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Rob Wazwaz won the 2026 Wisconsin Poker State Championship at Potawatomi Hotel Casino in Milwaukee, collecting $253,521 from a 1,568-entry Main Event. The MSPT Hall of Famer’s victory was his second Major Series of Poker: The Tour title and brought his record total to 22 MSPT final tables.

The Sept. 24-27 event carried a $1,110 buy-in and $1 million guarantee, but generated a $1.52 million prize pool. The top 173 finishers were paid. Wazwaz entered heads-up play holding 34.2 million chips against Mark Cahill’s 12.84 million, then closed out the tournament; Cahill earned about $154,000 as runner-up.

According to MSPT’s event report, Wazwaz eliminated four of his eight final-table opponents. Brittany Spain finished 10th for $19,676 to set the official final table, while Mike Wilklow took third for $118,057. Wazwaz said he had concentrated on avoiding the mistakes that had affected him at previous final tables: “I was really focused this time around.”

The win was Wazwaz’s first MSPT title since the 2018 Canterbury Park Main Event, where he earned $109,375. Seventeen of his 22 tour final tables have come since that first title. The latest result also lifted his MSPT earnings above $1 million, making him the fifth player in tour history to reach that mark, while his overall tournament earnings rose beyond $3.4 million.

Wazwaz was inducted as the eighth MSPT Hall of Fame member in October 2021 after recording his 25th MSPT Main Event cash and a tour title. His $253,521 Wisconsin payday was his second-largest career score, behind the $358,346 he earned for winning an $800 deepstack event at the 2022 World Series of Poker.

The Wisconsin victory secured Wazwaz a seat in the $3,500 MSPT Championship Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open at Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida. Its $2 million-guaranteed Main Event is scheduled to run from Nov. 18 through Dec. 2.

ClubWPT Gold has left open the prospect of returning sweepstakes poker to Nevada after product changes, even as it pauses gameplay in the state beginning Sept. 28. The operator said it was optimistic that modifications could allow a future resumption, but gave no details on what would change or when a return might happen.

The pause follows what ClubWPT Gold described as shifts in the regulatory environment. Purchases were shut off immediately, and Nevada players can no longer enter cash games or tournaments after midnight Sept. 28. The company’s message characterizes the move as a pause rather than a permanent exit, though it has not identified the regulatory changes behind the decision.

As we reported earlier today, Nevada players have until Oct. 2 to redeem or withdraw remaining account balances. ClubWPT Gold has also urged Nevada subscribers to cancel memberships during the shutdown.

The departure reduces ClubWPT Gold’s sweepstakes footprint from 42 states to 41, according to PokerNews. The site has thousands of Nevada-based players and had expanded its presence in the state in recent years, including a digital billboard campaign on the Las Vegas Strip during June’s World Series of Poker.

ClubWPT Gold’s model has differed from a conventional online-poker deposit system. Players buy poker hand analysis or training credits, receive chips as part of the purchase, and use those chips in tournaments and ring games. A chip is worth $1 at cash-out.

The company had already reworked that approach in September 2025, removing free-to-play games and Gold Coins in favor of purchased poker-training credits that can be used to play and redeem winnings for prizes. USPoker reported that the change was intended to keep the product within the law in states tightening scrutiny of sweepstakes gaming, although some legal experts argued the revised model could still conflict with California law.

Nevada has legal online poker, but WSOP Online remains its only licensed traditional operator. It pools real-money players from Nevada, New Jersey, Michigan and Pennsylvania through the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement. ClubWPT Gold’s Nevada decision comes amid wider regulatory attention on sweepstakes-style online gambling, while other sweepstakes poker sites also exclude the state.

For now, ClubWPT Gold has not set conditions or a timetable for a Nevada relaunch; its stated plan is limited to pursuing product modifications that it believes could make sweepstakes play available again.

Connor Hayward won his first World Series of Poker Circuit ring by taking down the $1,700 Main Event at Horseshoe Council Bluffs. The Kansas City cash-game player earned $76,797 after beating a 232-entry field, while the tournament generated a $351,480 prize pool and paid 36 places.

Hayward overcame John Ypma in heads-up play after beginning the match at a 2-to-1 chip disadvantage. Ypma, who had already won a Circuit ring and $102,650 at TCH Social Austin earlier this year, collected $50,593 for second. Matthew Riffel finished third for $34,304.

The closing hand came with blinds at 40,000/80,000 and an 80,000 ante. Ypma moved all-in for 700,000 with jack-ten of spades, and Hayward called with king-three offsuit. The board ran nine of spades, five of spades, five of diamonds, three of hearts and four of diamonds, giving Hayward the winning two pair.

