"Who are we on? Not f***ing worth it!"
That's what Shaun Deeb had to say about his Team Lucky compatriot Josh Arieh, but there were others who found the seven-time bracelet winner valuable as the bidding jumped from single digits to $55.
Daniel Negreanu, who drafted Arieh, claimed that an AI chat bot had a one-word answer when asked about Arieh's Fantasy worth: "No."
Brandon Wilson, who has been on a heater in 2026, was the ninth player nominated and might be the early contender for "steal of the draft" at just $15 to Team Gators, headed by "Texas Mike" Moncek.
Reigning PPC and Main Event champ Michael Mizrachi didn't even get drafted last year, meaning no teams were able to capitalize on his historic run that saw him fast-passed into the Poker Hall of Fame.
This year, Mizrachi started bidding in the single digits before settling at $80 and going to Team Fleyshman.
With 24 players, a $600,000 prize pool is up for grabs. The top five teams will make the money, with the summer-ending championship team taking home a smooth $250,000 top prize.
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1st | $250,000 |
| 2nd | $125,000 |
| 3rd | $100,000 |
| 4th | $75,000 |
| 5th | $50,000 |
Brian Rast, a Poker Hall of Famer, became the eighth player nominated, and dozens of back-and-forth dollar-by-dollar bids saw his price rise all the way up to $97. That was the price it took for Team Stake Kings, headed by Arizona's Ryan Stiner & Steven Jones Jr, to claim their first player.
Online wizard Viktor Blom, who came close to winning a first bracelet several times last year, was the seventh player to be drafted.
The bidding starting at $7 and quickly went up to two digits. There were some last-minute bids that pushed the Swedish poker legend up to Team Team Wasserson for $69.
"You don't want this smoke," one bidder said at one point.
Shaun Deeb was nominated for $70 and, as expected, shot up to three-figure territory. The question seemed to be whether or not Deeb would go for the record $141 price set last year for Jeremy Ausmus, but it wasn't meant to be.
Team Lady Gaga, headed by Ren Lin, was among the active bidders, but it was Team Trump Power, headed by Australia's Gary Benson, who came out on top with a winning bid of $133.
Russian end-boss and jean shorts enthusiast Artur Martirosian was the fifth pick in the draft, with the bids starting in the mid $20s.
The bids slowly ticked up and Martirosian ended up going to Team Back Office for $39.
The first female poker player was nominated as the fourth overall pick with a starting bid of $1.
Dollar by dollar, that crept up to $18, which proved enough for Shaun Deeb's Team Lucky to get her on their team.
It was a nice increase for Etay after going for just $1 in 2025.
Ari Engel was the third player bid on and the numbers quickly rose from $20 to $40 for the Circuit crusher.
Ultimately, Team Lang picked up the four-time bracelet winner for $47.
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