Gabriel Andrade Is the Early Fantasy MVP Nobody Drafted

The best fantasy score of the 2026 WSOP so far belongs to Gabriel Andrade, and almost nobody drafted him.

Andrade finished 17th in Event #1, the $550 Mini Mystery Millions No-Limit Hold'em, playing for team Verderamo (Nick + Jake) on 25kfantasy.com. That's the deepest run by any rostered player in the contest through the opening event. If you're keeping score at home, a single near-zero-ownership player just handed one team a lead that required no chalk, no high draft price, and no sweat beyond checking the results page.

A single near-zero-ownership player just handed one team a lead that required no chalk, no high draft price, and no sweat beyond checking the results page.

The Leaderboard After Event #1

Three rostered players cashed in the Mini Mystery Millions. Here's how they stacked up:

• Gabriel Andrade (Verderamo): 17th place
• Chad Eveslage (Dinkers, Josh K): 22nd place
• Jeremy Becker (Spitework, Wantman): 36th place

Andrade's finish is the headline, but the gap between 17th and 22nd matters in fantasy scoring. That delta between Andrade and Eveslage could define the early leaderboard for weeks if the next few events produce low hit rates across rosters.

Eveslage, for context, is the kind of name that shows up on plenty of teams. He's a known commodity. Becker at 36th adds points for Spitework but not enough to challenge the top spot. The story here is simple: the player nobody rostered outperformed the players everyone expected to score.

Why This Matters for Your Build

Let's talk about what Andrade's finish reveals about the early metagame.

First, ownership concentration is a real vulnerability. When the field loads up on the same five or six marquee names, a single deep run from a low-ownership player creates massive separation. The teams that didn't roster Andrade aren't just behind Verderamo. They're behind with zero ability to close that specific gap.

Second, the $550 buy-in tier is where sleepers live. The Mini Mystery Millions drew a field large enough that deep runs carry meaningful scoring weight, but the buy-in is low enough that casual WSOP visitors enter. That means the player pool includes names that never appear on ODB projections or chalk lists. If you're building a roster to differentiate, this is the price range to mine.

Third, one event is a tiny sample. But in a contest where early separation compounds (because the same rosters are locked for the full series), even a small edge in Week 1 can snowball. Verderamo doesn't need Andrade to do this again. They just need their chalk picks to match the field while Andrade's ghost points sit on top.

What to Watch Next

The next few events will tell us whether Event #1 was an anomaly or a preview. If the high-ownership names start cashing, the leaderboard compresses and Andrade's finish becomes a footnote. If they don't, Verderamo's early bet on a player nobody else wanted could end up defining the first week of the 2026 fantasy season.

The lesson is the oldest one in salary-cap contests: you don't win by drafting the best players. You win by drafting the best players that nobody else drafted.

Andrade just proved it.