Dimitar Danchev Wins Second Bracelet, WSOP Heads-Up Title, $800K

Dimitar Danchev won one of the biggest live heads-up poker tournaments of all time, taking down the 2026 World Series of Poker $25,000 heads-up championship for $800,000 for his second career gold bracelet.

Danchev navigated through an expanded 128-player field, defeating Nikita Kuznetsov in the finals to seal his victory. His first bracelet win came in a WSOP Online $10,000 heads-up event on GGPoker in August 2022, in which he won a $327,668 first-place prize.

Along the way, Danchev won seven heads-up matches over three days. His $800,000 result is the fourth-largest of Danchev’s career, behind his second-place finish at EPT San Remo in October 2011, a career-best $1,859,000 for his 2013 EPT victory in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure main event, and a 2024 Triton title in Jju, South Korea. His total recorded earnings now sit at over $13 million.

Danchev’s win also comes with 924 Card Player Player of the Year points, in the yearlong race presented by CoinPoker. That puts Danchev just outside the top 100 to this point in 2026. As one of 31 qualified events on the 2026 WSOP schedule, Danchev also earns 480 PokerGO Tour points, in his best ever PGT result. He sits in 16th place on the season-long PGT leaderboard.

For his run into the semifinals, Alex Foxen earned 180 PGT points, which puts him one spot behind Danchev on that leaderboard, in 17th.

A New Format

On Friday, May 29, Danchev was one of 64 hopefuls who put up their $25,000 buy-in with the hope of winning three matches. That guaranteed a spot in the final 16, and a day off before resuming the tournament.

That’s because, for the first time, there were two flights in the heads-up championship. Those eliminated on day 1a could take a second shot at a run on day 1b, with the total field doubled from 64 players to 128 under the new rules. The final eight from each flight would then battle it out to reduce 16 players to four on day 2, and the final four played out the bracket on day 3.

It’s the latest tweak to an event that’s been a part of the WSOP for two decades now. In 2007, a first-of-its-kind $5,000 heads-up WSOP bracelet event drew 392 players. 21-year-old Dan Schreiber of Troy, Ohio won that inaugural tournament. The next year, 256 players entered a $10,000 heads-up championship, and Kenny Tran defeated Alec Torelli in the finals.

For one year, in 2011, the buy-in bumped up to $25,000, and drew a 128-player field. In that tournament, Jake Cody beat Yevginiy Timoshenko in the finals, taking home a record heads-up payday of $851,192, which stands to this day. For then next 10 years, the primary heads-up championship event at the WSOP dropped back down to $10,000. Adrian Mateos (2017) and Justin Bonomo (2018) each won the event during this era.

The buy-in remained $10,000 until 2021, when it once again hit $25,000, where it’s remained to this day.

Three Days Of Intensity

Danchev opened the tournament by beating Ian Bromfield on day 1a, and added wins over recent Triton champion Christopher Nguyen and Killian Desnos to reach the top 16 and a guaranteed payday. He joined Foxen, Daniel Negreanu, Michael Mizrachi, and Cary Katz among the day 1a survivors.

After a day off, Danchev played his way past Florian Pesce in the round of 16 to start day 2. Danchev then defeated three-time Triton champion Ding Biao in the quarterfinals. That put Danchev two wins away from the bracelet, and set up a semifinals showdown against Japan’s Ryuta Nakai on day 3.

While Kuznetsov took on Foxen on the opposite side of the bracket, Danchev stared down Nakai for a spot in the finals. Both semifinals were relatively brief compared to everything that led up to those matches, and the finale that followed.

Foxen Stunned by This All-In@WAFoxen raises the river with trip eights, but Nikita Kuznetsov is sitting on a full house and responds with an all-in.

Can Foxen find the fold, or is he destined to pay it off? pic.twitter.com/c53RxgWHc9

— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) June 2, 2026

It took less than an hour for Kuznetsov to topple Foxen. It seemed as though Foxen was locked in and ready for a long fight, as he got away from a massive cooler in the first major showdown of his match with Kuznetsov.

Alex Foxen Coolered in WSOP Final Four

A brutal cooler with a spot in the championship match on the line.@WAFoxen flops two pair, but Nikita Kuznetsov turns a bigger two pair and the chips go flying into the middle.

Just like that, Foxen’s WSOP run is in serious danger. pic.twitter.com/Tp88BV6bix

— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) June 2, 2026

After surviving that potentially devastating hand, though, Foxen ran into another brutal spot, one he couldn’t get away from. Foxen flopped top two pair with Q♥5♠ on a [invalid notations] board, only to run into Kuznetsov’s turned better two pair following a 6♦ turn. When Kuznetsov turned over Q♣6♥, Foxen could only shake his head. There was no two-out miracle for Foxen, who went out in the semifinal round ($300,000).

Danchev’s Road To The Final

Danchev wasn’t far behind Kuznetsov in sealing his spot in the finals. Nakai opened an early lead over Danchev, but an eerily parallel hand to what happened in the Kuznetsov-Foxen match played out again, and flipped the script. Like Kuznetsov, Danchev flopped a set of fours and had his opponent make a big hand, in Nakai’s case, top two pair, queens and jacks. Unlike the other hand, Nakai jammed the river, Danchev called, and he found a huge double up.

The last of Nakai’s chips went in on a five-bet shove with A♠J♥, which Danchev called with Q♥Q♠. Danchev flopped top set on a Q♣10♥7♥ board, and Nakai went from four outs to three outs on the 4♥ turn. The 8♥ on the river gave both players flushes, and Danchev’s queen earned him the pot, and the heads-up victory.

After a short recess, Danchev and Kuznetsov settled in for what would be a long, slow battle. Kuznetsov opened the first significant lead with a full house against a full house on a double-paired board. Kuznetsov’s lead eclipsed a 2:1 edge, until another cooler spot turned the match on its head.

On a 10♦10♠5♣ flop, Danchev’s pocket fives and Kuznetsov’s 10♣9♦ were destined to crash into one another. When Kuznetsov shoved the river, Danchev was happy to snap call and double up, taking a 2:1 lead of his own.

Securing The Bracelet

Kuznetsov battled on for hours, but never regained the lead from that point on. One final harsh spot spelled the end of the line for Kuznetsov. With blinds at 200,000-400,000, Danchev limped the button with Q♦7♥, and Kuznetsov checked with Q♥8♣. The flop was a blockbuster, especially for Danchev, as it came down Q♠J♥7♠. Kuznetsov checked, Danchev bet 400,000, and Kuznetsov called. The 3♣ turn prompted a bigger bet from Danchev, at 1.6 million, and Kuznetsov once again called.

The Q♣ doomed Kuznetsov to an exit. Kuznetsov checked, Danchev shoved to put Kutznetsov at risk, and the Russian gladly obliged, saying “one time,” in hopes that his trip queens were good. But Danchev’s full house took the pot, the match, and the bracelet.

Kuznetsov earned the second-largest tournament result of his career. It sits behind his third-place finish in the 2021 GGPoker WSOP Online main event, in which Kuznetsov took home $1,430,073.

Danchev became the third player to return to the WSOP winner’s circle in early Vegas action in 2026. In recent days, Scott Clements won his fourth bracelet in the $10,000 Omaha eight-or-better championship, and Jason Daly took home his third gold bracelet in the $1,500 Omaha eight-or-better event.

Final Results

Photo credits: WSOP/Alicia Skillman