Benny Glaser Wins Poker Players Championship for Epic Ninth Bracelet Win

The final table of the 2026 WSOP $50,000 Poker Players Championship was one for the ages as British poker professional Benny Glaser outlasted legends of the felt such as Phil Ivey and Paul Volpe before beating Josh Arieh heads-up to claim the PPC title, $1.34 million and his name on the Chip Reese trophy in Las Vegas.

Early Levels Go to Glaser

When the final six players sat down to play to a winner inside the Paris Ballroom, the WSOP stage looked resplendent, with Benny Glaser holding the lead. That edge over the competition was established in no small part to Glaser taking out Jason Mercier just a few minutes before in gameplay terms. The Floridian poker legend had bowed out on the penultimate evening when Glaser eliminated him for a seventh-place score of $176,732.

After winning that hand, Glaser had established a chip lead heading into the final day, but this was only the beginning. He still had to maintain that advantage and did so over the opening levels as he climbed from 8 million chips to over 15 million after he took out Kristopher Tong in sixth place for $226,172. The American had shoved with pocket sevens in No Limit Hold’em but Glaser took some time before calling it off with king-queen and two queens on the flop did the damage as the field was trimmed to five.

Soon, Maxx Coleman took out Paul Volpe for a score of $301,405 in fifth place. In a hand of Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better, the chips were committed pre-flop and Volpe flopped two-pair. He had to survive turn and river sweats, however, and couldn’t manage it as Coleman’s superior two-pair on the river prevailed.

Ivey Can’t Survive

Down to four, Coleman might have won that hand against Volpe but he couldn’t use the extra chips to build the momentum he needed. In a hand of Pot Limit Omaha, Coleman thought he had the best of it when he called off his stack on the river of a board showing Q-9-4-4-2 holding a four for trips. Josh Arieh had slow-played two nines in his hand for a full house on 4^th street, however, and Coleman was crushed, leaving for a score of $417,607.

With fans in the arena torn between cheering Phil Ivey on for his 12^th WSOP bracelet and roaring on Daniel ‘Kid Poker’ Negreanu in the $25,000 NLHE/PLO Mix High Roller, the Paris Ballroom was abuzz with drama. Whenever Ivey was all-in and at-risk, a collective gasp rang out. The same was true for Negreanu but eventually the Canadian busted in the $25k event and attention to turned to Ivey.

It wasn’t long before both were heading to the rail and a queue for autographs as long as they would let it grow. Ivey lost four consecutive hands to Josh Arieh as the seven-time WSOP bracelet winner – snubbed by the Poker Hall of Fame nominations this week – ran over the 11-time WSOP champion and took him out in third place for $600,698.

Glaser Gets the Gold

With just two men left, Arieh’s recent pots made him a slight favorite as he edged into a 19 million to 13 million lead. Glaser came roaring back, however, and won a big pot in Seven Card Stud when pocket nines did for Arieh’s deuces. The Atlanta man lost several pots where he made the right fold to save himself chips only to watch his pile of them dwindle as he did so.

When Glaser drew twice on the river of a lowball hand to make a perfect seven-six, he once again had a valuable pot and soon after, in Omaha Hi-Lo, Arieh was ahead until a queen on the turn paired Glaser’s hand and left him one river card from victory. No help came for Arieh who congratulated his opponent, while Glaser was left to celebrate victory and was overcome with emotion (below).

“It does feel like a bit of a dream right now. I’m so happy,” Glaser said, his eyes filling with tears. “It is just the dream, it’s just like the pinnacle of mixed games achievement, and it’s such a special tournament for me. I’m incredibly grateful.”

Asked about how good or not the 2026 WSOP had been for him up to this point, Glaser was quite revealing in confessing its not all been rosy so far.

“With some of the exhaustion and some health issues this summer, it was kind of tough emotionally dealing with things,” he said. “I was really trying to rally myself. I was getting burned out, so emotionally it was quite tough.”

Everything turned out right in the end for Benny Glaser, who claimed his ninth bracelet, a top prize of $1,343,764 and his name on the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy, while the runner-up Josh Arieh went away with $895,837 for his latest second-place finish this summer. Ironically, the result puts Josh Arieh second in the current race to be WSOP Player of the Year, with Glaser a place behind.

Glaser’s History-Making Run

While the emotional scenes inside the Paris Ballroom saw Benny Glaser break down in tears at his momentous achievement, it was his wider success that drew our gaze. In the past 11 years, Glaser has claimed an unprecedented nine WSOP titles. No player in poker history has won more in the same period, and while he is three years too young to be considered for induction into the Poker Hall of Fame, that day with assuredly come in the Brit’s future.

Since he won his very first bracelet back in the Lowball Limit Triple Draw event in 2015, Benny Glaser’s run of victories has been an incredible one. Winning two more in 2016, there was then a five-year hiatus before a return to the winner’s circle in 2021. Winning in 2023, three more bracelets were added in 2025 before this PPC win one year one brought the British player’s total to nine to bring him level with the Grand Old Man of Poker, Johnny Moss.

Only Erik Seidel, Johnny Chan and the late Doyle Brunson (10), Phil Ivey (11) and Phil Hellmuth (17) have won more bracelets than mixed game master Benny Glaser who, at 37 years old, may still have his best years ahead of him.

Here are Benny Glaser’s World Series of Poker bracelets in order: