Poker Writer
The 2026 World Series of Poker kicked off with the 14th edition of the $25K Fantasy Draft, and as usual, all the big names were present and selected. There will be 24 fantasy teams of eight players competing. The winning team will get $250,000 of the $600,000 prizepool
Here is PokerScout’s in-depth look at the top teams, highlighting five in particular to keep an eye on.
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Team DNegs
Combined WSOP bracelets: 25
- Daniel Negreanu
- Josh Arieh
- Eli Elezra
- Ben Lamb
- Jason Koon
- Bryn Kenney
- Dong Chen
- Nick Pupillo
Team Dnegs is certainly one of the strongest teams this year. It has balance a great balance of strengths across all games. Daniel Negreanu is always the player that most fans pay the most attention to in this competition. He will play an entire WSOP schedule as usual to maximize his potential to win bracelets and make deep runs.
This team has mixed game specialist Eli Elezra, who has five bracelets over his career, all in mixed games. Six-time bracelet winner Josh Arieh brings his all-around strong results in all games, as does Ben Lamb, who provides the pot-limit Omaha muscle.
Jason Koon and Bryn Kenney give Team DNegs two of the best high-stakes no-limit hold’em players in the world to give the team a great chance for deep runs in the highest buy-in events. However, those two players will likely play in fewer events overall, limiting their chances at big scores.
Team Fleyshman
Combined WSOP Bracelets: 44
- Phil Hellmuth
- Erik Seidel
- Michael Mizrachi
- Chance Kornuth
- Chris Moorman
- Paul Volpe
- Christian Harder
- Valentin Vornicu
The team with the most combined bracelets. All-time leader Phil Hellmuth joins legends of the game Erik Seidel and Michael Mizrachi to make up a star-studded team.
Mizrachi had a legendary 2025 WSOP, winning the $50,000 Poker Players Championship and the main event, making him an instant Poker Hall of Famer. “The Grinder” went undrafted in the 25K fantasy competition last year, so his big wins did not benefit any fantasy owners.
This team is full of players who will play many events, as well as Chance Kornuth, who will likely play all the no-limit hold’em high rollers.
Team Trump Power
Combined WSOP Bracelets: 23
- Shaun Deeb
- Yueqi Zhu
- Malcolm Traynor
- Qiang Xu
- Jeff Madsen
- Ash Gupta
- John Hennigan
- Gary Benson
This team deserves a mention based on Shaun Deeb alone. The eight-time bracelet winner was the most valuable player in the draft, using up $133 of the salary. He is also the favorite to win WSOP Player of the Year for the second straight year after winning it in 2025.
Deeb will play every event he can and will very likely rack up the fantasy points for this team. Last year, Deeb gobbled up 359 points, which was the most of any player in the competition.
Deeb will likely have to carry this team, as the rest is a bit lacking, thanks to how expensive Deeb was. But it is not without potential. Yueqi Zhu is always a danger in mixed game events, as is John Hennigan, even though the former will likely play a small schedule of events.
Team Wasserson
Combined WSOP Bracelets: 14
- Viktor Blom
- Stephen Chidwick
- Adam Hendrix
- Brian Yoon
- Isaac Haxton
- Shannon Shorr
- Huck Seed
- Jon Turner
Team Wasserson is a solid team throughout that features Viktor Blom, who surprised everyone by finishing as the second-highest point accumulator in last year’s 25K fantasy. The team also has Adam Hendrix, who was the sixth-best fantasy player in 2025 after making the main event final table.
Brian Yoon and Ike Haxton provide this team with strong chances at mixed-game events, while Haxton will also be a factor in the high rollers. Stephen Chidwick gives the team added presence in the high rollers.
Jon Turner is an under-the-radar strong all-around player who finished with a solid top 30 score of 183 points last year. He was one of the best bargains of the draft, going for only $1.
Team Verderamo
Combined WSOP Bracelets: 30
- Phil Ivey
- Nick Schulman
- Brad Ruben
- Ryan Riess
- Andrew Lichtenberger
- Gabriel Andrade
- Jason Mercier
- Daniel Shak
The second-highest total bracelet team comes into the competition as a strong contender. Eleven-time bracelet winner Phil Ivey and five-time winner Brad Ruben were both top 30 players in last year’s field, finishing in 23rd and 26th in points, respectively.
Nick Schulman may end up being the most valuable player for this team, as the recent Poker Hall of Famer was the 14th best player last year and is always a threat to win a bracelet in any event, particularly in stud.
Jason Mercier is another player who is a threat across several poker variants, but the number of points he earns will depend entirely on how much he plays in the series.
Photo Credit: WSOP/Tyler Abrams
