Artur Martirosian Bubbles $100K High Roller After Pocket Aces Cracked Twice at 2026 WSOP

There are brutal ways to bubble a poker tournament, and then there is what’s just happened to Artur Martirosian.

The Russian high-stakes crusher has just exited this year’s World Series of Poker (WSOP) $100,000 High Roller in perhaps the most painful fashion imaginable, after seeing pocket aces cracked twice in quick succession to fall just short of a $201,754 min-cash.

Martirosian, who was chasing a remarkable back-to-back High Roller double at the WSOP after taking down the $25,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em for $1,286,285 only three days ago, will not be adding another title to his summer haul in this one.

Instead, his run came to an incredible end in a sequence few players will ever experience, let alone in one of the biggest buy-ins of the series.

Here are the two hands that ended the four-time WSOP bracelet winner’s hopes, as he hit the rail at the Paris feature table in the bitterest of circumstances:

Nguyen Cracks Aces to Leave Martirosian With Crumbs

As reported by PokerNews’ Frank Visser, Christopher Nguyen was in the hijack and raised to 160,000. Martirosian three-bet to 680,000 in the big blind, and Nguyen spent one time bank before moving in his stack of 3,480,000 in response.

Martirosian snap-called to put his opponent at risk.

The cards were tabled, and Nguyen revealed K♠Q♠ all-in for his tournament life, while Martirosian showed A♠A♣.

The 5♠2♠7♥ flop presented Nguyen with a flush draw, and the K♥ turn gave him even more outs against Martirosian’s aces.

And Nguyen would find what he needed. The Q♦ landed on the river making Nguyen two pair, cracking the aces of Martirosian and leaving the former chipleader desperately short on the bubble.

Surely it couldn’t happen again… could it?

Martirosian Gets His Aces Cracked Again and Bubbles

As reported by PokerNews’ Maxime Taldir, Teun Mulder in the hijack raised to 160,000. Martirosian in the big blind three-bet all-in for 495,000, and Mulder called.

With a potential $201,754 waiting with a vital double up, Martirosian flipped A♥A♣ and saw Mulder had called with J♠10♠. Martiorisan could be heard saying “not twice” on the WSOP livestream, in a premonition of what was to come.

Once again, Martirosian held aces, but once again, they were cracked in the cruelest of circumstances as Mulder rivered a straight on 8♦Q♥6♥6♣9♦.

With a rueful expression on his face Martirosian tossed in his remaining time banks, collected his bag, and exited the feature stage as bubble boy of the $100,000 High Roller event, to leave the 18 remaining players to battle for the $2,841,432 first prize.

Eliot Thomas is an Editor at PokerNews, specializing in casino and poker coverage. He has reported on major events around the world, including the World Series of Poker, European Poker Tour, and Triton Super High Roller Series.