Kyle Grupp Wins First WSOP Circuit Ring at Turning Stone
The Clarence, New York player outlasted 996 entries for a career-best $246,362 in the $1,700 Main Event.
- Kyle Grupp won $246,362 and his first WSOP Circuit gold ring in the Turning Stone Main Event.
- The $1,700 no-limit hold’em tournament drew 996 entries and generated a $1.51 million prize pool.
- Grupp overcame a heads-up chip deficit against Joel Cattelane after entering the final day in the middle of the seven-player pack.
- The win was Grupp’s largest live score and his third POY-qualified final table of 2026.
Kyle Grupp won the 2026 World Series of Poker Circuit Turning Stone Main Event in Verona, New York, earning $246,362 and his first Circuit gold ring. The $1,700 no-limit hold’em tournament attracted 996 entries and built a $1.51 million prize pool, clearing its $1 million guarantee.
Grupp, a Clarence, New York resident, emerged after three starting flights and two further days of combined-field play. Card Player reported that the win was the largest live cash of his career, lifting his recorded lifetime earnings beyond $836,000.
The result followed two previous WSOP Circuit Main Event final tables for Grupp. He placed fourth in the 2023 Turning Stone Main Event and sixth at the 2025 WSOP International Circuit Montreal. His previous biggest payday was $165,000 for a 54th-place finish in the 2025 WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas.
The final day began with seven players left. Joel Cattelane held the lead while Grupp was in the middle of the pack, and 114 players had made the money overall.
Cathy Schenone exited seventh for $32,160 when her pocket sixes could not beat Greg Ostrander’s pocket nines. Grupp then eliminated Tina Panichi in sixth, his pocket kings holding against her suited ace-queen, while Ostrander finished fifth for $58,647 and Daniel Wagner placed fourth for $81,282.
Cattelane knocked out Wagner and carried momentum into heads-up play after calling a Grupp bluff during five-handed action. Steven Tabb took third for $114,576 after Grupp made a pair of threes against Tabb’s ace-nine, leaving Cattelane with a little more than a 2:1 lead.
Grupp turned the match around without showdown in a large pot, then took the lead for the first time since the previous evening when Cattelane folded to his 8.35 million river bet, according to Poker.Org. In the deciding hand, Grupp opened to 750,000 and called after Cattelane three-bet to 4.5 million; Cattelane moved all in for 5.7 million on the turn, and Grupp’s second pair held against a nut-flush draw.
Cattelane, of Syracuse, New York, collected $164,220 for second place. It was his best live-circuit result, surpassing the $17,665 he earned for 11th in the same event in spring 2026.
The victory awarded Grupp 912 Card Player Player of the Year points. It was his third POY-qualified final table of the year and moved him to just outside the top 350 in the 2026 standings presented by CoinPoker.
