Legendary three-time bracelet winner Perry Green made what is believed to be WSOP history on Friday as, at the age of 90, he reached the final table of the $1,500 Omaha 8 or Better Event.
While an official record was unavailable, he’s believed to be the oldest player ever to make a WSOP final table.
Green entered Day 3 of the 828-entry event 13th in chips among the 17 returning players and battled his way to the final table of eight before bowing out in sixth place for $30,973.
The final table appearance was Green’s first at the WSOP since he finished eighth in the 2015 Super Seniors Event, and was his biggest tournament score since a 152nd place finish in the 2012 WSOP Main Event for $52,718.
As Green left the table following his elimination, he was greeted by handshakes from each of the remaining players, paying their respects to a very valiant opponent who still enjoys playing poker as much as ever.
“It’s just nostalgia more than anything. The players are really very sharp, they’re all computer-wise. I just play by instinct more or less.”
Family first, Omaha second
Green uses those instincts these days primarily in Omaha games, which he says lend themselves better to his status as an elder statesman in the poker world.
“It’s easier for an old man to play, let’s put it that way. You get four cards, you can make a lot of decisions. It’s more mathematical, even more so than hold ‘em. Hold ‘em is pretty cut and dried.”
One of Green’s three bracelets came in no-limit hold’em in 1979, and his first two, in 1976 and 1977, were in ace-to-five draw. Having played mixed games his entire career, he feels the winner of the $50,000 Poker Players Championship is the true World Champion of poker, but it’s not an event he’ll be playing.
“Not $50K. I’ve been on Social Security too long. I have five children, 13 grandchildren, and 21 great-grandchildren, so that’s expensive today.”
Poker is a sport!
Green’s final table run is unquestionably one of the most impressive feats seen in recent years at the WSOP. While he knows that it’s not possible to be at the level he’d been in years past, he credits his ability to still play at a high level to how he sees poker as a sport.
“I was better years ago, no question. Poker’s an athletic sport, whether people realize it or not. It’s not physical like some people think, but yes, it is physical. It’s mental and physical combined. That’s what makes it athletic. It’s like any sport that requires deftness, quickness, and judgment."
“It’s like a basketball player," Green continued, "does he run to the hoop, or does he take the shot? It’s like baseball, does the pitcher throw the curve? It’s like football, do they run it or do they pass it? (Poker is) a peculiar sport.
"In poker, you get a guy pounding on you, do you think it’ll ever turn? While you try to avoid that, when you get somebody you’re pounding on, you try to get in the pot with them. But sometimes that doesn’t always work out. It takes a truckload of luck, and it takes a boatload of skill to play poker.”
Can we get an encore?
After enjoying this historic run, Green says this won’t be his final appearance at the WSOP. He plans to enter the $1,500 Mixed Omaha event beginning next Monday, June 1.
It’s a format he’s won in as recently as 2023, when he came out on top of a 91-entry field in the $400 LA Poker Classic Mixed Omaha. Asked if we could see him top his performance this week and have one more bracelet in him, 47 years after he won his last, Green gave another genuine answer, backed by his continuing love for the game.
“I doubt if I have a bracelet in me. But as long as I can walk from my room to the casino, I’ll be playing some of these.”
2026 WSOP Event #4: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better final table results
- Jason Daly - $191,362
- Dorian Rios - $127,528
- Per Hildebrand - $87,038
- Amnon Filippi - $60,517
- Andrew Voor - $42,879
- Perry Green - $30,973
- Joseph Hallock - $22,817
- Benjamin Gold - $17,149
