Naoya Kihara and Naseem Salem added two more bracelet wins at the 2026 World Series of Poker, with Kihara winning a tough lowball championship and Salem taking down one of the early high roller events at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.
Naoya Kihara is now a two-time WSOP bracelet winner, 14 years after becoming the first Japanese player to win one. The 44-year-old topped 198 entries in Event #17, the $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship, for $428,923.
Kihara nearly left the event on Day 1 after falling to a single small blind. Instead, he recovered, entered the final day among the top stacks, then survived a final table that included Ryutaro Suzuki, Shaun Deeb, John Cynn, Dan Shak, and Per Hildebrand.
He admitted the win changed his plans after he had been thinking about leaving major tournament poker behind.
“I’m now 44, almost retired from poker,” Kihara told PokerNews reporters. “But I came back and hopefully I try for one more bracelet from now. Otherwise, I was thinking about quitting the tournament poker, but with this win, I decided at least two to three more years for tournaments.”
Kihara spent much of the final stretch climbing from the short stack. Phil Hellmuth exited in ninth after Kihara took the last of his chips, while Hildebrand and Shak later fell to Kihara in lowball draw spots. David Lin then knocked out Suzuki and Cynn to reach heads-up play, but Kihara drew a seven on the final hand to beat Lin and lock up the bracelet.
| Place | Player | Payout |
| 1 | Naoya Kihara | $428,923 |
| 2 | David Lin | $288,711 |
| 3 | John Cynn | $198,302 |
| 4 | Ryutaro Suzuki | $139,038 |
| 5 | Shaun Deeb | $99,557 |
| 6 | Dan Shak | $72,834 |
| 7 | Per Hildebrand | $54,467 |
Naseem Salem won his first WSOP bracelet in Event #11, the $10,000 GGMillion$ High Roller No-Limit Hold’em. The San Diego player beat 627 entries and earned $1,089,964, by far the largest score of his career.
Salem had been close before, finishing second in the 2024 $1,979 Poker Hall of Fame Bounty event. He finally broke through in a field that paid 95 players from a $5,831,100 prize pool.
Salem started the final day in front, but Chad Lipton grabbed control after two major all-in hands. Lipton knocked out Cliff Josephy, then eliminated Joey Weissman and Roman Hrabec in the same pot. Salem later removed John Racener with quads, while Alex Cruz sent Chris Brewer out in fourth. Lipton then lost a huge bluff to Cruz before running into Salem, who made sevens full to set up heads-up play.
Salem and Cruz traded the lead early. Salem pulled ahead with a flopped straight, then later won a full-house-over-full-house pot. The final hand saw Salem race with A-Q against pocket jacks. An ace on the turn sealed the win, while Cruz earned $726,598 for second.
| Place | Player | Payout |
| 1 | Naseem Salem | $1,089,964 |
| 2 | Alex Cruz | $726,598 |
| 3 | Chad Lipton | $503,997 |
| 4 | Chris Brewer | $355,610 |
| 5 | John Racener | $255,306 |
| 6 | Roman Hrabec | $186,562 |
| 7 | Joey Weissman | $138,802 |
| 8 | Cliff Josephy | $105,178 |