A pivotal earlier pot helped swing the heads-up match. Ypma tried to bluff a paired board containing three cards of the same suit, but Hayward had made the nut flush. Hayward later said he had run well in the short session, picked up big hands and “kind of trapped” his opponent.

The title is a quick tournament breakthrough for Hayward, who had spent eight years as a full-time cash-game grinder based at Harrah’s Kansas City before starting to play events roughly six or seven months ago. He said he had earned more than $67,000 in tournaments before Council Bluffs, meaning the $76,797 first prize more than doubled that total.

His momentum had already included a third-place finish in the $700 Main Event at RGPS Golden Expedition Joplin a week earlier. Hayward said he came to Council Bluffs to spend time with a friend and intended to keep playing tournaments following the win.

As covered last week, the same Horseshoe Council Bluffs stop also produced Daniel Lowery’s 21st Circuit ring in the Big O event, underscoring the range of milestones at the series.

Daniel Negreanu’s run in the $10,000 GGMillion$ Pot-Limit Omaha bracelet event ended in seventh place, not with a late bid for the title. He earned $71,111 after reaching the seven-handed final table from a 228-entry field in the 2026 WSOP Online series.

Negreanu began with the second-largest stack, holding 6.4 million chips, or 92 big blinds. Andreas Freund led with 8.6 million, while every finalist had already locked up at least $71,000. The winner’s package was advertised at about $428,000 plus a $30,000 Super Pass for December’s WSOP Paradise Super Main Event.

Negreanu quickly won several early pots, including one against Freund, and moved into the chip lead. But his tournament changed in a nearly 200-big-blind confrontation with Freund roughly 20 minutes into the final table.

According to Tight Poker’s hand account, Freund raised under the gun and Negreanu defended his big blind before the flop checked through. Negreanu bet eight big blinds on the 8♥ turn; Freund raised to 25.8 big blinds, and the money went in.

The 5♣ river completed club flushes for both players, but Freund’s was higher. Negreanu called the 8♥ “the sickest turn card,” and the pot left him with fewer than seven big blinds. He nearly tripled on the next hand but was eliminated soon afterward as the first finalist out.

Freund went on to win the bracelet and $428,456. The final table lasted a little more than an hour, while Negreanu’s own planned stream was disrupted by technical problems; GGPoker ambassador Kevin Martin covered the action instead.

As we reported Sept. 18, Negreanu had traveled to Canada to play and stream the WSOP Online schedule, beginning with this PLO event. The result left the eight-time bracelet winner short of a ninth title, despite entering the final table saying he was playing only for first place.

Negreanu’s most recent bracelet remains his July victory in the $100,000 WSOP PLO High Roller in Las Vegas, where he won $2.26 million.

Timothee D’Anfray carried the chip lead into the final 17 of the €500 Winamax Poker Open Aix-les-Bains Main Event after a Day 2 that cut a 2,873-entry field to its last contenders. D’Anfray bagged 21.725 million, with every remaining player guaranteed at least €6,300 and the winner set to receive €150,000.

PokerNews reported that 475 players returned for Day 2 to play for a €1.186 million prize pool. The final turnout was 12% higher than the previous year’s field, according to Winamax.

Benjamin Goudard was D’Anfray’s closest challenger on 19.4 million, followed by Lucas Archeny with 13.825 million. Goudard built his stack in a major pot against Raphael Bilger, who ended the day with 6.4 million, while Archeny had held a large stack throughout the day and eliminated Matthieu Rigolot with a full house holding pocket fours.

D’Anfray sealed his lead by eliminating Loris Corbelli in 19th place in the last hand of Day 2. Corbelli moved all-in with ace-five and lost to D’Anfray’s pocket jacks, earning €5,000. Pierre Labitte had departed in 18th for the same payout after Mathieu Pontin called his 3.25 million-chip shove with pocket aces.

Aymane Mamoun entered the final day fifth in chips after a two-outer river card sent Laurent Amri out in 24th. Etienne De Soultrait also remained near the top after eliminating 2023 WiPT finalist Remi Debord in 28th. Defending champion Jeremy Cauchard had been knocked out earlier, in 145th place, after losing a coin flip.

Among the other notable stacks, Nicolas Marin held 8.525 million after doubling with aces, and Quentin Le Dissez had 6.475 million after a feature-table double. Sebastien Studer, Leo Viales, Nicolas Ehrath, Dimitri Callonnec and Maxence Vie were returning with between 10 and 20 big blinds, while Herve Ponthet and Boris Dupuis were shortest with 2.1 million and 1.9 million respectively.

The final day was set to resume in the Casino Grand Cercle theater with 24 minutes left in Level 39, at blinds of 125,000/250,000 and a 250,000 big blind ante.