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Two years after winning his first World Series of Poker bracelet, Mike Holtz is once again a WSOP champion after conquering the chaos of Event #31: $1,500 Super Turbo Bounty No-Limit Hold’em at the 2026 WSOP.
The PokerNews Podcast co-host outlasted a field of 2,103 entries at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas to claim his second bracelet and the top prize of $238,097 after defeating Malaysia’s Mei Seow in a short heads-up match.
The turbo-paced one-day event created a prize pool of $1,740,233, with 319 players making the money in one of the more frantic tournaments on the WSOP schedule.
2026 WSOP Event #31: $1,500 Super Turbo Bounty Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mike Holtz | United States | $238,097 |
| 2 | Mei Seow | Malaysia | $158,641 |
| 3 | Rute Jin | United States | $115,900 |
| 4 | Carlos Chu | Peru | $85,537 |
| 5 | Dustin Harrelson | United States | $63,779 |
| 6 | Andrew Ostapchenko | United States | $48,050 |
| 7 | Mark Harken | United States | $36,581 |
| 8 | Jeremy Halaska | United States | $28,145 |
| 9 | Zhicheng Miao | United Kingdom | $21,889 |
Holtz was filled with joy after the win, describing it as a major personal milestone after previously winning an online bracelet.
“Feeling great. Pretty f**king cool, man. I’m so happy,” Holtz told PokerNews shortly after it finished. “It’s been a long time coming, and I’ve always wanted a live bracelet. There is sort of a stigma with the online bracelet, like, oh blah blah blah. F**k them, baby. Daddy’s got 2 now.”
Holtz explained that finally winning a bracelet on the live stage made him feel “vindicated” after years of success online.
“F**k them, baby. Daddy’s got 2 now.”
“I feel very vindicated. I feel like I won something on the big stage,” he said. “I feel like this is a huge, huge moment for me, and I’m beyond happy. This is a life goal of mine. It’s just crazy. I’m so happy.”
The PokerNews Podcast co-host later explained that he never felt much pressure throughout the final table despite the turbo structure and constant swings.
“I was just 1 out of 10 on the stress level,” Holtz explained. “When there was like three of us left, I looked down at one point and I was like, dude, you’re gonna win a bracelet, just relax and just do it. And then it was like five hands later, bracelet.”
Holtz estimated he collected around 15 bounties during his run to the title and admitted he believed his experience in turbo formats gave him a major edge once the field got short.
“It seemed like most of the people at the final table had never played a super turbo or weren’t aware of the dynamics of how to play a final table,” Holtz said. “I felt like the final table was pretty easy.”
Known by many fans through the PokerNews Podcast, Holtz also said the win helped validate his career accomplishments beyond the online arena.
“A lot of people from the podcast just know me as the podcast guy,” Holtz said. “I feel like this kind of legitimizes my career as a whole and I very much have wanted this for a long time. It’s a great feeling.”
The Turbo Chaos
Once late registration closed and the final numbers were confirmed, it was determined that 316 players would finish in the money, with a min-cash worth $1,075. There wasn’t time for hand-for-hand play as, with 319 players remaining, the bubble burst almost immediately with seven players eliminated simultaneously.
Once the bubble burst, the eliminations came at lightning speed as the field rapidly thinned toward the final table. Several notable names managed to navigate the fast-paced structure and make the money, including Thomas Eychenne, two-time bracelet winner Christopher Vitch, Renan Bruschi, Ryan Depaulo, Qiang Xu, Matt Glantz, four-time bracelet winner Jason Mercier, Shawn Buchanan, Mike Gorodinsky, Maria Konnikova, Kevin Mathers, and five-time bracelet winner Brian Yoon.
Holtz’s journey toward the bracelet gained traction approaching the final two tables. He first eliminated Daniel Rezaei after his pocket eights held against pocket sevens before dispatchingLouise Francoeur shortly after when he flopped a deuce against ace-ten.
The biggest hand for Holtz up until that point came right before the final table bubble itself. Holtz three-bet jammed with queens and found himself at risk against Dustin Harrelson‘s pocket jacks. Holtz turned a full house to double to roughly ten million in chips, enough to send him into the final table as chip leader.
Holtz Survives Wild Final Table Swings
Rute Jin was the most aggressive and dominant player during the early stages of the final table, building a massive stack after eliminating Jason Hickey, Zhicheng Miao, Mark Harken, Andrew Ostapchenko, and Harrelson, as the field quickly went down to just four players.
Holtz then scored a huge knockout of his own after waking up with queens against the pocket eights of Carlos Chu. Holtz held to send Chu to the rail in fourth place, guaranteeing the remaining three players a six-figure payout.
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Three-handed play quickly turned into a battle between Holtz and Jin, with the chip lead constantly swinging between the pair. Holtz got a pivotal double after correctly calling off his tournament life with pocket aces when Jin jammed the turn holding only a straight draw, but Jin responded immediately in the next hand by doubling through Holtz when ace-king held against Holtz’s seven-three suited.
Despite Jin’s relentless aggression, Holtz continued finding ways to stay alive. He doubled through Jin with ace-ten against seven-six, then on the very next hand, Seow also took a chunk of Jin’s stack after holding with ace-ten to Jin’s suited jack.
That sequence proved costly for Jin. Only minutes later, Holtz moved all in from the small blind with six-five and was called by Jin’s ace-five. Holtz paired his six on the flop and held to eliminate Jin in third place, taking a massive chip lead of over 5:1 into heads-up play against Seow.
Heads-up play lasted only three hands as Seow jammed her last few big blinds with six-five suited and Holtz snap-called with ace-three in the big blind. Holtz remained ahead throughout the runout, eliminating Seow in second place and securing his second WSOP bracelet.
That concludes PokerNews‘ coverage of Event #31: $1,500 Super Turbo Bounty No-Limit Hold’em, but stay tuned throughout the summer as the 2026 WSOP continues with plenty more bracelets still left to be won.
