Joe McKeehen Wins Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship

Written by: Paul Seaton August 13, 2026 5 min read

The World Series of Poker might be in the rear-view in Las Vegas, but one of the WSOP’s biggest winners continue to crush at the live felt. Across a busy week of live poker, the 2015 Main Event champion Joe McKeehen won the title in the $5,300-entry Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship.

The 2015 WSOP Main Event champion Joe McKeehen won the 2026 Seminole Hard Poker Open’s flagship $5,300 Championship event this week, taking home a top prize of $462,600 after beating David Greufe heads-up. With 63 trophy events in Seminole, there were a total of 15,835 entries across the series with $8,080,000 in guarantees and an incredible $12,334,810 in prize pools.

2026 Seminole Hard Poker Open $5,300 Championship 2026 Final Table Results:
Place	Player	Country	Prize
1^st	Joe McKeehen	United States	$462,600
2^nd	David Greufe	United States	$390,804
3^rd	Loni Hui	United States	$250,000
4^th	Eddie Pak	South Korea	$188,000
5^th	Francisco Rivera	United States	$142,000
6^th	Dan Chalifour	United States	$108,000
7^th	Jose Sordo	Mexico	$83,000
8^th	Robert-Andrei Burlacu	Romania	$65,000
9^th	Darren Rabninowitz	United States	$51,000

A List of Legends

Since the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship first entered the poker calendar in 2013, some huge names have won the Championship Event. From the first winner, Blair Hinkle, to McKeehen being the most recent, some of the biggest legends in poker have claimed the title.

Back in 2014, Daniel Colman was having the time of his life, winning everything from the Big One for One Drop for over $15m to the SHRPO Championship for $1.44m. The 2016 winner of the Championship was Jason Koon, the 2026 Poker Hall of Fame inductee who only turned 40 last August.

Sean Winter (2019), Sergio Aido (2022) and Farid Jattin (2023) all claimed victories in the series before Triple Crown (WPT, WSOP, EPT) winner Jake Cody took the title in 2025, giving everyone a flashback to his tournament prowess after many years of grinding big cash games in his most recent career path.

Former World Champ Proves Too Strong

This year’s $5,300 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship featured a total of 673 entries, putting 85 players in the money places. Andrew Ostapchenko (85^th for $9,700) was one of a number of players to min-cash, including the 2023 champion Farid Jattin (79^th) and American tournament crusher Michael Duek (78^th).

Nearer the final table, players such as Natasha Mercier (55^th for $15,500), Michael Wang (28^th for $26,000) and David Jackson (10^th for $51,000) all went close to glory but still made a healthy profit. The final table saw early exits for Phil Hellmuth’s WSOP conqueror in the summer Darren Rabinowitz (9^th for $51,000) and Mexican player Jose Sordo, who won $83,000 in 7^th place.

Down to three players, McKeehen took out the dangerous Loni Hui, who won $250,000 in third place. All-in with pocket eights, Hui lost to McKeehen’s pocket queens, giving the eventual winner a strong lead heads-up over David Greufe. The latter, making it deep to guarantee his biggest-ever win come what may, played fearless poker and surged back into the match, prompting an ICM chop from the worried McKeehen.

Playing on for just $40,000 and the SHRPO Guitar Tower trophy, McKeehen dropped to 10:1 down in chips before fighting back with a nut flush and then seeing it out thereafter with the lead. Earning his latest big score of $462,600, McKeehen climbed to over $22 million in live tournament cashes, while Greufe was still delighted with his $390,804 runner-up prize.

Big Wins for Bronshtein and Mizrachi

Elsewhere in the SHRPO series, Raminder Singh (above) grabbed the outright record of 20 titles after he won his fourth event of the series. That stunning achievement was somehow replicated by both Jean Laurent and Mehmet Siginc in the hours that followed, though Siginc’s win in the $3,000 Big 4 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em event was a three-way chop.

Yuval Bronshtein won two trophies as he continued his excellent run in live poker events in recent months. And there was another big winner in the shape of a Mizrachi. Not, not the 10-time bracelet winner and Poker Hall of Famer Michael but his just-as-talented brother Robert. The mixed games specialist (below right) from Florida, who has won five WSOP titles himself, captured the $600 DeepStack Big O event for a top prize of $15,605.

Robert Mizrachi’s latest mixed game victory cemented a great summer.

Mizrachi’s run in the past few weeks is impressive. Cashing 13 times at the 2026 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, he made two final tables, and while he missed out on winning his sixth bracelet, he did win a massive $185,282 in the $3,000-entry Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Max event late in the series. Robert also celebrated with his brother as Michael Mirachi took his 10^th bracelet during the 57^th annual WSOP at the Horseshoe Las Vegas and Paris casinos.