Daniyal Gheba came into the 2026 World Series of Poker looking for his first gold bracelet. The Las Vegas resident didn’t have to wait long, as just a few days into the festival he struck gold in the $5,000 no-limit hold’em eight max event. This was the series’ first bracelet awarded in an open event, and second overall after New Mexico poker dealer Jerome Neppl triumphed in the industry employees event.
Gheba now has nearly $1.9 million in career tournament scores to his name after adding the $502,985 top prize in this event. This is his largest score yet, topping the $185,000 he took home as the runner-up in a $10,000 buy-in Poker Masters event last fall.
“It’s obviously life-changing money,” Gheba told PokerNews live reporters after his win. “But coming into the final table, the pay jumps I wasn’t really concerned about. I don’t think anyone at this table really cared about the pay jumps, they were all wealthy.”
In addition to the money and the hardware, Gheba also secured 1,680 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This was his second POY-qualified score of the year, having finished third in a $3,300 PokerGO Cup event this spring for $61,000 and 360 points. With 2,040 total points, Gheba now sits in 66th place in the 2026 standings presented by CoinPoker.
Setting The (New) Stage
This event drew a total field of 570 entries, creating a $2,622,000 prize pool that was split amongst the top 86 finishers. Plenty of heavy hitters ran deep, including Ryan Riess (57th), David ‘ODB’ Baker (51st), Anthony Zinno (47th), John Hennigan (44th), Brandon Cantu (36th), Joshua Reichard (35th), Martin Kabrhel (28th), Maurice Hawkins (27th), Brock Wilson (23rd), Justin Saliba (22nd), Nicholas Seward (21st), Renji Mao (20th), Julien Sitbon (19th), Scott Eskenazi (17th), and Anthony Marquez (16th).
The fourth and final day began with five players remaining and Chenxiang Miao in the lead and Gheba in second chip position. The remaining contenders all earned the distinction of playing the first final table inside the WSOP’s newly unveiled ‘mothership’ stage.
The first knockout of the day pitted Peter Mugar’s overpair to the flop against flush and straight draws for Xiaohu Liu. The chips went in after the dealer fanned the J♥8♠3♠. Mugar had A♠A♦, while Liu held 10♠9♠. Liu hit his flush on the 4♠ turn, but Mugar had a draw to a higher flush. The 7♥ on the end changed nothing, though, and Mugar was eliminated in fifth place ($120,035). This was the third-largest score yet on the circuit for Mugar, who recently won a PokerGO Tour Texas Poker Open high roller for his first live title.
Lin Falls Along The Road To The Final Showdown
Ren Lin
There was plenty of movement around the leaderboard during four-handed play. After over an hour of jockeying for position, a preflop cooler broke the stalemate. Ren Lin, who had a hot start to 2026 after ending 2025 in controversy, jammed for 8.5 big blinds from the button with 10♥10♦ and Miao called from the small blind with A♥A♣. Neither player connected with the 6♠6♦2♦Q♥J♦ runout and the superior pocket pair earned the pot and the knockout for Miao.
Lin earned $166,448 as the fourth-place finisher. This was his eighth POY-qualified final-table finish of 2026, with three such titles won so far. His 4,328 points are currently good for fifth place in the 2026 POY standings presented by CoinPoker.
Xiaohu Liu was the next to fall. The Chinese player committed his final eight big blinds preflop with 5♠5♣ racing against the 8♠7♠ of his countryman, Miao. The J♥7♥3♠10♠3♥ runout gave Miao sevens and threes for the win. Liu was awarded $234,432 as the third-place finisher.
Heads-Up For The Hardware
The final battle for the bracelet began with Gheba holding 17,725,000 to the 10,775,000 of Miao. The early action favored the shorter stack, with Miao winning a couple of healthy pots early to all but level the playing field.
Miao surged ahead for a bit, only to have Gheba bounce back and reclaim the lead after getting a shove through on the river in a three-bet pot. Gheba then picked off a bluff from Miao’s busted straight draw with ace high to further extend his advantage.
The final hand of the tournament began with Miao raising to 750,000 from the button with 10♣10♦. Gheba came along from the big blind for the 2.5x raise with 5♦4♦ and the flop came down 6♦2♦2♣ to give him a gutshot straight flush draw. He checked to the raiser, who fired 550,000. Gheba then check-raised to 1,400,000. Miao came back over the top with a three-bet to 3,550,000, and ultimately called off the rest of his stack when Gheba shoved. The 9♥ turn kept Miao ahead, but the 7♦ river gave Gheba a flush and the title.
Miao earned $335,290 as the runner-up, a new top score for the burgeoning tournament player. His previous highest payout came when he took down a $20,000 event at the Triton One Jeju festival in 2025 for $315,000.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points |
| 1 | Daniyal Gheba | $502,985 | 1,680 |
| 2 | Chenxiang Miao | $335,290 | 1400 |
| 3 | Xiaohu Liu | $234,432 | 1,120 |
| 4 | Ren Lin | $166,448 | 840 |
| 5 | Peter Mugar | $120,035 | 700 |
| 6 | Ivan Ruban | $87,945 | 560 |
| 7 | Anatoly Nikitin | $65,479 | 420 |
| 8 | Casey Hatmaker | $49,556 | 280 |
Photo credit: WSOP / Miguel Cortes, Tyler Abrams.
