Photo Credits: WSOP
Bryce Yockey turned one of the toughest mixed game fields at the 2026 World Series of Poker into his third bracelet win. The Southern California pro won Event #27, the $10,000 Dealers Choice Championship, and earned $371,664 after beating 163 entries.
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Dealers Choice asks players to do more than play mixed games well. Every orbit brings a decision on which game to call, and rivals can choose formats they think expose weak spots. Yockey had wanted this bracelet for that reason.
“I’ve wanted to win this tournament for a really long time,” Yockey told reporters. “In terms of, like, mixed game tournaments, this one’s really unique because there’s just a lot of strategy beyond just playing the game that goes into it. People actually try to choose games to target you. Whatever they think you’re bad at, whatever they think they have an advantage at. Part of the game is also just learning to play that game, too, and just avoiding them in those situations when you can. I wanted to win this one for a long time.”
The win gave Yockey another title outside his usual PLO lane, even though Omaha variants still sit at the centre of his bracelet record. He won the $10,000 pot limit Omaha eight or better championship in 2017 and added a $5,000 PLO bracelet in 2024. He also came close in other mixed formats, including a runner up finish in the 2024 $50,000 Poker Players Championship.
Yockey entered the last day in the middle of the pack while Jake Schwartz held the lead. That changed quickly. Duane Fontenot, Koji Fujimoto, and Tomasz Gluszko left before the final table formed, and Yockey climbed into control after taking a large pot from Fontenot and leaving Lawrence Brandt short.
The final table had very little soft ground. Schwartz, with more than $4.9 million in prior live cashes, was the only player at the table without a WSOP bracelet. Ryan Miller, Chad Eveslage, Nick Schulman, Jeremy Ausmus, Owais Ahmed, and Yockey all brought bracelet wins into the final seven.
Yockey built a wide lead during short handed play and kept pressure on the field. Ahmed went out in seventh after Miller made a wheel in stud eight or better. Ausmus left in sixth when Eveslage held in no limit hold’em. Schulman later exited fifth in razz, before Yockey removed Eveslage in limit Omaha.
The last three eliminations came quickly. Yockey beat Schwartz in stud eight or better after making jacks up, then started heads up play with about an 8 to 1 chip lead over Miller. In the final stretch, Yockey won a large limit Omaha hand with trip queens and finished Miller soon after in the same game when his pair of jacks held through the river.
The result lifted Yockey to nearly $8.4 million in career tournament earnings and gave him one of the key mixed game titles on the WSOP schedule.
| Place | Player | Payout |
| 1 | Bryce Yockey | $371,664 |
| 2 | Ryan Miller | $241,152 |
| 3 | Jake Schwartz | $161,292 |
| 4 | Chad Eveslage | $111,305 |
| 5 | Nick Schulman | $79,331 |
| 6 | Jeremy Ausmus | $58,460 |
| 7 | Owais Ahmed | $44,592 |