Benny Glaser Wins 2026 WSOP $50k Poker Players Championship

The first time Benny Glaser played the World Series of Poker’s $50,000 buy-in Poker Players Championship, it was 2016. He was fresh off of winning his second and third career bracelets, after sweeping that year’s Omaha eight-or-better bracelet events.

“I do remember that experience,” Glaser recalled. “This felt like I was really stepping up into the big leagues. I still remember someone at my table
asking me if I would have played it that year had I not won two bracelets, and my my honest answer was no.”

The $50,000 buy-in represented a solid percentage of his winnings in that summer of 2016, and Glaser ultimately didn’t cash. He’d go on to reach the PPC final table twice in subsequent years, finishing fifth in 2018, and fourth in 2022. Winning the PPC became the definitive career goal beyond all others for Glaser, who suggested, “…one PPC title, even if it was just that one bracelet, would be more satisfying and meaningful to me than winning three different ones, as wild as that might sound,” following his historic three-bracelet summer of 2025.

He didn’t have to trade anything in at the 2026 WSOP. Glaser won the $50,000 Poker Players Championship, his ninth career bracelet, and a $1,343,764 first-place prize. He did so against a final table that featured 11-time bracelet winner Phil Ivey, seven-time bracelet-winner Josh Arieh, and six-time bracelet winner Jason Mercier, among a predictably stacked lineup.

When the final card of the tournament landed, Glaser fell to his knees as the emotion rolled over him.

“It’s a literal dream,” Glaser told WSOP’s Jeff Platt. “It’s the greatest moment in my career, by far. I’ve wanted this for so many years. I’ve come close twice, and I cannot put it into words. I’m so happy. It’s amazing.”

Ascending In Poker’s Record Books

With this win, Glaser’s nine career WSOP bracelets put him in a tie with Johnny Moss for sixth-most all time. That’s just one win behind Doyle Brunson, Erik Seidel, and Johnny Chan, two behind Ivey, and more than halfway to Phil Hellmuth’s record 17 WSOP victories.

Glaser is the second-youngest player to reach nine WSOP bracelets. Ivey won his ninth at WSOP Asia-Pacific in 2013, when he was 36 years, 2 months, and nine days old. Glaser’s PPC win comes at 37 years, 18 days. That’s a better pace than Hellmuth, who won his ninth bracelet at the 2003 WSOP, at 38 years, 10 months, and one day.

“It’s been a lot of time, a lot of work, and I’m gonna keep trying to build on it, obviously,” said Glaser. “But it really is kind of an insane status, frankly. It does occasionally feel a little bit absurd when people ask me how many bracelets I have. I’m not gonna lie, it’s wild.”

Glaser’s name will be the 13th different player’s etched on the Chip Reese trophy, joining four-time PPC winner Michael Mizrachi, three-time champion Brian Rast, two-time winner Daniel Cates, Daniel Negreanu, and Reese himself, among other mixed game standouts.

Five Days To Victory

Five days before this historic win, Glaser got off to a magical start in the 2026 WSOP $50,000 Poker Players Championship. With 87 total day 1 entries in the PPC, Glaser ended the night second in chips, among 66 survivors. The field swelled to 108 entries by the close of registration on day 2, and among the 39 players who survived and advanced to day 3, Glaser was once again in second place overnight.

After two days as second, best Glaser ended day 3 as the chip leader, with just 15 players left in the hunt. And after playing past the official final table of seven late on day 4, and losing Mercier in seventh place ($176,732), Glaser once again bagged the chip lead.

The final five players standing between Glaser and his coveted Poker Players Championship title presented a significant challenge. There was Ivey, one of the few players Glaser’s still chasing in the all-time bracelet race. Ivey had designs on a 12th career bracelet of his own, as well as what would be a first Poker Players Championship win for him.

There was also Arieh, a seven-time bracelet winner who’s knocked on the door to the Poker Hall of Fame on several occasions. Three-time bracelet winner Paul Volpe, double winner Maxx Coleman, and 2025 WSOP H.O.R.S.E. champion Kristopher Tong rounded out the final table.

First To 10 Million Chips

Glaser built upon his chip lead, became the first player to breach 10 million chips, and then quickly eclipsed 15 million chips. That surge crested with Glaser’s elimination of Tong in sixth place ($226,172). In no-limit hold’em, Glaser’s K♥Q♥ won a coin flip against Tong’s pocket sevens, courtesy of two queens on the flop.

