2026 WSOP: Brent Gregory wins wild star-studded $600 Mixed No-Limit Hold’em/Pot-Limit Omaha Deepstack

The WSOP $600 Mixed No-Limit Hold’em/Pot-Limit Omaha Deepstack final table was one of the most star-studded FTs that the World Series of Poker has ever seen at the low-stakes level.

From a 3,332-entry field, three of the top-six most decorated WSOP Circuit ring winners of all-time somehow found a way to meet in the final nine. Maurice Hawkins, the WSOP Circuit’s all-time ring leader (25), Josh Reichard (4th, 17 rings), and John Holley (T-6th, 12 rings) all arrived at the historic final table in search of their long-awaited and deserved first WSOP bracelet.

If that weren’t wild enough, two poker legends in the top-10 on poker’s all-time money list, Daniel Negreanu and Alex Foxen, were also in the mix. Negreanu was looking for his eighth bracelet, while Foxen was looking for bracelet number four, just days after his wife, Kristen, won the $25,000 High Roller for $1.77 million and her sixth bracelet.

Amazingly, none of them would end up with the illustrious hardware at the end, as Missouri grinder Brent Gregory came out on top. In addition to winning his first WSOP bracelet and having eternal bragging rights, he won a career-high $204,140 to take his career winnings to just under $1,000,000.

Winner’s reaction

For Gregory, the title served as a bit of redemption. He came so agonizingly close to winning his first bracelet in 2023, finishing second in the now-defunct WSOP Tournament of Champions for a previous career-high of $120,000.

“It’s about as tough as a $600 field is going to get,” Gregory told PokerNews in his postgame interview. “Somehow, I prevailed against some of the best players in the world. I feel extremely lucky.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous. Foxen, Negreanu, Reichard, everybody. There were several better players than me at the table.”

Gregory has enjoyed some very nice scores in Las Vegas over three of the last four years, competing in several small-buy-in, large-field events. In 2023, he won the 1,161-entry $550 Orleans Winter Open Main Event for $90,598. He followed that up in 2024 with a huge $50,140 in a $250 event at the Golden Nugget, which attracted nearly 1,700 runners.

Now, he has laid claim to one of poker’s biggest prizes, and he pulled it off against the big dogs.

“There was the whole atmosphere with most people pulling for me, I felt like it was going to happen,” Gregory said. “It was just one of those things where when you feel it, sometimes it comes through.”

When it was heads-up, there was a lot of pressure on Gregory to win from the poker community as a whole, given Maurice Hawkins’ standing as one of the most-hated players in poker. Upon news of Hawkins’ second-place finish, poker Twitter was ablaze with celebration.

“It was awesome,” Gregory said. “I had thousands of people probably pulling for me today, so it feels pretty damn good.”

Heads-up play

Hawkins came in with a massive chip lead, and it looked inevitable that he was going to get the job done. However, after being down to just a few blinds, Gregory mounted a massive comeback to effectively steal the victory.

Hawkins, who was quite emotional and almost celebrating before getting all of the chips, got it in preflop with a 44% chance to win with against Gregory’s . The board ran out , giving Gregory a set of tens and the win after Hawkins bricked his spade draw.

Hawkins had a second bite at the apple, getting it in on the turn with a combo draw on with against Gregory’s . The river came a to give Gregory a pair of kings and the chip lead.

The battle wasn’t over, as Hawkins made a full house against Gregory’s trips to pull the stacks back to even. Gregory then pulled a bit ahead before the final confrontation.

The board read , and Hawkins got all the money in with for top-bottom two pair. However, he was a massive underdog as Gregory held for middle set, giving him an 88% chance to win the tournament.

The board ran out to give Gregory the win, forcing Hawkins to leave the table shaking his head, thinking about what could have been.

$600 Deepstack Mixed NLH/PLO final table results