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Event #56: $3,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em
Day 2 Completed
2026 World Series of Poker
Event #56: $3,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em
Day: 2
Event Info
2026 World Series of Poker
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 2
Buy-in
$3,000
Prize Pool
$3,070,500
Total Entries
1,150
Level
36
Blinds
400,000 / 800,000
Ante
800,000
Entries
53
Players Left
1
Players Left 1 / 1,150
Filter
Level 36
: Blinds 400,000/800,000, 800,000 ante
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 at the 2026 World Series of Poker (WSOP) at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas to take home $492,050 and claim his first WSOP 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’”.
“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.”
Event #56 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 Horseshoe Las Vegas.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Abhishek Mhatre | Canada | $492,050 |
| 2 | Martin Jacobson | Sweden | $327,370 |
| 3 | Naseem Salem | United States | $226,350 |
| 4 | Paulina Loeliger | Austria | $159,050 |
| 5 | Kevin Rand | United States | $113,620 |
| 6 | Christopher Vitch | United States | $82,530 |
| 7 | Maxim Lykov | Russian Federation | $60,970 |
Winner's Background
Mhatre is a relative newcomer to the poker scene, with only two recorded live cashes to his name, according to The Hendon Mob, and this victory more than ten times larger than his previous best score.
Winner’s Reaction
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!”
Day Three Action
53 players returned for Day 2 after a Day 1 starting field of 1,150 was massively thinned during the long Day 1.
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.
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.
This concludes coverage of Event #56: $3,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold'em. Stay tuned to PokerNews for more from the 2026 World Series of Poker.
Level 36
: Blinds 400,000/800,000, 800,000 ante
Abhishek Mhatre has knocked off Martin Jacobson heads-up to claim his first WSOP bracelet.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Abhishek Mhatre | Canada | $492,050 |
| 2 | Martin Jacobson | Sweden | $327,370 |
| 3 | Naseem Salem | United States | $226,350 |
| 4 | Paulina Loeliger | Austria | $159,050 |
| 5 | Kevin Rand | United States | $113,620 |
| 6 | Christopher Vitch | United States | $82,530 |
Stay tuned to PokerNews for a full breakdown of Mhatre’s run to the championship, play at the final table and all of the day’s action.
Level 36
: Blinds 400,000/800,000, 800,000 ante
On the 10th hand of heads up, and for the third time, Abhishek Mhatre moved all in on the button.
Martin Jacobson looked at his cards and made the call with 6,200,000 chips.
Martin Jacobson: J♠10♦
Abhishek Mhatre: 10♠9♥
With Mhartre's rail loudly begging for a nine, the flop 5♠2♣9♦ delivered it with the door card and Jacobson's dominant hand was knocked down.
The turn and river 6♣4♠ made no difference and Jacobson's run was over.
Level 36
: Blinds 400,000/800,000, 800,000 ante
Action folded to Abhishek Mhatre in the small blind who raised to 1,200,000 only for Naseem Salem sat in the big blind to three-bet all in for 8,200,000. Mhatre double checked his cards and snap-called.
Naseem Salem: K♦Q♠
Abhishek Mhatre: A♠10♥
No help for Salem on the 5♦2♦J♣ flop and it was looking grim for the recent $10,000 GGMillion$ High Roller No-Limit Hold'em Champion. Nothing changed on the 5♥ turn and when the river bricked out with the 3♥ Salem was sent to the rail in third place.
Level 36
: Blinds 400,000/800,000, 800,000 ante
Paulina Loeliger moved all in from the small blind. Abhishek Mhatre asked for a count of her chips.
When told it was 3,275,000, he made the call.
Paulina Loeliger: J♠8♠
Abhishek Mhatre: J♦9♥
Loeliger was dominated and it got worse with the flop of 4xQ♦9♠ giving Mhatre a pair of nines.
Loeliger picked up a flush draw on the 6♠ turn, but the river bricked and sent her to the rail.
Level: 36
Blinds: 400,000/800,000
Ante: 800,000
Level 35
: Blinds 300,000/600,000, 600,000 ante
After a full 20 minutes of doing the raise-fold dance, where nary a flop was seen, Naseem Salem turned to Martin Jacobson and said, "This is a stubborn table."
Jacobson chuckled and agreed.
Abhishek Mhatre seemed to have the advantage, as he stole a few more blinds than the competitors, with a screaming rail applauding his every takedown.
Level 35
: Blinds 300,000/600,000, 600,000 ante
A mechanical issue caused a delay with three minutes remaining in the level, when cards became stuck in the automatic shuffler.
Level 35
: Blinds 300,000/600,000, 600,000 ante
After being left with fumes by Martin Jacobson in the previous hand, Kevin Rand put his last 225,000 in the middle from under the gun.
Action folded around to Abhishek Mhatre, who was due to change from his big blind as Rand had less.
Kevin Rand: Q♦J♠
Abhishek Mhatre: A♦6♠
No help for Rand on the 6♣5♠K♣2♣2♠ run-out, and he was sent packing in fifth place.
