Aaron Cummings Wins Back-To-Back WSOP Triple Draw Bracelets

So nice, he won it twice.

Aaron Cummings defeated a field of 635 entries to successfully defend his title in the World Series of Poker $1,500 deuce-to-seven triple draw lowball event for $157,172 and his second gold bracelet. The Spokane, Washington resident bested 574 entries in the same tournament in 2024 for his first piece of WSOP hardware.

He now has more than $405,640 in career tournament earnings, with $303,688 coming from his pair of triumphs in this lowball tournament.

These back-to-back wins put Cummings in elite company, becoming the first to have done so since Dan ‘jungleman’ Cates won the $50,000 Poker Players Championship in both 2021 and 2022. Adam Friedman also went back-to-back, but he took his streak one step further, winning three consecutive WSOP $10,000 dealers choice titles from 2018 through 2021 (the event was not held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic).

“I definitely thought about [going back-to-back], but it’s still a long battle to get there. I was a little short coming into the day, so I knew it was going to be tough,” Cummings said to PokerNews live reporters event closing out the win. “But obviously, there’s a chance.”

Setting The Stage For A Title Defense

This event ran from June 23-25 at Paris and Horseshoe Las Vegas. The strong turnout resulted in a prize pool of $842,963 that was ultimately split amongst the top 97 finishers.

Big names like three-time bracelet winner Greg Mueller, five-time bracelet winner Adam Friedman (57th), six-time bracelet winner Shaun Deeb (56th), six-time bracelet winner Robert Mizrachi (15th), three-time bracelet winner Nich Guagenti (12th), and two-time bracelet winner Brandon Shack-Harris (10th) ran deep.

Shack-Harris was the first elimination on the third and final day of play. Cummings was towards the lower end of the middle of the pack when the final seven combined onto a single table.

Two-time bracelet winner Nathan Gamble got the last of his chips in with 8-6-3-2 facing an 8-7-4-2 draw for Kristan Lord, with one draw remaining. Gamble wound up with a pair of twos at showdown, while Lord made an ace low to score the knockout. Gamble earned $17,563 as the seventh-place finisher.

Bracelet winner Andres Korn’s final hand saw him make 7-6-5-3-2. Unfortunately for the Argentinian, all five of those cards were spades, which gave him a flush after he had drawn the 3♠. Lord showed down a 10-5-4-3-2 to drag the pot, eliminating Korn in sixth place ($23,995).

Deuce-to-Seven, Five To One

Cummings edged his way into the chip lead early on in five-handed play. Lord busted yet another player, making an 8-7-6-5-2 to send David Mead to the rail with $33,546.

Despite having scored all the most recent eliminations, Lord was ultimately the next to fall. He got the last bit of his stack in with J-6-4-2 facing 5-4-3-2 for Travis Erdman. Lord paired his jacks, while Erdman hit a seven to make the wheel. Lord cashed for $47,969 as the fourth-place finisher, while Erdman took the lead into three-handed play.

Erdman also scored the final blow on James Tilton, making a 9-8 to best Tilton’s J-10. Tilton was awarded $70,121 for his podium showing.

Heads-up play with Erdman holding a slight lead over Cummings. That soon ballooned to more than a 3:1 advantage before Cummings began his comeback. Cummings won a big one with 9-8-6-5-3 besting the 9-8-7-3-2 of Erdman to move ahead. The two traded the lead before Cummings took down three big pots in a row with nine lows to blow the heads-up match wide open.

The final hand saw all the chips get in before the draws. Both drew two to start. Erdman drew two again, while Cummings was down to taking one for the second draw. Both took one on the final draw and rolled over their hands. Erdman held 9-7-4-2 while Cummings had a 7-5-4-3. Cummings picked up a jack to make a J-7 low, while Erdman wound up with an A-9 thanks to an ace on the end.

Erdman earned $104,739 as the runner-up, a new career-best score.

Final Table Results

Photo credit: PokerGO / Miguel Cortes.