Joseph Liberta Wins World Series Of Poker Millionaire Maker

Joseph Liberta has nearly 200 recorded scores on the live tournament circuit, with results dating back 15 years. The 37-year-old’s very first cash at the World Series of Poker came a few years into his career, with a 537th-place showing in the 2013 $1,500 no-limit hold’em Millionaire Maker.

Thirteen years after that first in-the-money finish for 537th place, the Berlin, New Jersey resident finally broke through to capture his first WSOP bracelet in the very same event. Liberta bested a massive field of 11,769 entries in the 2026 Millionaire Maker to earn the hardware and the career-best score of $1,250,000.

“It’s completely surreal. I’ve been here for a long time,” Liberta told the WSOP‘s Jeff Platt after closing out the win. “I’m just extremely grateful.”

This payday was roughly ten times the size of any previous cash for Liberta, whose previous top score was the $124,463 that came with a win in the 2016 Parx Big Stax XVII $1,600 buy-in event. With this seven-figure windfall factored in, Liberta’s lifetime haul now sits at $3.1 million.

In addition to the money and the hardware, this victory also came with 1,440 Card Player Player of the Year points. This was the second final-table finish of the year for Liberta, who also placed sixth in a $1,100 turbo event at the Wynn Summer Classic. With 1,560 total points, he is now ranked inside the top 175 in the 2026 POY standings presented by CoinPoker.

From Tens Of Thousands To A Final Table

This gigantic tournament began on June 17, with the first of four starting flights. Those were matched with as many day 2 flights, before the field finally combined on June 22 for day 3. The 11,769-entry turnout to Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas made for a prize pool of $15,623,347.

Plenty of big names made it down to the business end of this event, with Matt Affleck (63rd), Will Givens (54th), Harrison Gimbel (38th), Robert Kuhn (35th), Scott Stewart (31st), Vincent Moscati (17th), Mark Newhouse (16th), and Ryan Eriquezzo (13th) running deep.

Eriquezzo, a three-time bracelet winner, got his pocket kings cracked by the K♠J♣ of Alex Kim in a three-way all-in. Anthony Rubin’s A♥K♥ was also bested in the process, with the final runout of Q♣8♠5♠9♠J♠ giving Kim a winning flush. Eriquezzo and Rubin were both left on fumes, and soon headed to the rail just shy of the official final table.

Michael Monroig held the chip lead when the final nine bagged up at the conclusion of day 4. Liberta was in third chip position, while Kim landed in fourth after winning that huge three-way showdown.

Final Table Fireworks

The final day kicked off at 3:30 PM local time on June 24. Yifu He (9th – $150,068) was the first to fall, with his final few big blinds added to Monroig’s stack. Garry Gurevich (8th – $190,000) soon followed, with his Q♦2♣ unable to connect in a three-way all-in. Kim made a pair of nines on the river to take the pot and narrow the field to seven.

Jacob Gagnon’s final hand was a rollercoaster. He was at risk with A♥5♦ trailing Bradley Gafford’s A♣Q♣, but the 7♠5♥2♥A♦ flop and turn gave him aces up and the lead. The 7♦ on the end gave both players aces and sevens, with Gafford’s superior queen kicker playing to earn him the knockout. Gagnon earned a career-best score of $245,000 as the seventh-place finisher.

“COUNTERFEIT CITY!”

With $1,250,000 awaiting the winner at the WSOP Millionaire Maker final table, Gagon gets all the chips in with A-5 against Gafford’s A-Q. The flop gives him hope, but the runout has other ideas. pic.twitter.com/4X53Bygmrs

— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) June 25, 2026

Kim’s run concluded in sixth place ($315,000). His A♦7♥ was outrun by the J♥10♥ of Monroig after the chips went in preflop. Monroig hit a pair of tens on the flop and held from there to send Kim to collect his largest score yet on the circuit.

Five To One

Joseph Baghdadlian’s K-10 suited ran into the pocket jacks of Gafford to leave his stack in shambles. He picked up A♥J♠ soon after and made his final stand, only to run into A♠K♠ for Liberta. The board missed both players, and Baghdadlian headed to the rail in fifth place ($410,000).

Shortly after that, Liberta squared off against Halford Fairchild in a preflop race. His 9♥9♣ were a slight favorite preflop against A♠Q♠, but the J♥J♣9♠ flop all but ended the hand. The 10♥ turn left Fairchild drawing dead. He earned $530,000 after the 3♣ rolled off on the end.

Gafford’s final hand saw the chips go in on a board of J♠10♦3♥K♦8♣. Gafford shoved with K♥10♥ for kings up, only to get called by Liberta’s Q♠9♦ for a turned king-high straight. Gafford took home $750,000 for this podium showing. The 2023 WSOP $1,000 mini main event champion now has over $2 million in recorded scores to his name.

With that, Liberta took more than a 2.5:1 lead into heads-up play with Monroig. That gap widened in the early going before a double-up with trip kings for Monroig more or less returned stacks to where they were at the start of the final battle.

Liberta extended his lead to more than 12:1 before the final hand of the tournament arrived. Monroig ripped his final handful of big blinds with 10♦8♥ and Liberta called with 8♣5♦ from the big blind. It was looking good for Monroig until the 5♠5♣2♠ flop gave Liberta trips fives and a stranglehold on the title. The Q♥ turn rendered the 2♥ river a mere formality. Monroig earned $1,000,000 as the runner-up. Before this, his top score had been a sixth-place finish in a $1,000 online bracelet event in 2023 for $32,854.

Final Table Results

Photo credit: WSOP / Dominic Iaquinto.