WSOP: JRB Bracelet Denied, Weiss Triples Up In Limit Hold’em

It’s been a wild few last few days at the 2026 World Series of Poker. Nick Schulman, Kristen Foxen, and Yuri Dzivielevski each hit big bracelet milestones, but they’re not the only ones to add to their counts.

Dennis Weiss, a high roller standout with a specialty in pot-limit Omaha, proved his prowess in another game as he went from the shortest stack to a bracelet in a $1,500 limit hold’em event.

Jean-Robert Bellande has been in poker’s limelight for over 20 years, more in big cash games than in tournaments. He has a 2018 bracelet win, a runner-up in the 2015 WSOP Poker Players Championship, and Bellande won a career-best $1.5 million in an Onyx Super High Roller Series event this past January.

Bellande seemed poised to add a second career bracelet in a $3,000 no-limit hold’em event, only for a series of unlikely and unlucky hands to deny him that victory. Instead, Omar Zazay claimed that bracelet.

Here’s the latest look at some of biggest recent winners at the WSOP.

Jean-Robert Bellande Sees $3K No-Limit Hold’em Bracelet Slip Away

From a field of 1,300 entries in a $3,000 no-limit hold’em event, Jean-Robert Bellande was one of seven players to advance to the fourth and final day of action. They were set to battle for the lion’s share of a $3,471,000 prize pool, and Bellande held the chip lead in hopes of outlasting the final six obstacles standing in his way.

This final table ultimately became the stuff of nightmares for Bellande, who built a massive chip lead only for it to slip away in a series of agonizing bad beats. Omar Zazay was there to pick up the pieces, and the Texan took full advantage in closing out his own first bracelet win.

Zazay claimed the $538,158 first-place prize, the second-largest result of his career, behind a $1 million win at Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood in 2015. Zazay’s first qualifying cash of 2016 earned him 1,440 Card Player Player of the Year points.

Bellande settled for second place, taking home $358,705 as the runner-up. There were several points at this final table in which a Bellande victory seemed inevitable. He was the chip leader to start the day, chased by six other bracelet hopefuls. That group included three-time bracelet winner Jim Collopy and Germany’s Jessica Vierling, an accomplished mid-stakes pro in search of a first bracelet win.

The Cresting Wave Suddenly Crashes

Bellande immediately pressed his lead, eliminating Troy Donaldson with A♥K♣ against Donaldson’s A♠8♠. The board offered no assistance to either player, and Donaldson was out in seventh place ($76,754).

Vierling was the next player at risk, as her K♦Q♠ took on Christos Argyriadis’ A♦9♠. Vierling flopped an open-ended straight draw and rivered a queen, but that river gave Argyriadis a queen-high straight. Vierling’s first career WSOP bracelet event final table ended in sixth place ($101,765).

Bellande’s heater continued when he turned K♥2♠ into a Broadway straight to bust Guofeng Wang and his pocket eights, eliminating Wang in fifth place ($136,737). It was at this point, however, that Bellande’s tight grip on the momentum started to slip, in increasingly improbable ways.

Zazay was all in and at risk with A♣3♠, and turned trip threes to beat Bellande’s pocket jacks, doubling up in the process. Bellande briefly righted the ship when he eliminated Collopy in fourth place ($186,161), but he’d soon run into a triumvirate of heartbreaking hands. On three separate occasions, Bellande held an overpair with a chance to eliminate an opponent. But pocket sixes lost to pocket fours, pocket sevens fell to pocket sixes, and pocket aces got cracked by Zazay’s pocket jacks.

How Much Pain Can One Player Take?@BrokeLivingJRB can’t win a hand when it matters most. pic.twitter.com/a1tMcqR0dr

— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) June 13, 2026

Bellande even picked up ace-king, only to run into Argyriadis’ pocket aces. Despite all of those ridiculous hands, Bellande still reached heads-up play with a chance for a comeback. Argyriadis had pocket jacks against Zazay’s bottom pair of threes, but a 3♣ river crippled his stack, and Zazay got the rest on the next hand, eliminating the Greek player in third place ($256,761).

There would be no comeback. The last of Bellande’s chips went in with J♠10♦ against Zazay’s A♦2♥. Zazay ended with a pair of deuces, and that was enough.

Final Table Results

Dennis Weiss Triples Up With Limit Hold’em Victory

Dennis Weiss built an impressive tournament record almost exclusively on the strength of his pot-limit Omaha game. In each of the last two years, the German pro won a bracelet in PLO, including a 2024 victory in the $25,000 buy-in PLO event for a staggering $2,292,155.

But Weiss’ skill set is clearly not one-dimensional, as he proved on the way to his third career WSOP bracelet. Weiss topped a field of 510 entrants to win the $1,500 limit hold’em event, earning $133,704. With two final table appearances at the WSOP thus far, among other results, the 840 Card Player Player of the Year points Weiss earned for this win put him at 1,992 for the year, good for 78th overall on the yearlong leaderboard presented by CoinPoker.

The seven-handed final table featured several recognizable names, including 2012 WSOP limit hold’em champion Ronnie Bardah, and bracelet winner and CoinPoker ambassador Patrick Leonard.

Weiss started the final day of action in the middle of the pack, in fourth place among eight remaining players. Thomas Miressi picked up the first elimination of the day when his pocket nines ousted Joseph Salorio and his A♠4♠ in eighth place ($11,396).

When the official seven-handed final table began, Weiss was in dead last. After briefly surging, Weiss lost a massive pot to Jorge Ufano in a flush over flush spot. He was left with just six big blinds after that cooler.

An Incredible Comeback

Weiss picked up his first double with pocket aces and a clean runout. His stack continued to regroup during a long, uninterrupted seven-handed session, and Weiss ultimately picked up the next elimination. His 10♠7♣ flopped a pair of sevens to claim the last of Vo Ngo’s chips, as Ngo couldn’t connect with A♥2♦, and went out in seventh place ($15,134).

Chips swung in almost every direction, as short stacks doubled, and even tripled up in a few spots. A tough day for Leonard culminated in his exit in sixth place ($20,576). Weiss’ revivification continued as he turned a set of threes and took the last of Leonard’s chips.

Bardah picked up the next elimination, as his A♣K♥ made trip aces to batter Miressi’s 6♣5♣ and knock Miressi out in fifth place ($28,626). Weiss got revenge on Ufano, as his pocket kings pipped Ufano’s pocket queens to bust the Spaniard in fourth place ($40,732).

Three-handed play started on relatively even ground between Weiss, Bardah, and Omar Mehmood. But Weiss’ spin-up continued as he claimed, and then fortified, a growing lead. Weiss got incredibly lucky against a short-stacked Bardah, with his pocket sevens spiking a set on the flop and quads by the river to decimate Bardah and his pocket nines. Bardah’s hope of a second limit hold’em bracelet ended in third place ($59,247).

Weiss never relinquished the lead from there, though Mehmood fought his way off the ropes several times. On the final hand, Mehmood put the bulk of his chips in preflop with A♣7♥, and Weiss obliged him with 9♥8♠. The rest of Mehmood’s chips went in blind, and Weiss called. The board ran out K♥Q♥9♠7♦8♥, and Weiss’ two pair sealed his victory.

Final Table Results

Photo credits: WSOP / Tyler Abrams and Lennart Hennig