Philip Chun Wins WSOP Mini Mystery Millions for $400,000

Philip Chun won Event #1, the $550 Mini Mystery Millions, at the 2026 World Series of Poker on June 1, 2026. He outlasted a record field of 20,488 entries at Paris & Horseshoe Las Vegas to collect $400,000 and his first career bracelet.

The result more than doubled Chun’s career live earnings. He beat Palestine’s Jalil Houssain heads-up, denying Houssain what would have been his country’s first WSOP bracelet.

Chun put his run down to preparation, including a 3 a.m. call with Chip Leader Coaching’s Kristen Foxen before the final day. Advancing from the Turbo flight, he never pulled a Gold Chest bounty all tournament, which let him focus purely on the table once the big prizes were claimed.

The WSOP dropped the buy-in from the $1,000 Mystery Millions to $550 for 2026, and the field exploded. The 20,488 entries beat the 2025 edition’s 19,654 and ranked as the seventh-largest live tournament in WSOP history.

Six Day 1 flights built the field, from a 1,635-entry opener to a Turbo-flight finish on May 30. Argentina’s Martin Pineiro bagged the overall chip lead out of the final flight.

Day 1 Flight Breakdown

Total: 20,488 entries | 792 advanced to Day 2 | 793 places paid | Min cash: $1,160

A pile of the bounty money sat in the Gold Chest, which held every prize worth $25,000 or more. It took 43 draws from that chest before the headline prize surfaced.

The 792-strong Day 2 field played down to 13, with three-time bracelet winner David Prociak bagging the overnight lead on 88,000,000. Each survivor had already locked up $21,790, but every eye was on the $400,000 top prize.

Prociak set the pace into Day 3, but inside an hour the field thinned from 13 to nine, and Chun was the one applying the pressure.

Chun came back seventh of 13 but ran over the early stages of Day 3. He sent Sheldon Phelps to the rail in 12th, then secured an early final-table double to take the lead. The unofficial final table set with nine players, and the bust-outs came fast.

9th: Jurgen Pirgu

Pirgu shoved from middle position with A♣ J♦ and ran into Kartik Ved’s A♠ Q♣. The board bricked clean for Ved and Pirgu was out first, good for $43,000.

8th: Rocco Iati

Iati opened to 13,500,000 from the cutoff and called off the rest when Ved jammed a 6♣ 5♦ 6♥ flop. Iati’s J♣ 10♣ needed help against Ved’s A♦ K♥, but the Q♠ A♠ runout missed and he collected $43,000.

7th: Alex Kaviani

The start-of-day chip leader busted in a three-way all-in. Kaviani’s 5♠ 5♥ was at risk against Jalil Houssain’s 7♦ 7♠ and David Prociak’s A♥ Q♦. The J♠ 8♦ K♣ flop kept Houssain ahead, the 7♣ turn made the set, and Kaviani was gone for $72,000 as Houssain raked the biggest pot of the tournament.

6th: Joseph Trezzo

Trezzo check-jammed the 2♣ 2♦ K♥ A♠ turn with A♥ 2♠ for trip deuces, only to find Houssain had flopped a boat with K♠ K♣. No fade there. Trezzo took $90,000.

5th: Axel Bayout

Bayout, a past WSOP bracelet winner, had tripled and doubled to survive twice already. His last stand came with A♥ 8♥ against Chun’s A♠ 10♦, and the 7♦ 4♣ 3♠ K♠ 2♥ board left him short of the kicker. He exited fifth for $115,000.

4th: David Prociak

The three-time bracelet winner and overnight chip leader ran his K♦ 7♦ into Ved’s 7♥ 7♣ after a cutoff jam and a small-blind reshove. Prociak paired his king on the A♦ 6♠ 6♥ 10♦ 7♠ board, but Ved rivered a second set to bust his fellow bracelet winner in fourth for $155,000.

3rd: Kartik Ved

Three-handed, Houssain took a stranglehold after making straight-over-straight against Chun, and the Indian bracelet winner Ved was left short. He shoved K♥ Q♦ and Chun tanked before calling with A♣ 7♣ from the big blind. The 6♣ 6♥ J♠ 7♥ A♠ board paired Chun’s ace and sent Ved out third for $200,000, flipping the chip lead to Chun heads-up.

Chun later explained the call. Ved was the most passive of the three-handed trio and short at 12 to 13 big blinds, so he read the shove as strong but felt his suited ace was too good to fold and blind off.

Heads-Up: Chun vs Houssain

Chun took a slender lead into heads-up but handed it straight back on the first hand. The decisive pot came moments later. Houssain raised the button, Chun jammed after a long tank, and Houssain snap-called.

Chun turned over A♣ Q♦, ahead of Houssain’s A♦ 10♦. The 9♠ 7♠ 3♦ flop was clean, but the 8♦ turn gave Houssain a flush draw and extra outs. The board paired on the river instead, and Chun’s better ace held for a near 29:1 chip lead. That left Houssain clinging to a handful of big blinds, and the end came a couple of hands later.

With Houssain down to scraps, the last chips went in. Houssain was at risk from the big blind.

Chun was behind preflop but took over on the 3♣ 5♥ 10♦ flop, pairing his three. The A♠ turn and 8♥ river ran out clean, and a $550 entry turned into $400,000 and a gold bracelet.

“I texted Kristen at 3 a.m. last night once we finished, and arranged to speak to her before play got underway. We talked for about an hour, and everything she told me put things into perspective. It didn’t overwhelm me, it just allowed me to tackle today the way I wanted.”
Philip Chun

“We were battling together all day. We’re playing a game, and we want to beat each other, but we could still be kind while we’re doing it. It makes it a lot more enjoyable.”
Philip Chun

The Mini Mystery Millions was new for 2026, but the format behind it is the most reliable field-builder in poker right now. The WSOP took the $1,000 Mystery Millions, which drew 19,654 entries in 2025, halved the buy-in to $550, and watched the field jump to 20,488.

Mystery bounty events split the money into two pools. Part funds the standard payout ladder, the rest goes into sealed bounties drawn at random once the bounty round opens. A min-cash pays a few hundred dollars, but the Gold Chest can hide a $1,000,000 ticket.

That structure rewards two very different players at once. The grinder still plays for the $400,000 top prize and the bracelet, while the recreational entrant who busts early can still draw a life-changing envelope. Andrew Shelton did exactly that, busting in the field before pulling the seven-figure bounty.

For players who want to understand the math behind the format, our guide to PKO and mystery bounty strategy breaks down how to price a bounty into calling ranges. The takeaway from Event #1 is simple: a $550 buy-in produced a $9.35M prize pool, and the WSOP has its accessible, made-for-stream opener for years to come.

The Mini Mystery Millions does not feed the 2026 WSOP Player of the Year race. Events below $1,500 fall outside the POY formula, so Chun’s win counts for the bracelet and the cash but not the standings.

For Chun, a bracelet and a career-best score in his first deep WSOP run is the kind of breakout the format is built to produce. Event #1 also set the tone for the series, landing as the seventh-largest live tournament in WSOP history before the schedule had really started.

Every bracelet winner and daily recap from the series lives on our running 2026 WSOP results tracker. For the full schedule, venue details and qualifying routes, see our complete WSOP coverage and guide.