Breaking Down the Biggest 2026 WSOP Poker Hands – Part 2

Event #16 – $1700 NLHE US WSOP Circuit Championship – Cohen Gets the Consolation Prize

Antonio Vargas’ path to the $1700 NLHE US WSOP Circuit Championship bracelet was one paved with many ups and downs, particularly heads-up against Kai Cohen who was able to double up several times in what became a lengthy battle heads-up, but Vargas outlasted Cohen and 2,146 other players to win the bracelet. While heads-up was a back-and-forth battle, the final hand proved costly for Cohen who put his faith into a pair of ladies.

On level 37 with blinds at 500k and 1 million with a 1 million BB ante, Vargas was on the button with a 52 million chip stack, and min-raised it up to 2 million. Cohen in the big blind with approximately 33 million in chips, called. Vargas c-bet the flop for 2.7 million, and 8 million on the turn, getting calls from Cohen on both streets. The river saw Vargas shove, and after tanking, Cohen called off his stack and saw the bad news.

Clearly Cohen felt the momentum of this final table was on his side when it came to all-in pots – he had doubled up several times before this hand against Vargas which most definitely played a part in how this turned out, but what’s interesting is how chasing flush draws can be very costly. Flopping the third-nut flush heads up but only queen-high can be a powerful position to be in post-flop, particularly when you are heads-up, but Cohen was put in an awful position on the turn with the queen.

Missing your flush draw on the turn greatly reduces your equity but hitting top pair potentially blinded Cohen to the fact that Vargas could have had a draw himself, and not a pair as Vargas’ betting pattern may have suggested. In fact, the board having two flush draws makes the situation slightly more daunting for Vargas as he now must protect his straight against spades and backdoor diamonds and even consider a gutshot Broadway draw if Cohen had a weak ace which would not have been crazy for him to hold.

Getting the so-called Consolation Prize of top pair was enough to hook Cohen to the pot, regardless of what Vargas bet, so when the shove came on the deuce on the river – which never does change anything – Cohen went for it, hoping that he could once again pull off the full double. Instead, he got the other consolidation prize of second place in the tournament.

Cohen missed a chance to shut this hand down on the flop with Vargas being as aggressive as he was in this spot and heads-up overall. A check-raise with the flush draw might have been enough to scare Vargas off the pot and salvage chips, but his passive play post-flop of trying to hit his flush, and then get to showdown with top pair did him in.

Once he calls the turn, unless he shoves turn (which clearly gets called here), the equity would have been against him folding and been very difficult to fold top pair + a flush draw, especially when the pot odds are taken into consideration. Aggressive lines generally win in poker, especially when you are heads-up though.

Event #18 – $1500 NLHE Monster Stack – Monster Hands Can Be A Blessing…or a Curse

The Monster Stack saw almost 12,000 people take their shot at WSOP glory and the top prize of $1.3 million dollars, but once the dust all settled, it was Richard Alsup who defeated Salvatore Dicarlo to claim his second WSOP bracelet. The heads-up battle was epic, lasting almost three hours before Alsup took it down, and we look back at one of the turning points of the heads-up fight where Alsup dug deep and found lady luck smiling back.

In level 45 with blinds at 3 million and 6 million with a 6 million BB Ante, we find Dicarlo on the button with approximately 453 million chip stack and raising to 12 million which got called by Alsup in the big blind, who was sporting a 144 million chip stack. The flop was checked to Dicarlo who bet 8 million, but Alsup check-shoved 120 million all-in, which was snapped off by Dicarlo. The dealer dealt the turn and river, and instead of the knockout blow delivered, Alsup was given new life.

Alsup had already used his lucky rabbit’s foot once against the pocket rockets of Dicarlo, breaking up his aces with trip kings hit on the river, so you can imagine what Dicarlo felt when the cards went on their backs to see that Alsup had a pair, and the river brought trips to propel Alsup to within 9.5 big blinds of Dicarlo.

Alsup’s strategy of seeing as many flops as possible paid off here – albeit lucky that the river was another six – as he limped almost every pot heads-up, forcing Dicarlo to pivot and deal with a player playing as passively as possible pre-flop, along with the fact that he was feeling winning hands and being right more often than not may have contributed to his passive play turning ultra-aggressive with his check-shove on this flop for such a massive overbet – there was only 38 million in the pot when Alsup check-shoved for 120 million – roughly 2 ½ times pot – clearly looked fishy to Dicarlo, who decided that pocket aces couldn’t possibly be cracked twice – right?

