TikTok engineer Zixuan Liu wins his first WSOP title! He earns his wife a new car.

The 2026 World Series of Poker (WSOP) will welcome a new champion from China.

In Event #85: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em In the middle, Chinese athletes Zixuan Liu He emerged victorious from a field of 1,733 participants, winning his first WSOP gold bracelet and a first-place prize of $219,391. This marks his biggest breakthrough since entering the WSOP.

He won the championship on his second WSOP appearance.

Surprisingly, this was only Zixuan Liu's second time participating in a WSOP event.

Previously, he finished 21st in the Event #78: $600 Deepstack Championship, winning $11,176. Just days later, he achieved a stunning leap to the championship stage.

Liu currently works as a software engineer for TikTok in Cupertino, California. He only started playing poker a few years ago to explore his interests, and he never expected to reach the highest level in the world today.

The first thing I did after winning the championship: Buy my wife a new car.

When asked about the use of the prize money, Liu stated without hesitation:

"I want to buy a new car for my wife; she has always been very supportive of me."

At the time, his wife, Zhen Zhang, and daughter, Aria Liu, were visiting family in China, while Liu traveled to Las Vegas alone to compete.

He revealed that he kept sharing the latest developments with his wife throughout the competition, and the first phone call he made after winning the championship was to her.

On the final day, they fought their way through the competition.

At the start of Day 2, there were still 53 players competing for the championship.

Liu maintained a consistent performance throughout the competition, successfully eliminating opponents including Tyler Phillips and Anthony Lasala, and advancing step by step to the final table.

In one instance, he defeated Phillips' pocket threes with KQ, successfully taking the crucial pot and establishing a subsequent advantage.

Successfully won the singles match and became the king

When the championship match began, Liu had already gained a clear lead in the scoreboard.

Although his opponent Justin Shiao narrowed the gap at one point, Liu quickly regained control of the situation.

In the final hand, Liu defeated his opponent with a full house, winning all the chips and officially ending the game before dinner break.

After the match, Liu admitted that Justin Shiao was the toughest opponent he had encountered that day, and that he had felt immense pressure.

Four blind men's desperate comeback

In fact, Liu was once only one step away from being eliminated.

Midway through the game, a failed bluff left him with only four big blinds left in the scoreboard.

He then received A-9 but relied on his intuition to fold, and then got pocket ten to double up, returning to the competition.

He stated that he consistently adhered to a strict set of rules throughout the competition, and that he easily ran into trouble whenever he deviated from these rules.

It was his rediscovery of discipline and patience that allowed him to turn the tide step by step and ultimately stand on the champion's throne.

Champions Change Lives

In a post-match interview, Liu excitedly stated:

"This is a turning point in my life."

He originally planned to return to TikTok the next day to continue working, but after winning the championship, he decided to ask the company for an extra day off just to attend the WSOP gold bracelet award ceremony.

For this Chinese player who has only recently entered the stage of major tournaments, this is not only a championship, but also a significant starting point for his professional poker career.

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