Gruneberg Triples In Inaugural WSOP PLO 5-Card, Mhatre Wins $3,000 Six-Max Title

The 2026 World Series of Poker has raced past its halfway point with more than 50 live bracelets already awarded. Another busy day inside the ballrooms of Paris Las Vegas produced another trio of bracelet winners.

While Calvin Anderson stole some headlines with his second victory of the summer and seventh career bracelet, two other big winners emerged in the same moment. Abhishek Mhatre, who began the $3,000 six-handed no-limit hold’em event with just a handful of career tournament results, navigated a star-studded field to win his debut bracelet and the $492,050 first-place prize.

Zachary Gruneberg, who’d previously won a pair of online bracelets in his home state of Pennsylvania, earned a far more substantial prize in the first-ever $1,500 five-card pot-limit Omaha bracelet event at the WSOP. He claimed his third career WSOP bracelet and $271,552 for his troubles.

As the stakes get higher and the WSOP main event draws closer by the day, here’s the latest from the 2026 WSOP.

Mhatre Makes It Happen

Tournament poker is, by most measures, a true meritocracy. If you have the buy-in, you can take your shot against the best players in the world at the WSOP, no qualifications required.

Abhishek Mhatre may not have been a favorite when the $3,000 six-handed no-limit hold’em event began, but when the final card of the tournament was dealt, he was the one hoisting the bracelet. The Canadian had exactly two live tournament results prior to this event, both at the 2025 WSOP. But he defeated 2014 WSOP main event champion Martin Jacobson heads-up in this event to secure the victory, a career-best payday of $492,050, and 1,440 Card Player Player of the Year points.

The final table also featured three-time bracelet winner Christopher Vitch (6th – $82,530), as well as the enigmatic ‘Poker Bunny,’ Paulina Loeliger (4th –  $159,050).

The 1,150 entrants in this event produced a prize pool of $3,075,500, and after one long day of poker, just 53 returned to battle for the bracelet. Mhatre started the day in second place and was near the top of the chip counts once the final table began. He found himself on the brink after running pocket queens into Loeliger’s pocket aces, but doubled twice and then flopped a set of eights against Loeliger’s pocket queens to come roaring back.

Mhatre eliminated the final four players in the event, culminating with a lucky runout with 10♠9♥ against a short-stacked Jacobson’s J♠10♦ to seal the victory.

Final Table Results – $3,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em

Five Is The Luckiest Number For Gruneberg

Pot-limit Omaha has been the fastest-growing tournament game in poker over the last several years, and its variants seem to increase by the day. While Big O, a five-card pot-limit Omaha eight-or-better format, has been offered for several years at the WSOP, 2026 saw the debut of a high-only five-card event.

Zachary Gruneberg, a Pennsylvanian with two online bracelet wins in his home state, claimed his first live WSOP bracelet in this inaugural $1,500 buy-in event. He outlasted a field of 1,319 entrants to win a first-place prize of $271,552. He now has more than $2.9 million in recorded scores.

Along with the biggest share of a $1,750,973 prize pool, Gruneberg earned 960 Card Player POY points in his first qualifying result towards a yearlong leaderboard presented by CoinPoker.

Gruneberg defeated Hong Kong’s Hokyiu Lee, the only other bracelet winner at the final table, heads-up to secure the victory. It was a massive come-from-behind win, as Gruneberg was the shortest stack among the seven players who returned for day 3, staring up at a chip leader with more than six times as many chips as him.

It was largely an upward trajectory from there, though. On the final hand, Gruneberg turned a wheel and dodged a big wrap straight draw and diamond flush draw from Lee to secure his third career bracelet.

Final Table Results – $1,500 5-Card Pot Limit Omaha

Photo credits: WSOP / Travis Ball, Lennart Hennig