Naoya Kihara Wins WSOP $10K 2-7 Championship, 2nd Bracelet

In 2012, Naoya Kihara became the first Japanese player in history to win a World Series of Poker bracelet. Over the last 14 years, nine other Japanese players joined him in annals of poker history as bracelet winners, most notably two-time champions Ryutaro Suzuki and Shiina Okamoto.

Kihara, now 44 years old, now stands alongside Suzuki and Okamoto as a newly minted two-time WSOP bracelet winner.

Kihara won the $10,000 no-limit deuce-to-seven championship, defeating a talent-laden final table that actually included Suzuki, along with a WSOP main event champion, and a two-time WSOP player of the year, among others. For his win, Kihara, earned a first-place payday of $428,923, the third largest live cash of his tournament career.

The biggest cash of Kihara’s career came in 2022, when he managed an impressive triumvirate of final table appearances. Along with his third-place finish in the 2022 WSOP Poker Players Championship, Kihara also made the final table of both the $1,500 and $10,000 buy-in dealers choice events that summer.

Outside of his summer of 2022, and his initial bracelet win, live success had been elusive for Kihara over long stretches of his career. So much so, in fact, that Kihara had seriously contemplated stepping away from major live tournament events.

“I’m now 44, almost retired from poker,” Kihara told PokerNews’ Josh Noy. “But I came back and hopefully I try for one more bracelet from now. Otherwise, I was thinking about quitting the tournament poker, but with this win, I decided at least two to three more years for tournaments.”

A Steep Climb To Victory

On his way to the bracelet, Kihara had to come back on several different occasions. Kihara’s win in this tournament even more impressive. In the moments after his victory, Kihara discussed the fact that he was down to a single small blind on day 1 of the tournament. His stack recovered to a certain degree by the close of the first day, and Kihara was one of 56 players out of 136 total entries to bag chips.

Registration for the $10,000 no-limit deuce-to-seven championship remained open through the first level of day 2, and the total field swelled to 198 for a total prize pool of $1,841,400.

By the end of day 2, just 13 players remained in the mix. Suzuki held the chip lead, followed closely by Shaun Deeb. Kihara sat in third place, with Phil Hellmuth, Alex Foxen, John Monnette, 2018 WSOP main event champion John Cynn, Chad Eveslage, and Dan Shak among the contenders.

Jason Daly, who already won his third career bracelet earlier this summer, was the first player to fall. Deeb took over the chip lead when his jack-low fended off Daly’s draw, sending Daly out in 13th place.

Eveslage, a four-time bracelet winnner, ran head-first into Suzuki’s dealt 7-6 low, and went out in 12th place. Foxen’s hope of his own fourth bracelet were also dashed by a 7-6, this one belonging to David Lin, and his run ended in 11th place.

By the time the first break had hit, Kihara was in last place among the final 10 players.

Climbing Back Into It

Monnette, a five-time bracelet winner, went head-to-head with Deeb, and both players were drawing one card to an eight-low. Both picked up face cards, but Deeb’s jack bested Monnette’s king, knocking Monnette out 10th place. Hellmuth’s dreams of an 18th bracelet were put on ice, when his draw at an 8-6 low failed to hit against Robert French’s jack-seven low.

Hellmuth’s last few chips ended up in Kihara’s stack, when Kihara drew two cards to a seven-five-three and made a jack-ten low, leaving Hellmuth’s draw at a queen a fruitless endeavor. His second top-10 finish ended with Hellmuth out in ninth place ($41,656).

Almost four hours elapsed in real-time before the next elimination from the tournament. French finally drew the short straw on the official final table bubble, pairing his nine on a nine-eight low draw to lose a battle of short stacks against Lin.

The final seven players went to a dinner break in the midst of it, but there was more than four-and-a-half hours in real time until the next elimination. Per Hildebrand had a one-card draw at an eight-seven, against a two-card draw for Kihara at a 7-5 low. Kihara drew well, making a ten-eight low, and Hildebrand squeezed out a king, sending the Swedish player to the rail in seventh place ($54,467).

At that point, the dam burst. Kihara picked up yet another elimination when he and Shak battled with competing one-card seven draws. Kihara’s jack was enough, as Shak picked up a king, and Shak’s long search for a first WSOP bracelet continued, as this run ended in sixth place ($72,834).

Winning The Marathon

Deeb, who had been chip leader at several points in the day, fell soon after Shak. Both he and Cynn patted, declining to draw any cards, and Cynn’s dealt eight-seven dwarfed Deeb’s ten-six. The two-time WSOP POY winner settled for fifth place ($99,557). When four-handed play began, it appeared to be a two-horse race with Kihara and Cynn well out ahead of Lin and Suzuki.

Lin doubled back into contention, though, when he was dealt a seven-six against Suzuki. Lin then took the rest of Suzuki’s chips with an unlikely winner, drawing an ace to match his king-queen draw. But a short-stacked Suzuki, who was drawing at a nine-seven low, paired the nine, and went out in fourth place ($139,038).

Lin doubled again in a massive pot, at the expense of Cynn. Lin drew one card at an eight-seven low, and had to beat Cynn’s pat jack-eight low. He peeled a six, making his eight low, and Cynn was left on a precariously short stack. Cynn got all in drawing dead against Lin, and the 2018 WSOP main event champion’s first bracelet event final table since that victory ended in third place ($198,302).

Kihara began heads-up play with the chip lead, but Lin briefly pulled ahead. They’d eventually play one of the biggest pots of the tournament, and Kihara needed to complete one final draw to secure his second bracelet. After four-betting all in, Lin, tabled a ten-eight-five-four-deuce low. Kihara showed a six-five-three-deuce, and drew one card. He needed a seven, an eight, a nine, or a ten to win the pot, and Kihara found his best possible card as a seven made him a champion.

Kihara’s victory earned him 840 Card Player Player of the Year points, his first qualifying cash towards the 2026 leaderboard presented by CoinPoker. The $10,000 buy-in event also qualified for PokerGO Tour points, and Kihara banked 429 towards those season-long standings, good for a spot in the top 25.

Final Table Results

Photo credit: WSOP / Alicia Skillman and Miguel Cortes