Best players without a WSOP bracelet

Every year at the World Series of Poker in Vegas, in the Bahamas, and in Europe, more than a hundred bracelets are awarded. And if you count the online events, that number grows by another order of magnitude. For many poker players, these titles are the ultimate tournament trophies and proof of their ability to beat the strongest opponents. However, there are outstanding players who have yet to win a single bracelet. With the help of FunFarm founder Fyodor Truntsev, we've gathered several such stories. 

Christoph Vogelsang

Photo: Regina Cortina

Christoph Vogelsang is a three-time Triton Poker Series champion and one of the most controversial players of our time. He sits second on the German All Time Money List and ranks in the top 20 worldwide, having earned more than $47,000,000 in live tournaments and recorded 13 seven-figure scores over his career. At the same time, he's often criticized for his slow style of play and his frequent use of clothing that hides his face. Supposedly, Vogelsang resorts to these tactics to throw opponents off balance and prevent them from reading his tells. The high roller, of course, rejects all of these accusations. 

Nevertheless, there's no doubting Vogelsang's skills or success. The German has one piece of unfinished business he can't yet resolve — winning a World Series of Poker bracelet. Though Christoph made a very loud statement right at his first appearance at the WSOP. In 2014, he finished third in the $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop, earning $4,480,001. Since then, he's had a great many attempts to capture a title. Vogelsang has cashed 44 times at the WSOP and reached the final table ten times. 

Photo: Spenser Sembrat

Several times Vogelsang was literally one step away from a World Series win. He finished third in the €250,000 Super High Roller at WSOP Europe in Rozvadov in 2019, and in the $50,000 high roller in Las Vegas in 2024. The German came closest to a bracelet in 2022. That year, he lost to Dan Smith in the final of the heads-up championship and took a modest-by-his-standards $315,029 for second place. 

Steve O'Dwyer

Photo: Danny Maxwell

Steve O'Dwyer's career has had many, many wins, including Triton, World Poker Tour, and European Poker Tour titles. Through his live tournament results he's earned more than $47,000,000, climbing to 16th place on the global All Time Money List, just ahead of Vogelsang in 17th. Yet even in his rich collection of trophies there's no WSOP bracelet.

The reason O'Dwyer lacks a World Series title is quite prosaic. Although Steve was born in the US, he has long lived in Ireland and prefers to play tournaments closer to home. From the late 2000s through the mid-2010s, he regularly came to the WSOP in Las Vegas, but he stopped doing so long ago. His last live cash at the World Series came in 2018, when he finished 13th in the €95,000 Super High Roller at WSOP Europe in the Czech Republic. Since then, O'Dwyer has only cashed a few times in the series' online tournaments. 

Photo: Danny Maxwell

O'Dwyer's best WSOP achievement is two final tables. The American regular first reached a final table back in 2009 in Vegas, when he finished eighth in the heads-up championship with a $10,000 buy-in and took $92,580. And in 2015, O'Dwyer finished fifth in the cheap €550 No-Limit Hold'em The Oktoberfest at the World Series festival in Berlin. That result brought him $48,904. 

Maria Ho

Photo: Hayley Hochstetler

The opposite of O'Dwyer could be said to be Maria Ho. The American poker player, a member of the women's Hall of Fame, has consistently competed at the World Series since 2007. In that time, Ho has cashed 115 times. On top of that, she's been the last woman standing in the WSOP Main Event four times. Also a unique achievement.

Maria Ho has ten World Series final table appearances to her name. And in every one of those cases, she finished no lower than sixth. In 2011, Ho came closest to a title. She reached heads-up in the $5,000 No Limit Hold'em event but lost to Allen Bari. That same time, the poker player recorded her best cash, earning $540,020. In December 2023, Ho came close to repeating that success, but busted in third place in the NLH Mystery Millions event at WSOP Paradise, taking $200,000. 

Photo: WSOP.com

In 2025, Maria Ho missed the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas for the first time in 16 years, citing more important matters. At the time, she said she missed playing at the WSOP but had set other priorities for herself. This year the poker player returned to the series in Vegas, but only as a commentator. 

Jonathan Jaffe 

Photo: Danny Maxwell

Jonathan Jaffe is a multiple WPT winner, a Triton Poker champion, and simply one of the elite heads-up specialists. He first made a name for himself online, and in the late 2000s he burst into live tournaments as well. In November 2008, the American earned $670,636 for second place in the No-Limit Hold'em event at the WPT Finals. Over the years, Jaffe has built a reputation as a player who combines high aggression with a deep understanding of GTO and fine work reading opponents. 

