World Series of Poker Digest: June 1-6

The World Series of Poker continues in Las Vegas — the largest and most significant event in the industry. The second week featured several bracelet events, including the festival's first high roller. We also learned the name of the heads-up championship winner, and an American amateur became a millionaire thanks to a mystery bounty. We've gathered all the most important developments in our latest digest.

First million and first win in a four-figure field

Philip Chun with the Mini Mystery Millions bracelet

The start of the week was definitely a lucky one for amateur Andrew Shelton. The American poker player, who had earned $21,961 over his career, pulled an envelope worth $1,000,000 at the $550 Mini Mystery Millions. He came up on stage after 43 other players and realized everything the moment he saw the first "1" on the unrolled sheet. After the euphoria of the first few minutes, Shelton said he plans to spend the winnings on parties rather than the tournament grind.

In the tournament itself, Andrew Shelton finished 102nd, earning a modest $3,350. It was Philip Chun who managed to fight through the massive field of 20,488 entrants and take home the top prize. The event was the seventh largest in WSOP history in Las Vegas, and the American player claimed the first bracelet of his career. Chun left behind, among others, three-time series champion David Prochak. 

In the heads-up, Philip Chun defeated Jalil Hussein, who could have become the first Palestinian to win a bracelet. The champion took home $400,000, doubling his total career earnings. After the event, Chun particularly highlighted the role of his coach Kristen Foxen:

"Without her, I wouldn't be holding this bracelet. We talked for about an hour before the final day, and everything she said put things into place."

Kuznetsov's defeat in the heads-up championship final

Photo: Poker.org

This week saw the decisive matches of the $25,000 buy-in heads-up championship. Nikita Kuznetsov reached the final, knocking out stars such as Adrian Mateos, Thomas Eychenne, Henri Puustinen, and Alex Foxen along the way. However, the Russian was unable to claim his first bracelet. In the decisive match, he lost to Bulgaria's Dimitar Danchev, for whom this trophy was the second of his career. We covered all the interesting developments of the championship in a separate article.

A student's triumph

Photo: Regina Cortina

Come to Las Vegas for the WSOP, cash for the first time ever, and immediately win a bracelet? It sounds like fantasy, but student Honghao Zhang made this story real. The graduate student at the Georgia Institute of Technology became champion of the $1,500 6-Handed No-Limit Hold'em, which had 1,840 players.

Zhang started both the final table and the 3-handed play as a short stack. However, the student managed to build up, and in the heads-up he took advantage of the aggression of his more experienced opponent Harlan Karnofsky and built a comfortable lead. In the decisive hand, his A♦️5♣️ beat his opponent's A♠️4♣️. Honghao Zhang took home the top prize of $346,108, but didn't set a new best cash in the process. The best result for the 26-year-old player remains the $355,000 earned for second place in the $1,100 buy-in event at the WPT Championship Series 2025. 

After the win, Zhang said he never lost confidence in himself even with a short stack, and stated his desire to win another bracelet:

"I felt the edge even 3-handed when I was left with a short stack. I managed to adjust to my opponents, since we'd played quite a few hands together. I just stayed patient — and waited for the situation to take their chips.

I mostly play cash. Poker is a hobby for me. But now I'll fight for another bracelet at the WSOP 2026." 

Long-awaited wins

Photo: Jess Beck

Some players have to try and fight for years for new wins at the World Series. And this week, a happy ending came to two such stories at once.

Justin Liberto won his first bracelet in 2015, when he took down the $3,000 buy-in Six Handed No-Limit Hold'em tournament. After that, he reached final tables more than once and finished in every spot except first. And now the American regular has finally achieved his cherished goal. Liberto won the $1,500 Big O event, beating Chris Lee in the heads-up — for whom this bracelet would have been the first of his career. Along with the title, the newly minted two-time champion received $265,297. 

