By Alex Drummond, Editor-in-Chief · July 15, 2026 · Fact-checked by Maya Chen
The 2026 World Series of Poker's ninety-fourth bracelet event wrapped Wednesday afternoon at Horseshoe Las Vegas with David Peters, the American high-stakes cash-game specialist, defeating a four-player final table in seventy-five minutes to win Event #94 (the US$10,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold'em Championship) for US$1,001,391 and his fifth career gold bracelet. It was a day of two ending stories, one at the end of the American career arc and one at the pause point of the Canadian narrative on which Ontario audiences will spend the next three weeks. Vancouver's Greg Mueller, the three-time WSOP bracelet winner whose return to the Main Event final table has now been confirmed, sat down for a long interview with PokerNews's Will Shillibier and told the story of how a life that began on the ice ended up here.
The Hockey Years
Mr. Mueller, per PokerNews's Shillibier, played professional hockey before poker. The specific team, season and level of play were not offered in the interview and are not documented in public tournament biographies. What is confirmed is that he transitioned from hockey into poker sometime in the mid-2000s, that his first WSOP bracelet came in 2009 in the World Championship of Limit Hold'em, and that his second bracelet followed two weeks later in the 2009 US$1,500 Shootout. Those two wins established Mr. Mueller as one of the sport's most reliable mixed-game and shortened-format tournament pros, and his 2019 WSOP US$10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship, which delivered his third career gold, confirmed the versatility.
Between his second and third bracelets, Mr. Mueller cashed steadily but rarely deep. In 2012 he reached a WSOP runner-up finish; in 2013 he cashed twice for third-place finishes; in 2018 he reached the final table of the US$50,000 Poker Players Championship. Since his 2019 bracelet, his live cashes have come exclusively at the WSOP in Las Vegas, with one exception, an online WSOP cash two summers ago. That does not necessarily indicate reduced volume, but it does explain why the Main Event's 2026 field, in which he entered on Day 1D with 100,000 starting chips and a US$10,000 buy-in, is the story of a professional player who has been in and out of the sport for years and who now finds himself, at forty-six years old, one seat from a US$10 million payout.
The Main Event Run
The chip-count trajectory across the eight days of the Main Event, per PokerNews's day-by-day tracking, tells its own compact story:
| Day | Chip Count | Field Position | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1D | ~200,000 | 936 / 3,638 | Flopped a set early, eliminated opponent who turned two pair; nearly doubled his starting stack inside three levels |
| 3 | 1,124,000 | 41 / 1,389 | Steady climb through Day 2 late-registration flights and Day 3 hand-for-hand play |
| 4 | 1,500,000 | 118 / 533 | Held above average through the money bubble day |
| 5 | 4,415,000 | 40 / 174 | Big move through the top-100 pay jump on Day 5 |
| 6 | 10,000,000 | 24 / 62 | Fold with pocket jacks on 10-9-3-6 board he called "a win" |
| 7 | 13,200,000 | 19 / 21 | Cracked kings with ace-jack (flopped ace) to eliminate Ori Elul; slid to below average by close |
| 8 | 48,500,000 | 4 / 9 | Aces vs kings to eliminate Romain Lewis; jacks doubled through Hammoud's pocket nines; queens held vs Gagliano's ace-king |
The Day 6 fold with pocket jacks is the run's editorial highlight. On a board of ten of diamonds, nine of diamonds, three of spades and a blank turn, Mr. Mueller faced a bet and a shove from two opponents. He tanked for several minutes and folded. "Sometimes a fold feels like a win," he told PokerNews's Shillibier afterwards. It is the type of hand a professional over-plays regularly at Vancouver low-stakes tables and lets go at high-stakes ones. Mr. Mueller made the professional read.
What He Told PokerNews
Mr. Shillibier's interview delivered several quotes worth logging. On his own resurgence: "Do I still have it? Has that game passed me by?" On his current stack: "This is a ridiculous spot." On the interview itself: "Let me put on my shades so I look cool." On the ninth-day taped-broadcast return in August: "It feels unbelievable. I mean, it really does. Like, it's surreal. I keep asking, am I dreaming here?" On what a Main Event final table will look like from his corner: "10 out of 10. We're gonna have a rail. All my boys from White Rock and Vancouver. Everybody is coming. Going to be a big party." On the biggest hand he was ever involved in, a Day 8 flip: "Biggest flip I've ever been through. And it was nice to be on the right side, I'll be honest. I wore flip-flops. Sometimes you gotta run in flip-flops."
