Two years ago, Lionel Barracano of France earned his then-career-best tournament score, coming in 12th in the Super Seniors event in 2024 for $22,598.
It was his third straight year cashing in the event, and easily the closest he had ever come to making a WSOP final table.
This year, in his fourth time cashing the Super Seniors, Barracano went the distance, outlasting a 3,323-entry field for his first piece of WSOP hardware and the top prize of $355,263.
The win marks the first gold bracelet for France at the WSOP this summer and the second this year, after Gilles Silbernagel won the €565 Colossus at WSOP Europe this past April.
20 years in the making
“I’m very happy," Barracano told PokerOrg with the help of a translator following the win. "I’ve been playing poker for 20 years now, but without any big results. It’s every poker player’s dream to win a bracelet, so I’m very happy to have done it. Especially at my age.”
Barracano explained how a family member first introduced him to poker.
Kevin Song near put 30 years between two bracelets. "I discovered poker through my nephew 20 years ago. And then online poker arrived in France in 2008. I mixed online playing and live playing. Both with cash games and tournaments. I like both. I like poker."
Runner-up denied since '97
Barracano had a big obstacle between him and victory in the form of runner-up Kevin Song, a longtime WSOP veteran who was seeking his second WSOP gold bracelet, nearly 30 years after winning his first in a $2,000 Limit Hold'em event in 1997.
Song was leading nearly the entire final table and held a slight advantage over Barracano when heads-up play began, but Barracano flipped the script right away.
In a lightning-fast heads-up match, Barracano doubled through Song with pocket jacks against ace-three, before holding with pocket fives against Song's pocket fours to secure the title.
Fourth time the charm
"It's a special relationship for sure," Barracano said when asked about the red-hot Super Seniors run of cashing finishes. "It’s very interesting to play this field. It’s much less aggressive poker than a traditional field in other tournaments.”
Barracano was supported throughout the final table by a passionate and enthusiastic rail consisting of his friends and family, for which he expressed gratitude.
Lionel Barracano“It feels really good to be able to share this joy with friends around. It’s a very good feeling.”
When asked what his plans to celebrate were, Barracano explained that he had “Nothing special scheduled" and was flying back to France in two days.
2026 WSOP Super Seniors event final table results
- Lionel Barracano - $355,263
- Kevin Song - $236,712
- Donald Briggs - $176,564
- Paul Mcmullin - $132,696
- Nancy Birnbaum - $100,488
- Alexander Dovzhenko - $76,683
- Micheal Dokell - $58,970
- Dhesikan Ananchaperumal - $45,703
- Glen Clementi - $35,699
Winner's image courtesy of World Series of Poker.
