Very few people become Grandmasters at a game, whether it be chess like Magnus Carlsen, or Backgammon, like 26-year-old Czech National Zdenek Zizka. Even fewer are Grandmasters and WSOP Bracelet holders.

With a win in Event #84: $1,000 No-Limit Holdem, Zizka scored his maiden WSOP Bracelet and joined a refined and interesting collection of people to have won a bracelet whilst being a Grandmaster. 

Zizka is the first BMAB (Backgammon Masters Awarding Body) Grandmaster titleholder to win a bracelet, which demonstrates how mastery of one game can translate into another. Many poker players over the years have dabbled in backgammon, and vice versa; Gus Hansen being one of the prominent examples. 

Photo Credit: Alicia Skillman

“ZZ” has been playing his first game of backgammon since the age of five, and has been competing professionally for the last ten years. 

He bested WSOP POTY Contender Shaun Deeb, who was gunning for his second bracelet this summer, as well as a strong field of 1,873, for a total payday of $232,498. This $1k event generated a total prize pool of $1,648,240. Not a bad score to have for a first major tournament victory!

Cary Katz is a prominent name in poker, both on and off the felt. He is a highly successful individual, as evidenced by the hugely popular PokerGo Streaming service and a whopping $40,530,038 in live tournament earnings.

However, there was a certain piece of hardware that had alluded Katz until last night: a WSOP Gold Bracelet. 

Katz took down the 1,299-strong field in Event #83: $2,500 Freezeout No-Limit Hold’em for a score of $449,245, a sizeable chunk of the $2,890,275 prize pool. 

Far from the biggest score of his career, which was a huge £2,100,000 in the £250,000 Super High Roller Bowl London back in 2019, this one could mean the most to the talented businessman and high-stakes regular. 

After the heads-up had concluded, Katz said, “I like freezeouts. I’ll go over to late register the freezeout and see what happens. And it was a good decision. I’m glad I took my shot.”

What sweetens the score is that Katz admitted that he “wasn’t supposed to play it…but you know, I had a feeling I kind of want to play this.”

A star-studded final table of super crushers assembled under the lights of the Horseshoe and Paris Cardroom last night to win one of the biggest event buy-in events on the schedule: Event #79: $100,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller.

The inaugural three-day event attracted 121 total entrants, which generated a prize pool of $11,676,500, the lion’s share of which went home in the hands of Shaun Deeb, along with a seventh career bracelet. 

Deeb was the last man standing when all was said and done, and his win secured him a career-best score of $2,957,229, eclipsing his previous biggest win of $1,402,683, which came in the $25,000 PLO High Roller at the WSOP in 2018. 

With this win, Deeb has also taken pole position in the WSOP Player of the Year rankings, overtaking four-time final tablist and Mini Main Winner Martin Kabrhel. 

Poker is known for having big characters, from Mike “The Mouth” Matusow and Phil Hellmuth, to Daniel “KidPoker” Negreanu and Doyle Brunson. 

None seem to be as polarizing as one man, though. And that man is now a four-time WSOP Bracelet Winner, and leading the POTY rankings for this year’s flagship event in Vegas. 

That man is Martin Kabrhel. 

Poker’s favourite “villain” bested 10,794 entries in Event #75: $1,000 Mini Main Event to claim the top prize of $843,140 for his efforts, a massive ROI on the $1,000 buy-in. The total prize pool was a staggering $9,498,720.

He joked that “the hippo is hungry” on X, referring to a small figurine he brings to the table that serves as a card protector and chip tower adornment. Well, the hippo must be nearing full now after that big win, but I doubt Kabrhel will be slowing down anytime soon. 

Kabrhel is usually seen playing much higher buy-in events, but he seems to want to play anything and everything when it comes to No Limit Hold’em and PLO tournaments. 

So far at this year’s WSOP, he’s cashed in eight events, which featured four final table appearances in the $5,000 PLO where he finished third for $288,775, seventh in the $250,000 Super High Roller for $674,359, fifth in the $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty for $212,926 and most recently his triumph in the $1,000 Mini Main.

It’s official—one of the largest tournaments of the 2025 World Series of Poker will go down in the record books without a champion.

