi closed out the PLO Championship on the river with a gutshot straight to beat Zarvan Tumboli heads-up, completing bracelet number nine and $1,350,203. Then Shaun Deeb won his ninth bracelet today in the $1,500 Eight-Game Mix, coming back from near-elimination to beat Dean Joe heads-up after a two-hour battle and reclaim the POY lead. That makes three players at nine bracelets in 48 hours: Glaser, Mizrachi, Deeb. Meanwhile, Matthew Higgins outlasted 22,811 entries to win the Mystery Millions and a flat $1 million. Rampage ended Mateos' perfect 6-0 heads-up streak in bracelet events. Fujimoto denied Schulman his ninth bracelet in the $10K 2-7. The bracelet pace at the back half of this WSOP is something else.
Story 01 of 6
Michael Mizrachi won Event #70: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship for $1,350,203 and his ninth career WSOP bracelet. The final table ran three-handed into the night before Michael Hahn was eliminated in third for $627,832, then Mizrachi and Zarvan Tumboli played heads-up. The final hand: chips went in on a J-8-8 flop. Tumboli had A-A-6-3 and was ahead. Mizrachi held J-10-7-6. The turn was a blank (4 of clubs), giving Mizrachi four more outs. The river: 9 of spades, completing a jack-high straight and ending Tumboli's run. Tumboli's exact runner-up prize from the $7,774,800 pool is not confirmed at press time. Mizrachi had led the tournament from Day 3 onward, at one point holding 80% of all chips in play three-handed. He had joked before the final day that if he ran as well as Day 3, he'd finish it quickly. He was right.
Why it mattersMizrachi's ninth bracelet ties him with Benny Glaser and now Shaun Deeb at the ninth spot on the all-time bracelet list. He is the defending WSOP Main Event champion and defending POY. Adding a PLO Championship - without having final tabled the PPC earlier - is a reminder that his range of excellence is wide. The PLO Championship draws a technically demanding field and Mizrachi entered the final day with a commanding chip lead. He closed without drama, despite Tumboli and Hahn making the match tighter than expected. A third consecutive summer at this level would be something nobody has done before.
Story 02 of 6
Shaun Deeb won Event #74: $1,500 Eight-Game Mix for $181,625 and his ninth career WSOP bracelet today, coming back from near-elimination on the final day to beat Dean Joe heads-up after a match that lasted over two hours with the lead changing multiple times. The event drew 766 entries and a $1,016,865 prize pool. Deeb had entered the final day as chip leader but lost ground before running up a series of quick double-ups to get back in contention. Poker.org reported that the win puts Deeb back at the top of the WSOP Player of the Year standings, where he had previously ranked ninth at 2,019 points as of June 29. The exact updated POY point total is not yet confirmed at press time.
Why it mattersDeeb's quote - 'Too many seconds' - is the whole story. He has been one of the most consistent deep-run players in the game for years, accumulating near-misses at a rate most players would trade for. Nine bracelets is now a number shared by Glaser (won June 29), Mizrachi (won last night), and Deeb (won today). Three different players at nine bracelets in 48 hours is not a thing you plan for. Deeb is a two-time POY winner going for his third. Winning the 8-Game from a comeback position against a mixed-game field is not a soft result. If the standings update puts him on top, he'll have earned it.
Story 03 of 6
Matthew Higgins won Event #63: $1,000 Mystery Millions No-Limit Hold'em for $1,000,000 and his first WSOP bracelet, outlasting 22,811 entries - the fourth largest field in WSOP history. Higgins, a nine-time WSOP Circuit ring winner, defeated Dominik Panka heads-up to take the title. Panka, a bracelet winner, received $640,000 as runner-up. The full prize pool was $16,919,343 including the bounty layer. Separate from the main prize, the mystery bounty structure paid out a parallel $1,000,000 jackpot: Jonathan Schiller won a $1 million mystery bounty by eliminating a single qualifying player on Day 2. The event also featured three $250,000 bounties and ten $100,000 bounty prizes distributed to qualifying eliminations throughout the field.
Why it mattersA $1,000,000 flat prize in a $1,000 buy-in event drives mass participation in a way that most poker formats cannot. The fourth-largest field in WSOP history at a thousand dollars a seat confirms the Mystery Millions format works. Higgins had nine Circuit rings and had not broken through at the WSOP. The Circuit is extremely competitive; those rings are real credentials. The Schiller bounty story is almost as good as the main one: two players walk out of the same tournament having each won a million dollars, one for playing all five days and one for a single elimination. That does not happen in normal poker.
