Matthew Blagg Bags First WSOP Circuit Ring In Horseshoe Las Vegas Main Event

Matthew Blagg outlasted 936 entries and a tough final table in the 2026 World Series of Poker Circuit Horseshoe Las Vegas $1,700 main event to earn his very first live tournament title and $238,470.

Before this breakthrough for a ring, Blagg’s top recorded score had been a third-place finish in a $333 WSOP Online bracelet event for $47,039. With this victory, Blagg has nearly doubled his career earnings. The online regular now boasts over $506,000 in lifetime cashes.

This WSOPC stop kicked off as the WSOP wrapped up, with circuit players able to stick to the same venue for another series after the battle for the bracelet wound down. The strong turnout for the main event created a prize pool of $1,418,040, with six-figure payouts for the top three finishers.

Plenty of big names ran deep, including David ‘ODB’ Baker (44th), Matthew Wantman (36th), Jason Wheeler (30th), Weiran Pu (29th), Justin Lapka (23rd), Mike Holtz (22nd), and Giuseppe Pantaleo (19th).

Bracelet winner and World Poker Tour champion Shawn Daniels finished seventh for $32,010 after losing a race with 6♥6♣ against the A♦Q♥ of Eric Yanovsky. Bracelet winner Jack Duong survived to the top five, but ran A♣9♣ into A♥J♦ for Jia Chi Li to finish fifth ($57,980).

Yanovsky then busted Li (4th – $79,920) with pocket kings over pocket sixes. Blagg’s pocket aces warded off flush and straight draws for Daniel Lei (3rd – $111,880) to give him the lead going into heads-up play with Yanovsky.

The final hand saw the chips go in on a 7♦5♣4♣9♠ board with 8♠2♠ for Yanovksy and 4♠4♥ for Blagg. The set held when the J♦ rolled off on the end, locking up the pot and the title for Blagg. Yanovsky was awarded $159,040 as the runner-up, bringing his career earnings to nearly $2 million.

Final Table Results

Photo credit: WSOP / Poker.Org