Naoya Kihara had to wait even longer for his second bracelet. In 2011, he became the first Japanese player to win at the WSOP, but he hadn't been able to repeat the success since. The 44-year-old player managed to end this unlucky streak in the $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship, where his opponents included Phil Hellmuth, Shaun Deeb, Alex Foxen, and Daniel Negreanu. 

Photo: Jess Beck

What's more, Kihara was on the brink of elimination. Back at the end of the first day, the Japanese player was left with just one small blind after an unsuccessful bluff. But Kihara still managed to build back up, and then he knocked Hellmuth and Dan Shak out of the tournament, beat David Lin in the heads-up, and took home the top prize of $428,923. 

After the event, Naoya Kihara admitted that he had thought about quitting tournaments because of his bad luck at the WSOP, but now he's ready to continue his career for a couple more years:

"I'm already 44, I'd almost ended my poker career, but I came back and now I hope to fight for another bracelet. I was thinking about quitting tournament poker. But after this win, I decided to give myself another two or three years."

First bracelet at 57

Photo: Jess Beck

The first high roller of the WSOP 2026 gave us another beautiful winning story. The $10,000 buy-in event drew 657 entrants, including multiple series champions. However, the final came down to two players who had never won bracelets before.

At the final table, Cliff Josephy, Joey Weissman, Roman Hrabec, John Reisner, and Chris Brewer were knocked out one after another, and the heads-up pitted Alex Cruz against businessman Nassim Salem. In the decisive hand, the 57-year-old entrepreneur with A♦️Q♠️ beat his opponent's pocket jacks, making a pair of aces on the turn. Salem took home the bracelet and the top prize of $1,089,964, while Cruz earned $726,598. 

After the win, Nassim Salem thanked his coach Rui Campos, whom he met at the table at the WSOP Main Event, and noted that he hadn't even set his hopes on the title:

"I told my loved ones: 'I want to finish third.' I wasn't counting on second or first. I came to the final table as chip leader, but I thought: if I finish third, I won't be disappointed."

Shaun Deeb's dispute and curse

Photo: Eloy Cabacas

This week, Shaun Deeb drew attention not so much for his results as for events away from the tables. The seven-time WSOP champion first turned down a $250,000 bet against Ben Lamb and Daniel Negreanu in fantasy. His opponents proposed a competition between fantasy teams, but he refused to give them a handicap. Then Lamb put forward a new condition: a 1-to-1 bet in exchange for Deeb completely giving up chicken strips for the duration of the series, but the American regular didn't agree to that either. Poker player Josh Arieh calculated that Deeb's love of chicken costs him roughly $83,000 in pure equity, and Lamb promised to keep a public weekly tally of Deeb's chicken strips and buy-ins on his X account.

And then Shaun Deeb came face to face with dark magic. WSOP commentator Jeff Platt addressed the poker player on social media and claimed that he treats reporters disrespectfully. The journalist emphasized that he wouldn't tolerate such treatment, and called in WWE wrestler Dunhausen for help. The fighter is known for his curses against ring opponents and even the New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers basketball clubs. At Platt's request, Dunhausen placed a curse on Deeb as well. After that, the WSOP champion busted in fifth place in the lowball championship. Coincidence?

A few more championships

Photo: Eloy Cabacas

This week also saw several other tournaments wrap up. Former chess player Michael Casella, American Steven Hubbard, and his compatriots Philip Ardaire and Antonio Vargas won their first bracelets. Armenian-born Karapet Galstyan, now living in Las Vegas, claimed his second title, while Scott Clements became a four-time WSOP champion.

Results of all WSOP events from the past week

What's next?

Photo: Poker.org

The next week will definitely be no less packed. We have 12 tournaments in store, including both cheap COLOSSUS events for $500 and a turbo bounty No-Limit Hold'em event for $1,500, as well as high rollers with $50,000 and $100,000 buy-ins. Star players and amateurs will once again return to the tables to fulfill their dream of (yet another) gold bracelet. Pokerflow will be following all the events and bringing you the most notable developments.