Coleman picked up the second elimination of the final table. In Omaha eight-or-better, Volpe’s last few chips went in with A♣Q♦4♦3♦ against Coleman’s A♠K♦J♦3♠. Volpe flopped top pair, but Coleman turned and rivered two pair, kings and jacks. With no low possible, Coleman scooped up Volpe’s chips, and knocked the Philadelphian out in fifth place ($301,405).

Despite that pot, Coleman’s head would soon be on the chopping block. In pot-limit Omaha, Arieh flopped a set of nines and Coleman turned trip fours with an ace kicker, a disastrous outcome for Coleman. Coleman called all in on the river, Arieh tabled his full house, and Coleman exited the final table in fourth place ($417,607).

Josh Arieh Sets the Perfect Trap

Four players remain in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship. @JoshuaArieh flops a set, Maxx Coleman turns trips, and the river delivers a brutal ending with $1,343,764 awaiting the winner. pic.twitter.com/rrHBgvYXAc

— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) June 26, 2026

That left Glaser, Arieh, and Ivey to battle it out for what would be a major milestone for whomever won.

Arieh built up his stack and snatched the chip lead from Glaser in a series of pots against Ivey. The last hand of that sequence, in deuce-to-seven triple draw, saw Arieh make a ten-eight low. He patted on the last draw, against Ivey’s draw at an eight-five low, and Ivey made a pair of fours. The 11-time bracelet winner saw his tournament run end in third place ($600,698). It matched Ivey’s best result in the $50,000 mixed game event; he finished third to Reese in 2006.

All Glaser To The End

Arieh led 19.3 million to 13 million at the start of heads-up play. But from the first hand of their match, Glaser caught fire once more. He pulled even with Arieh, got up to a 2:1 advantage, and from that point on it felt as though Glaser could hardly lose a pot.

Glaser whittled Arieh all the way down to just a couple of big bets. Arieh managed to find one double-up, in seven card stud, when both players were dealt a deuce as their up card and improbably each had pocket pairs underneath. Neither improved upon their starting hands, and Arieh’s jacks were good enough to beat Glaser’s sevens.

The tournament ended on one of Glaser’s specialties, Omaha eight-or-better. The chips went in preflop, with Arieh’s A♠7♠4♦3♠ against Glaser’s A♥Q♦7♦4♣. The K♣4♠3♥ flop gave Arieh two pair, and both players an identical ace-seven low draw. The Q♠ turn gave Glaser a superior two pair, but Arieh added a spade flush draw. Any three or spade would give Arieh the high end of the pot, and either player could get quartered with a qualifying low card.

The J♦ river sealed the win for Glaser who, after shaking hands with Arieh, let the moment wash over him as tears welled up in his eyes.

The Spoils

Along with the trophy, the bracelet, and the second-biggest cash of his career, Glaser earned 1,020 points in the Card Player Player of the Year race. With 2,644 points in total, that’s good for 49th place in the yearlong race presented by CoinPoker.

Glaser, who narrowly missed out on WSOP Player of the Year honors, pushed himself into that conversation again with his fourth final table of the year, and first win. Finally, the $50,000 buy-in level qualified Glaser for PokerGO Tour points. The 500 points that Glaser earned from his PPC win, along with several previous results, put him in 16th place overall on the PGT season-long leaderboard.

Glaser’s win puts him at $12,718,378 in total recorded earnings for his career.

The Culmination Of More Than A Decade Of Commitment

A decade after playing his first WSOP Poker Players Championship, Glaser has become one of the most accomplished mixed game players of all time. At just 37 years old, every subsequent bracelet win from here on out will push him past legends of the game.

“I would say I’ve come a long way, both in terms of ability and emotion and resilience,” Glaser said of his evolution as a player over the last 10 years. “It’s something I’ve worked very hard to do on both sides of the game, both the psychological side, to be able to be showing up here every day and battling, and also the more technical side.”

In revisiting his quote about the PPC being worth three bracelet wins, Glaser considered his previous quote. After a brief chuckle, and a moment of thought, he reaffirmed just how important this win was to him.

“I think past me was probably correct,” said Glaser. “I would trade so much for this bracelet. Three bracelets for this, I think, would probably be a fair trade. This is very special.”

Final Table Results

Photo Credits: WSOP / Alicia Skillman, Monique Marestein