A brand-new World Series of Poker bracelet event crowned its first-ever champion this week, and the player who etched his name into the history books was Zachary Gruneberg. Outlasting a stacked field of 1,319 entries in Event #53: $1,500 Five-Card Pot-Limit Omaha, Gruneberg became the first player in WSOP history to capture gold in this format, banking $271,552 from a total prize pool of $1,750,973.
The three-day battle played out across Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, drawing a tough lineup of Omaha specialists eager to claim the inaugural title. For Gruneberg, the win marked his third career WSOP bracelet — but his first away from the No-Limit Hold’em felt and his first six-figure cash outside that format. The result also pushed his lifetime tournament earnings beyond the $2.5 million mark.
Zachary Gruneberg’s Path to the 5-Card PLO Bracelet
Gruneberg’s run to the title wasn’t a quiet one. His rail showed up loud and proud throughout the final day, matching — and at times outdoing — the vocal Brazilian contingent supporting eventual third-place finisher Erick Mossinger. Once Zachary Gruneberg grabbed the chip lead with four players remaining, he never relinquished it, riding the momentum all the way to heads-up play and the bracelet.
Runner-up Hokyiu Lee put together an impressive week of his own, reaching his second WSOP final table in a matter of days after also finishing second in Event #35: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha. Despite another deep run, Lee once again fell a single spot short of bracelet gold.
Event #53: $1,500 Five-Card Pot-Limit Omaha — Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zachary Gruneberg | United States | $271,552 |
| 2 | Hokyiu Lee | Hong Kong | $180,230 |
| 3 | Erick Mossinger | Brazil | $127,560 |
| 4 | Kamel Mokhammad | Ukraine | $91,530 |
| 5 | Gianluca Cedolia | Canada | $66,610 |
| 6 | Ravi Shankar | United States | $49,160 |
| 7 | Bouwe Claushuis | Netherlands | $36,810 |
From Home Games to a WSOP Bracelet
This was Gruneberg’s third career bracelet, with his two previous wins both coming in online Hold’em events. Speaking after the win, he made clear that capturing a live bracelet hit differently — calling it a far bigger thrill than his online titles and crediting his long-held dream of winning a bracelet to watching poker legends compete on television growing up. He also pointed to the energy of having friends rail him in person as something that made this victory uniquely memorable.
Gruneberg was a vocal supporter of the new format, praising the strategic depth that comes with an extra card in hand. He explained that the additional card tends to open up more aggressive lines, since opponents can become hesitant when facing a wider range of possible holdings — and noted the format rewards well-timed bluffs in ways that traditional PLO doesn’t always allow. His familiarity with 5-Card PLO actually predates its arrival on the WSOP stage, stemming from home games back in Pennsylvania long before the discipline got its own bracelet event.
Not everyone in his circle was sold on the variant, with some friends ribbing him that the extra card just added more chaos to an already gamble-heavy game. Gruneberg shot back that their tune would change once more recognizable names started chasing bracelets in the format.
The win also carried personal significance beyond the prize money. Gruneberg jokingly referred to it as his certification into the mixed-games community, following in the footsteps of his close friend and former WSOP roommate, who recently broke through for his own first mixed-game bracelet. The two now share membership in poker’s growing club of non-Hold’em champions.
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Final Table Action: How the Bracelet Was Won
Seven players returned for the final day, and it didn’t take long for the first elimination. Dutch pro Bouwe Claushuis hit the rail after roughly 90 minutes, getting his short stack in on the flop against start-of-day chip leader Kamel Mokhammad — only to be outflushed on the turn and left drawing dead.
The next bustout took considerably longer. Ravi Shankar committed his stack after flopping a strong draw, but Erick Mossinger had flopped even bigger and held to send him to the rail. Fifth-place finisher Gianluca Cedolia then suffered a brutal cooler, getting his aces in good on the flop only to fall behind by the river. Zachary Gruneberg notched his first knockout of the day in that hand, turning a flush to leave his opponent drawing dead and pushing the tournament to four-handed play.
Four-handed action turned cagey, with players picking their spots carefully. Hokyiu Lee scored a massive double-up off Zachary Gruneberg by cracking aces with a turned Broadway straight, then doubled again shortly after through Mokhammad using the identical hand. The chip lead swapped hands multiple times during this stretch — Mokhammad held the early advantage, Mossinger wrestled it away, and eventually Gruneberg surged into a commanding position with nearly half the chips in play after picking off several big pots.
Lee’s doubling streak continued at Mokhammad’s expense before Mokhammad himself was eliminated in fourth, going out with a turned straight against Mossinger’s flopped set.
A Quick Finish to a Long Tournament
With the podium locked in, short stacks kept finding ways to survive. Mossinger binked a river gutshot to stay alive, and Lee went runner-runner to outdraw Gruneberg’s top set in another tense exchange. But Mossinger’s luck finally ran dry when he couldn’t fill up against Gruneberg’s flopped flush, sending the tournament to heads-up play and locking in his third-place finish worth $127,560 — more than doubling his career earnings past the $200,000 mark.
Heads-up play was brief. Lee, playing in his second deep run of the week, came up just short again as Gruneberg’s turned wheel held up to seal the victory, much to the delight of his rail.
Quick Facts: Event #53 $1,500 Five-Card Pot-Limit Omaha
- Champion: Zachary Gruneberg
- Prize: $271,552
- Total Entries: 1,319
- Prize Pool: $1,750,973
- Venue: Horseshoe & Paris Las Vegas
- Significance: First-ever WSOP bracelet awarded in 5-Card Pot-Limit Omaha
- Runner-Up: Hokyiu Lee ($180,230)
- Career Bracelets for Gruneberg: 3 (first outside No-Limit Hold’em)
- Career Earnings: Surpassed $2.5 million
Zachary Gruneberg’s victory in Event #53 will be remembered as more than just another bracelet win — it’s a piece of WSOP history as the format’s first-ever champion. With a passionate rail behind him and a clear love for the strategic wrinkles 5-Card PLO brings to the table, Gruneberg’s performance could help cement the event as a lasting fixture on the WSOP calendar. For Hokyiu Lee, the runner-up finish extends an impressive, if bittersweet, summer that’s seen him reach the final two in back-to-back PLO events without closing the deal. As the 2026 WSOP rolls on, all eyes will be on whether more players follow Gruneberg’s lead into poker’s newest bracelet discipline.
