Joshua Wang defeated Erik Seidel, preventing him from winning his 11th gold bracelet, and won the WSOP $3k PLO Championship.

Joshua Wang defeated Erik Seidel in the WSOP $3,000 PLO event to win his first gold bracelet and $407,137 in prize money. He swept four of the five eliminations at the final table.

Today, all eyes in Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas are on one person: Poker Hall of Famer Erik Seidel. Nearly forty years after winning his first gold bracelet, Seidel is making his 43rd WSOP final table appearance in Event #96:$3,000 Six-Max Pot-Limit Omaha at the 2026 World Series of Poker, aiming for his 11th gold bracelet and the largest share of the $2,381,640 total prize pool.

Unfortunately for Seidel and his massive fanbase, he encountered the unstoppable Joshua Wang—a recreational player originally from China but now residing in the United States. Wang swept four of the five eliminations at the official final table, with Seidel being the last challenger attempting to play the undefeated. However, after a brief heads-up match, Seidel succumbed, and Wang took home the $407,137 championship prize and his first gold bracelet.

Event #96: $3,000 Six-Handed Pot-Limit Omaha Final Table Results

"I feel fantastic," Wang shared with PokerNews after winning the ultimate poker trophy. "To be here, playing this amazing game with the best players in the world, with such a fantastic structure, I really enjoyed it and feel incredibly lucky to be the ultimate winner and win this—my first gold bracelet."

The other players Wang eliminated from the final table were no pushovers either. Biao Ding, Christopher Vitch, and Robert Mizrachi—all accomplished $25K dream drafters—became Wang's victims.

Wang, who arrived late, took charge on the third day.

With 17 other players returning for the final day, Wang was noticeably absent for the first 30 minutes of the tournament. However, he immediately began accumulating chips once he sat down. Wang wasn't a typical grinder; he engaged in table communication with almost every hand, constantly showing his cards while building his chip stack to enter the final two tables with the second-largest chip lead.

“I didn’t see it as an advantage,” Wang explained. “I just enjoy the game, and I try to improve my game by showing off my cards, giving other players who are ready to exchange information with me.”

No one could stop Wang as he eliminated Andreas Hagen (9th place, $36,336) on his way to the seven-handed unofficial final table, building a massive chip lead. Wang then delivered a brutal bad beat to Krasimir Yankov—Wang hit a set of Aces on the river, beating Yankov's set of Kings on the flop, making Yankov the bubble boy at the official final table. Winning this huge pot meant Wang held nearly half the chips in the six-handed table, allowing him to dominate his opponents in a crushing performance at the final table.

If anyone had any doubts about Wang's performance in the remainder of the final table, they vanished completely in the four-handed battle. A massive pre-flop showdown saw him eliminate Vitch and Mizrachi in quick succession, setting up a heads-up match against poker legend Seidel. Despite starting with a 6:1 chip deficit, Seidel put up some resistance early on. However, nothing could stop Wang's hot streak—Seidel later found himself unable to win even when he hit the nuts on the flop. He went all-in with a flop straight against Wang's trips and flush draw, but Wang locked the pot with a full house on the turn, winning his first ever gold bracelet.

After everything settled down, Wang expressed his special thanks to everyone who made his poker journey possible. "I want to thank my family for their support, and all my friends who cheered me on here and at home. I also want to thank all of you, the staff and the dealers. You made all of this possible."

As for the rest of the summer, Wang has only one thing left to do. "I need to go home and see my children. It's been a long summer for me."

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