Three Gold Bracelets in Three Years: The Inside Story of Santhosh Suvarna's Rapid Rise

Santhosh Suvarna has won three WSOP gold bracelets since 2023, including two $250,000 Super High Roller titles. He is now one of the most successful poker players in Indian history.

Three days after winning the $50,000 High Roller event, Santhosh Suvarna is back today seeking more victories.

He participated in the first day of the #41:$250,000 Super High Roller event, the same event he won two years ago.

Since 2023, Suvarna has been competing against the world's best players. His fearless attitude, coupled with his approachable nature, has propelled him to over $20 million in career winnings, the vast majority of which were earned in the last three years.

Fast forward to 2026, and Suvarna is now the first Indian to win three live WSOP gold bracelets. Here, PokerNews looks back at his WSOP journey and how he became a regular at these major buy-in events.

Breakthrough in Rozvadov's gold bracelet

Suvarna's top run began in 2023. After racking up a string of winnings in the Triton Poker Series in Vietnam, Cyprus, London, and Montenegro, he arrived at the 2023 WSOP Europe in Rozvadov and immediately jumped into the fray.

He entered the #12: €50,000 NLH Diamond High Roller event, facing a field of experienced and top players. Suvarna displayed the fearlessness that would later become his trademark at the poker table, making it through a tough final table to reach heads-up play against the unpredictable Ren Lin.

Suvarna outsmarted Lin, winning her first gold bracelet and a €650,000 prize.

Achieve even greater success in 2024

The momentum from his first gold bracelet carried over to the following year. In February 2024, Suvarna won his first European Poker Tour title at the EPT Paris €25,000 No-Limit Hold'em event. This victory boosted his career tournament winnings to $6,672,704, narrowing the gap with the Indian lifetime money leader and demonstrating that his WSOP Europe win was no fluke.

If the poker world saw Suvarna as a rising threat in 2023, then the summer of 2024 in Las Vegas solidified his status as a superstar. He entered the summer's biggest buy-in event: the 2024 WSOP Event #55: $250,000 Super High Roller No-Limit Hold'em. The field was filled with poker legends, including Phil Ivey (who was ultimately eliminated in 11th place by Ben Tollerene). Tollerene looked like an unstoppable steamroller at the final table, dominating both heads-up and three-way play. However, Suvarna refused to back down. In a dramatic and tenacious comeback, Suvarna reversed the online legend, defeating Tollerene heads-up for a stunning $5,415,152.

This historic victory not only earned him his second gold bracelet, but also propelled him past Vivek Rajkumar to the top of India's lifetime earnings list.

Complete a hat trick in 2026

The final piece of the puzzle for Suvarna's high roller hat trick will be completed this month at the 2026 World Series of Poker.

As the high roller event began, Suvarna dominated the later stages of Event #29:$50,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold'em. He eliminated Bernhard Binder, breaking the prize bubble and locking in a six-figure prize for the remaining players.

Suvarna entered the final stages with an overwhelming chip lead and defeated Chang Lee heads-up to claim the title. He took home a $1,922,870 prize, his fourth seven-figure win in his career—an incredible figure for someone who has only recently entered the global championship scene.

The reasons behind Suvarna's rapid rise

PokerNews editor Calum Grant is reporting live from the 2026 WSOP, where he also witnessed Suvarna's first two gold bracelets.

"I remember the Rozvadov match, he played really well," he told PokerNews. "But there weren't many players back then, you know, anyone could win if they were in good form that day."

"But at the time, you could really tell from his words that he cared a lot about the game."

"You can really tell from his conversation that he cares a lot about this game."

According to Grant, Suvarna has become a regular on the European Tour, and he will be competing in six-figure buy-in events at the EPT Monte Carlo before winning his second gold bracelet in 2024.

"When I saw him in Monte Carlo, participating in every match and repeatedly betting, I thought he was just a flash in the pan. But his performance in the £250,000 event proved that this guy is the real deal."

"And what I heard in the cash game was that, if there was anything different about him, it was that he was more threatening in the cash game."

Whether in cash games or tournaments, Suvarna is often the center of attention.

"Every clip of him in high-stakes cash games that you see is him winning the pot, and there's a reason for that. This guy knows how to play."

We could very well see Suvarna in the final stages of the $250,000 Super High Roller. Winning again wouldn't be surprising at all.

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