Update: Erik Seidel was defeated in heads-up play by Joshua Wang, finishing 2nd for $271,371.
There are just five players standing between Poker Hall of Famer Erik Seidel and his 11th World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet.
The poker legend reached the final table of Event #96: $3,000 6-Handed Pot-Limit Omaha, one of the last events of the series as action in Las Vegas winds down significantly.
Final Table Draw
Seat
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Joshua Wang
United States
16,800,000
140
2
Christopher Vitch
United States
6,450,000
54
3
Erik Seidel
United States
5,335,000
44
4
Biao Ding
China
4,350,000
36
5
Pakinai Lisawad
Thailand
2,205,000
18
6
Robert Mizrachi
United States
975,000
8
Poker Hall of Famer Chasing 11th Bracelet
Seidel reached the unofficial final table with seven remaining toward the middle of the pack, but he quickly grew his stack from there.
As reported by PokerNews' Frank Visser, Seidel got a flop shove through against Wang during seven-handed play, and soon after took another big pot off the chip leader as Wang folded a combo draw.
Erik Seidel
The official final table formed with the elimination of Krasimir Yankov, who took a brutal beat as his flopped set of kings was cracked by the rivered set of aces of Wang.
Seidel, who has nearly $49 million in live earnings, has had several deep runs this summer, but none that have quite materialized into final tables. He finished ninth in $25,000 6-Max High Roller for $118,753 in June and more recently finished 11th in the 8-handed $50,000 High Roller for $146,295.
But Seidel now finds himself at his first final table of the 2026 WSOP, joined by the likes of five-time bracelet winner Robert Mizrachi, three-time bracelet winner Christopher Vitch and chip leader Joshua Wang.
Should Seidel take it down, he would be just the third player in history to win more than ten bracelets, joining Phil Hellmuth (17 bracelets) and Phil Ivey (11 bracelets).
All-Time Bracelet List
Rank
Player
Bracelets
1
Phil Hellmuth
17
2
Phil Ivey
11
3
Doyle Brunson
10
3
Erik Seidel
10
3
Johnny Chan
10
There are three players with ten bracelets, Seidel, Johnny Chan and the late Doyle Brunson. But that number will almost certainly grow in the coming years after this summer, which saw Benny Glaser, Shaun Deeb, and reigning champ Michael Mizrachi all winning their ninth bracelets.
Seidel won his tenth bracelet in 2023 at WSOP Paradise when he took down $50,000 Super High Roller for $1,704,400.
Erik Seidel
The $3,000 PLO event, which drew 892 players for a prize pool of $2.3 million, is scheduled to play to a winner and will award $407,137. All remaining players are guaranteed a payout of at least $65,840.
Connor Richards is a Senior Editor U.S. for PokerNews and host of the Life Outside Poker podcast. Connor has been nominated for three Global Poker Awards for his writing.
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