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High-stakes Chinese crusher Bao Ding was the 15th pick in the draft as the bidding started in the single digits and ended up at $24 as he was picked up by Matthew Wantman's Team Spitework.
25K Fantasy Draft 2026
2026 Draft
Day: 1
Players Left 24 / 0
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Chip Counts
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42
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Adam Hendrix just sold to Team Wasserson for $31, becoming the second player on Eric Wasserson's team alongside Viktor Blom.
Combined, the pair went for $100, meaning Wasserson has already spent half his salary cap.
David ODB Baker went to Team Stake Kings for $61, but he included a disclaimer for the team who drafted him.
"Whoever drafts me needs to stake me," he joked. "I'm broke!"
Team Fleyshman drafted Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi as their first player, and they followed it up with a second in the form of 17-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth for $66, a price some might say was undervalued.
That could prove true if Hellmuth goes on to win his 18th gold bracelet this summer.
"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.