It does look like Alsup was in Dicarlo’s head during this match-up and poker is as much a psychological game as it is a math and logic game, and to that end, Alsup claims a seven-figure payday and Dicarlo leaves wondering if he’ll ever look at pocket aces the same again…

Event #19 – $25K NLHE High Roller – Never Going To Give You Up

The first $25K High Roller event of the summer was an historic one as Canada’s best poker players ever – and one of the best right now period took down the $25k High Roller as Kristen Foxen defeated a star-studded final table to claim victory, having to battle Galen Hall heads-up to snag the bracelet and the over $1.7 million in prize money. Their heads-up battle was entertaining to say the least, and one pot stood out that showed Foxen was locked in at the final table, taking back the chip lead for good.

In level 26 with blinds at 250k and 500k with a 500k BB Ante, Hall was on the button sitting with approximately 31 million in chips and raised Foxen’s blind up to 1.5 million. Foxen called, beginning the hand with 21 million in chips. The flop saw Hall continue with a 1.3 million chip bet, but Foxen check-raised him up to 3 million, which was not enough to scare Hall off the pot. The turn brought more heat from Foxen, pushing 4 million into the middle, but Hall decided to give up and fight another hand.

This was a significant moment in the match as Hall had the chip lead up until this hand, but at this point Foxen was locked in on the bracelet and chipped up considerably in the hands that led to the end of the tournament. Hall seemed back on his heels here, but consider the action by him – raise, bet, call, fold. With 9 million chips in the middle, the pot was approaching 20% of all chips in play when the turn card peeled off, and Foxen’s pot size bet was a signal to Hall that she was ready to play for it all – she only had around 7 million behind her with the 9 million chip bet – so Hall was effectively calling a 16 million chip bet here as there would almost certainly be no card that could come on the river that would slow Foxen down – her 7 million into 27.5 million pot at that point left her with little to no fold equity.

Hall sitting with two pair and two over cards – one being a four that came on the turn – it was not likely that Foxen had him beat, but recognizing the dynamics of the pot, made the correct decision to fold – the only question that could be asked is if the pot call was justified. Hall had to know that Foxen was going to lead the turn unless an ace hit – and that may not have stopped her from betting – so Hall had to think about the turn bet that would be forthcoming. If he was only going to continue if a three hit – the likelihood of that happening only being 5% for the turn, does it make sense to continue from the flop? Given his fold with a four coming – one should argue no.

Event #24 – $25k NLHE High Roller 6-Handed – Sometimes Plan B Works

Russia’s all time money winner padded his stats in the $25k High Roller Six-Handed event as Artur Martirosian soared to the top of the leaderboard after day 2 and led the charge through the final table to claim his fourth bracelet and $1.2 million in winnings. The battle with Pavel Plesuv was epic, trading blows back and forth but this hand where both chased straight draws – and both missed – revealed the power of sizing your river bet properly to induce a fold.

It’s level 24 with blinds at 150k and 300k with a 300k BB ante. Martirosian started the hand under 21 million, while Plesuv had 14 million to start. Plesuv raised Martirosian’s button to 600k and the Russian called. The flop brought a c-bet from Plesuv – an almost pot sized bet of 1.2 million which Martirosian called again. The turn was no different – another massive 3.2 million bet from Plesuv which did not scare the Russian off. The river however brought Martirosian out, betting “only” 1.5 million to which Plesuv threw in the towel and folded.

Usually in poker, when both players in a hand are chasing and both miss their draw, the first to bet usually wins the pot, and in this case that is exactly what happened. What makes this hand interesting is Plesuv’s over-aggressiveness on the flop – betting almost pot on a nine-high board with both a straight draw and a flush draw gave the appearance of protecting top pair against every draw, to which Martirosian picked up on – hence why he continued.

When the over card came on the turn, giving Martirosian more outs, this may have given him more ammo to continue in the hand, especially with a similar sized bet of over 3 million into a 3.9 million chip pot, thinking that he could steal it away from Plesuv (not realizing he was significantly ahead here). But the river is interesting – both draws miss but the flush draw comes in, potentially scaring off both players. Martirosian however, not scared, bets a small value bet to induce a fold from Plesuv, to which he obliged essentially only playing six-high.

One must wonder why Plesuv bet so hard on the flop and turn, knowing that his draw could miss, and the flush draw or over cards could get there – in this case, both did. Plesuv lost approximately 1/3 of his stack in this spot trying to protect a straight draw against so many outs, and given what Martirosian’s hand was, he could have gotten to this point saving most of his chips and having the same result.

Next time, we’ll dive into more hands from final tables of the 2026 WSOP and analyze why some of the best poker players in the world did when the bracelet was on the line!