Braxton Dunaway, a finalist in the 2023 WSOP Main Event, won his second gold bracelet in the $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em event, earning $288,064. He described the final day as a rollercoaster ride and defeated Erwann Pecheux to claim the title.
As the 2026 World Series of Poker (WSOP) $1,500 Monster Stack event enters its final stages in Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, its 2023 champion, Braxton Dunaway, is chasing his second WSOP gold bracelet in Event #26: $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em.
Dunaway started Day 3 with a chip lead of 3, with only 12 players remaining. A total of 968 entries were made, creating a prize pool of $1,723,040. After what he later described as a "roller coaster" day, the American player navigated the battlefield, defeating Erwann Pecheux in a relatively brief heads-up match to claim his second WSOP bracelet and a first-place prize of $288,064.
For Pecheux, this result was yet another close call. The Frenchman came one step short of his first gold bracelet, matching his runner-up finish in 2015, but ended his deep journey with a prize of $191,997.
Event #26: $2,000 No-Limit Texas Hold'em Final Table Results
| Ranking | player | country | bonus |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Braxton Dunaway | United States | $288,064 |
| 2 | Erwann Pecheux | France | $191,997 |
| 3 | Yaniv Peretz | Israel | $135,294 |
| 4 | Briant Alavez | Mexico | $96,783 |
| 5 | Kimon Fountoukidis | United States | $70,300 |
| 6 | Albert Calderon | United States | $51,862 |
| 7 | Ioannis Kapnopoulos | Greece | $38,868 |
| 8 | Sami Bechahed | France | $29,600 |
| 9 | Ivan Poroliev | Bulgaria | $22,912 |
"I will play more games now."
If winning a WSOP gold bracelet can change your life, then winning a second one obviously takes a player to another level. "It's an affirmation of your peers and yourself—proof that you can do it again," Dunaway told PokerNews minutes after winning the title.
However, the road to success was far from easy, and according to most of the finalists, the final table was incredibly tough. Nevertheless, Dunaway managed to climb to number one. "There was a small part that was like a rollercoaster ride; you have to be lucky," he said. And he certainly was lucky, even in the heads-up stage, which is typical of his style. "When you have some momentum, you try to ride it. It's really fun," he added.
This second gold bracelet adds another accolade to his already impressive resume, which includes a third-place finish in last year's WSOP Main Event, earning him $4,000,000. That performance also slightly altered how people perceived him. "It's a lot less money," he joked. "Besides, the Main Event lasts ten days, while this one only lasts three. I do think that with these prize earnings, people will click on your name. It can be good or bad, but it earns you more respect. They know you have the ability," he explained.
Now, the summer is still long, and he has the opportunity to chase his third gold bracelet and once again reach the deep end of the Main Event. "Of course! I need to reach the Main Event final table for two consecutive years! I'm excited, and I'll be playing more tournaments now. We'll go home for a few days to rest, then come back and get ready for this weekend's tournament."
Final Day Results
With only three players remaining, France had the second-largest number of competitors among the 12 who remained when the tournament resumed. "Almost thirteen years ago, I also made it to the final 12 of the WSOP Europe €2,000 event with Erwann [Pecheux]," Flavien Guenan noted. He finished 11th then. Unfortunately, history repeated itself this week, as he lost a coin toss early in the day, finishing in 12th place. "No regrets," he said as he left.
Moments later, Craig Mason was eliminated after hitting pocket kings, leaving 10 players to gather at the final table.
While some players expected the pace to slow down at this point, the opposite happened, with sparks flying from the very first hand. Brandon Mueller, holding pocket tens, and Ivan Poroliev, holding pocket kings, both went all-in, only to be pegged to Pecheux's pocket aces. Pecheux completed a double takedown, further extending his chip lead.
Another French player, Sami Bechahed, first lost a big pot to Albert Calderon's Ace, then went all-in with KQ. Dunaway called with A9, and the French player was eliminated in eighth place, winning $29,600.
After this elimination, the pace finally slowed down and remained relatively calm until the first break of the day. Another level passed before the next all-in and call situation emerged. Briant Alavez's pocket Kings faced Ioannis Kapnopoulos's A10, with both players having almost identical chip stacks, and Alavez successfully doubled up.
Kapnopoulos initially thought he was eliminated, but after counting, he discovered he still had 55,000 chips behind him, forcing him to return to the table. Back in his seat, he briefly revived, doubling up three times in a row to return to the million-chip mark. However, his incredible journey ultimately ended—he went all-in for the fourth time in a row, resulting in elimination and a seventh-place finish.
After another break, Calderon went all-in with K7 and hit a 7 on the flop, facing Dunaway's A5. However, the 2025 WSOP Main Event finalist eventually broke into two consecutive sets, securing his elimination. Shortly after, Kimon Fountoukidis' Q10 ran into Dunaway's AQ, resulting in his elimination in fifth place. With consecutive eliminations, Dunaway overtook Pecheux to gain a slight chip lead.
Dunaway extended his lead in the following hands, but soon ran into trouble – Alavez hit two pair on the river and called for tournament life, successfully doubling up from Dunaway. Peretz then doubled up, luckily reversing the situation on the river, bringing the four players to a fairly close chip stack before the next break.
After the break, the game resumed, and Dunaway won a crucial coin flip, reducing Alavez to very few chips. Despite having only 15,000 chips left, Alavez refused to leave quietly, briefly rising to 965,000, but was ultimately eliminated by Dunaway.
With three players remaining, Peretz hit two pair on the flop of a 3-bet pot and went all-in on the turn, seemingly poised to double up. Unfortunately for him, Pecheux had already hit set of Aces on the flop and called. This cooler eliminated Peretz and gave Pecheux a 2:1 chip lead going into heads-up play.
Dunaway narrowed the gap in the early hands of heads-up play and continued to extend his lead with lucky community cards until he pushed all his chips into the pot. His first chance became his winning chance, and he was officially crowned the 2026 WSOP bracelet winner.
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