Johnson, Boatman, Shchemelev and Gregg All Capture 1st Bracelet

Posted February 30, 2026 by TitanPokerBonusCodes in News.

It was a busy week at the 2026World Series of Poker with several high-profile tournaments taking place including the One Drop High Roller tournament that featured an $111,111 buy-in –the second largest in WSOP history. And as the 2026 WSOP continues to heat up, culminating with next Thursday's Main Event a number of well-known players have erased their names from the "Best Without a Bracelet" list.

Event #46: $3,000 PLO8 tournament

Vladimir Shchemelev burst onto the poker scene at the 2026 WSOP when he absolutely owned the $10k Championship events at the series; becoming the first player in WSOP history to final table three events with a buy-in of at least $10,000. Now Shchemelev can add WSOP bracelet winner to his resume after his win in Event #46. Here is a look at the final table payouts from the tournament:

1. Vladimir Shchemelev — $279,094
2. Mel Judah — $172,361
3. Ashly Butler — $124,645
4. Brian Hacker — $91,085
5. John Cernuto — $67,222
6. Tyler Nelson — $50,197
7. Andrey Zaichenko — $37,847
8. Allyn Jaffrey Shulman — $28,821
9. Alexey Makarov — $22,171

Event #47: $111,111 One Drop High Roller tournament

The big-boy tournament this week was the $111,111 One Drop High Roller which attracted a field of 166 participants; the most for a $100k+ Buy-in tournament in poker history. In the end it was rising star Anthony Gregg who would capture the top prize, denying Antonio Esfandiari (4^th place) his second straight One Drop win. Here is a look at the final table payouts from the tournament:

1. Anthony Gregg – $4,830,619
2. Chris Klodnicki – $2,985,495
3. Bill Perkins – $1,965,163
4. Antonio Esfandiari – $1,433,438
5. Richard Fullerton — $1,066,491
6. Martin Jacobson — $807,427
7. Brandon Steven — $621,180
8. Nick Schulman — $485,029
9. Olivier Busquet — $384,122

Event #48: $2,500 Limit Holdem 6-Handed tournament

Marco Johnson went into the heads-up portion of Event #48 with a lot of experience playing heads-up for a WSOP bracelet under his belt. After batting 0-3 in these duels up until his win this weekend Johnson got off the schneid with a win in Event #49. Here is a look at the final table payouts from the tournament:

1. Marco Johnson – $206,796
2. Jeff Thompson – $127,801
3. Juha Helppi – $82,956
4. Danny Warchol – $55,457
5. Mike Schiffman – $38,095
6. Maria Ho – $26,858

Event #49: $1,500 No Limit Holdem tournament

This weekend UK Poker legend and Hendon Mob founder Barny Boatman ended his 0-fer streak at the WSOP as well, winning Event #49 to capture his first WSOP bracelet. Here is a look at the final table payouts from the tournament:

1. Barny Boatman — $546,080
2. Brian O'Donoghue — $338,745
3. Van Tran — $239,339
4. Taras Kripps — $172,087
5. Aditya Prasetyo — $125,372
6. Robin Ylitalo — $92,550
7. Paul Dasilva — $69,192
8. Noah Sandler — $52,387
9. Roger Lussier — $40,162

*Resources: wsop

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