Eleven years after becoming the first woman to win a WSOP Circuit main event, Michelle Chin has finally landed WSOP gold — topping a 657-entry field in the $1,500 Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw Lowball for her maiden bracelet and $161,313.
Key takeaways
- Michelle Chin won the 2026 WSOP $1,500 Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw Lowball for $161,313 and her first bracelet.
- It came 11 years after she became the first woman to win a WSOP Circuit main event in 2015.
- She is the first woman to win a non-big-bet bracelet since Carol Fuchs in 2015.
- Chin beat Daniel Strelitz heads-up; the runner-up pushed his career earnings past $6 million.
From circuit history-maker to bracelet winner
Back in 2015, a Kansas-based, Taiwan-born Michelle Chin was still new to the game when she beat a 235-entry field to become the first woman ever to win a World Series of Poker Circuit main event. More than a decade later, she has added the trophy that had eluded her, outlasting 657 entries in the 2026 WSOP $1,500 Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw Lowball for $161,313 and her first bracelet.
"Back then, I was really new to poker. I didn't realize how hard it is to win a tournament; it then took me 10 or 11 years to win another."
The victory carries extra historical weight: Chin is the first woman to win a non-big-bet bracelet since Carol Fuchs took down the 2015 $1,500 Dealers Choice event. The win also banked her 840 Card Player Player of the Year points — her first POY-qualified score of 2026.
A stacked field and a deep money run
The turnout was up 22 entries on 2025, building a prize pool of $872,167 with the top 99 finishers cashing. Notables who ran deep included Pedro Neves (18th), Patrick Moulder (22nd), Jerry Wong (27th), Dylan Smith (29th), Nick Guagenti (31st) and Terrence Chan (56th), before a brutal mixed-game final table took shape at Paris Las Vegas.
Chin grinds through a who's-who final table
Italy's Alessio Isaia led the dozen returning players, with Chin inside the top five. Two-time bracelet winner Evan Sandberg fell in ninth, and Isaia himself busted eighth to hand Nick Pupillo the chip lead. From there the bracelet winners kept tumbling: three-time winner Sean Troha (6th) and Ian Pelz (5th) were sent off as Daniel Strelitz climbed the counts.
Short-stacked four-handed, Chin found the spots she needed — scooping a big pot off Horacio Chaves to spark her comeback. After Pupillo bowed out fourth and Chaves third, Strelitz carried roughly a 3:2 lead into heads-up. Chin flipped it with a pair of 8-6 holdings, took control, and closed it out when Strelitz paired up on the final draw. The runner-up earned $107,504, nudging his career haul past $6 million.
$1,500 Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw Lowball — final table results
| # | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michelle Chin | $161,313 |
| 2 | Daniel Strelitz | $107,504 |
| 3 | Horacio Chaves | $72,152 |
| 4 | Nick Pupillo | $49,458 |
| 5 | Ian Pelz | $34,641 |
| 6 | Sean Troha | $24,804 |
| 7 | Tot | $18,165 |
| 8 | Alessio Isaia | $13,613 |
| 9 | Evan Sandberg | $13,613 |