At the World Series of Poker, Jonathan Jaffe has earned $6,500,000 of his career total of $22,952,800. The American reg has cashed 37 times at the WSOP and reached final tables nine times. Notably, at those final tables he busted in fourth place four times. The first such case happened back in 2008 in the heads-up championship, and the most recent in December 2025, when he recorded his best cash, taking $2,860,000 in the $250,000 NLH Triton Invitational at WSOP Paradise.

Photo: Regina Cortina

Jaffe finished one spot higher in October 2021. That time, he took third place in the 6-Handed NLH event with a $5,000 buy-in. The American fell only to fellow countrymen Galen Hall and Scott Ball. Jaffe hasn't managed to get any closer to a WSOP bracelet since then.

Juan Pardo Dominguez

Photo: Danny Maxwell

Juan Pardo is one of the most successful and well-known Spanish poker players. With $17,000,000, he sits third on his country's All Time Money List, behind only World Series champions Adrian Mateos and Sergio Aido. Pardo won most of his live titles on the EPT and in high rollers in Vegas outside the WSOP. 

Pardo made his name online, playing under the nickname Malaka$style. The Spaniard calls himself the all-time profit leader in GGPoker history. There are no exact statistics, but he's at least among the best in the room by winnings. According to one review, by the end of 2025 he had earned $9,200,000 in the GGMillion$ series alone. On top of that, last November he set a record by winning five high roller tournaments in a single week during GGMillion$ Week. 

Photo: Manuel Kovsca

Pardo still plays online regularly to this day, so a large number of his WSOP ITMs come precisely from online tournaments. However, the Spaniard posted his best WSOP result in Las Vegas. In June 2018, he finished third in the heads-up championship, letting only Jason McConnon and Justin Bonomo ahead of him. 

In December 2025, Juan Pardo continued his bracelet chase at WSOP Paradise, but things didn't go his way there. The Spaniard cashed only twice, finishing 35th in the $100,000 Triton NLHE Main Event and 108th in the Super Main Event with a $25,000 buy-in.

Patrik Antonius

Photo: Danny Maxwell

Surprisingly, Hall of Fame member Patrik Antonius has never won a WSOP bracelet. The Finn, who has earned $34,675,694 in live tournaments and probably many times more online, has been a champion of the EPT, Triton Poker, and even The Patrik Antonius Poker Challenge. Who else has a win in an event named after themselves? 

What's more, Antonius recorded his first World Series cashes way back in 2005. In 2007, he came closest to a title, finishing third in the PLO championship with a $10,000 buy-in and earning $311,394. The bracelet that time went to Robert Mizrachi, who beat Rene Mouritsen heads-up.

Photo: Danny Maxwell 

In total, Antonius has cashed 34 times at the WSOP and played at a final table six times. His most recent attempt to win a title as of now came in December 2025. The Finnish professional finished eighth in the $125,000 Triton NLH 7-Handed event in the Bahamas. Antonius didn't capture the trophy, but at least he recorded his best cash at the World Series, earning $415,000. 

Viktor Blom

Photo: Trevor Scott

Viktor Blom became an online poker legend before the world even knew his real name. While still a youngster, he appeared on Full Tilt Poker under the name Isildur1, where he challenged the strongest players, including Tom Dwan, Phil Ivey, and Antonius himself. The Swede gained popularity thanks to his aggressive style and his ability to spin up a bankroll from next to nothing to enormous sums, only to go bust afterward and repeat the cycle again. We told the story of how, in April 2026, Blom turned $13,600 into $3,770,000 in a separate article.

Viktor Blom landed his first live cash in 2010 at WSOP Europe in London, when he finished 16th in the £10,000 NLH Championship Event and earned $51,806. For a long time, Isildur competed only in Europe, and in 2019 he played without much success at the World Series festival in the Czech Republic. Only from 2023 did the Swedish high roller start appearing regularly at tournaments in Vegas.

Photo: Eloy Cabacas

In 2024, Blom finished third in the $50,000 and $100,000 high rollers at the festival in Las Vegas. But 2025 truly hurt him. In June, Isildur lost to Ian Johns heads-up in the $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship 8-Handed, and in December he finished second in the $10,000 SUPER PLOSSUS, losing to the Dutchman Tom Vogelsang. 

