Cash Game Specialist Alexander Kostritsyn Wins First Bracelet in $25k H.O.R.S.E.

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Jul 16, 2026 4 min read

With the curtains nearly closed on the 2026 World Series of Poker, 148 entrants made their way to the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas for one last hurrah in Event #97: $25,000 High Roller H.O.R.S.E. — the final high roller of the series. The field contained a who's who of poker talent, all of whom were looking to cap off their summer by winning one of the most prestigious bracelets of the festival.

In the end, it was Russia's Alexander Kostritsyn who emerged victorious, defeating Ali Eslami in a hard-fought heads-up match to capture his first WSOP bracelet and his first recorded live tournament cash in eight years. The victory earned him $872,052 — the second-largest score of his career.

Winner's Reaction

"I stopped playing tournaments [full time] 14 years ago," Kostritsyn told PokerNews shortly after his victory. "It feels nice. [A bracelet] is something I wanted to have. And I'm glad that I got it."

Before shifting his focus almost exclusively to cash games, Kostritsyn racked up over $3 million in live tournament earnings, including a victory in the 2008 Aussie Millions — where he defeated poker legend Erik Seidel heads-up for $1,450,396.

Kostritsyn explained he is selective about the tournaments he plays these days and joined the event late after playing cash until four in the morning the previous day.

"I've only played four tournaments this year. But this win is a good buy-in for the cash games I play... I felt my chances were good to win from Day 2. Well, I had chances. I just tried to make less blunders, so I needed less luck to win."

Looking forward, Kostritsyn said there is a "25 percent chance" he decides to play a full WSOP schedule next year — perhaps inspired by his first bracelet win.

Final Table Result Event #97: $25,000 High Roller H.O.R.S.E.

Final Day Action

Among the 16 players who returned to the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas to compete for the prestigious mixed-game title were Alex Foxen, Shaun Deeb, and Naoya Kihara — who were sitting in first, second, and third place respectively in the WSOP Player of the Year race and looking to add valuable points to their standings as the summer series wrapped up.

It took less than one hour to reach the final nine players, with Qinghai Pan, Aaron Kupin, Maxx Coleman, Josh Arieh, Luke Schwartz, and William Kerkaert all failing to run up their stacks to fall short of the final table. Foxen bubbled the unofficial final table after falling to Kostritsyn in a hand of Razz. The elimination prompted Deeb to walk over and personally thank Kostritsyn, as Foxen's exit dramatically improved Deeb's chances of reclaiming the Player of the Year lead.

Deeb and Matthew Beinner entered the final table as the two shortest stacks and, despite each of them scoring an early triple-up, Beinner was sent out in ninth, while Deeb had to settle for an eighth-place finish — leaving the door open for Kihara to take the lead in the P.O.Y. standings with a podium finish.

With the shortest stacks eliminated and plenty of big bets in play, a couple of levels passed without another knockout, during which time Kostritsyn and Eslami pulled ahead of the pack. Walter Chambers eventually fell on the short stack and, with escalating blinds, he took a stand against Eslami in Hold'em only to be outdrawn on the turn to be the next to exit.

Julien Sitbon got short-stacked, but managed to double up multiple times and ladder past Ari Engel (sixth place) and Yueqi Zhu (fifth place) before ultimately busting in fourth place against Kostritsyn in a round of Stud.

Having moved into the Player of the Year lead, Kihara turned his attention to winning his third bracelet of the summer, which would have made him the third person to do so in three years alongside Scott Seiver (2024) and Benny Glaser (2025). Unfortunately for Kihara, a bad runout in Razz against Kostritsyn left him short. Eslami then claimed the rest of Kihara's chips after making a flush against him in Stud to set up heads-up play.

Kostritsyn and Eslami had nearly identical stacks before their duel began, but it didn't take long for Kostritsyn to pull out to a 2:1 chip lead after a couple of rounds of Stud went his way. Kostritsyn continued to chip away at Eslami, who got as low as five big bets before managing to claw his way back to a 2:1 deficit in a series of smaller pots.

Following a short break, everything went Kostritsyn's way. He first left Eslami short in a round of Razz before taking all but one chip from Eslami after making a set of kings in Stud. Eslami managed to double up once, but on the very next hand, Eslami was forced all in again and was eliminated after Kostritsyn drew two pair — awarding him his first WSOP bracelet and ending the tournament.

• Tags Alex Foxen Aaron Kupin Alexander Kostritsyn Ali Eslami Ari Engel Benny Glaser Erik Seidel Julien Sitbon Josh Arieh Luke Schwartz Matthew Beinner Maxx Coleman Naoya Kihara Scott Seiver Shaun Deeb WSOP WSOP schedule World Series of Poker Main Event
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