Yuri Dzivielevski Wins Event #2 — and Lady Gaga Cashes In

Yuri Dzivielevski just won WSOP Event #2 — the $5,000 8-Handed No-Limit Hold'em — and the fantasy fallout is immediate.

Ren Lin's Lady Gaga roster had Dzivielevski slotted, which means the team just absorbed the single highest-value fantasy event available so far this summer: a first-place finish in the first $5K+ bracelet event of 2026. On the 25kFantasy sweat page, Lady Gaga's player_win signal is the only one of its kind across the entire Event #2 field.

That's not a marginal edge. That's a head start nobody else can replicate.

Ren Lin's Lady Gaga roster absorbed the single highest-value fantasy event available so far this summer: a first-place finish in the first $5K+ bracelet of 2026.

Who Else Scored — and How Much It Matters

Dzivielevski's win is the headline, but four other fantasy-relevant players cashed in Event #2, and the managers who rostered them are quietly banking points while the rest of the field sits at zero.

• Martin Kabrhel finished 11th, feeding points to Team Lucky, managed by Shaun Deeb. Kabrhel was already a name to watch after his chip-leader run earlier in the event. An 11th-place finish in a $5K isn't a bracelet, but it's real money and real fantasy scoring in the summer's opening days.

• Shaun Deeb himself finished 35th, scoring for Trump Power (Gary Benson). Yes, the same Deeb who manages Team Lucky is also a rostered player on someone else's team. The meta loops are already tangling.

• Anthony Zinno came in 36th, adding points to Handsome Horses (Phil S). Zinno has the kind of multi-event volume that makes him a quiet fantasy accumulator — he doesn't need to win to contribute.

• Viktor Blom finished 38th for Wasserson (Ewass). Blom in a WSOP bracelet event is always a sweat, and a min-cash in a $5K 8-Handed event is still a positive-expected-value roster outcome this early.

Four made-money signals. One player-win signal. Five teams on the board. Everyone else is still watching.

Why the Timing Hits Different

We're two events into the 2026 WSOP. Most fantasy managers are still running mental math on their rosters, waiting for the $10K events and the Main to generate separation. A bracelet in Event #2 breaks that script.

Lady Gaga doesn't just have points — it has the right kind of points. First-place finishes are the highest-magnitude fantasy signals in the 25kFantasy system. A win in a $5K event isn't weighted the same as a min-cash in a $400 daily. Ren Lin's team is carrying a score that most rosters won't match until deep into June, if ever.

The question for other managers: did you roster Dzivielevski? If not, how do you make up the gap?

The Contrarian Read

The obvious reaction is that Lady Gaga is the team to beat. And right now, on raw points, that's probably true.

But the WSOP is 95 bracelet events long. One win in Event #2 doesn't lock a leaderboard position. What it does is create a cushion — and cushions change behavior. Ren Lin can afford to take roster swings later in the summer that a manager sitting at zero can't. That optionality is the real edge.

Meanwhile, Deeb's Team Lucky has Kabrhel on it, and Kabrhel has been running hot since day one. If Kabrhel keeps converting deep runs into cashes, Team Lucky could quietly close the gap without needing a single bracelet.

The fantasy leaderboard is live at 25kfantasy.com. Two events in, five teams have scored. The other rosters need to start sweating somebody — fast.