Correction of Yesterday's Bracelet Record
Editor's note: an earlier OntarioPoker.com article on July 14 stated that Mr. Mueller's three bracelets came in the 2009 US$2,500 Deuce to Seven Draw Lowball (US$460,841), the 2009 US$10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship (US$625,882) and the 2018 US$10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship (US$425,347). Those figures were incorrect. Mr. Mueller's confirmed bracelet history, per WSOP.com player standings and PokerNews's interview with the man himself, is: the 2009 World Championship of Limit Hold'em (his first bracelet), the 2009 US$1,500 Shootout (his second bracelet, won approximately two weeks later), and the 2019 US$10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship (his third bracelet, 2019 not 2018). Our corrections log has been updated with the amended entry.
Peters Closes with His Fifth
Elsewhere at Horseshoe on Wednesday, American high-stakes pro David Peters wrapped the second-to-last bracelet of the 2026 series with a US$1,001,391 win in Event #94, the US$10,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold'em Championship. Mr. Peters, whose lifetime tournament earnings had entered the day approaching US$50 million, is now a five-time bracelet winner. Only 558 entries were tallied in the field, which produced a US$5,189,400 prize pool. Four players returned Wednesday for the final table restart; the tournament ended seventy-five minutes later.
The Peters win was one of two remaining bracelet events on the 2026 schedule. Event #100, the US$1,000 Super Turbo No-Limit Hold'em, fired at 11 a.m. Pacific on Wednesday and is expected to conclude late Wednesday night as the final event of the summer, with a winner announced Thursday morning. British player Mitchell Hynam won last year's edition for US$237,924; the 2026 field has not published a final total at press time but historical volume suggests approximately 1,700 to 2,000 entries.
The Canadian Summary So Far
With Peters's win, the 2026 WSOP has now produced 99 bracelets on the current schedule, with Event #100 still to conclude. Canadian passport holders will end the summer with at least four confirmed bracelets: Kristen Foxen (US$25,000 High Roller, US$1,773,083 in June); Kristen Foxen (US$1,000 Super Turbo Bounty in June); Christopher (Marc-Andre) Alcindor (US$1,500 Big O in June, US$387,110); and Daniel Negreanu (US$100,000 PLO High Roller, US$2,257,718 on July 2). If either Rami Hammoud or Greg Mueller wins the Main Event on August 3-5, Canada would end the summer with five bracelets and gross earnings above US$20 million.
Alex Foxen, the American who married Ottawa-born Kristen Foxen and who won the US$10,000 Super Turbo Bounty for US$594,246 in June, sits atop the WSOP Player of the Year points board. Japan's Naoya Kihara, a two-bracelet winner on the summer, is second. Shaun Deeb, the reigning POY, is third. Adrian Mateos leads the separate WSOP Player Standings (cash-based) leaderboard on US$5,056,540 in eligible earnings.
What Ontario Audiences Watch Next
Between now and August 3, the surviving nine will spend the pause period on Vegas rest days and, in Mr. Mueller's case, a documented White Rock/Vancouver reunion with his home rail. ESPN's editorial team is scheduled to run pre-final-table hour-long profile documentaries starting Monday, July 27, with a rotation across all nine finalists. Mr. Mueller and Mr. Hammoud have not confirmed sponsorship or endorsement arrangements at press time; provincial-market Ontario operators GGPoker Ontario, PokerStars Ontario and BetMGM Poker are the natural candidates for any late-stage marketing around either Canadian.
The taped ESPN final table plays Monday August 3 through Wednesday August 5 in the ESPN broadcast pavilion at Horseshoe. Play resumes each night at 3 p.m. Pacific / 6 p.m. Eastern. Coverage runs live with a 30-minute delayed hole-card feed on PokerGO Plus and a shorter delay on the ESPN linear broadcast. WSOP.com's live app is authoritative for chip counts and elimination confirmations.
Full evergreen resources for Ontario audiences remain the best poker sites in Ontario hub, the tournament schedule and the Ontario WSOP satellite hub. iGaming Ontario, the province's stand-alone Crown agency, permits live-event qualifier promotions provided eligibility terms are clearly disclosed. Players must be 19 and physically located in Ontario to register.
The next OntarioPoker.com Main Event update lands overnight if Event #100 delivers a Canadian-relevant winner, and otherwise in the coming days as the pre-final-table narrative period develops.