Michelle Chin Wins World Series Of Poker Deuce-To-Seven Triple Draw Lowball Bracelet

Michelle Chin made history in 2015 as the first woman to ever win a World Series of Poker Circuit main event. At that point, the Taiwan-born player lived in Kansas, and was new to the poker scene. In one of her first forays away from the cash games, she defeated a field of 235 entries to earn her debut WSOPC gold ring.

At the time she told WSOP staff, “It means a lot to me [to be the Circuit’s first female Main Event champion. There aren’t too many women in the poker community. We like to see more and more women play because it is a fun game. No matter what sex you are, you should be able to enjoy it. It means a lot to me. I hope I encourage a lot of other girls to come out and play.”

Over 11 years after that early triumph, Chin managed another massive win in a WSOP-branded event. She outlasted 657 entries in the 2026 WSOP $1,500 deuce-to-seven triple draw lowball event, topping a stacked final table to earn her first bracelet and the top prize of $161,313.

“Back then, I was really new to poker,” Chin told PokerNews when asked about her two marquee wins. “I didn’t realize how hard it is to win a tournament; it then took me 10 or 11 years to win another.”

This win made Chin the first female player to win a non-big-bet bracelet since Carol Fuchs took down the 2015 WSOP $1,500 dealers choice event. Several women have won open-field no-limit hold’em events in the intervening years, though, while Thi Truong took down a 2020 pot-limit Omaha event online and Vivian Saliba triumphed in the 2024 WSOP Europe €2,000 PLO event.

Chin earned 840 Card Player Player of the Year points as the champion. This was her first POY-qualified score of 2026.

Thinning The Field

The strong turnout for this event (up 22 entries from 2025) made for a prize pool of $872,167. The top 99 finishers made the money, with notables like Jason Daly (59th), Terrence Chan (56th), Jon Turner (54th), Dominic Sarle (51st), Stephen Hubbard (47th), Nick Guagenti (31st), Dylan Smith (29th), Jerry Wong (27th), Patrick Moulder (22nd), and Pedro Neves (18th) running deep.

The final day of play at Paris Las Vegas began with a dozen players remaining and Italy’s Alessio Isaia in the lead. Chin was inside the top five on the leaderboard to start. Steve Billirakis (12th – $8,211), Michael Rodrigues (11th – $10,445), and David May (10th – $10,445) bowed out in the early going. Then, two-time bracelet winner Evan Sandberg was sent packing in ninth place ($13,613) when his 9-7 ran into a 7-6 smooth for Horacio Chaves.

Isaia (8th – $13,613) was ultimately the next to fall. The bracelet winner’s final hand saw his J-9 low bested by a 9-7 for Nick Pupillo. With that, Pupillo took the chip lead into the final table. Two-time bracelet winner Daniel Strelitz landed the next knockout, with his 8-7-5-4-2 besting an 8-6-5-2 draw for Tot going into the final card. Tot picked up an ace on the end to finish seventh ($18,165).

Three-time bracelet winner Sean Troha was eliminated by Chin, with 8-7-5-4-3 good against 10-8-6-5-2. Troha earned $24,804 for this, his second final-table showing of the series. He also placed sixth in the $10,000 Big O championship.

Bracelet winner Ian Pelz hit the rail in fifth place ($34,641) thanks to a three-way clash between him, Strelitz, and Pupillo. Strelitz showed down 8-7-5-3-2 to scoop the sizable pot, moving into second chip position in the process. Chin was the shortest stack going into four-handed play, but she soon won a massive pot against Chaves.

Drawing Up A Win

Pupillo was left short after running into no. 2 for Strelitz. The bracelet winner was soon all-in after the deal. He was up against a pat 10-8 for Chaves. Pupillo drew two, two, and one. He had 8-6-4-2 going into the last draw, and could win with a 10, 9, 7, 5, or 3. Instead, he hit a pair of sixes and was eliminated in fourth place ($49,458). This was the seventh overall final-table finish of 2026 for Pupillo, and the first of the series. With 1,498 total points, he now sits inside the top 200 in the POY standings presented by CoinPoker.

Chaves eventually fell in third place after getting it in after the first draw. He was up against a pat 9-7-6-4-2 for Strelitz and was drawing one with 8-7-6-2 on both the second and third draws. In the end, he picked up a jack and was sent to collect $72,152 for his podium showing.

That gave Strelitz roughly a 3:2 chip lead heading into the final showdown against Chin. That gap expanded in the early going before Chin won a big one with 8-6 besting 8-7 to kick off her comeback. Not long after that, she had evened out the stacks.

Chin took the lead and then stretched it, winning a hefty one with another 8-6 to leave Strelitz in the danger zone. Soon after that, he was all-in from the button drawing three against Chin’s two. She patted the second draw, while Strelitz took. Chin patted again, and Strelitz opted to take two with 8-7-4. Chin showed 8-7-5-4-2. Strelitz’s first card was a 3 to keep his hopes of doubling alive, but the second card was also a 3 to give him a pair. Strelitz earned $107,504 as the runner-up, pushing his career haul past $6 million.

Final Table Results

Photo credit: WSOP / Dominic Iaquinto