Calvin Anderson Seizes Seventh World Series Of Poker Bracelet

It was déjà vu all over again at the 2026 World Series of Poker on Saturday, June 20.

Just four days after taking down the $10,000 razz championship, 38-year-old pro Calvin Anderson emerged victorious from another elite field in the $10,000 H.O.R.S.E., which was the very next mixed game championship event offered.

These back-to-back triumphs raised Anderson’s bracelet count to seven, with four of those wins coming in $10,000-buy-in championships. He has taken down the razz championship twice, the eight-game mix championship, and now this classic mixed-game rotation.

Anderson first broke through at the 2014 WSOP, winning a $1,500 stud eight-or-better title. He also has two online bracelet triumphs from 2023: one in the $5,300 six-max no-limit hold’em and the other in a $1,000 pot-limit Omaha six-max event.

This win made Anderson just the 18th player in poker history to have earned seven or more bracelets. He is now in an eight-way tie for the sixth-highest title count, alongside WSOP legends like Daniel Negreanu, Billy Baxter, Scott Seiver, John Hennigan, Brian Rast, Men Nguyen, and the player he actually defeated heads-up in this tournament: Josh Arieh.

Anderson scored $413,580 for his latest title run at the series. With the $357,026 he earned for his razz victory, which made him the winningest WSOP player in history in that game, Anderson’s overall tournament earnings grew to nearly $8.9 million.

Points Races Galore

These two wins inside the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas in 2026 made Anderson the second multi-event winner of the summer, joining Naoya Kihara with back-to-back championships. As a result, both Anderson and Kihara are now among the top contenders in the WSOP Player of the Year race.

“I didn’t come into the series thinking I was going to win Player of the Year or try to win Player of the Year, necessarily. I just play the stuff I think I’m good at, and skipped a lot of tournaments,” Anderson told PokerNews live reporters. “It’s better when you just do what you really feel like doing. So I think just following what you really want to do, and you feel good about. Like Bashar says, ‘Follow your highest excitement.’ Just doing that for anybody… it’s usually going to work out.”

This win also came with 840 Card Player Player of the Year points, pushing his total on the year to 1,920. That puts Anderson just outside of the top 100 in the year-long standings presented by CoinPoker.

The 414 PokerGO Tour points Anderson earned with this victory moved him inside the top 20 in that high-stakes-centric race.

Thinning The Field

This tournament drew 189 entries to build a prize pool of $1,422,900. The bubble burst on day 2, with the top 29 finishers cashing. Plenty of big names were sent packing inside the money, including Rast (25th), Marco Johnson (22nd), Matthew Schreiber (21st), Sebastian Pauli (20th), Jason Daly (19th), Justin Smith (17th), Allen Kessler (16th), Daniel Strelitz (14th), and Maksim Pisarenko (12th).

The final day began with 11 players remaining and Anderson in the lead. Five-time bracelet winner Brian Yoon (11th – $28,530) was the first to fall, with John Veltri’s eight-high straight good for a scoop in stud eight-or-better. Not long after that, Ariel Mantel (10th – $28,530) got the last of his short stack in playing the same game. David Lin’s pair of threes wound up being the best high hand, and neither player made a low.

Two-time bracelet winner Chris Brewer was left on fumes after running into the nut flush for Veltri in limit hold’em. He hung around until razz, at which point he committed the last of his stack on third street with 7-5-A. David Lin and Josh Arieh battled in the side pot, with Lin folding on seventh street to leave himself in the danger zone. Arieh showed down 6-5-4-3-2 to win the pot, sending Brewer to the rail. He earned $34,540 for his ninth-place showing. He already had three final-table finishes this summer, with seven figures in earnings accrued just past the midway point of the schedule.

Lin managed one double-up, but was soon all-in and at risk again in razz. He ran into a smooth seven low for Robert Mizrachi and was eliminated in eighth place ($42,990). This came just over two weeks after Lin had finished second in the $10,000 no-limit deuce-to-seven single draw lowball championship for $288,711.

Seven To Three

France’s Nicolas Milgrom was the next to fall, with his pocket sevens outraced by the A♥10♥ of Veltri. The board came down 10♠9♥3♣J♣K♦ and Milgrom headed to the payout desk to collect $54,990 for his seventh-place showing.

Robert Mizrachi

Three-time bracelet winner David Bach was eliminated during a round of razz, with 9-8-5-4-3 as his best five-card low at showdown. Anderson made a 7-4-3-2-A to score the knockout blow, ending Bach’s tournament in sixth place ($72,200). The 2009 $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. championship (since renamed the Poker Players Championship) winner now has more than $4.7 million in career scores.

Mizrachi had been sliding down the leaderboard during short-handed play. The five-time bracelet winner made his final stand in a hand of stud, committing the last of his chips on fifth street. He made kings and fives on seventh street, but Arieh improved to aces and tens to win the pot and narrow the field to four. Mizrachi earned $97,270 as the fifth-place finisher. His lifetime tournament haul is now approaching $9.8 million.

The next elimination also saw Arieh send a player to the rail in stud after the chips went in on fifth street. Switzerland’s Yannick Jobin started with three suited connected cards on third and picked up a full-blown gutshot on fourth. Arieh had already made kings and aces by that point, though. He ultimately improved to kings full by the end, while Jobin could only produce a pair of deuces. He earned $134,350 for his fourth-place showing.

Anderson Picks Up Steam Down The Stretch

Arieh was out in front at the start of three-handed play, with roughly twice as many chips as Anderson and Veltri bringing up the rear. After a dinner break, though, Anderson strung together a few big pots to close the gap. Then, Veltri won a big pot off of Arieh in limit hold’em to drop him into second.

A big stud pot, won by Arieh with a heart flush, saw him regain the lead. The two top stacks remained fairly close for a while. Then, Veltri won a hefty pot with a straight against Arieh’s trip jacks to shift the dynamic considerably. From there, Anderson began to pull away while the rest of the pack lagged behind.

Veltri moved into second for a bit before ultimately hitting the rail in third place. His final hand came in stud eight-or-better. He made kings and tens, but Anderson showed a seven-high straight and a 6-5-4-3-2 low to scoop. Veltri earned $190,150 as the third-place finisher, his largest tournament score yet.

Anderson had more than a 3:1 chip lead when heads-up play began. Arieh began to fall further and further behind, and was soon left with just a couple of big bets after folding on seventh street in a massive stud pot.

Arieh found a double-up to cut Anderson’s chip advantage to roughly 7:1, but he was soon all-in and at risk again.

The final hand came in stud eight-or-better. The chips went in on the end with Arieh having made a king-high straight. Anderson showed down a queen-high flush, though. With neither player having a qualifying low, Arieh was eliminated in second place ($275,620). The 2004 WSOP main event third-place finisher now has just shy of $15.6 million in career cashes to his name after this latest deep run. It was his third final-table finish of the series.

Final Table Results

Photo credit: WSOP / Miguel Cortes, Lennart Hennig, Travis Ball