Michael Estes Has Nine Final Tables and Zero Bracelets. Tonight Could Fix That.

Michael Estes has won three WSOPC rings and made nine career final tables, but the one line missing from his résumé is the only one that matters at the Horseshoe right now: WSOP bracelet winner.

When Event #35 of the 2026 World Series of Poker hit the 27-player mark on June 13, Estes sat atop the counts with 2,500,000 chips. By the time the field shrank to 17, Phillip Mighall had climbed past him. The lead changed hands. The bracelet race didn't.

The Résumé So Far

Estes's career numbers tell a specific story: a grinder who keeps arriving at the final table without ever converting at poker's highest level.

Three WSOP Circuit rings. Nine career final tables. $634,200 in lifetime tournament cashes. Zero bracelets.

Three WSOP Circuit rings, nine career final tables, $634,200 in lifetime cashes, and still no bracelet.

Circuit rings are real hardware. They require navigating full fields at Caesars properties across the country, and plenty of strong players never win one. Estes has three. But the ring and the bracelet exist on different shelves in poker's trophy case, and Estes knows it.

The $1,500 PLO 8-Handed is the kind of event where a player with his profile can break through. The buy-in is accessible. The format rewards hand-reading and post-flop discipline over bankroll size. And when the field thinned to 25 players at the 27-player milestone, Estes held the chip lead at 2.5 million.

The Shift at 17

Ten eliminations later, the picture had changed.

Phillip Mighall, a British pro with $1,993,379 in lifetime earnings and two career final tables, moved to the front with 2,000,000 chips. Mighall is chasing the same thing Estes is: a first WSOP bracelet. His path to this point has been different (nearly $2M in career cashes, mostly from larger buy-in events) but the destination is identical.

Estes's chip count between the two milestones isn't reported in the later snapshot, which means he could be anywhere in the remaining 17. What we know: he was still alive. And in PLO, chip stacks are volatile enough that a single pot can restore a lead.

Notable casualties along the way tell their own story. Giuseppe Pantaleo, who holds a bracelet, three Circuit rings, 38 career final tables, and $2,389,558 in lifetime earnings, busted in 21st. Aaron Pinson, a two-time Circuit ring winner with $1,622,727 in lifetime cashes and 21 final tables, fell in 26th. Ismael Bojang, a German bracelet holder with $2,789,034 in career earnings and 23 final tables, exited in 28th.

Three players with a combined $6.8M in lifetime cashes and two bracelets between them, all eliminated before the final two tables.

What Makes This Run Different

Estes has been here before. Nine final tables means nine times he sat down with a realistic shot at a title. The Circuit rings prove he can close. But the WSOP main summer series remains unconquered territory.

The field is now at 17 and shrinking. The final table is nine players away. Mighall leads, Estes is live, and neither man has ever held a bracelet.

One of them might fix that before sunrise.