The 2026 WCOOP Boot Camp continues crowning champions at PokerStars as it edges toward it pair of Main Events. One recently completed tournament, the $1,050 No-Limit Hold’em Thursday Thrill, a high-stakes PKO event, saw a host of stars gather at its final table.
The WCOOP Boot Camp edition of the $1,050 Thursday Thrill may have only seen 64 entries processed, but there were some seasoned grinders who entered and, ultimately, advanced to the nine-handed final table.
Among them was Mexico-based “Fakhish, who you may recall triumphed in the 2024 Spring Championship Of Online Poker (SCOOP) $10,300 Main Event. “Fakhish” defeated Mark “AceSpades11” Radoja heads-up in that event and secured a $948,434 prize.
While their haul from the Boot Camp Thursday Thrill wasn’t a patch on that score, coming out on top of an all-star cast will give them plenty of confidence and a bankroll boost, going into the 2026 World Championship Of Online Poker (WCOOP) in September.
$1,050 NLHE PKO Thursday Thrill Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Country | Bounties | Prize | Total Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fakhish | Mexico | $10,968 | $7,319 | $18,287 |
| 2 | Bruno “bbernardinho” Bernadinho | Austria | $5,937 | $7,319 | $13,256 |
| 3 | Gavin “gavz101” Cochrane | United Kingdom | $2,031 | $5,223 | $7,254 |
| 4 | Pavel “silentm0de” Plesuv | Moldova | $2,375 | $3,345 | $5,720 |
| 5 | Rodrigo “peceli” Peceli Presutti | Uruguay | $437 | $2,149 | $2,586 |
| 6 | nicolasb | Argentina | $875 | $1,495 | $2,370 |
| 7 | Oneway1988 | Angola | $375 | $1,259 | $1,634 |
| 8 | Stonedream | Finland | $750 | $1,119 | $1,869 |
| 9 | Mario “t4t0PAGAU” Navarro | Andorra | $0 | $995 | $995 |
The talented Mario “t4t0PAGAU” Navarro was the first of the nine finalists to find themselves void of chips. As Navarro didn’t claim any bounties before he crashed out, he had to make do with a $995 prize.
Finland’s “Stonedream” busted in eighth before Angola’s “Oneway1988” and Argentina’s “nicolasb” also fell by the wayside.
Fifth place was decided when Rodrigo “peceli” Peceli Presutti bowed out. Peceli took down this event during the 2025 WCOOP for $86,000 but couldn’t quite get the job done this time around.
Ognyan Dimov Takes Down a WCOOP Boot Camp Event on the Opening Weekend
Moldova’s Pavel “silentm0de” Plesuv‘s second bullet resulted in him navigating to a fourth-place finish worth $5,720, including bounties. British pro Gavin “gavz101” Cochrane crashed out after Plesuv, banking $7,253, which sent the tournament into the heads-up stage.
Both “Fakhish” and Bruno “bbernadinho” Bernadinho locked in a $7,319 prize from the regular prize pool before battling one-on-one for the remaining bounties, which now weighed in at more than $10,000. Just as he did against Radoja in the 2024 SCOOP Main Event, “Fakhish” got the job done. They scooped a total prize worth $18,287, leaving the runner-up to reel in a $13,256 consolation prize.
PokerStars 2026 WCOOP Boot Camp Results
Twenty-three WCOOP Boot Camp events have now crowned their worthy champions. Oleg “Fukuruku” Vasylchenko is one of the stellar names who captured a title during the latest round of play. Vasylchenko took down the $55 NLHE PKO Mini Bounty Builder for $9,195.
Finnish star Casimir “Ceis25” Seire also got his hands on a title, doing so in the $530 NLHE 6-Max Bounty Builder ($7,970), while Belarusian star “malabar1719” turned $530 into $12,524 in the $530 NLHE PKO Big Knockouts Bounty Builder.
The 2026 WCOOP Boot Camp continues at PokerStars until August 17, giving you ample opportunities to become a poker champion.
Among this weekend’s highlights are a pair of Mystery Sunday Special events, which, as the name suggests, are played as a Mystery Bounty format. Both kick off at 1:00 p.m. ET (7:00 p.m. CEST) on August 9. They come with $11 and $75 buy-ins, and guaranteed prize pools weighing in at $100,000 and $300,000, respectively.
Matthew Pitt
Senior Editor