WSOP: A Big PLO Spin-Up And A Memorable German Razz Battle

The World Series of Poker allows games that otherwise get overlooked in tournament play to shine. While razz doesn’t tend to be a headline grabber, the 2026 WSOP $1,500 razz event offered one of the more memorable heads-up battles of the summer thus far.

Two German pros battled heads-up for hours for the razz bracelet, trading the lead back and forth. Sebastian Pauli ultimately denied Dennis Weiss a 2026 double to close out the tournament for his first WSOP title.

On the other end of the spectrum, pot-limit Omaha tournaments continued to thrive across the board. A $1,500 buy-in event produced a $441,560 windfall for Jason Zipfel, another first-time winner.

As the halfway point of the 2026 WSOP looms in the coming week, the action refuses to slow down. Here’s the latest from Las Vegas.

Newcomer Jason Zipfel Makes Statement In $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Victory

Prior to this week, Jason Zipfel had a grand total of six notable tournament cashes, with only one result prior to the past year. The cash game specialist earned his first six-figure cash in 2025 at Venetian Las Vegas and cashed in the 2025 WSOP main event later that summer.

Now, with his seventh career tournament cash, Zipfel is a WSOP bracelet winner. The Pennsylvanian beat out a field of 2,581 entrants in a $1,500 PLO event to secure a $441,560 first-place prize, more than doubling his previous best tournament result.

“I play a lot of private cash games, and then I’ll play a couple of tournaments throughout the year,” Zipfel told PokerNews. “Last year, I played probably five or six tournaments. I’ve run really well, so I should probably play more, and less cash.”

After two starting flights, a total of 191 players reached day 2 and made the money in this tournament. By the close of day 2, Zipfel accumulated a significant chip lead as one of 15 remaining contenders.

Within a few hours, it was down to 10 players, and then Zipfel scooped a four-way pot to lock in the official final table of nine. He’d have to outlast three previous bracelet winners on his way to victory, but Zipfel continued to carry the chip lead into nine-handed play. His lead wasn’t quite as substantial over the next three players in the chip counts, but Zipfel was still comfortably ahead. Zipfel wouldn’t relinquish that top spot for a single hand, or at least until heads-up play.

Zipfel, The Bulldozer

From the first hand of the final table, Zipfel got to work rebuilding his sizable advantage. He made a six-high straight to beat Ido Aboudi’s pocket kings and bust him in ninth place. In the blink of an eye, Zipfel had more than three times as many chips as any other player in the field.

Will Givens

Will Givens, a 2014 bracelet winner, stepped up during Zipfel’s otherwise dominant stretch to earn a double knockout. He made a full house, fives full of kings, to eliminate both Phillip Mighall (8th – $51,620) and Thanhlong Nguyen (7th – $67,310).

Zipfel got right back to it, though, as his pocket kings-based hand held off a Michael Estes nut flush draw and over card to knock Estes out in sixth place ($88,660). Hokyiu Lee then made his presence felt, winning a battle of bracelet winners against Maxx Coleman. Lee’s pair of queens faded a lot of outs, sending Coleman to the rail in fifth place ($117,950).

Zipfel flopped the nut club flush against a set of eights for Jochen Pfeifer, and managed to hold to eliminate the German in fourth place ($158,460). Lee made the first significant dent in Zipfel’s stack during three-handed play, turning trips and rivering quad sevens in a sizeable pot. Zipfel took the last of Givens’ chips with a flopped jack-high straight against Givens’ two pair, ending Givens’ run in third place ($214,960).

To The Winner Go The Spoils

Lee quickly wrested the lead from Zipfel, but the stacks were almost even when the pair played a pot for almost all of the chips in play. After a preflop four-bet and call, the rest of the chips got in on a J♦6♣3♦ flop. Zipfel’s A♥A♦J♠5♥ was ahead, but vulnerable against Lee’s K♣9♦7♦4♣.

Any five or diamond would make Lee a lock winner. Lee picked up a few additional outs on the Q♠ turn, but the 7♣ river kept Zipfel’s aces best, and locked down the bracelet for him.

Zipfel earned 1,200 Card Player Player of the Year points in his first qualifying result of 2026. Givens, who banked 800 POY points for third place, cracked the top 100 in the yearlong race presented by CoinPoker and now sits in 96th.

