Bryce Yockey Wins WSOP Dealers Choice for Third Bracelet

Bryce Yockey dominates one of the toughest WSOP titles

Bryce Yockey added another major line to his résumé by winning the 2026 World Series of Poker $10,000 Dealers Choice Championship. He did it in convincing fashion, pulling away from the field late and closing out the title for $371,664 and his third career WSOP bracelet.

The event drew 163 entries, which is a strong turnout for a format that demands far more than standard hold’em comfort. Dealers Choice stands out because players can select from a menu of more than 20 games, turning every orbit into a mix of technical skill, game selection, and table psychology.

For mixed-game regulars, this is the kind of trophy that carries real weight. It is not just about surviving a field; it is about navigating a format where your opponents can actively steer the game toward your weaknesses.

Why Dealers Choice is so respected by professionals

This championship is one of the most respected stops on the WSOP calendar because it rewards versatility. In hold’em, a player can build a career around one core game. In Dealers Choice, that approach is not enough. You need to understand betting structures, hand values, and strategic adjustments across multiple variants, often on the fly.

That is why the final table is usually stacked. In this edition, six of the seven finalists already owned WSOP bracelets, and five had multiple wins at the series. The lone non-bracelet holder at the table was Schwartz, who still brought more than $4.9 million in prior live cashes into the mix.

If you want to improve in this part of the game, it helps to study beyond a single format. A strong poker school can give you structure, while time in poker rooms or poker clubs helps you apply those lessons in real lineups.

Yockey’s path to bracelet No. 3

Yockey’s first two WSOP victories both came in PLO variants. He won the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Eight-or-Better Championship in 2017 and followed that with a $5,000 PLO title in 2024. He has also made several deep runs in elite mixed-game events, including a runner-up finish in the 2024 $50,000 Poker Players Championship.

That background matters. It shows a player who has not only specialized in one of poker’s most technical games, but also proven he can compete with the best across formats. Winning Dealers Choice was clearly a long-term goal for him, and he said as much after the victory.

The result pushed his lifetime tournament earnings to nearly $8.4 million. It also delivered 780 Card Player Player of the Year points and 372 PokerGO Tour points, both of which can matter a great deal in year-end races. For players chasing a big seasonal run, results like this are the difference between being in the conversation and just being in the field.

How the final day shifted in Yockey’s favor

The last day started with 11 players remaining. Schwartz held the lead, while Yockey sat in the middle of the pack. Early eliminations quickly changed the shape of the table as Duane Fontenot finished 11th, Koji Fujimoto took 10th, and Tomasz Gluszko exited in 9th.

Yockey’s climb began when he eliminated Fontenot. He then took nearly all of Lawrence Brandt’s stack, setting up the next knockout. Owais Ahmed delivered the final blow, making the nut flush in Big O to scoop the remainder of Brandt’s chips. Brandt finished eighth for $35,253.

Ahmed was next to go. He got all-in on fifth street in stud eight-or-better with a pair of sevens and four to a low, but Ryan Miller completed the wheel and won both the high and low sides. Ahmed earned $44,592 in seventh.

From there, Yockey kept stretching the gap. At one point he had more than six times the stack of the nearest competitor, which is enormous in a mixed-game final table. Once that kind of separation develops, the short stacks are forced into uncomfortable spots in games they may not even prefer.

Final table pressure and the key eliminations

The six-handed stretch was where Yockey really began to separate. Jeremy Ausmus, a six-time bracelet winner, fell in sixth when Chad Eveslage called his no-limit hold’em shove with A♦J♣ and held against A♣4♣. Ausmus took home $58,460 and pushed his career live cashes beyond $29.7 million.

Nick Schulman was the next casualty, and the hand came in razz. After the deal, Schulman committed his final bet, only to be called by Eveslage, who ended up with a 10-9-8-4-3. Schulman was live with J-7-5-3-A but paired a king on the end and finished fifth for $79,331.

It was Schulman’s second final table of the series after a runner-up finish in the $1,500 badugi. With one title and eight final-table results on the year, he moved up to 22nd in the POY race and sits 16th on the PGT leaderboard.

Yockey then widened the gap again in four-handed play. Eveslage made his stand in limit Omaha, getting the money in preflop with A♦Q♣3♠3♦. Yockey tabled the winner on a K♣Q♥6♦J♦6♥ runout, as A♠10♠8♣7♣ completed Broadway. Eveslage settled for fourth and $111,305.

Schwartz followed in third, matching his 2021 finish in this event. He got all-in in stud eight-or-better on third street with three to a low, facing Yockey’s split jacks. Schwartz improved to threes and deuces by fifth street, but Yockey had already made jacks up on fourth. Neither player improved further, and Schwartz collected $161,292.

Heads-up play began with Yockey holding roughly an 8:1 chip lead over Ryan Miller, a two-time bracelet winner. Miller briefly fell even further behind when he ran into trip queens in a limit Omaha hand, and his last chips soon went in after a J♠8♠8♥ board runout that left him unable to recover.

Expert analysis: what Yockey’s win says about mixed-game poker

This victory says a lot about where modern mixed-game poker is headed. The best players are no longer just specialists in a single variant; they are players who can identify edge, game selection, and table dynamics faster than everyone else.

• In Dealers Choice, game selection is a weapon. Opponents will often choose the game they believe hurts you most.
• Big-stack leverage matters even more in mixed games, because some formats create huge swings and force short stacks into awkward decisions.
• Versatility is a real edge. A player who is strong in PLO, stud, razz, and hold’em can pressure the table in ways that are hard to counter.
• If you are building a bankroll for these events, studying structure and taking advantage of promotions & bonuses can matter as much as raw volume.

For the broader industry, results like this help keep mixed games visible. They prove that the WSOP still rewards complete poker players, not just specialists in the most popular format.

Final takeaway: a statement win for one of poker’s best mixed-game pros

Yockey’s third bracelet is more than a career milestone. It is a reminder that the deepest technical skill in poker still gets rewarded when the format demands it. He outlasted a final table packed with bracelet winners, built a massive chip lead, and closed the event with authority.

For players, the message is simple: if you want to compete at the highest level in mixed games, you need range, adaptability, and study habits that go beyond one discipline. For fans, this was another example of why events like Dealers Choice remain some of the purest tests in tournament poker. And for anyone trying to follow a similar path, learning from poker clubs, poker rooms, and structured study in poker school is the right place to start.

FAQ