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Calvin Anderson Becomes The Most Winning Razz Player in WSOP History
High Card: 50,000
Completion: 150,000
Limits: 150,000-300,000
At 1:00 pm today, eight players walked into the Horseshoe with the chance to become the latest winner of a $10,000 Championship Event. Event #48: $10,000 Razz Championship saw 155 entrants generate a prize pool of $1,441,500 that the final 24 players all saw a piece of. After seven levels of play today, the $357,026 and the bracelet was awarded to one player.
It was eight years ago that Calvin Anderson took home his second bracelet in the $10,000 Razz Championship in 2018. He won $309,220 for that and now he adds an even bigger Razz score and takes home his sixth career bracelet here today, further proving his staying power in the low Stud variant.
“I have played it a lot. I guess that's my secret,” the newly minted six-time champion said. “I like this game a lot. I played all the games a bit and I think this one just favors my style.”
With this win, Anderson not only becomes the most winning Razz player in the WSOP’s history, but the first player to win the $10k championship of Razz twice.
“It's a really cool thing to win the same thing again. It kind of shows that it's a testament to the skill set,” Anderson said. “Most people kind of s*** on Razz a little bit. I mean, almost the whole tournament everybody was like, oh, there's no skill set in this and just all about getting lucky and all this stuff. That's what you want people to think, right?”
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Calvin Anderson | United States | $357,026 |
| 2 | Eric Rodawig | United States | $237,851 |
| 3 | Todd Dakake | United States | $162,551 |
| 4 | Tobias Leknes | Norway | $114,032 |
| 5 | Max Kruse | Germany | $82,171 |
| 6 | Yuval Bronshtein | Israel | $60,868 |
| 7 | Philip Sternheimer | United Kingdom | $46,385 |
| 8 | Shane Littlefield | United States | $36,395 |
While he came into the day with the slight chip lead and had two thirds of the chips in play three-handed, the tournament was far from a quick affair. Over 10 hours of play was played between the nine players at the start and the two at the end.
“It starts out nine handed, and you don't really play nine handed ever, so it's an adjustment. Tournaments in general are always like constant adjustments to blind structures and ante structures and all these things. That's one of the things I love about them. But yeah, I mean I won a few good pots and kind of maintained until we got shorter handed.”
A massive pot went Anderson’s way four-handed that he credits as shifting the momentum as he clashed with Tobias Leknes and eventually became his undoing.
“That was a big shift. There's not really abusing ICM much and you can't powerhouse anybody. So you have to get good run outs and you have to play your hands mostly.”
With 17 years of live cashes and over $7 million in lifetime earnings, the six-time bracelet winner broke down mindfulness and awareness in relation to final table importance.
"I guess I try to live in the moment of whatever's happening and just be present. I had a lot of chips, I lost some, I was a little bit frustrated even though I didn't show it. I feel like heads up went relatively smooth. We didn't play too many big pots and the ones that we did, I won.”
There's no slowing down as far as Anderson’s schedule is concerned, as he looks to chase some more hardware from the summer WSOP.
“I'm going to play most of the tournaments that I play; 10K, mixed events or stuff that I really like. I think it’s ($10k HORSE) one of the best events and I'm excited to play that one. I'll try to get in early.”
As far as the max late registering conversation, Anderson weighed in on his own thoughts.
“I mean, this whole max like reg thing is good for some people, but in some of these mixed games where people have potentially dominant skill sets, you should probably not sleep in too much.”
In regards to the money, Anderson offered parting wisdom on how important the separation between the money and one’s own poker game should be.
“I think when you're playing these tournaments, if you start to think about the money too much, it'll just get in your head and you'll play scared. So I don't, I honestly wasn't even positive exactly what first got and just lived in the moment.”
Day 3 Action
Coming into the day as the shortest stack, the first to go was Shane Littlefield. He clashed with Tobias Leknes early into the final table and was left quite short after the confrontation. He got his final chips in with a three-card eight draw against Max Kruse’s three-card six draw, ending up unimproved, while Kruse made a seven. Littlefield added another decent Razz cash from his 2026 Summer and collected $36,395 for his eighth place finish.
Next to go was WSOP bracelet winner Philip Sternheimer, who had gradually gotten shorter as the second level of play began. He eventually got in the remainder of his chips with his jack-draw up against Leknes’ better jack-draw. Leknes ended the hand with a better jack and Sternheimer finished in seventh place, good for $46,385.
Kruse exited in sixth place after a large confrontation with Todd Dakake left him as the shortest of the six remaining players. The German soccer star got his short stack in on fourth street with a queen-draw against Leknes’ six draw. Leknes made an eight on the end and Kruse was unable to make better than a queen, leaving the bracelet winner to collect $60,868 for his efforts.
Yuval Bronshtein was unable to spin up his short stack, as a clash with Leknes’ seven left him with just the ante. His last chips went into the middle the following hand and Bronshtein ended with a ten-nine, while Leknes made an eight. Leknes climbed up the counts to second on the leaderboard, while the two-time WSOP bracelet winner took home $82,171 for his fifth place finish.
Despite being second on the leaderboard, Leknes found himself sparring in huge pots with the chip leader Anderson and saw his chip stack take a sudden downturn. Eventually, a clash between them that didn’t reach showdown left Leknes with just two big bets, and he found himself all in against Anderson a few hands later. Anderson's stack continued to rise as he made a nine to beat Leknes’ queen, and Leknes finished his second Razz final table of the series in fourth place for $114,032. Anderson sat with over two thirds of the chips in play as the three-handed battle began.
Anderson found the waters a little more turbulent in the next level as both Eric Rodawig and Dakake took sizable pots off of the chip leader. From two thirds of the chips in play, to under half, both Dakake and Rodawig found themselves climbing up the counts against the five-time WSOP bracelet winner. As they went on a dinner break, it was Rodawig holding the lead, while Anderson and Dakake leveled out with each other.
It was a long stretch of the three-handed battle, but eventually Anderson retook the chip lead. As the 26th level of play began, Anderson looked up Dakake in a pot with a nine when Dakake had a jack and he fell down the counts. Shortly after, Dakake found himself all in with his short stack and three-card king against Rodawig’s three-card ten. He was unable to improve any further than a jack and Dakake finished in third, collecting a career best score of $162,551.
Heads up did not last too long between the two contenders as Rodawig was never able to shrink the deficit between the two of them more than 2:1. A sizable pot was played where Rodawig ended up with trips on his board, which saw him tumble down the counts, and Anderson held over 90% of the chips in play. Shortly after, they played another pot where Rodawig’s three-card five could not improve to more than a jack, while Anderson made an eight. Anderson won his sixth WSOP bracelet, while Rodawig collected $237,851 for his runner-up finish.
That concludes the coverage of the $10,000 Razz Championship. Be sure to check back in to PokerNews tomorrow for all of the exciting updates at the 2026 WSOP in the Paris Hotel and Casino down in Las Vegas, Nevada.