Final Table Results

Sebastian Pauli Survives Wild Razz Heads-Up Battle To Win First Bracelet

Razz has a reputation among the tournament mixed game staples, and it’s not for generating tons of excitement. But at least on this particular occasion, the $1,500 razz event delivered a notably wild finale.

The heads-up match between two Germans, Sebastian Pauli and Dennis Weiss, pitted a first-time hopeful in Pauli against a player on a roll. The latter was one knockout away from his second bracelet in a week and fourth career WSOP bracelet overall. Pauli, on the other hand, had limited WSOP results, most notably finishing fourth in this exact tournament in 2013.

Pauli persevered after a wild back and forth, taking down the bracelet and earning $135,564 for his troubles. It was Pauli’s second-largest career live cash, behind only his 2014 European Poker Tour London main event win worth $802,971.

Pauli also claimed 840 POY points in his first qualifying cash of 2026. Weiss, at his third final table of the 2026 WSOP, added 700 POY points to his total and now sits in 35th place on the year-long leaderboard.

Jon Turner’s Nightmare

A field that was once 519 players was reduced to just six players heading into day three. Tobias Leknes (8th – $12,247) and Paul Richardson (7th – $16,174) each reached the final table, but not the final day of action.

There were several storylines at the forefront to start day 3. Jon Turner held the chip lead, as the long-time online poker standout looked to finally claim his first career bracelet, or even play heads-up for one. There was also Weiss’ continued success at the 2026 WSOP, and another 2026 winner in Stephen Hubbard, aiming to double up.

England’s Adam Owen, who had over $4.7 million in career earnings heading into this final table, was also hoping to end his string of close calls at the WSOP and finally break through. Owen couldn’t get anything going at this final table, though, and saw his run end in sixth place ($21,850). His draw at a seven-six low failed to catch up to Pauli’s made eight-low.

At one point during five-handed play, Turner’s stack eclipsed 5.2 million, with Weiss and Pauli sitting at 2.2 million each. Within 20 minutes, Weiss made a six-low twice and had supplanted Turner as the chip leader at the first break. From there, everything cascaded downward rapidly for Turner, and within an hour, he was out.

Sweden’s Oscar Johansson had Turner drawing dead by sixth street, and Turner’s 21st career WSOP final table appearance ended in fifth place ($30,177).

Pauli opened up a big chip lead of his own four-handed, more than doubling Weiss’ second-place stack. Hubbard’s stack fluctuated, but he struggled to get off the short stack. He was left with less than a single big bet on multiple occasions, and despite fighting back from the edge, he ultimately succumbed in fourth place ($42,589). Pauli scooped the last of Hubbard’s chips with a nine-six low, against a ten-five for Hubbard.

German Razzle Dazzle

The bottom fell out for Johansson quickly during three-handed action. On his final hand, Johansson got all in with a J-9-8-7-2 against Weiss’ 9-5-4-3 draw, with a pair of threes. Weiss drew a six to make an unbeatable 9-6 low on sixth street, and further improved to a 7-6 low on seventh street. Johansson went out in third place ($61,393).

After claiming almost all of Johansson’s stack, heads-up play started with Weiss holding a small lead. Pauli was on the brink early, reduced to 1.8 million (4.5 big bets) and a 6:1 deficit. Pauli fought back, only to fall even further behind at a 9:1 disadvantage. Another surge pulled Pauli closer, but a Weiss win with a nine-eight-six low to Pauli’s nine-eight-seven left Pauli with less than one big bet. He doubled up twice and then doubled that stack in a matter of a few hands. In the blink of an eye, Pauli closed the gap considerably.

Weiss once again opened a 12:1 lead, but a pair of doubles pulled Pauli back. What looked to be a potential rout for Weiss turned into a five-and-a-half-hour slugfest. Pauli claimed the chip lead and took his turn to push Weiss to the brink with his own 6:1 lead. But Weiss also fought back from the brink, reclaiming the chip lead and flipping it back to his own 6:1 lead.

Pauli flipped the script one final time. Despite fighting back with multiple double-ups, Weiss couldn’t produce another comeback. The chips went in on fifth street in the final hand. Pauli tabled a draw at a six-three low against Weiss’ made ten-seven. Pauli drew a four to make a six-four low and locked down the bracelet after a tremendous heads-up war.

Final Table Results

Photo credits: WSOP / Miguel Cortes, Lennart Hennig, Monique Marestein