Brian Tate Leads $1,500 Badugi Final Table at 2026 WSOP

Brian Tate holds the chip lead at the final table of Event #8, the $1,500 Badugi, at the 2026 WSOP — his seventh career final table and a shot at his first bracelet.

Tate, a U.S. pro with $529,441 in lifetime tournament earnings, bagged 428,000 chips heading into final-table play at the Horseshoe/Paris complex in Las Vegas. He holds a comfortable margin over the four remaining opponents.

Lok Chan sits second with 348,000. The Hong Kong native already owns one bracelet and has $630,864 in career cashes. Satoshi Tanaka (329,000) also brings a bracelet to the table alongside $310,179 in lifetime earnings.

Kevin Xu slots in fourth at 307,000. Xu, who holds one WSOP Circuit ring, is the least credentialed finalist by earnings ($27,079) but enters with enough chips to pressure the leaders.

Ryan Hoenig rounds out the five-handed final table at 297,000. Hoenig is the field's biggest lifetime earner at $1,059,765 and has a bracelet of his own — making three of the five finalists prior bracelet winners.

The $1,500 Badugi is one of the WSOP's smallest-field draw games, and Tate's chip lead gives him the first real shot at hardware in a career defined by deep runs without a win.