Mhatre Defeats WSOP Main Event Champ to Close Out Wild Final Table

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Jun 21, 2026 4 min read

After a roller coaster of a ride at the final table, Abhishek Mhatre navigated his way through a fast and furious final day in Event #56: $3,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold'em to take home $492,050 and claim his first World Series of Poker bracelet and largest career cash to date.

“I should probably give a shout-out to Kristen Foxen; she gave me some of her chips early in the tournament, and she said, like, ‘Put them to good use,’” said Mhatre after his win.

“I didn’t prepare at all because I like have a job. I actually didn’t mean to prepare because I haven’t really studied anything for tournaments ever.”

The $3,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold'em attracted a field of 1,150 runners, generating a total prize pool of $3,075,500.

53 players returned to battle it out in Day 2 for the title, with Mhatre entering heads-up play against 2014 WSOP Main Event Champion Martin Jacobson with a near 6:1 chip lead, before closing out victory under the lights of the Paris Ballroom Las Vegas.

$3,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold'em Final Table Results

"Just for Fun"

Mhatre is a relative newcomer to the poker scene, having only two recorded live cashes to date, as per The Hendon Mob, with this first-place finish being over ten times his largest recorded live cash, again as per The Hendon Mob.

On winning his first bracelet and largest career cash to date, “It feels great, this is just for fun, but you know, it’s only my second series.”

Coming into the tournament with minimal experience and preparation, it was always going to be a long shot for Mhatre, “I guess when I bagged on day one, like what my ICM chance of winning was like, I think 20-1ish. So I was like, alright sick, possible to run (good) in this one.”, were his thoughts on when he realised he could be in with a chance of running deep.

Being a spring chicken in 2014 and not knowing much about poker at that time, when asked about his heads-up clash with Jacobson, “Well, I knew we were playing with him at the final table, but it just didn’t really register that (he) was like the last guy.”

In closing, whilst talking about where this will rank in his poker career Mhatre joked, “If it doesn’t rank among the top it (just) means that I’ve run even better!”

Mhatre Runs Like a God

53 players returned for Day 2 after a Day 1 starting field of 1,150 was massively thinned out during the long Day 1’s play.

Naseem Salem came into Day 2 as the chip leader and the only player to pass the two-million chip barrier on Day 1. Salem continued his solid play during the day and reached the final table, but unfortunately, the cards didn’t fall for him, and he finished in third place.

As would be expected in a six-max event, the action was fast and furious from the off. The start of the day’s 53 players was whittled down to three tables before the second break of the day.

Some huge names fell by the wayside before the final table of seven was formed. WSOP crushers such as Faraz Jaka, Joey Weissman, Anthony Spinella, Barak Wisbrod, Maria Konnikova and Colin Robinson all fell by the wayside at various points of the day.

WSOP Hall of Famer Nick Schulman and 2024 WSOP Main Event Champion Jonathan Tamayo were also sent to the rail before they could even think of another WSOP final table appearance.

Just prior to the dinner break, the final table of seven was reached with Mhatre as the starting chip leader. However, he quickly lost the lead as Paulina Loeliger climbed the counts and took over after making what was likely the call of the tournament with a jack-high flush, picking off Kevin Rand’s bluff.

Mhatre then bled chips after doubling Salem and Christopher Vitch in quick succession, leaving him short before he found a much-needed double through Salem when his pocket queens held against pocket sixes.

Maxim Lykov was the first to exit in seventh when his ace-king was outdrawn by Mhatre’s jack-nine suited, which flopped a flush to leave Lykov drawing dead by the turn. That hand sparked a momentum swing as Mhatre moved back up the counts and later into the chip lead after a huge double through Loeliger, flopping a set of eights to crack her pocket queens.

Vitch and Rand followed in sixth and fifth place, respectively, before Loeliger exited in fourth after a strong final table showing, where she held the chip lead at multiple points. She was ultimately sent to the rail when her jack-eight suited jam was called off by Mhatre holding jack-nine, and she failed to improve.

Loeliger was sent to the rail when her jam with Jack-eight suited was called off by Mhatre holding Jack-nine, and she couldn’t improve.

Finishing in the bronze position was the opening day chip leader, Salem, his jam with King-Queen unfortunate to run into Mhatre with ace-ten and getting no help at all.

Heads-up play lasted approximately ten hands and began with Mhatre holding a near 6-1 chip lead. Jacobson could not get anything going in the heads-up battle.

In the final hand of heads-up play Mhatre’s ten-nine out-flopped Jacobson’s Jack-nine hitting a nine to send the 2024 WSOP Main Event Champion to the rail in second place and claim his first WSOP bracelet along with the $492,050 first-place prize money.