'Broke Living' No More: JRB Takes Down Onyx High Roller for $1.5 Million

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Jan 31, 2026 8 min read

Jean-Robert Bellande, the poker boom era star with the "BrokeLivingJRB" moniker on X, arrived at the Merit Royal Diamond Casino & Spa for the Onyx High Roller Series this week expecting to play some cash games. He was relaxing in his room yesterday afternoon when he got a phone call that changed all of his plans.

On the other line was tournament founder Rob Yong. Yong was delayed getting to North Cyprus and had an offer for Bellande: a seat in the $100,000 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller Championship. It was too good to pass up, and Bellande quickly made his way to the tournament room to register.

Just a day later, and "JRB" ended up atop the 50-player field and champion of the opening event of the series, defeating none other than Yong heads-up to win the $1,500,000 first prize. After two decades as one of the biggest names in poker, it was nearly double Bellande’s previous high score.

Final Table results

“Oh, this is my biggest one?” Bellande asked, surprised at the news of his new career milestone.

“I wasn’t going to play. By the way, zero chance I’m playing any high rollers. These guys are all superstars. But Rob’s plane got delayed and he felt bad. So he told the guys, I’m putting in a fish. I’m putting JRB in to represent me in there. I got the phone call. I’m chilling in my room watching Netflix, and he said, ‘Hey, you want to play? I’m like, great, when’s the tournament? ‘It’s right now.” I’m like, what? Okay, let me get over there,” he said following his victory.

In addition to multiple deep runs in the WSOP Main Event, a runner-up finish in a WSOP event in 2008 where he lost a 19-to-one heads-up chip lead, a bracelet in the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed event in 2018, and a stint as a contestant on Survivor, Bellande had never recorded a seven-figure score before today. He compared this trophy to the bracelet he won eight years ago, explaining that, while the money is special, the bracelet is still his most meaningful accomplishment.

“You know, it’s interesting. Even though this is a bigger cash win, it’s still, for me, winning that bracelet was more of the granddaddy event. I mean, this is exciting and fun. It sounds insane. A bracelet and $500,000, or this event and $1.5 million. So, wow, this is my biggest by double,” he said.

Bellande’s path to the title was full of pitfalls. He built up a massive chip lead during the final two tables and began the final table with more than double his closest challenger. But then he lost a massive pot when Pieter Aerts hit a one-outer and tumbled down the leaderboard. His goal changed: from having hopes of the title, he was then just trying to get into the top four.

“It was crazy, dude. You could see it in my face that I was devastated, giving away that chip stack. And it’s like, while my call to his river raise is understandable, because it’s really hard to give him any kind of hand. You know, that 3.5 million in chips would have made all the difference in me being able to maneuver around that final table,” he said.

“Obviously, I got very lucky to be able to stay alive in there. I could have easily gone out in sixth place. And, you know, when you go into the final table chip leader, almost double chip leader, sixth place would’ve been a disappointing finish. Once I lost that stack, I told myself, if I get fourth place, that will still be a success. Man, I’m really, really, really just dumbfounded with the emotional roller coaster I went through today.”

What made the victory even sweeter was that it came at Yong’s expense. Yong spent much of the day playfully needling Bellande, the two players' familiar opponents from many high-stakes cash games around the world. Their colorful banter served as an entertaining reprieve from what could’ve been a tension-filled final table. Bellande recognizes that, underneath all the jabs Yong landed on him today, it was all in good fun and Yong has always been a big supporter of his.

“That was a nice little extra bonus. But, you know, it’s funny, because Rob is always busting balls and needling, but people don’t know what an amazing, amazing person he is,” Bellande said. “He has been determined to see me successful in spite of my own flaws and weaknesses. I promise you, even though he’s a little butthurt that I made those calls on him, he is as happy for me as I am for me.”

The JRB vs. Yong heads-up duel could also have a benefit to future Onyx series: a high roller boom. “This is like when Chris Moneymaker won the Main Event,” Bellande joked afterward.

“I mean, if I’m a talented poker player and I hear that Rob Yong and JRB are top two in the Onyx event, I want to play every Onyx event for the rest of my life,” he added.

Day 2 Action

A total of 11 players returned for Day 2 at 1 p.m. local time, and a flurry of late arrivals and reentries boosted the field up to 50 players by the time late registration closed, hitting the $5 million guaranteed prize pool.