Right now, Viktor Blom is in Las Vegas again and has already cashed twice, earning modest sums. He got $9,290 for 40th place in the Pot Limit Big O, and for 148th in the NLH/PLO Deepstack 8-Handed with a $600 buy-in, the Swede received $1,815. 

Ben Tollerene

Photo: Neil Stoddart

Blom has a fellow sufferer among his former opponents too. His name is Ben Tollerene. Over his career, the American regular seems to have won nearly every prestigious trophy. His collection includes WPT, EPT, Triton Poker, and PokerGO Tour titles. But a bracelet still eludes him.

And you can't say Tollerene isn't striving for a WSOP title. Of his first 15 cashes, according to Hendon Mob, the American earned nine precisely at the World Series. That includes playing at the final table of the $10,000 NLH 6-Handed Championship in 2011, where he finished seventh. In total, he has 20 ITMs and seven final tables in WSOP events.

Photo: Omar Sader

Tollerene recorded a peculiar double of second places in 2024. In Las Vegas, the American lost to Santhosh Suvarna heads-up in the $250,000 super high roller, and in the Bahamas he couldn't overcome Lautaro Guerra in a similar event with a $100,000 buy-in. These results brought Ben more than $5,000,000, but the coveted trophy once again proved out of reach.

What's more, at that same WSOP Paradise in December 2024, Tollerene finished third in the $50,000 PLO Championship, and last summer he busted one step short of heads-up in the $50,000 NLH High Roller 8-Handed in Vegas, behind Andrew Lichtenberger and Jason Koon. At the current World Series, the American hasn't yet played in a single tournament.

Tony "Ren" Lin

Photo: Eloy Cabacas

Let's close out our selection with a story about a title chase that nearly ended prematurely due to a scandal. Its protagonist is Tony "Ren" Lin, who burst into the high roller world in the early 2020s. After 19 cashes in WSOP online events, the Chinese professional came to Las Vegas, where he cashed another 13 times and even finished second in the $50,000 NLH High Roller, losing heads-up to Nikita Bodyakovsky.

Since then, Lin hasn't stopped racking up ITMs at the World Series, while also winning WPT, PokerGo Tour, and Asian Poker Tour events. Ren has 83 cashes in WSOP online and live events to his name and ten final table appearances. The Chinese player finished second in online tournaments three times, and in December 2024 he lost to Nick Schulman heads-up in the $5,000 The Closer NLH Turbo Bounty at WSOP Paradise. 

In July 2025, Tony Lin was again close to a bracelet — third place in the $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em. And just a few months later he was indefinitely banned from participating in the World Series of Poker, GGPoker online events, and other partner platforms. Moreover, he was disqualified right in the middle of Day 2 of the WSOP Circuit Main Event in Cyprus. The reason for the penalty was that Ren helped a Chinese player under the nickname RealOA win the online $10,300 GGMillion$ tournament. 

Screenshots of RealOA's stream in a group chat with Ren Lin

As it became known, RealOA showed Lin a real-time broadcast of the final table he was playing in and asked for strategic advice. Tony didn't refuse his friend's request. After the win, RealOA thanked the high roller for the coaching. After the situation was made public, Ren issued a lengthy statement in which he called what happened a misunderstanding, emphasized that he had gained no benefit, and offered an apology. In addition, the Chinese professional paid $96,000 as compensation to the affected players. That didn't save him from the ban.

Fortunately for Tony Lin, the indefinite disqualification lasted only 49 days. And already in December 2025 he played at WSOP Paradise, where he recorded another three cashes. In the spring, Ren reached heads-up in the €20,800 Super High Roller NLH at WSOP Europe, but lost to Christopher Nguyen. In Vegas, the Chinese regular has no intention of easing off — he already has three ITMs, including fourth place in the $5,000 NLH 8-Handed. 

Who will be the first to capture the long-awaited bracelet?

Photo: Poker.org

As we can see, each of today's heroes has their own obstacles on the path to a World Series bracelet. And they overcome them in different ways too. This summer, Tony Lin is, so far, trying harder than anyone to grab the coveted win. Perhaps it's the Chinese regular who will be the first to drop off this list. And although a little more than half of the tournaments remain on the WSOP schedule, each of them could either deliver a story of long-awaited success or hand the players yet another agonizing defeat. Especially since several more high rollers, the prestigious Poker Players Championship, and, of course, the Main Event still lie ahead. That means the other top players on our list will still have a chance to finally close out their bracelet quest.