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WCOOP 2026: Renan Bruschi Hits Four, UK Grinders Stay in the Hunt

By Pessi Lamm

4 hours ago

Pessi Lamm 4 hours ago

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Renan Bruschi first to win 4 WCOOP titles in one series, now at 13 total.
UK grinders and top international players achieve major final table results.
WCOOP Main Events begin Sunday; festival wraps up September 30.

Renan Bruschi leads the WCOOP 2026 standings with four titles ahead of Sunday's Main Events.

Renan Bruschi takes the captain's position on PokerStars WCOOP 2026, becoming the first player to win four tournaments. The Brazilian pro now sits on 13 WCOOP victories, putting him joint sixth on the all-time leaderboard and creeping one win behind Rui Vieira, Niklas Åstedt and Denis Strebkov.

Bruschi has been on fire this year. After bagging six titles at SCOOP in the spring, he carried that exact momentum directly into September, proving once again that poker is skill based sport, not just variance based gambling.

Bruschi Runs Hot in High Roller Events

Known online as "Internett93o", Bruschi has won at least two titles at every WCOOP since 2023. This series brought an extra milestone, as he collected his first championship mixed-game trophy in the $1,050 No-Limit 2-7 Single Draw.

Event	Buy-in	Payout
NLHE Mystery Bounty Wednesday Surprise HR	$530	$31,686 (incl. $21,200 bounties)
NL 2-7 Single Draw 7-Max HR	$1,050	$16,715
NLHE Turbo HR	$1,050	$21,189
NLHE PKO Bounty Builder HR	$530	$23,772

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UK Pro Grinders Feature in Late-Stage Action

While Brazil leads the overall country table with 68 titles, UK players hold second spot with 35 titles, putting in consistent final table showings across the high-stakes schedule:

Patrick "thebigdog09" Brooks picked up his second title of the festival in the $215 Super Tuesday, pocketing $28,154 after previously winning the $1K Saturday KO for $32,259.
Patrick "pads1161" Leonard came within a few hands of scoring his 16th career WCOOP victory, eventually taking runner-up honours behind Mexico's "Manolo Poppe" in the $530 Wednesday Surprise Mystery Bounty.
Johannes "Jepser8" Straver completed an incredible three-week Super Tuesday sweep, winning the $5,200 edition for $90,420 by defeating Joao "Naza114" Vieira heads-up, while Simon "C. Darwin2" Mattsson and Adrian Mateos also reached the final table.
"IgammiI€120" from Belarus won two separate $5K events on back-to-back nights, taking down the $5,200 Titans for $98,517 against Samuel "€urop€an" Vousden and following up with the $5,200 Bounty Builder SHR for $88,645.
Markku "markovitsus" Koplimaa navigated a massive field of 971 entries in the $530 Titans to bank $81,727 and his fourth career title.
"MuUkR" from Ukraine took down the $1K Turbo PKO for $26,229 over Juan "Malaka$tyle" Pardo, with Niklas Åstedt finishing third and UK regular Jamie "jamiedwan21" Dwan finishing fourth.
"flerrehuve" from Sweden took the $1K 7-Max PKO for $27,797 for their sixth career title, while Peter "Belabacsi" Traply took the $530 Bounty Builder HR for $44,237.
Dinesh "NastyMinder" Alt won the $109 7-Max PKO for $11,231, his first WCOOP victory since 2021.won the $109 7-Max PKO for $11,231, his first WCOOP victory since 2021.

WCOOP Main Events Start Sunday on PokerStars UK

The series enters its final stretch on Sunday, September 27 with three tiered No-Limit Hold'em Main Events going live simultaneously:

Main Event Tier	Buy-in	Guarantee
NLHE Main Event (Low)	$109	$1,250,000
NLHE Main Event (Medium)	$1,050	$2,000,000
NLHE Championship (High)	$10,300	$2,500,000

Pot-Limit Omaha specialists step up on Monday, September 28 with three PLO Main Events running alongside Event 114-H, a $25,000 Super High Roller. The entire 25-day festival concludes on Wednesday, September 30 with the Series Wrap-Up.