Matthew Higgins is on fire in 2026. The Rossville, Georgia resident secured the largest victory of his career at the World Series of Poker this summer, defeating a massive field of 22,811 in the $1,000 Mystery Millions for his first bracelet and $1,000,000 in prize money. Just two months later, Higgins emerged victorious in the 2026 WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Tunica $1,700 main event to become a 10-time ring winner. Three of those ten triumphs have come in WSOPC main events.
This latest win saw Higgins best a field of 367 entries to earn $110,851 and the hardware.
With two wins from four final-table finishes, Higgins has climbed to 111th place in the 2026 Card Player Player of the Year standings presented by CoinPoker. The 45-year-old now has 2,462 POY points, and plenty of time to add to that haul before the race is run.
“You gotta keep grinding, man,” Higgins told Poker.Org reporters after closing out the win. “I gotta try to leave something for my kids when I pass. Hopefully, it’s not anytime soon, but I’m gonna try to build something for them.”
With this victory, Higgins surpassed $4 million in career tournament earnings. This was his 10th score of six figures or more.
Higgins had plenty of tough competition to contend with down the stretch in this event. Among those that ran deep were two-time bracelet winner Yuval Bronshtein (15th), Nicholas Rigby (8th), and bracelet winner David Moses (5th). Only the top 41 finishers earned a share of the $556,005 prize pool.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points |
| 1 | Matthew Higgins | $110,851 | 600 |
| 2 | Daniel Garner | $74,824 | 500 |
| 3 | Bradley Pollard | $51,592 | 400 |
| 4 | Walker Miskelly | $36,346 | 300 |
| 5 | David Moses | $26,174 | 250 |
| 6 | Kim Francisco | $19,277 | 200 |
| 7 | Debbie Lee | $14,528 | 150 |
| 8 | Nicholas Rigby | $11,209 | 100 |
| 9 | Larry Murphy | $8,859 | 50 |
Photo credit: WSOP / Poker.Org
