Which Future Poker Hall of Famer Will Win This Year's $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship?
Welcome back to PokerNews for continued coverage of the 2026 World Series of Poker at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.
Action continues today with Event #38: $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship (7-Handed), an event with a storied history whose previous winners include future Poker Hall of Famers like Scott Seiver and Josh Arieh.
Past winners also include Finnish poker legend and pro paintballer Juha Helppi and 2022 winner Jonathan Cohen, who posed with his sweet dog Riley for some of the best winner's photos of the year (it helped that he won the event with king-nine after having a canine on his lap the whole time).
📌 Event Snapshot
- Event: #38 – $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship 7-Handed
- Date(s): June 11-13
- Time: 2 p.m. local time on Day 1
- Buy-In: $10,000
- Format: Fixed-Limit Hold’em
- Late Registration: Until the end of dinner after Level 11 (~2:15 p.m. local time on Day 2)
- Starting Stack: 60,000 chips
- Levels: 40 minutes (Levels 1-6), 60 minutes (Levels 7-20), 90 minutes (Levels 21+)
- 2025 Winner: Ian Johns ($282,455)
- 2025 Field Size: 118 entries
- 2025 Prize Pool: $1,097,400
Action will kick off today at 2 p.m. local time with players beginning with 60,000 starting stacks. Day 1 will consist of 10 levels, with 15-minute breaks every 2 hours of play. Blinds will begin at 300/600 with betting limits of 600/1,200.
Levels 1-6 will last 40 minutes in duration and will increase to 60 minutes from Levels 7-20. Starting with Level 21, level length will increase to 90 minutes.
The three-day event will play to a winner on Day 3 on June 13 at a to-be-determined time.
Last year's event drew 118 runners for a prize pool of $1,097,400 as Ian Johns slayed online poker legend Viktor "Isildur1" Blom to win his fourth bracelet and $282,455.
$10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship (7-Handed) Winners
| Year | Entries | Winner | Country | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 118 | Ian Johns | United States | $282,455 |
| 2024 | 133 | John Racener | United States | $308,930 |
| 2023 | 134 | Josh Arieh | United States | $316,226 |
| 2022 | 92 | Jonathan Cohen | United States | $245,678 |
| 2021 | 92 | John Monnette | United States | $245,680 |
| 2019 | 118 | Juha Helppi | Finland | $306,622 |
| 2018 | 114 | Scott Seiver | United States | $296,222 |
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