2010 WSOP: Will Haydon Wins Event 26 $2,500 buy-in No Limit Hold'em Six-Handed

1,245 poker players signed up for Event 26 of the 2010 WSOP, a $2,500 buy-in No Limit Hold'em Six-Handed. Instead of having the regular 9 players at a poker table, this variant of poker only goes six-handed. When playing six-handed, the poker game emphasizes short-handed poker skills at play, especially when it comes to post-flop play since most players get to play a wider range of hands from the standard starting-hand requirements.

Of the 1,245 players, it was 23 year old poker pro Will Haydon from San Francisco, California, who outlasted everyone to win his first ever WSOP gold bracelet and a first place cash prize of $630,03.

Willl Haydon started the final table of six with the smallest stack, and climbed his way up after eight hours of competitive poker to eventually emerge as the winner.

The runner up was Jeffrey Papola from New York, New York, who won $391,068, marking his third cash in three straight years at the WSOP
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The third-place finisher was Joe Baldwin from University Place, Washington, who made his fifth WSOP career cash, winning $248,265


The fourth-place finisher was two-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Eddy Scharf, who marked his fifth WSOP final table appearance, and earned a decent $163,649.

The fifth-place finisher was Jarred Solomon from Johannesburg, South Africa, who won $110,903 in his first cash at the WSOP. Prior to that, he has won an event at the 2008 Aussie Millions.

The sixth-place finisher was Steve Crowley from Midlothian, Virginia, who cashed for the 11th time in the WSOP, and now has more than $300,000 in career earnings after pocketing $77,228in this tournament.

Will Haydon commented on winning his first bracelet, and said: “This is pretty much the Holy Grail. If it was between this versus winning a million dollars but no bracelet -- I would rather have this.”

Former WSOP gold bracelet finishers who cashed in this event included Steve Billirakis, Matthew Graham, David Kitai, Daniel Negreanu, Eddy Scharf, and Jerry Yang.

With his 16th-place finish in this tournament, Daniel Negreanu now has 46 career cashes, which moves him up into a 13th-place tie with Brent Carter and Thor Hansen on the all-time ITM rankings.