Alex Anton Steps Out of the ‘Cave’ to Win First WSOP Bracelet and $678,300

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Last updated: Jun 24, 2026 Published: Jun 19, 2026 5 min read

Alex Anton has won his first World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet and the largest live tournament score of his poker career after taking down Event #51: $10,000 Mystery Bounty No-Limit Hold'em at the 2026 WSOP. Anton denied France's Julien Sitbon of his second bracelet in a very short heads-up match.

Anton bested a field of 558 entries at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas to get his hands on the $678,300 top prize from the $3,515,400 prize pool. The American began the final day with the biggest stack and transformed that advantage into his biggest score to date, and one of the most memorable moments of his life.

"It feels really good," Anton told PokerNews after the win. "In some ways, it's validating to family and friends."

Event #51: $10,000 Mystery Bounty Final Table Results

A Long Journey to His First Bracelet

Anton arrived at the final table with the chip lead, but converting that against a lineup filled with some experienced tournament regulars was never going to be easy. He said one of his main goals throughout the day was simply staying focused and treating each decision individually.

"I was really just trying to focus on staying present," Anton said. "It's obviously a big spot for me. I've had some other runs, so I feel like I've made some mistakes of not being as present and not taking as much time. But today I felt really present and aware of everything. It helps to run well, too, but the mindset was just take the hands one at a time."

"My girlfriend could come and see it live. I'm not in my boxers on the computer screen, so it's cool."

Anton's route to this bracelet was somewhat different from that of many tournament regulars.

"I played online cash and then pivoted to live cash, and then like two years ago, started playing more tournaments," Anton said. "I've been traveling for like the past 18 months."

The 25-year-old reflected on the years of work that led to the biggest result of his career.

"I've been playing basically all day every day since I was 20," Anton said. "The tournaments, they're more like, I would just be grinding in a cave and family doesn't see anything. My girlfriend could come and see it live. I'm not in my boxers on the computer screen, so it's cool."

Anton Converts Chip Lead Into Victory

Anton started the final day with the chip lead and immediately put it to good use. The first casualty was Kent Stephens, who started the day third in chips, but after being on the wrong end of a cooler against Sitbon, Stephens was at risk against Anton. Stephens got it in good with two queens versus Anton's ace-queen, but the eventual champion spiked an ace on the flop to send Stephens to the rail in ninth place.

Sitbon scored the next knockout when his pocket queens held against the ace-jack of Vadzim Lipauka, while Anton added another elimination to his tally by busting Gregor Sverko in seventh place. Sverko, who had already pulled the tournament's largest $250,000 mystery bounty the day before, saw his pocket kings cracked when Anton spiked an ace with ace-nine.

Josh Reichard then briefly moved into the chip lead after felting Jakob Miegel and winning a big pot from Anton with pocket kings, although Anton did make the correct fold on the river with top pair. Reichard's turn at the top would not last long, however, as Anton soon won one of the biggest pots of the tournament against Reichard.

Five-handed, Anton opened with eight-five and found himself up against Reichard's ace-deuce. Reichard flopped top pair and called all the way down as Anton improved from bottom pair to trips on the turn before filling up on the river. Anton moved all in on the river, and Reichard made the wrong call, surrendering the chip lead and falling to the bottom of the counts, while Anton held roughly half the chips in play.

Next to stand in Anton's way was Jovan Kenjic, whose deep run came to an end in fifth place after Anton improved to quads on the turn to bust the Serbian professional. Sitbon then eliminated Champie Douglas in fourth place after rivering a flush to set up three-handed play with Anton way out in front.

While Sitbon and Reichard battled for the next pay jump, Anton continuously raised and slowly edged even further away from his opponents. Reichard eventually got his last chips in with jack-ten against Anton's pocket sevens. Anton turned a full house to eliminate Reichard in third place and take more than a 4:1 chip lead into heads-up play.

Anton Defeats Sitbon

Sitbon put up a fight heads-up, managing to keep his stack afloat and remaining just one double-up away from getting right back into the match. In the end, however, Anton's dominance proved too much to overcome, and after roughly twenty minutes of play, the tournament was over.

On the final hand, Anton completed with seven-six and called a raise from Sitbon, who held pocket tens. Sitbon continued on the flop, and Anton called with an open-ended straight draw. The turn brought Anton the nut straight, and when Sitbon moved all in, he was already drawing dead. With the outcome decided before the river was dealt, Sitbon had to settle for a runner-up finish, while Anton celebrated the first WSOP bracelet and the largest score of his career.

Before leaving the winner's photo area, Anton also gave a shoutout to his longtime girlfriend Andrea.

"My girlfriend pretty much is the only person," Anton said. "We've been together for like seven years. She's a singer-songwriter, so we've like, it's kind of a sick come up for us of like going from ground zero to like building our careers. I think like a year ago she was starting to do like arenas and now I'm winning bracelets and we're like seeing it happen together."

• Tags Alex Anton Champie Douglas Gregor Sverko Jakob Miegel Josh Reichard Jovan Kenjic Julien Sitbon Kent Stephens Vadzim Lipauka

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