Breaking Down the Biggest 2026 WSOP Poker Hands – Part 1

Event #1 – $550 NLHE Mini Mystery Millions – You’re gonna need a bigger boat

The first bracelet event saw over 20,000 entries looking to play for a $1 million bounty and the first gold up for grabs, and when we got down to 6 players left, an odd hand took place that ended up costing one player their shot at WSOP glory.

In level 46 with blinds at 4 million and 8 million with an 8 million big blind ante, Jalil Houssain limped from under the gun, and both blinds came along to see a flop three-way. The flop came King-Two-Two and an Ace on the turn seeing no action from the three players, but when a Four hit the river, Joseph Trezzo – the big blind – bet 20 million into a 32 million chip pot. Houssain jammed, getting the small blind to fold, and Trezzo snap called off the rest of his chips, only to feel like those who were in the Jaws movie – he needed a bigger boat…

We are omitting the history of Houssain up until this point and evaluating the hand in a vacuum but to allow both blinds to see a flop holding such a powerful pre-flop hand seems like you are asking for trouble – until you flop a monster hand and have your opponents dominated. The trap game was on before the flop, but it was really on after the flop as Houssain did not want to let either blind off the hook, and betting surely would have induced two folds in most cases. Had he known that Trezzo had trips, a bet more than likely gets a raise, and they probably get it all in on the flop.

Flipping to Trezzo, the check pre-flop seemed fine but once the flop came as it did, he too was playing the trap game, not wanting to lose either player. The curious part comes on the river – in such a passive hand, betting two-thirds of a pot with zero action was a good attempt to make it look like a bluff, but when Houssain shoved and he snapped without thinking, you have to think why snap. Yes you have a powerful boat but once cannot forget one of the cardinal rules in poker – don’t go broke on a limped pot. Trezzo sits with 6 left at a WSOP final table and ultimately takes the walk out of the tournament area needing a bigger boat.

Event #2 – $5,000 NLHE 8-Handed – Are Pocket Tens Just Like Pocket Jacks?

The second event of the series saw 570 hopefuls put down five thousand to chase a bracelet, and at this final table, the last hand of the tournament is what we’ll look at here. In level 32 with blinds at 150k and 300k with a 300k big blind ante, Chenxiang Miao raised to 750k, getting a call from Daniyal Gheba in the big blind. Miao continued on the flop with a 550k bet, but Gheba check-raised to 1.4 million. Miao three-bet to 3.55 million, which brought a four-bet shove from Gheba, which Miao called.

This is an interesting hand as the stack sizes before the hand were relatively close – Gheba had just under 17 million, while Miao had just under 12 million – neither short by any means.Pre-flop was fairly standard – Miao’s raise sizing was fine if that’s what he had been doing up to that point, and Gheba was getting 3 to 1 on a call which plays out fine. The check-raise by Gheba looks as much as a bet to put the pre-flop raiser to the test given the board texture as it is to build a pot given the outs they had, but the interesting spot comes when Miao three-bets to 3.55 million. Let’s look at the math there:

On the flop the pot size is 1.8 million, and the betting to this point brought to 3.75 million. Miao was getting 4 to 1 to call this, while their SPR was sitting just below 3. Three-betting now would surely require a bet on the turn, but sizing this to 3.55 million gives Miao a SPR of just over 1 – and a larger three-bet drops that SPR to below 1, meaning that with Miao’s aggression, Gheba knew all of the chips would be going into the middle. His question was whether to do that before or after the flush hit.

Miao could have flatted the flop raise & then shoved turn, making the hand much harder for Gheba to continue at that point with the brick on the turn, but because Miao three-bet without fully considering the pot dynamics, Gheba decided to get the money in before his flush hit, and ultimately winning the tournament.

