WSOP 2026: Adriaan Jacobs Treats Himself to a Birthday Bracelet (Event #78)

Event #78: $600 NLH Deepstack Championship once again proved that the WSOP can make dreams come true. The tournament, which attracted a whopping 5,177 entries and created a prize pool of $2,609,208, ended with a cinematic story.

Just two weeks after Adriaan Jacobs turned 21 and completed his challenging accounting exams, his father took him on a trip to Las Vegas to play at the WSOP. Jacobs, focused primarily on online poker until now, maintained a leading position throughout the four-day event and entered the final day, featuring the last five players, as the dominant chipleader.

The final showdown unfolded unexpectedly quickly, lasting only about two hours. Jacobs found himself heads-up against American Paul Merlette, who couldn’t turn the momentum in his favor.

In the final hand, an all-in occurred on the flop 9 s 8 h 3 h. Merlette held K d ​​​​​​​8 c against Jacobs' J h ​​​​​​​T h. Jacobs completed a flush right on the turn K h and the river Q h just kicked off jubilant celebrations.

With this triumph, Adriaan Jacobs made history as only the fourth South African player to win a WSOP gold bracelet. “I still can’t believe it. I feel so incredibly blessed to have had this opportunity,” the emotional champion stated after his victory.

Final Table Results of Event #78: $600 Deepstack Championship No-Limit Hold'em

​​​​​​​Source: WSOP, WSOP Live

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