Brandon Wilson has won Super High Roller Bowl XI for $1,125,000, adding the gold championship ring to a 2026 season that has quietly turned him into one of the most consistent high-stakes tournament players in the world. The 33-year-old from Chicago topped a 28-entry field in the $100,000 no-limit hold'em event at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas, then beat Nick Petrangelo heads-up after a final table that included Alex Foxen, Jeremy Ausmus and Adrian Mateos.
It was Wilson's first seven-figure payday as a champion, and it came after a string of near-misses at the very top of the buy-in ladder. For anyone who follows high-stakes poker, the result is a useful case study in how a patient, well-prepared player converts deep runs into a title.
The Final Table Payouts
The $2.8 million prize pool paid the top five places. According to Card Player's report, the final results were:
| Place | Player | Payout |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brandon Wilson | $1,125,000 |
| 2 | Nick Petrangelo | $700,000 |
| 3 | Alex Foxen | $450,000 |
| 4 | Jeremy Ausmus | $310,000 |
| 5 | Adrian Mateos | $215,000 |
The field of 28 entries was up from 23 in December 2025, a modest but notable increase in a format where a $100,000 buy-in naturally caps participation. Late registration remained open until Day 2 began, and players could reenter once, which pushed the entry count above the 23 recorded on Day 1.
How the Final Table Played Out
Wilson was involved in almost every key pot as the short-handed action unfolded, and the sequence of eliminations reads like a textbook example of a player picking his spots.
Kristen Foxen, a six-time WSOP bracelet winner, went out in sixth when her A-8 of clubs ran into Wilson's pocket nines on a ten-nine-five flop. That pot left Wilson with a set and Kristen one place short of a $215,000 payday, and it was a painful moment for the Foxen household for reasons we cover in our separate bubble-hand analysis.
Adrian Mateos, who leads the GPI 2026 Money List with $15 million in cashes, was next. He shoved K-J of clubs with 18 big blinds and Wilson called with A-J. The board ran out ace, seven, four, ten, ace, giving Wilson trips and sending Mateos to the rail in fifth.
Jeremy Ausmus, the high-stakes vlogger, shoved Q-9 with 17 big blinds and ran into Petrangelo's A-9 in fourth. Both players flopped top pair, but the stronger kicker held.
Alex Foxen, who had held a huge chip lead on Day 2, went out in third when he four-bet all-in with pocket sevens and found Wilson holding pocket eights. Wilson called, flopped a full house, and Foxen was drawing dead.
The Heads-Up Match
Wilson started heads-up with 4,740,000 chips to Petrangelo's 3,660,000, a lead of roughly 56 percent of the chips in play. The final hand was dramatic. Wilson raised with Q-10 of spades and Petrangelo three-bet with pocket sevens. The board ran ace of diamonds, queen of clubs, nine of spades, jack of clubs, eight of hearts, giving Wilson a queen-high straight. Petrangelo, representing a bigger hand, moved all-in on the river for 1,325,000, and Wilson called almost instantly.
It is a good illustration of how thin-value and bluff-catching spots decide heads-up matches. Petrangelo, a two-time bracelet winner with $47.6 million in lifetime earnings, had a hand that could not call a bet on that board, so his only path to winning the pot was a shove. Wilson held a hand that beat every bluff and lost only to a very narrow set of holdings. The call was easy, but only because the earlier streets had given him the information he needed.
Wilson's Career in Context
Wilson now has more than $17.9 million in recorded earnings and 17 titles. What makes his profile unusual is how recently he arrived. Before 2021 he had only a handful of live cashes, and since then he has built a résumé that includes a runner-up finish in a $150,000 Triton event for $2.2 million, second in a $50,000 Triton event for $1.2 million, and fourth in a $125,000 WSOP Paradise event for $1.1 million.
Those results mattered because they showed he could reach final tables at the very highest buy-ins but had yet to close one out for a seven-figure prize. Sunday's victory ended that run.
His 2026 season has been remarkable by any measure:
- Fourth title of the year and 21st final-table finish
- Two high-stakes EPT Paris wins
- A PGT Last Chance Series title
- More than $8.1 million in cashes from 35 in-the-money finishes
- Third in Card Player's overall Player of the Year race with 7,487 points
- Fifth in the PokerGO Tour standings
The win was worth 360 Player of the Year points and 400 PGT points, which should keep him firmly in both conversations heading into the winter.
What This Means for Players
Most readers will never play a $100,000 buy-in, but Wilson's results carry practical lessons for anyone who plays tournaments.
Volume and consistency beat peaks. Thirty-five in-the-money finishes in a single year is a sign of a player who competes in a wide range of fields and rarely makes costly mistakes in the middle stages. In smaller buy-in events, the same principle applies: cashing frequently, and avoiding unnecessary variance in early levels, tends to matter more than hunting for one big score.
Stack-depth awareness wins pots. Two of Wilson's key eliminations came against opponents shoving 17 and 18 big blinds. At that depth, the shove-or-fold math is simple, and calling ranges are well defined. If you want to sharpen your own decisions in those spots, our poker strategy hub and the what is ICM guide explain how payout structure changes the equity you need to call.
Preparation is visible. High-stakes players today use solvers and training tools heavily. Wilson's ability to make crisp calls with hands like A-J for stacks suggests a player who has drilled those scenarios. Even recreational players can use the poker odds calculator to check preflop equities before a session.
Bankroll discipline underpins it all. At $100,000 a bullet, players typically have backers or staking arrangements, and even the best need deep reserves to absorb variance. At home-game and online levels, the same logic is captured in our bankroll management guide.
What Comes Next
With the Super High Roller Bowl in the books, the high-stakes calendar turns to the final stretch of the year, including the WSOP Paradise festival in the Bahamas in December. Wilson's 2026 total, and his position in multiple Player of the Year races, will make him a name to watch there.
The event was broadcast on PokerGO, and fans who want to follow the sport on screen can find where to watch in our poker on TV guide. For a look at how all of this year's big live results fit together, see our WSOP 2026 results page.
Wilson's win is also a reminder that poker's top level remains open to relative newcomers. Five years ago he had a handful of live cashes. Today he owns a $1.125 million ring, a Player of the Year contention, and the respect of every player he beat at the final table.