Dimitar Danchev Wins WSOP 2026 $25,000 Heads-Up Championship for $800,000

Dimitar Danchev won Event #7, the $25,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em Championship, at WSOP 2026 on June 1. The Bulgarian banked $800,000 and his second career bracelet, surviving seven straight matches against a 128-entry field and a $3,008,000 prize pool.

Danchev landed in Las Vegas just 48 hours before the event and held off playing any poker until registration opened, banking sleep to fight the jet lag. He had this one circled and was not going to miss it.

The title is his second WSOP bracelet, and like the first it came one-on-one. He won the 2022 WSOP Online Heads-Up Championship through a 97-entry field, so both pieces of gold have arrived in the discipline that rewards players who can close.

The Heads-Up Championship runs as a single-elimination bracket, and 2026 was the first edition to add a second starting flight. Two sold-out 64-player flights pushed the field to 128, which meant the champion had to win seven consecutive matches rather than the usual six.

The bracket was stacked from the first hand. Reigning Main Event champion Michael Mizrachi set the early tone, beating Shannon Shorr and Jun Obara before colliding with all-time bracelet leader Phil Hellmuth on Day 1a. Both turned two pair in the decider, and Mizrachi came out in front.

The reigning champion’s own run ended on Day 2, when Ryuta Nakai bounced him in the round of 16.

The cruelest exit belonged to seven-time bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu. He had Biao Ding on the brink twice, only for Ding to spike repeated rivers, and the run ended with Negreanu fuming on his way out of the Paris ballroom.

By the time the bracket reached its last four, each survivor had carved a tough path. Here is how the semifinal line-up arrived.

Danchev rated his Day 1 match against Christopher Nguyen, where he hero-called for his tournament life, as one of his hardest. He then got past Florian Pesce and rivered a flush to eliminate Ding in the quarterfinal.

The final day opened with two semifinals and all four players guaranteed $300,000. Two of them would go no further.

4th: Alex Foxen ($300,000)

Three-time bracelet winner Alex Foxen ran into a cooler against Kuznetsov. He flopped two pair with Q♥ 5♠ on a Q♦ 2♠ 5♥ board, but Kuznetsov held Q♣ 6♥ and turned a bigger two pair when the 6♦ arrived.

The chips went in on the turn and the A♠ river was no help. Foxen, who had earlier beaten Brandon Wilson and Thomas Boivin, bowed out in fourth.

3rd: Ryuta Nakai ($300,000)

Nakai five-bet shoved A♠ J♥ and Danchev snap-called with Q♠ Q♥. The 7♥ Q♣ 10♥ flop gave Danchev a set, though Nakai still held a straight draw.

The 4♥ turn handed both players a flush draw, with Danchev holding the higher one. The 8♥ river completed his flush and ended Nakai’s run in third.

Heads-Up: Danchev vs Kuznetsov

The final lasted just under three and a half hours. Kuznetsov struck first, stacking a series of small pots to build a two-to-one lead in the opening levels.

The match turned on a cooler. Kuznetsov flopped trips and committed his stack, only to run into a flopped full house from Danchev, and the chip lead changed hands.

Danchev never gave it back. The two traded blows without a major swing, and the Bulgarian kept control of the count until the closing hand arrived.

Danchev limped, Kuznetsov checked, and the two saw a flop with the title on the line.

Flop: 7♠ J♥ Q♠

Kuznetsov check-called 400,000. The 3♣ turn brought another check-call, this time for 1,600,000.

The Q♣ river paired the board. It gave Kuznetsov trip queens, but it handed Danchev queens full of sevens.

Kuznetsov checked, called off when Danchev moved all in, and saw the bad news. A $25,000 buy-in had turned into $800,000 and a gold bracelet.

“I’m still jet lagged. I just really wanted to play this event, so it feels amazing to actually win it.”
Dimitar Danchev

His celebration plans were modest: a good night’s sleep first, then dinner with friends the next day.

The Heads-Up Championship has been one of the WSOP’s marquee pro events for years, and 2026 reset its ceiling.

From 2022 to 2025 the event stayed capped at 64 entries, with the first prize parked around the half-million mark. The second flight changed the maths in 2026: 128 entries lifted the prize pool to $3,008,000 and the winner’s share to $800,000, the largest in the event’s history.

Each of the four players who reached the final day locked up at least $300,000. Here is how the top of the ladder finished.

Places five through eight earned $150,000 each, and places nine through 16 took $60,000 apiece. The top 16 of the 128-entry field reached the money.

This $25,000 championship sits well above the series’ low buy-in openers, so it counts toward the 2026 Player of the Year race, handing Danchev points alongside the bracelet and the cash.

The win also moves him up Bulgaria’s all-time money list and cements his reputation as a heads-up closer, with both of his bracelets won one-on-one.

Every bracelet winner and daily recap from the series lands on our running WSOP 2026 results tracker.