After days of speculation, tweets, and more rumors than a Vegas poker room can hold, the WSOP has confirmed the outcome of Event #53: the $1,500 Millionaire Maker. Jesse Yaginuma and James Carroll — who only a week ago were set to be crowned millionaires and bracelet winners — will still get their payday but not the glory.

The investigation, sparked by a series of eyebrow-raising hands during heads-up play, has now concluded that no winner will be recognized, no bracelet will be awarded, and the prize pool will be split evenly between the two.

They say poker is akin to psychological warfare, that the players who take to the felt in any cardroom are there to battle. 

It could be seen as fitting that this tournament in particular is called the Gladiators of Poker, as a staggering 24,629 took to the arena, in this case the Horseshoe and Paris, across four Day 1 flights to take home the bracelet and a whopping $420,680.

The word gladiator comes from the word “gladius”, a type of Ancient Roman sword, and gladiator’s literal translation would be “swordsman”. 

Photo Credit: Eloy Cabacas

Ian Pelz proved to have the sharpest blade in the arena last night, as he took home the massive first-place prize and a World Series of Poker Bracelet for his efforts over the previous three days. What makes this greater is that he registered on a whim, referring to the buy-in as “one hungover bullet.”

He has added this success to a third-place finish in Event #60: $3,000 Limit Hold’em 6-Handed, which earned him $85,431. 

History has a way of repeating itself, but rarely does it do so well. Japan’s Shiina Okamoto just etched her name into World Series of Poker lore, completing a back-to-back victory in the $1,000 Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Championship. If her runner-up finish in 2023 felt like a statement, her second consecutive title removed any doubt: this is her event.

Okamoto came into the final day with the chip lead and an entire poker world watching. Could she really go two-for-two? With 1,368 entries — another massive field of talented women all hoping to stop her — it would be no easy feat. But by the end of the day, she was the last player standing yet again, collecting $184,094 and her second bracelet in as many years.

Photo Credits: Spenser Sembrat & Eloy Cabacas

The 2025 World Series of Poker is underway in Las Vegas and while the Main Event starting is still a few weeks away, what have the last 5 main event champs been up to since their massive wins?  Are they still in the limelight, grinding away or have they faded away from poker and moved onto other endeavors?  Here’s a look at the last 5 World champions and where they are today in poker. 

The odds didn’t seem in favour of Andjelko Andrejevic at the start of play last night in Event #62: $5,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em at this year’s World Series of Poker in Vegas. 

He came into the last day and the final five, at the bottom of the chip counts with 19 big blinds. Still a workable stack, but nearest was Adrien Delmas in fourth with 34 big blinds, almost double. 

Despite all this, Andrejevic left with a maiden bracelet and a score of $855,515 for his efforts over the four days spent at the Horseshoe and Paris cardroom. He topped a field of 1,168 and scooped the healthiest chunk of the sizeable $5,527,120. This was his third-largest career cash. 

Photo Credits: Eloy Cabacas & Regina Cortina

Millionaires are made across the Las Vegas Strip all year round. That could be from betting on sports, playing high-stakes blackjack, binking a slot machine jackpot, or winning a tournament with nearly 12,000 entrants over a five-day stretch. And that is what Maryland native Jesse Yaginuma achieved as Event #53: $1,500 Millionaire Maker concluded last night under the lights of the Horsehoe and Paris cardroom feature table.

He took home $1,255,180 and a bonus $1,000,000 from a ClubWPT Gold promotion. Yaginuma won a Gold Rush ticket from the sweeps coin poker site, which made him eligible for the seven-figure bonus if he were to take down a qualifying WSOP event. And take it down he did. Despite this being his fourth bracelet victory, this is Yaginuma’s first live bracelet success. He rose to the top of the 11,996 entries, scooping the healthiest share of the whopping $15,900,000 prize pool.

Photo Credit: Austin Currington

As heads-up play began, he overcame a substantial chip deficit of 9:1 versus James Carroll. That deficit reached 16:1 at one point during the tournament, but Yaginuma applied himself well to the challenge, asserting pressure and putting Carroll in tough spots throughout the heads-up battle.