Only the top eight players would finish in the money, and Matthias Eibinger, Mikita Badziakouski, and start-of-day chip leader Johan Guilbert were among those sent to the rail as the final 14 players moved upstairs to the luxurious Onyx Club.

Bellande was the chip leader with more than 8,000,000 at the final two tables and quickly extended his lead, picking up aces against Jessica Teusl’s ace-king to send her to the rail. Daniel Rezaei busted when his kings were cracked on the river by Emilien Pitavy’s tens, while Adrian Mateos fell in 10th after his pocket nines couldn’t survive a flip against Aerts’ ace-king.

The final nine players then took their seats around the main feature table, with Bellande a massive chip leader with 13,590,000. Aerts was far behind in second with 6,830,000. It didn’t stay that way for long, however, as Aerts coolered Bellande with a full house against trips on one of the first hands of the final table. Bellande then flopped two pair with queen-jack against Aerts’ jacks, but Aerts hit the last jack in the deck on the turn to make a full house and doubled up to more than 17,000,000, sending Bellande all the way down to 3,680,000.

The action was still on the money bubble when players went on a 60-minute dinner break, Aerts holding more than three times the chips of any other player. Once action resumed, Artur Martirosian shoved for 2,970,000 with ace-queen, but Yong woke up with aces in the big blind and busted the Russian superstar on the bubble.

A flurry of eliminations followed the bursting of the money bubble. Gha Iakobishvili lost his last 2,140,000 with king-six against Thomas Eychenne’s nines, while Biao Ding couldn’t complete a straight draw against Yong’s set as he was eliminated in seventh place.

Bellande got some chips back from Aerts when he doubled up for 2,565,000 with two nines against pocket sixes. He had fallen back down to 1,550,000, good for only five big blinds, when he was all in with deuces against Eychenne’s ten-eight. Eychenne picked up a flush draw going to the river on a paired board that threatened to counterfeit Bellande’s pair, but Bellande dodged the river to stay alive.

Aerts and Pitavy then went to the river when Pitavy bet 800,000. Aerts shoved for 1,890,000, and Pitavy went deep into the tank before calling for his last 1,890,000 with aces and queens. Aerts, though, showed trip aces to win the pot and bust the Frenchman in sixth place.

Yong had overtaken Aerts for the chip lead when he fired a bluff of 4,000,000 on the river, getting Aerts to fold a set as Yong climbed up past 20,000,000. He stayed active, getting paid with a pair of sixes as Aerts called a bet of 1,300,000 on the river with just king-high, dropping to 4,895,000 while Yong approached 30,000,000.

Markkos Ladev picked up two kings to double up for 3,445,000 and leave Eychenne with just three big blinds. Eychenne was all in a few hands later, but this time Ladev had aces to bust him in fifth. Aerts then shoved for his last 2,195,000 on the flop with a flush draw and Bellande snap-called with a pair of kings. Aerts made his flush on the turn, but Bellande spiked a higher flush on the river and Aerts, the former overwhelming chip leader, had to settle for fourth place.

The long-anticipated Yong vs. Bellande heads-up match was set when Ladev shoved the flop with top pair, but Bellande had aces to win the pot and bust Ladev in third. Yong still led with 31,935,000 at the start of heads-up, while Bellande had climbed all the way up to 17,865,000.

Early in the heads-up duel, Bellande raised to 1,000,000 on the button and Yong called. Both players checked the flop, and Yong bet 1,000,000 on the turn. Bellande called, and Yong then moved all in on the river. Bellande called for 10,265,000 with a pair of kings, while Yong could only show a bluff as Bellande took over the chip lead. A few hands later, Yong fired three bullets at an ace-high board before Bellande finally snap-called all in when Yong shoved for 14,270,000 on the river. Yong had a pair of fives, but Bellande turned over a pair of jacks to win the pot, the trophy, and bragging rights over his nemesis.

With the trophy in hand and $1.5 million, Bellande’s plans for the rest of the series have changed. He’s no longer going to stick to cash games and will instead look to ride his tournament rush a little while longer.

“To be honest with you, I haven’t looked at the schedule because I was just planning on playing all the cash games, but now that we had this result, I’ll have to,” he said. “I feel like when people go on tournament runs, they tend to put two or three together. So I definitely want to take some stabs at some tournaments.”

A single phone call changed everything for JRB. It led to a career highlight, a new trophy, and a victory to hold over Yong every time they play together at a high-stakes table.

• Tags Jean Robert Bellande