May 27-29
Placement of Daniyal Gheba's previous best WSOP finish, a deep run in this same event in 2024.
- 1STDaniyal Gheba$502,985
- 2NDChenxiang Miao$335,290
- 3RDXiaohu Liu$234,432
- 4THRen Lin$166,448
- 5THPeter Mugar$120,035
- 6TH
Ivan Ruban$87,945 - 7THAnatoly Nikitin $65,479
The first open event bracelet of the 2026 World Series of Poker has been awarded, as Daniyal Gheba topped the field of 570 to win the $5K 8-Max on Friday night.
Gheba's win is the largest of his career, which now has just under $2M in earnings and a WSOP bracelet. Gheba also made runs in this event in 2024 and 2025, finishing sixth and 23rd.
The $5,000 No-Limit Hold 'em final table was the first in the new WSOP arena.The final table was the first to be contested inside the new 25,000 square foot Thunderdome / Mothership / Arena, which is a distinction that added a little extra something to a win that Gheba had already been longing for.
“Dream come true," he told us. "Yeah, that’s pretty cool. It’s a pretty sick arena, I like it a lot. I did sort of visualize a lot about winning this tournament. I kind of needed to win this tournament to play the stuff I wanted to play this summer without selling all my action, so, yeah, it’s amazing.”
No luck for Lin on Day 3
Much of the final table focus early was on Ren Lin, whose fourth-place finish for $166,448 is a solid start on that road and is his fifth six-figure score in a 2026 that’s seen him earn well over $2M already.
A WSOP bracelet for Ren Lin will have to wait. But it’s ultimately another disappointing result at the WSOP, as Lin remains without a bracelet on a resume that now crosses $19.5M in career tournament earnings, including a runner-up finish in a $20,800 High Roller at WSOP Europe last month.
He’ll be right back in action Saturday, though, as he’s said he wants to win everything this year, including not just the WSOP Player of the Year award, but the GPI Player of the Year title as well.