Story 04 of 6
Ethan 'Rampage' Yau won Online Event #16: $5,000 6-Max Hybrid Championship for $228,825 and his second WSOP bracelet, defeating Adrian Mateos heads-up when his pocket queens held against Mateos' ten-nine. The event ran 226 entries through an online preliminary phase before the live final table at Paris Las Vegas. The final table included Nick Schulman, Shannon Shorr, Pedro Neves, and Dejan Kaladjurdjevic alongside Mateos. Mateos came into heads-up having gone 6-0 in WSOP bracelet heads-up confrontations - having never lost when a bracelet was on the line. Rampage changed that. Yau had separately reported making over $1.3 million in high-stakes cash games during the series.
Why it mattersMateos going 7-for-7 in bracelet finals (six wins, one loss now) is still an elite record. But ending a perfect streak in heads-up bracelet play is a meaningful result for Yau and a notable footnote for Mateos. Rampage is not a traditional tournament grinder - he built his following through vlogging and ran a hot cash game summer - which makes beating one of the best heads-up in the world for a second bracelet a clean result on its own terms. The hybrid format (online prelim, live final) is part of how the WSOP is expanding its reach, and a recognizable personality winning it suits the format.
Story 05 of 6
Koji Fujimoto won Event #67: $10,000 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Championship for $392,478 and his first WSOP bracelet, defeating Nick Schulman heads-up in a match that lasted nearly three hours. Schulman had a large chip lead entering heads-up play. Fujimoto was patient and turned the momentum before closing it out. PokerNews and poker.org both described beating Schulman as beating the 'Final Boss' of the event - a title Schulman had earned through his five previous WSOP bracelet victories in lowball and triple draw variants, plus his overall eight-bracelet resume. Fujimoto is a poker teacher based in Japan and is the 11th Japanese player to win a WSOP bracelet. PokerNews simultaneously published a feature on the Japanese poker boom at the 2026 WSOP.
Why it mattersSchulman entered heads-up as the chip leader and one of the most decorated lowball players alive. Losing from that position is a tough outcome in any event, and this one is particularly painful. For Fujimoto, defeating a specialist of Schulman's caliber at the highest-stakes version of the game he teaches is about as clean a debut bracelet as possible. The Japanese poker angle is a legitimate story: PokerNews ran a feature on it. The number of Japanese players making deep runs and winning bracelets in 2026 is notable enough that the coverage ecosystem has taken notice.
Story 06 of 6
Wednesday July 1 has four events running simultaneously. In Event #73: $5,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold'em, seven players return at 3 p.m. local time with Markus Gonsalves holding 17,150,000 chips - more than double the next stack. The winner takes $979,655. The remaining final tablists include bracelet winners Daniel Rezaei (5,775,000), Oliver Weis (13,400,000), and Joshua Boulton (6,675,000). In Event #76: $100,000 High Roller PLO, Artur Martirosian leads Day 2 with 5,815,000 chips after bagging the Day 1 top spot, with the field including Sean Winter (3,695,000), Alex Foxen (2,040,000), and Daniel Negreanu (1,990,000). Event #72: $1,000 Mini Main Event combines at 11 a.m. with 934 players from 12,560 total entries, playing down to five today. Event #75: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo Championship runs to its final day with Maxx Coleman leading 13 players at 2,430,000 chips.
Why it mattersThe $5K 6-Max is a near-million-dollar top prize with a final table that skews toward European players - Gonsalves has the chip lead but six-handed poker can move fast, and the field includes three bracelet winners. The $100K PLO is the marquee high-roller event of the back stretch - Foxen and Negreanu both with chips in a high-variance format against a field of elite PLO specialists is the kind of Day 2 that generates results. The Mini Main's 12,560-entry field is a statement: the WSOP's lower-buy-in events are drawing mass participation two weeks before the Main Event. The Stud Hi-Lo is Maxx Coleman's second final table of the summer and his best shot at a first bracelet.
