The $24K Man Leading a WSOP Final Table

Jonathan Nebbout has made $24,707 playing poker in his entire life. He just sat down as chip leader at the final table of WSOP Event #37, the $1,500 H.O.R.S.E., with 3,065,000 chips.

That lifetime number is not a typo. A French player with less than $25K in tracked tournament cashes is commanding the biggest stack at a World Series of Poker final table, nearly double the next closest competitor. First-place money in this event will dwarf everything Nebbout has ever earned in the game, combined.

A French player with less than $25K in tracked tournament cashes is commanding the biggest stack at a World Series of Poker final table.

A Final Table Built for Underdogs

Nebbout isn't the only long shot here. Of the nine players who took their seats, only one holds a gold bracelet.

That would be Philip Sternheimer, the German mixed-game specialist with $6.52M in lifetime earnings and 11 career final tables. Sternheimer has the résumé that belongs at a H.O.R.S.E. final table. He also has the 10th-place finish already locked in, having busted before the final nine convened. His night is over.

Which means nobody remaining at this table has ever won a bracelet.

Sitting second in chips is Raymond Smegobarranco with 1,565,000. His lifetime earnings? $2,012. That is not a misprint either. The two biggest stacks at a WSOP final table have combined for less than $27K in career tournament cashes. Smegobarranco, based in the U.S., appears to be making his first meaningful WSOP run.

Kent Gugelman rounds out the top three at 1,235,000 chips. He has no tracked lifetime earnings on file, no bracelet, no rings.

The Ghost of Bart Hanson

Another notable name surfaced in this event's late stages: Bart Hanson, the longtime poker content creator and cash-game grinder with $1.05M in lifetime earnings and six career final tables. Hanson busted in 11th, one spot short of the final table. For a player best known for analyzing hands on camera rather than playing them under tournament lights, getting that deep in a five-game mixed event is a statement. It just wasn't quite deep enough.

Hanson's exit left the final table without its most recognizable face. The crowd that remains is largely unknown.

Why H.O.R.S.E. Produces These Tables

Mixed-game events at the WSOP have a history of surfacing players the mainstream poker world has never heard of. The format rewards specialists who have logged thousands of hours in games most players never touch. Razz, Stud, Stud Hi-Lo: these are disciplines with dedicated player pools that rarely overlap with the no-limit hold'em circuit.

Nebbout's $24,707 in lifetime earnings likely reflects a player whose volume comes from cash games or smaller European mixed-game events that don't always hit the tracking databases. The low number doesn't mean he's a novice. It may mean his real education happened at tables that nobody was counting.

Still, the gap between $24,707 and first-place money at a WSOP bracelet event is staggering. A win here would multiply his tracked earnings by a factor of roughly ten.

What the Chips Say

Nebbout's 3,065,000 represents a comfortable lead, but H.O.R.S.E. final tables are volatile. The game rotates every orbit, and a player who dominates the Omaha Hi-Lo round can hemorrhage chips in Razz. Smegobarranco's 1,565,000 is close enough to threaten. Gugelman's 1,235,000 gives him room to be patient and pick spots.

No bracelet holder remains. No seven-figure earner remains. One of the least-credentialed final tables of the 2026 WSOP is about to produce a champion.

Nebbout's $24,707 is about to become a footnote, one way or another.