By Alex Drummond, Editor-in-Chief · June 23, 2026 · Fact-checked by Maya Chen
Brazil's Joao Simao captured his fourth World Series of Poker bracelet on Sunday night at the Paris Las Vegas, winning Event #55, the $50,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller, for US$1,368,700 over a 110-entry field. The result lifts Simao's career live tournament earnings above US$20 million and cements his position as Brazil's all-time leading money winner, comfortably clear of countrymen Yuri Dzivielevski and Joao Vieira.
Simao, 38, dispatched Indian casino owner and high-stakes amateur Santhosh Suvarna heads-up in a duel that began at near parity and finished after roughly three hours. Suvarna, who reached his fifth WSOP final table of the past three years and remains the highest-earning Indian player in WSOP history, collected US$912,420 for runner-up. England's Robert Cowen, who had entered Day 4 as overall chip leader at 9,060,000, finished third for US$628,510.
"This one is special," Simao said in his post-win interview captured by PokerNews. "I've been chasing the $50K PLO for years. The structure, the players, this is a tournament I really wanted on my resume."
The $50K PLO High Roller final table
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joao Simao | Brazil | $1,368,700 |
| 2 | Santhosh Suvarna | India | $912,420 |
| 3 | Robert Cowen | United Kingdom | $628,510 |
| 4 | Venkat Chivukula | United States | $445,440 |
| 5 | Carlo van Ravenswoud | Netherlands | $325,080 |
| 6 | Yuri Dzivielevski | Brazil | $244,510 |
| 7 | Naoya Kihara | Japan | $189,720 |
| 8 | Veselin Karakitukov | Bulgaria | $152,020 |
| 9 | Youness Barakat | Italy | $125,920 |
Event #55: $50,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller, 110 entries. No Canadian players reached the final nine. Source: PokerNews live reporting.
Simao's win is the second Brazilian gold of the 2026 series, after Yuri Dzivielevski's $100,000 No-Limit Hold'em High Roller victory on June 12. The two bracelets keep Brazil among the top three nations on the 2026 bracelet leaderboard, behind only the United States and Japan. Naoya Kihara, who finished seventh on Sunday, won two Japanese bracelets earlier in the series in the $10,000 2-7 Lowball Championship and the $10,000 7-Card Stud Championship.
Millionaire Maker plays Day 4 with 62 survivors
Across the room, the marquee mass-field event of the 2026 series moved into its penultimate day. Event #50, the $1,500 Millionaire Maker, returned Monday at 11 a.m. with 1,489 survivors from the original 11,769-entry field and played down to 62 players over ten levels. The remaining field returns Tuesday for Day 4, with blinds opening at 100,000/150,000 with a 150,000 big blind ante. Average chip stack is 4,745,565, with the total chip count at 294,225,000 across 62 players.
Rob Kuhn, an American professional sponsored by Americas Cardroom, holds the overall chip lead heading into Day 4 after carrying the largest stack out of Day 2A (2,700,000), through the Day 3 consolidation. Other Day 4 returnees include Vietnam's Thai Ha (1,465,000 at Day 2A bag), Croatia's Dean Cimera and American Will Givens.
Among the named players who entered Day 3 still alive but with shorter stacks were Frederic Normand of Canada, who won Event #21 the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo earlier in the series for US$235,377. Normand had bagged 130,000 chips at the end of Day 2A, a sub-10 big blind stack that would have required immediate doubles to survive Day 3. PokerNews has not yet confirmed whether he extends his run into the Day 4 field of 62.
The Millionaire Maker is expected to award its bracelet Wednesday night, with the first-place prize confirmed by the WSOP at US$1,250,000 plus a portion of the residual prize pool. Place 62 pays US$27,300, place 126 pays US$11,700, and the minimum cash for the event was US$2,200.
Mystery Millions opens Tuesday
Event #63, the $1,000 Mystery Millions No-Limit Hold'em, opens Tuesday afternoon at the Horseshoe and Paris ballrooms. The event has been one of the largest fields of the 2026 series in past iterations, with the 2025 edition drawing more than 18,000 entries across four starting flights. The 2026 edition guarantees a US$1,000,000 top mystery bounty, with bounties beginning on Day 2 and paying via random pulls from a sealed envelope system.
For Ontario players who have qualified via GGPoker Ontario satellites or who are travelling to Las Vegas for the weekend, the Mystery Millions represents a meaningful mid-stakes opportunity, with a minimum cash that typically pays around US$1,500 against the US$1,000 buy-in and an upper-bracket payout that has exceeded US$1 million for the past three editions.
What Sunday's other results delivered
Two additional bracelets were awarded over the weekend that warrant a sentence each. Event #56, the $3,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold'em, closed Sunday for India's Abhishek Mhatre, who collected US$492,050 and his first career bracelet. Event #54, the $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship, closed Saturday for American Calvin Anderson, who won his seventh career bracelet and second of the 2026 series for US$413,580, tying him with Mike Sexton, Allen Cunningham and Ted Forrest at tenth on the all-time bracelet list.
The Canadian summer notable-cash ledger remained at three bracelets and US$2,395,570 in combined gold, with the secondary list led by Clayton Mozdzen ($122,206 runner-up Event #37), Thomas Taylor of Medicine Hat ($76,510 fourth Event #52), Elliot Smith ($75,390 seventh Event #49), Daniel Negreanu ($69,531 26th Event #47), Gianluca Cedolia ($66,610 fifth Event #53) and Orlando Moretti of Bolton, Ontario ($64,992 sixth Event #43). The total notable Canadian cash for the series stands at approximately US$2.87 million with twelve days of bracelet events remaining.
What to watch this week
Five bracelet events run pivotal days this week. The Millionaire Maker concludes Wednesday with a projected US$1.25 million top prize. Event #60, the $50,000 Poker Players Championship, runs Day 2 Tuesday with Michael Mizrachi (the defending 2025 champion) and Daniel Negreanu (the 2024 champion) both reportedly entered. The Mystery Millions runs Day 1A Tuesday. Event #59, the $500 Salute to Warriors, ran Day 1 Sunday. Event #62, the $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em, opens Tuesday.
Ontario players watching from home can follow the PokerNews live blog and the PokerGO live stream. Players interested in WSOP Super Circuit Canada satellites at Playground Montreal in August can review the GGPoker Ontario page; the regulated market overview is on the best poker sites in Ontario page; and the tournament schedule covers the next four weeks of regulated guarantees across all six operators.