In Event #16: $1,700 U.S. Circuit Championship No-Limit Holdem at the 2026 World Series of Poker (WSOP), Colorado’s Antonio Vargas won a career-best $439,605 and his first bracelet after beating runner-up Kai Cohen in a lengthy heads-up battle.
The U.S. Circuit Championship drew 2,148 runners for a prize pool of $3,231,666. The final table also included recent Mini Mystery Millions final tablist Kartik Ved (3rd – $211,817), France’s Malcolm Franchi (6th – $85,561), and American Shawn Daniels (7th – $64,681), who cracked aces twice on his way to the final table.
Vargas, who adds to $1.2 million in career earnings, sported a Jaka Coaching patch at the final table and had poker coach Faraz Jaka supporting him on the rail. The poker lessons paid off as he went wire-to-wire with his final table chip lead to win his first piece of WSOP gold.
“To be honest, it’s probably gonna take me a couple of days to process it,” Vargas told PokerNews in a winner’s interview. “(I’m) very lucky to have gotten this far and to be able to beat 2,200 people in this event. So it’s just very fortunate and lucky and (I’m) grateful to be able to … close it out.”
$1,700 U.S. Circuit Championship Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Antonio Vargas | United States | $439,605 |
| 2 | Kai Cohen | United States | $292,916 |
| 3 | Kartik Ved | India | $211,817 |
| 4 | Michael Plesa | Canada | $154,853 |
| 5 | Liubomyr Melnyk | United States | $114,465 |
| 6 | Malcolm Franchi | France | $85,561 |
| 7 | Shawn Daniels | United States | $64,681 |
| 8 | Scott Horvath | United States | $49,459 |
| 9 | Yannick Capocetti | Argentina | $38,258 |
Aces Cracked Twice on Day 3
The Day 3 highlights began way before the final table. In the second level of the day, Daniels cracked aces with ace-jack to send Japan’s Peter Cross to the rail. Jacks were clearly lucky for Daniels, as just a few hours later he cracked the Rockets of Michael Bahls with queen-jack to make way for the unofficial final table.
The first out at the official final table was Yannick Capocetti, who fell in ninth place as his ace-four was far dominated by the ace-jack of Kartik Ved. After dinner break, Scott Horvath went out in brutal fashion as his pocket queens were cracked by the ace-nine of Michael Plesa.
The aces-cracking Daniels was out soon after, running into Vargas’ flopped set. The eventual winner then went on a run that saw him knocking out Liubomyr Melnyk with a runner-runner straight and later cracking the queens of Kartik Ved to send the Indian bracelet winner out in third place.
Ved had already been having the summer of a lifetime, finishing third in the $550 Mini Mystery Millions for $200,000 after pulling two six-figure bounties.
Vargas was in control throughout the final table, but Cohen doubled up multiple times during heads-up play to put up a solid fight before a final confrontation that saw Vargas raising all in with a straight and getting called by top pair.
Vargas had a loud and passionate rail that, in addition to his coach Jaka, included a burley baritone singer who at one point belted out a song about Tony the Tiger, despite it being one in the morning. And Vargas was just as passionate about winning his first bracelet.
“The people that know, know that it means a lot to me,” he said. “It just means everything to me right now.”
Connor Richards
Senior Editor U.S.