Naseem Salem Wins WSOP GGMillion$ For Seven Figures

Naseem Salem has been around the poker scene for several decades now. While the San Diego resident primarily plays high-stakes mixed games, he has World Series of Poker results dating back to 2007. That year he ran deep in the no-limit hold’em main event, finishing 58th for his first six-figure tournament score.

In 2024, Salem came within one spot of taking down a title at the WSOP, finishing second in the $1,979 Poker Hall of Fame bounty event. Finally, at the 2026 WSOP, Salem broke through in the $10,000 GGMillion$ no-limit hold’em event to seize his first bracelet and a career-best score of $1,089,964.

This massive victory increased Salem’s career tournament earnings to nearly $1.6 million. It also catapulted him into 62nd place in the 2026 Card Player Player of the Year race standings presented by CoinPoker. The 2,100 points that came with the title were enough to catapult up the standings and inside the top 100 despite this being his first POY-qualified score of the year.

Salem also scored 1,100 PokerGO Tour points with this triumph, enough to push him into third in that high-stakes-centric race.

This event ran over the course of four days inside the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas. It drew 627 total entries at $10,000 a piece, creating a prize pool of $5,831,100 that was paid out amongst the top 95 finishers. Plenty of stars ran deep inside the money, only to fall just short of the final table. Among them were Stephen Chidwick (29th), Andrew Lichtenberger (27th), Andrew Moreno (25th), Thomas Eychenne (21st), Barak Wisbrod (19th), Michael ‘Texas Mike’ Moncek (18th), Terrance Reid (17th), Zdenek Zizka (14th), Bobby James (12th), and Max Neugebauer (10th).

Salem Leads Into Final Day

The fourth and final day of play in this event began with eight players remaining and Salem in the lead. Two-time bracelet winner Cliff Josephy was left short after his pocket sixes failed to outrun the pocket jacks of a short-stacked John Racener. Soon after that, Josephy found himself on the undesirable end of a pair-over-pair-over-pair situation. All the chips went in preflop with his 8♥8♣ trailing the K♠K♣ of Chad Lipton and 10♥10♣ of Alex Cruz. Both Lipton and Josephy flopped sets, but a king on the turn gave Lipton quads and a lock on the pot. Josephy, who finished third in the WSOP main event a decade ago, earned $105,178 for his latest deep run at the series.

Another three-way all-in soon arose, and again it was Lipton out in front preflop. He held Q♠Q♣ and was up against 7♥7♣ for bracelet winner Joey Weissman and A♠K♠ for Roman Hrabec, who was also gunning for a second bracelet at this final table. The board came down Q♦3♦2♠A♣2♦ and Lipton made queens full to score the double knockout. As the shorter stack, Weissman finished seventh for $138,802. Hrabec earned $186,562 for his sixth-place showing, surpassing $16 million in lifetime cashes in the process.

As a result of those two massive pots, Lipton took a sizable chip lead into five-handed play, with a short break for the remaining contenders before returning on the WSOP’s live broadcast from the new mothership stage. His 100 bib blinds was 1.5x as big as the next-largest stack, belonging to Salem. Cruz was the only player sitting with fewer than 20 big blinds immediately after Weissman and Hrabec were sent packing.

Big Names Fall Under The Bright Lights

Cruz scored an early double through Chris Brewer, though, to climb out from the bottom of the standings. Both players had flush draws by the turn. Cruz’s spades came in on the river and he checked to Brewer, who bet enough to put his opponent all in with his missed clubs and unimproved open-ended straight draw. Cruz snap-called to double, leaving Brewer with nine big blinds.

Chris Brewer

Racener’s run came to an end in fifth place when the three-time bracelet winner and 2010 WSOP main event runner-up’s 9♠9♣ clashed with the 6♥6♦ of Salem. Racener min-raised to 600,000 preflop from under the gun and Salem called from the small blind. The flop came down 8♣6♠5♥ and both players checked. The 6♣ turn saw Salem improve to quads. He checked and Racener fired 800,000 with his overpair and gutshot straight draw. Salem check-raised to 2,000,000 and Racener called. The 7♥ completed the board and Salem moved all-in. Racener went deep into the tank and eventually called off his remaining 4,630,000 and was shown the winner. Racener earned $255,306 as the fifth-place finisher, pushing his career haul to nearly $13.5 million.

Brewer soon followed Racener to the rail. The two-time bracelet winner committed the last of his stack with A♠Q♠ racing against the 10♥10♣ of Cruz. The 9♣3♥2♥7♦ flop and turn left Brewer needing an ace or queen on the end. The 6♠ rolled off instead and Brewer settled for $355,610. This fourth-place showing increased his lifetime earnings to over $30.3 million.

Cruz Surges, Lipton Crashes

A massive, leaderboard-altering hand took place about 45 minutes after Brewer’s elimination. It began with Cruz min-raising to 800,000 from the button with A♦5♣. Lipton three-bet to 2,400,000 from the big blind with Q♠3♥. Cruz called and the flop came down A♣7♣5♦. Lipton led out for 1,000,000 and Cruz called. The 3♦ led to a check from Lipton. Cruz fired 3,700,000 and Lipton called with bottom pair. The J♦ on the end drew another check from Lipton. Cruz now sized down to 2,500,000 with his aces up. Lipton thought it over before opting to check-raise all-in as a bluff. Cruz made the call fairly quickly to take down the massive pot of 95 big blinds and move into the lead.

Lipton picked up A♦J♣ on the very next deal and three-bet t0 2,400,000 over the button min-raise of Salem, who had 7♥7♦. Salem moved all-in and Lipton called for 8,150,000. The K♣8♦5♣7♣K♥ runout gave Salem sevens full and the knockout. Lipton headed to the payout desk to collect $503,997 for this podium finish. This was the second-largest score yet for Lipton, trailing only the $940,000 that the San Diego resident earned for his fourth-place finish in the 2025 World Poker Tour World Championship.

Salem Starts Hot, Finishes Strong

With that, heads-up play began with roughly a 3:2 chip advantage for Cruz over Salem. It didn’t take long for the two to get involved in a major pot. On the first deal, Salem defended his big blind for 900,000 total with 4♠3♠ and flopped a straight on 7♥6♦5♦. He checked and Cruz, who had opened from the button with A♦10♦, bet 900,000 again with the nut flush draw. Salem check-raised to 2,500,000 and Cruz called. The turn brought a board pairing 6♠. Salem fired 5,000,000 and Cruz called. The 3♥ river prompted Salem to move all-in. Cruz made the fold and sent the pot toward the new chip leader.

Cruz regained a small lead after a bit, only for Salem to pull way ahead thanks to a boat-over-boat situation. Salem made a higher full house with 10♥6♣ on a 10♣6♦3♦3♣10♠ board to best Cruz’s Q♥10♦. Cruz soon doubled with pocket sixes against A-10 suited, rivering a boat after Salem had spiked an ace on the turn.

Not long after that, Cruz got all-in with J♥J♣ flipping against A♦Q♠ for Salem. The 5♠3♥3♣A♣ flop and turn once again left Cruz needing to river a full house to survive. The K♥ appeared instead, sending the pot and title to Salem. Cruz earned a new career-best score of $726,598 as the runner-up. The Texan’s previous top payday was the $241,412 he earned for winning the 2025 WSOP Circuit Choctaw main event last July.

Final Table Results

Photo credits: WSOP / Jazmyn Li