The 2026 World Series of Poker delivered another landmark moment as Calvin Anderson captured Event #48: $10,000 Razz Championship at the Horseshoe & Paris in Las Vegas. The field drew 155 entrants, building a prize pool of $1,441,500, with the top 24 finishers cashing. Eight players returned for the final day, and after roughly ten hours of play, Anderson emerged on top, banking $357,026 along with the gold bracelet.
The victory marks Anderson’s sixth career WSOP bracelet and his second specifically in the $10,000 Razz Championship, a feat no other player in WSOP history had previously accomplished. He first won the event back in 2018 for $309,220, and returning eight years later to repeat the win cements his status as the most accomplished Razz specialist the series has ever seen.
Anderson credited repetition and a natural affinity for the seven-card stud variant for his sustained success in the discipline, noting that of all the mixed games he plays, Razz consistently suits his style best.
Key Moments and Hand History From the Final Table
The final table began nine-handed, a format Anderson described as requiring constant adjustment given how rarely players see that table size in Razz specifically. He carried a healthy chip lead into the day and steadily built on it through the middle stages.
Short stack Shane Littlefield was the first elimination, busting in eighth after his three-card eight draw failed to improve against Max Kruse’s eventual made seven. Philip Sternheimer followed in seventh, losing a jack-draw battle to Tobias Leknes. Kruse himself exited in sixth after Leknes rivered an eight to beat his queen-high draw, and Yuval Bronshtein fell in fifth shortly after, unable to outrun Leknes’ eight with a ten-nine.
The defining stretch of the tournament came four-handed, when Calvin Anderson collided with Leknes in a pivotal hand that didn’t even reach showdown, leaving Leknes critically short. Anderson closed it out moments later, making a nine to beat Leknes’ queen and surge to roughly two-thirds of the chips in play. That swing proved decisive for the rest of the final table.
Eric Rodawig and Todd Dakake briefly clawed back ground three-handed, with Rodawig even taking a temporary chip lead, but Anderson regained control before the dinner break. Dakake was eliminated in third after his king couldn’t outrun Rodawig’s improving hand, setting up a heads-up clash between Anderson and Rodawig.
The heads-up match was brief. Rodawig never closed the gap beyond a 2:1 deficit, and after falling well behind in a key pot, he was eliminated when his hand couldn’t improve past a jack against Anderson’s eight — sealing Calvin Anderson’s sixth WSOP bracelet.
$10,000 Razz Championship Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Calvin Anderson | United States | $357,026 |
| 2 | Eric Rodawig | United States | $237,851 |
| 3 | Todd Dakake | United States | $162,551 |
| 4 | Tobias Leknes | Norway | $114,032 |
| 5 | Max Kruse | Germany | $82,171 |
| 6 | Yuval Bronshtein | Israel | $60,868 |
| 7 | Philip Sternheimer | United Kingdom | $46,385 |
| 8 | Shane Littlefield | United States | $36,395 |
Player Background: Who Is Calvin Anderson?
Calvin Anderson has built one of the most respected mixed-game résumés in modern poker, with 17 years of live tournament cashes and career earnings now exceeding $7 million. While his game selection spans the full mixed-game spectrum, Razz has become something of a signature event for him, and this title makes him the format’s all-time leading bracelet winner at the WSOP.
Anderson is known among peers for a calm, measured approach to high-pressure final tables. He spoke about staying present rather than getting caught up in the size of the prize pool, explaining that overthinking the money is what causes players to make scared, suboptimal decisions in critical spots.
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Subplots and Context: A Summer of Mixed-Game Storylines
Anderson’s win adds to what’s shaping up as a deep year for mixed-game specialists at the 2026 WSOP. The bracelet also reinforces a recurring theme from this year’s series: players who dismiss Razz as a luck-driven format are increasingly being proven wrong by the same handful of specialists racking up repeat scores in the discipline. Anderson himself pushed back directly on that narrative, suggesting the perception of randomness works in skilled players’ favor by keeping the field softer than it should be.
The final table also featured several near-misses worth noting, including Tobias Leknes’ fourth-place finish after holding the chip lead for a stretch of play, and Eric Rodawig’s runner-up finish after briefly seizing the overall lead three-handed before fading in heads-up play.
Trends: Razz Specialists and Repeat Championship Wins
Anderson’s victory highlights a broader trend at the 2026 WSOP of established mixed-game players returning to claim championship-tier bracelets years after their first wins in the same event. Becoming the first player to win the $10,000 Razz Championship twice underscores how thin the truly elite Razz player pool remains, even as overall WSOP entries continue to climb year over year.
Quick Facts Box
- Event: WSOP Event #48: $10,000 Razz Championship
- Winner: Calvin Anderson
- Prize: $357,026
- Entrants: 155
- Prize Pool: $1,441,500
- Bracelets for Anderson: 6 (2nd Razz Championship win)
- Runner-Up: Eric Rodawig ($237,851)
- Career Earnings: $7 million+ across 17 years of live cashes
Conclusion
Calvin Anderson’s sixth WSOP bracelet is more than another line on an already impressive résumé — it’s a statement on the depth of skill required in Razz, a game too often dismissed as luck-dependent. By becoming the first player to win the $10,000 Razz Championship twice, Anderson has firmly established himself as the standard-bearer for the discipline heading into the rest of the 2026 WSOP summer schedule.