Multiple bracelet winners from the June 30 to July 1 window. Deeb's win is confirmed July 1. Mizrachi, Higgins, Smith, and Yau wins are from June 30. Fujimoto's Event #67 win and Reichard's Event #62 win occurred earlier in the series and had not been previously reported in this brief. Ciro Gonzalez Event #65 full details are now confirmed.
Ninth career bracelet. River 9 gave Mizrachi a gutshot jack-high straight vs. Tumboli's aces on J-8-8 flop. Defending POY. Hahn out 3rd ($627,832).
Ninth career bracelet. Won TODAY. Comeback from near-elimination. Beat Dean Joe heads-up in two-plus hour battle. 'Too many seconds.' Reclaimed POY lead per poker.org.
First bracelet. Nine Circuit rings. 22,811 entries - 4th largest WSOP field ever. Beat Dominik Panka heads-up ($640K runner-up). Jonathan Schiller separately won $1M mystery bounty.
Second career bracelet. QQ > T9 heads-up vs. Mateos. Ended Mateos' 6-0 bracelet heads-up winning streak. Online prelim, live final table at Paris. 226 entries, $1,130,000 pool.
First bracelet. Long-time cash-game crusher. Heads-up vs. Vengrin: eight-seven low beat ten-eight in Pot-Limit 2-7 Triple Draw. Kihara out 3rd, denied third bracelet of the summer. 388 entries.
First bracelet. Poker teacher from Japan, 11th Japanese WSOP bracelet winner. Beat Schulman heads-up in nearly three hours after trailing. Schulman denied his 9th bracelet.
First bracelet after 73 prior WSOP final tables without gold. 17 Circuit rings, WPT title. Beat Caleb Harris heads-up - called Harris' river bluff with a straight vs. ace-high. 1,736 entries. PokerNews: 'About F***ing Time.'
First bracelet. Jewelry maker from Cancun. Beat Kyle Lin in short heads-up battle. 2,617 entries, $3,474,067 pool. Had never posted a five-figure score before. Entered on a friend's advice after busting Day 2 of another event.
Event #73 $5K 6-Max and Event #76 $100K PLO counts from end of June 30 play. Event #75 $10K Stud Hi-Lo counts from Day 2 bag-up. All confirmed via PokerNews Day 36 article.
Confirmed eliminations from PLO Championship final table, Mystery Millions, and Online Hybrid Championship. Tumboli and Mateos runner-up prizes not confirmed at press time.
Fought back from 4,450,000 chips three-handed against Mizrachi's 80% stack. Made the match tighter than expected before being eliminated before heads-up.
Final hand: had A-A-6-3 on J-8-8 flop, was ahead, lost on the river 9 to Mizrachi's gutshot straight. Started three-handed with only 5,550,000 chips - made Mizrachi earn it.
Bracelet winner. Runner-up to Higgins in the fourth-largest field in WSOP history. $640K for a $1,000 buy-in.
First heads-up loss in a WSOP bracelet event. Previously 6-0 when a bracelet was on the line. Lost QQ to T9. Seven career bracelet finals, six wins.
Eliminated three-handed by Dylan Smith. Was denied a third bracelet of the summer. Kihara is firmly in the POY race.
Two-time POY winner going for a third, which would be unprecedented. Won the $1,500 Eight-Game Mix today (Event #74) for his ninth bracelet. Poker.org confirmed he reclaimed the POY lead. His exact updated total is not yet on official standings. Volume approach plus bracelet wins is exactly how three-time POY campaigns are built.
Foxen held the top spot at 2,721 points before Glaser's PPC, Mizrachi's PLO, and Deeb's 8-Game points were applied. He is currently in the $100K High Roller PLO Day 2 with 2,040,000 chips - a deep run would add points at a major event. His lead may have already changed by the time standings officially update.
Won the $50K PPC on June 29. His updated POY point total has not been confirmed on official standings as of press time. A $50K event bracelet win carries the highest point weight on the schedule. Glaser, Mizrachi, and Deeb are all at nine bracelets and all plausibly in the top five of the race.
Won the $10K PLO Championship (Event #70), a high-prestige, technically demanding event, on top of already being the defending Main Event champion and POY. His PLO points have not been added to official standings yet. A third consecutive POY title - if the math works - would be without precedent.
Multiple sources reference Kihara as a major POY threat this summer after two bracelets. He was denied a third in the Mixed Big Bet (3rd place to Dylan Smith). His volume and win depth in 2026 keep him in the conversation for the overall title.