25K Fantasy Draft 2026

Jesse Lonis quickly shot up from $40 to $50 and went up a few more times before settling around $69.

The team that got poker's resident gorilla is Team Blades & Shades, and there was no cage included in the purchase.

Jeremy Ausmus, who last year went for a $25K Fantasy record-high $141, was the 16th player nominated in 2026.

There was strong interest in Ausmus, who crushed the 2024 WSOP, but he failed to fetch the hefty price he did last year. In fact, he didn't even crack three figures as Team Lang got him for $90.

Ausmus joins Ari Engel as the second member of Team Lang, which is spearheaded by Mike Lang & Josh Reichard.

Adam Hendrix just sold to Team Wasserson for $31, becoming the second player on Eric Wasserson's team alongside Viktor Blom.

Combined, the pair went for $100, meaning Wasserson has already spent half his salary cap.

David ODB Baker went to Team Stake Kings for $61, but he included a disclaimer for the team who drafted him.

"Whoever drafts me needs to stake me," he joked. "I'm broke!"

Team Fleyshman drafted Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi as their first player, and they followed it up with a second in the form of 17-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth for $66, a price some might say was undervalued.

That could prove true if Hellmuth goes on to win his 18th gold bracelet this summer.

"Who are we on? Not f***ing worth it!"

That's what Shaun Deeb had to say about his Team Lucky compatriot Josh Arieh, but there were others who found the seven-time bracelet winner valuable as the bidding jumped from single digits to $55.

Daniel Negreanu, who drafted Arieh, claimed that an AI chat bot had a one-word answer when asked about Arieh's Fantasy worth: "No."

Brandon Wilson, who has been on a heater in 2026, was the ninth player nominated and might be the early contender for "steal of the draft" at just $15 to Team Gators, headed by "Texas Mike" Moncek.

With 24 players, a $600,000 prize pool is up for grabs. The top five teams will make the money, with the summer-ending championship team taking home a smooth $250,000 top prize.