Event #7 – $25,000 NLHE Heads-Up Championship – High Fives From Danchev

Our next hand comes from the final match-up of the $25k Heads-Up Championship – Dimitar Danchev was behind Nikita Kuznetsov when the tides turned for Danchev and it was high fives all around. We pick-up the action in level 58 with blinds at 50k and 100k, with Kuznetsov sitting with 12.6 million and Danchev with 6.5 million.

Danchev raises from the button up to 225k, garnering a call from Kuznetsov. Danchev c-bet the flop for 110k, but Kuznetsov raised it up to 365k, to which Danchev flatted. The turn saw Kuznetsov fire again, 1.575 million, and Danchev was happy to go to the river, where Kuznetsov shoved, and Danchev snap called to sail his boat into the far blue ocean and an eventual WSOP bracelet win.

It’s not often that a cooler like this makes for an interesting hand to break down but there were a couple of things that stood out about this:

• The chips essentially flipped positions – the stacks before were 12.6 and 6.5 and after the hand they were 13 and 6.1 million
• Neither player was short stacked – Danchev had 60 big blinds going into the hand
• Kuznetsov didn’t slow play his trip tens

The last point is the most interesting – the raise on the flop is the most curious given that you are heads-up and your opponent is not likely to have hit a Ten-Ten-Five board when you have a Ten yourself. By check-raising the flop, Kuznetsov risked a lot of potential value on the turn and river as it could have been difficult for Danchev to fold, but it then raises a bigger question, especially when Kuznetsov got called on the turn – why is Danchev still calling? What could he possibly have that he would be willing to call off a third of his stack? It should not matter the circumstances – whether you are playing a full table $100 buy-in cash game, or heads-up for a WSOP bracelet and hundreds of thousands of dollars, you always need to go through the same questions in your head through a hand, and it feels like Kuznetsov got “Bracelet brain” and became fixated on the idea that this was the last hand of the tournament and he was about to win the bracelet. Danchev played this beautifully and was rewarded with a full double-up – and never looked back on his way to victory.

Event #11 – $10k NLHE GGMillion$ High Roller – Big Bluff, Bad Timing

The final hand we’ll look at today came from the $10k GGMillion$ High Roller between Chris Brewer and Alex Cruz. Brewer is among the poker elite, while Cruz had just over $1 million in total live earnings before this final table wrapped up – could this have been a case where Brewer thought he could pull one over on the table?

In level 32 with blinds at 150k and 300k with a 300k big blind ante, we find Brewer up over 20 million in chips, while Cruz was sitting with around 4.5 million five handed. It folded to Brewer in the cutoff who raised to 480k, garnering a call from only Cruz in the big blind. Brewer c-bet for 325k, but Cruz check-raised him up to 825k, which Brewer called. With the pot now over 3 million, Cruz led on the turn for 1.1 million, which did not scare Brewer off. The river brought a check from Cruz, which prompted Brewer to effectively put Cruz all-in, which Cruz snapped off, doubling up.

I love that Cruz tried to build the pot up on the flop with his flush draw for two reasons:

• Being out of position, it makes him look like he’s protecting top pair
• He’s building a pot, knowing that Brewer should pay him off if it hits given how deep Brewer was at this point

Brewer’s instincts more than likely put Cruz squarely on the jack, and given he picked up more outs on the turn, was not about to lay down the second nut flush draw with position on a short stack. Where Brewer may have gone wrong here was getting stuck on that top pair read, as well as Cruz’s stack – he did not have a pot size bet back on the river, effectively being committed when that “scare card” comes on the river. Even with a pair of jacks, Cruz would have a hard time laying this hand down given the odds he would have been getting – around 2 to 1 – and not having the fold equity. Brewer’s only hope was the ICM implications of busting here with top pair, but not having the King high flush in his range – there’s no way Brewer’s shoving into that if he suspected it, regardless of the odds – left Brewer on a slippery slope that would take him from a huge stack to out in 4th place, and allowing Cruz to chip up to eventually finish second.

The hands keep coming and next time we’ll take a look at hands from final tables through the second week of the series! Let us know if you agree with how these hands played out!