Nick Seward dominated the 2026 WPT Venetian Las Vegas Spring Championship $5,000 no-limit hold’em event, topping the 488-entry field to win the $418,700 top prize.
In addition to getting his name etched on the Mike Sexton trophy, Seward also earned a $10,000 ticket to the WPT World Championship, likely to be played in December.
This was the second-largest cash of Seward’s career, only bested by his 2024 WSOP $3,000 6-Max bracelet win for $516,135.
“Everything that could have gone right went right,” Seward told WPT. “I’m very fortunate, I ran very hot, and I was happy with my decisions overall. It was an amazing final table.”
Final table action
After Nick Schulman busted in seventh place, the final six players went home to rest up for Day 4 and the televised final table. A handful of the players were thrilled, having already locked up $87,000 and guaranteeing themselves career-high scores. However, they were all focused on winning the illustrious WPT title.
Eddie Pak came into the day as the short stack and was the first to go, falling just three hands into the day.
With the blinds at 50,000/100,000, Lily Kiletto opened to 200,000 from the cutoff. Pak jammed his final 880,000 from the button with . Drake Kemper woke up with Qh] in the small blind and made the call. Kiletto folded.
The flop put Kemper ahead, though Pak flopped the nut flush draw. However, a harmless and followed, and Pak had to settle for $87,000.
Seven hands later, WPT Champions Club member Anthony Zinno was next to fall. Zinno jammed 15 big blinds from the button with and Greg Brown called off with from the small blind.
The board ran out , giving Brown two pair. Zinno took home a handsome $114,000 as a result, while Brown shot up to an incredible 147 big blinds.
Brown continued his big stack dominance, rivering a flush against Kiletto, who heroed him off with on an board. Kiletto busted in fourth for $151,000 while Brown’s stack rose to a seemingly insurmountable 184 big blinds, three times Nick Seward’s stack. Drake Kemper was hanging around with 12 big blinds.
Kemper managed to cockroach for several orbits before a collision saw Kemper’s run into the of Brown. Kemper took home a career-high $200,000 as a result, nearly doubling his career earnings.
Though Brown would go into heads-up play with a three-to-one chip lead, Seward received some excellent card distribution and was able to chip into Brown’s big lead. It was a long heads-up battle but after 57 hands, it was over.
In a limped blind-on-blind pot, Seward made a full house, threes over sevens, against Brown’s top-two pair. It was a sensational cooler that saw Seward join an ever-growing list of those with both a WPT title and a WSOP bracelet.
For Brown, it was a remarkable showing. His $270,000 cash was nearly seven times his previous high score, a $39,881 cash for a fifth-place finish in a $500 tournament in Arizona two years ago.
For Seward, it was another notch in the belt. Seward has now entered poker’s top 1,000 all-time earners, adding to his $3.9 million in career live tournament earnings.
WPT Venetian Spring Poker Championship final table results
| Place | Place | Country | Payout |
| 1 | Nicholas Seward | United States | $418,700 |
| 2 | Gregory Brown | United States | $270,000 |
| 3 | Drake Kemper | United States | $200,000 |
| 4 | Lily Kiletto | United States | $151,000 |
| 5 | Anthony Zinno | United States | $114,000 |
| 6 | Edward Pak | South Korea | $87,000 |
| 7 | Nick Schulman | United States | $67,000 |
| 8 | Shannon Shorr | United States | $52,000 |
| 9 | Jacob Mendelsohn | United States | $40,500 |
