Markus Gonsalves Breaks 20-Year Streak To Earn His First WSOP Bracelet

Markus Gonsalves has been around the poker world for over 20 years. He won a World Poker Tour title in 2021, and he’s made multiple World Series of Poker final tables over the years, along with a deep run in the 2007 WSOP main event.

In all that time, Gonsalves has never put in serious tournament volume, preferring to stick primarily to cash games. Finally, twenty years after his first ever cash at the WSOP, Gonsalves is at long last, a bracelet winner.

The San Diego native took down a $5,000 six-handed no-limit hold’em title, claiming his first career bracelet and $979,655. It was just his third tournament cash since July 2024, with both of his previous two cashes coming in top-100 finishes in the WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas in 2024 and 2025.

Gonsalves’ first tournament cash of 2026 earned him 1,920 Card Player Player of the Year points. That result on its own is enough to put him in the top 120 in the yearlong race presented by CoinPoker.

This result significantly improves on Gonsalves’ previous career-best live result, a $554,495 windfall for winning a tournament in one of the most unique circumstances in poker history. Gonsalves’ win in the 2020 WPT Gardens Poker Championship came 422 days after the final table was set, due to COVID-19 restrictions and delays.

Short-Handed Success

Six-handed no-limit hold’em tournaments, like many other formats, have an opportunity to shine during the WSOP in a way they don’t at other times of the year. By the close of late registration, a total of 1,402 entrants had put up the $5,000 buy-in. As a result, the prize pool ballooned to $6,449,200.

While there have been several instances of a big late registration rush, Patrick Leonard noted a particularly big last-minute swell in this event. With 517 players left heading into the final break of the registration period, early on day 2, 187 players took advantage of the last-minute option. By the time day 2 had ended, just 60 contenders remained.

Those 60 were whittled down to an unofficial final table of seven to close out day 3. Upeshka De Silva (55th), Jesse Lonis (53rd), Dario Sammartino (41st), Josh Arieh (36th), JC Tran (30th), and Andrew Lichtenberger (12th) each played their way into day 3 before falling just shy of the final table.

Gonsalves held the chip lead overnight, but the chip counts were relatively close among the final seven players when play resumed.

The remaining field was, predictably, stacked. Beyond Gonsalves, Germany’s Oliver Weis won both an EPT Cyprus title and a WSOP bracelet. Dominykas Mikolaitis and Daniel Rezaei both own Triton Super High Roller victories, and Rezaei also came into this final table with a bracelet win under his belt. Josh Boulton won a WSOP bracelet in 2025.

A Gonsalves-Shaped Freight Train

None of that experience seemed to matter as Gonsalves went on a tear to start day 4. He took most of Weis’ chips with pocket aces, before Xiaoyao Ma took the last few to send Weis out in seventh place ($130,287). Gonsalves then used his chip lead to exert maximum pressure on Boulton. Gonsalves’ Q♥8♥ was behind Boulton’s K♦J♠, but an 8♦ on the turn won Gonsalves the pot, and eliminated Boulton in sixth place ($174,909).

Mikolaitis became Gonsalves’ next victim. Gonsalves was already well ahead of Mikolaitis preflop, and his A♦Q♣ found two more queens to flatten Mikolaitis’ A♣J♦. The Lithuanian headed to the rail in fifth place ($238,152).

Ma picked up his second elimination of the final table when his A♥Q♣ found a Q♦ on the flop to beat Rezaei’s pocket fives. The Austrian high roller standout settled for fourth place ($328,810) in this tournament. He now sits in 13th in the POY standings, with seven final tables and one title earned so far in 2026.

All four of these eliminations came before the first break of the day. Ma had closed the gap, but Gonsalves still held a comfortable lead three-handed.

Gonsalves had a pathway to a massive chip lead going into heads-up play, as he had Izquierdo in deep trouble in a preflop all-in. Gonsalves’ pocket sevens had Izquierdo’s pocket threes in trouble, but Izquierdo flopped a set to survive, and double. Suddenly, the final three players were all bunched up.

The Final Push To Victory

Izquierdo soon took over the chip lead and then seemingly had Gonsalves most of the way out the door. Gonsalves was all in with pocket threes against Izquierdo’s A♠Q♣, and a Q♦ fell on the flop. But just as Izquierdo had done a short time earlier, Gonsalves found a set of threes, with his magical three landing on the river.

From 4% to WSOP Champion

Down to just two outs with three players left in the WSOP $5,000 6-Max Championship, it looked like Gonsalves’ tournament was over.

That miracle river kept him alive, and Gonsalves went on to win the WSOP gold bracelet and $979,655. pic.twitter.com/wc3uxRPrpK

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

With the chip lead once again firmly in his control, Gonsalves made quick work of Izquierdo. Gonsalves’ K♦10♠ and Izquierdo’s K♣5♦ both paired a king on the flop, but Gonsalves’ kicker held true. Izquierdo went from one card away from a massive chip lead heads-up to out in third place ($460,256).

Ma fought back valiantly, evening the chip counts before eventually pulling ahead. He got Gonsalves all in, holding pocket kings against Gonsalves’ A♣9♦ with a chance to win the tournament. But Gonsalves found an A♥ on the flop, and with almost all of the chips in play in that pot, it was all but over.

Ma doubled up once, and got it in good again with A♠K♠ against Gonsalves’ K♣5♣. He even got a K♦ on the flop, but the full runout was K♦5♦2♠8♣4♥. With two pair, kings and fives, Gonsalves locked up his long-awaited first WSOP bracelet.

Final Table Results

Photo credit: WSOP / Miguel Cortes