Most poker players will go through their entire career without ever winning a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet. Alessio La Francesca is not like most poker players.
Two weeks ago, the Albania-based Italian became a 2026 WSOP champion after he took down the $1,500 GGMasters Freezeout Championship. It was a victory that came with $316,037, a $30,000 Super Pass to the 2026 WSOP Paradise Super Main Event, and a coveted WSOP bracelet.
Fast forward to September 27, and La Francesca has become a two-time bracelet winner. He was one of 123 entrants in the $10,000 Heads Up NLH Championship. After several rounds of one-on-one battles, the Italian emerged victoriously with his second bracelet in tow plus $352,561 in prize money.
#31: $10,000 Heads Up NLH Championship Results
Countries as displayed in the GGPoker lobby
The top 16 finishers won a share of the $1,193,100 prize pool. A min-cash tipped the scales at $23,504, a sum that Fabiano Kovalski, Enrique Lago, Severi Palmu, Wai Kiat Lee, Jamie Dwan, Virgile Turchi, and Dmitry Kravchenko collected after bowing out in the Round of 16.
Aliaksei Boika, Ole Schemion, Georgii Sieemshchikov, and Japan’s Takashi Ogura busted during the quarter final stage. Each saw $47,008 land in their GGPoker accounts.
Daniel Negreanu Reaches Third WSOP Final Table This Week But No Bracelets
The final four players returned to the fray on the evening of September 27, each now guaranteed a six-figure score for their efforts. Aleksey Borokov and Aliaksandr Shylko saw their impressive deep runs end in the semi-finals stage, with each scooping $117,520. Their executioners, La Francesca and Pavel Plesuv, then faced off for the title, the lion’s share of the prize pool, and the all-important gold WSOP bracelet.
Plesuv, who won a bracelet in 2023 after claiming the Millionaire Maker title, fell at the final hurdle for the fourth time in a bracelet-awarding event. This latest runner-up finish earned him $211,536.
La Francesca’s second victory of the 2026 WSOP Online at GGPoker earned him $352,561 and his second piece of WSOP hardware.
Martin Kabrhel Falls Short in the $800 Closer
The $800 Closer, the penultimate bracelet-awarding event of the 2026 WSOP Online, drew 4,070 entrants and built a $3,093,200 prize pool. The 395 players who advanced to Day 2 receive a cut of that seven-figure sum.
With bounties included, none of the nine finalists could take home less than $39,873, with four of them securing a six-figure payday.
Yannick Schneider came unstuck in seventh for a $72,370 prize before the polarizing Martin Kabrhel fell in sixth for $62,799. Brazilian Jonatas Gomes, who finished second in a WSOP Online event near the start of the series, busted in fourth for $99,339.
A player from Hong Kong using the alias “U move I move” defeated Israel’s Ravid Garbi heads-up for the title, a $250,536 prize, a WSOP bracelet, and a $30,000 Super Pass package to the 2026 WSOP Paradise Super Main Event.
#32: $800 The Closer NLH Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Country | Bounties | Prize | Total Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | U move I move | Hong Kong | $103,682 | $146,854 | $250,536 |
| 2 | Ravid Garbi | Israel | $35,601 | $146,794 | $182,395 |
| 3 | Korn0x | Thailand | $56,300 | $113,658 | $169,958 |
| 4 | Jonatas Gomes | Brazil | $11,333 | $88,006 | $99,339 |
| 5 | Wishwish | China | $11,607 | $68,147 | $79,754 |
| 6 | Martin Kabrhel | Austria | $10,026 | $52,773 | $62,799 |
| 7 | Yannick Schneider | Austria | $31,500 | $40,870 | $72,370 |
| 8 | JorgeWo99 | China | $17,994 | $31,656 | $49,650 |
| 9 | lookatmynuts | Hong Kong | $15,351 | $24,522 | $39,873 |
Final 2026 WSOP Online Event Reaches Its Business End
Only one more bracelet event needs to crown its worthy champion, which it will do in the next couple of days. Event #33: $10,000 GGMillion$ High Rollers only has one more Day 1 to run (2:00 p.m. BST on September 28) before an all-star cast return to the GGPoker tables from 7:00 p.m. BST for Day 2.
At the time of writing, 1,340 players had bought in and created a $12,998,000 prize pool. Some 131 players have punched their Day 2 tickets, including chip leader Roeland Peeks (3,369,517), Brandon Wilson (3,077,896), Johannes Straver (2,949,083), Samuel Vousden (2,484,090), Michael Mizrachi (1,979,552), Sorel Mizzi (1,830,742), Andras Nemeth (1,034,926), Simon Mattsson (866,936), and Daniel Dvoress (678,713).
The first-place prize currently weighs in at $1,757,436, although that is set to change once the final Day 1 concludes this afternoon. Day 2 will play down to the final table, with those finalists clashing from 7:00 p.m. BST on September 29 under the watchful eyes of the GGPoker stream team.
Matthew Pitt
Senior Editor