Kristen Foxen Wins Sixth Bracelet, Naoya Kihara Captures Second WSOP 2026 Title

Kristen Foxen Records A Career-Best Score In $25K High Roller NLH ($1,773,083)

Foxen began the six-handed final table with the second-largest stack at 31 big blinds. Galen Hall led the field with 53 big blinds.

Zdenek Zizka finished in 6th place. Holding 12 big blinds, Zizka opened from UTG with A 10 , while Hall defended the big blind with A 2 . The flop came 4 10 Q . Hall led for 10 big blinds, and Zizka called off his remaining chips. The turn was 6 .

Ignacio Moron finished in 5th place after losing a coin flip with ATo against Foxen’s pocket eights in a 37-big-blind pot.

Joey Weissman finished 4th after losing a BvB all-in with K8o against Biao Ding’s KQo in a 25-big-blind pot.

Biao Ding finished in 3rd place after getting all-in with K 7 against Foxen’s A 8 . The board ran out J 2 K 9 3 in a 22.2-big-blind pot.

Foxen entered heads-up play with 53 big blinds against Hall’s 49 big blinds. The key hand of the match can be found on Twitter (X):

Immediately afterward, Hall shoved A 4 , and Foxen instantly called with A A . By the turn, Hall was drawing dead.

Event #19: $25,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold’em Final Table Payouts (345 Entries)

Place	Country	Player	Prize
1		Kristen Foxen	$1,773,083
2		Galen Hall	$1,182,050
3		Biao Ding	$819,504
4		Joey Weissman	$577,326
5		Ignacio Moron	$413,389
6		Zdenek Zizka	$300,942
7		Ihar Soika	$222,798
8		Giuseppe Calio	$167,792

Kristen Foxen’s complete bracelet list:

• 2013 — $1,000 Ladies Championship ($173.9K)
• 2016 — $1,500 NLH Bounty ($290.7K)
• 2020 — $2,500 WSOP Online GGPoker NLH 6-Handed ($356.4K)
• 2023 — $888 WSOP Online US NLH Crazy 8’s ($94.1K)
• 2024 — $1,000 WSOP Online US NLH 6-Max ($283K)

The victory produced the largest cash of Foxen’s career. Her previous three seven-figure scores ($1.45M, $1.1M, and $1M) all came during the past year in Triton events.

Frederic Normand Plays His Second-Ever PLO8 Tournament And Wins It

The Canadian captured Event #21: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better for $235,377.

Normand entered the tournament because he drafted himself in the $25K Fantasy Draft. Fantasy Draft participants often find themselves playing events outside their specialties to earn points.

A poker professional with more than $3 million in live earnings, Normand spends roughly one-third of his time playing regular Omaha and the rest playing Hold’em. He first learned the rules of Big O two years ago, but many of the game’s finer points were still things he had to figure out during this tournament.

Ironically, just a few hours before the event started, Normand won a PLO tournament at Aria for $51K. He left the casino at 6 a.m.

Event #21: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Final Table Payouts (1,093 Entries)

Place	Country	Player	Prize
1		Frederic Normand	$235,377
2		Michael Rodrigues	$156,863
3		Josh Arieh	$110,085
4		Ryan Hansen	$78,430
5		Dennis Weiss	$56,738
6		Rocky Paradise	$41,688
7		Jordan Polk	$31,117
8		Tobias Hausen	$23,602

Jeff Madsen Wins Fifth Bracelet In $1,500 Dealer’s Choice ($161K)

This is one of the most demanding tournaments on the WSOP schedule, requiring players to know the rules of 21 different poker variants.

Event #20: $1,500 Dealer’s Choice Final Table Payouts (656 Entries)

Place	Country	Player	Prize
1		Jeff Madsen	$161,057
2		Philip Wess	$107,341
3		Luteng Li	$72,042
4		Dario Sammartino	$49,383
5		Clayton Mozdzen	$34,588
6		Kelvin Zhao	$24,766

Jeff Madsen is a legend. In 2006, at the age of 21, he was named WSOP Player of the Year after winning two events. Here is the list of his previous victories:

• 2006 — $2K NLH ($660.9K)
• 2006 — $5K NLH ($643.4K)
• 2013 — $3K PLO ($384.4K)
• 2015 — $3K PLO8 ($301.4K)

Naoya Kihara Wins His Second WSOP 2026 Bracelet In $10K Stud Championship ($301,970)

It took Kihara only three days to win his second bracelet of the series.

The variance has finally started going his way. Kihara has been traveling to the WSOP for 14 years. During that entire stretch, he was unable to win a bracelet — and now he has won two in the same series.

$10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship Final Table Payouts (130 Entries)

Place	Country	Player	Prize
1		Naoya Kihara	$301,970
2		James Cheung	$201,308
3		Allen Kessler	$139,036
4		Jeremy Ausmus	$98,782
5		Chris Brewer	$72,254
6		Michael Mizrachi	$54,458
7		Ryan Miller	$42,333
8		Jason Kluska	$33,974