Lex Veldhuis has been streaming the 2026 WSOP Online festival on GGPoker from his new home in Costa Rica, and he got close to his first bracelet earlier this week.
It wasn't to be then – he was eliminated in 16th place in Event #13, the $2,500 Turbo NLH Championship.
He got even closer in Event #14 on Thursday night.
The $1,500 Super Turbo PLO played out in just under six hours, with Veldhuis once again fighting for his first WSOP bracelet.
The 721-entry field generated a $69,195 first-place prize, plus bounties, but Veldhuis had eyes for the gold, admitting on stream that winning a bracelet “would mean the world” to him.
Daniel Negreanu was also playing and was near the chip lead before the bubble burst, but went out before the money.
Veldhuis sailed through the bubble and started accumulating chips at the right time.
Veldhuis: ‘This tournament is f*****g mad’
Players were getting eliminated fast and, with 12 players left, Veldhuis was running exactly the way you need to in a PLO super turbo.
‘yyyyy96’ effectively jammed from the button with 
and Veldhuis moved all in with 
. The 
runout was favorable and it earned Veldhuis a $3.3K bounty and the chip lead.
“My lord, we’re one out of 11,” Veldhuis said.
The break gave him time to compose himself but Veldhuis knew he’d have to carry on running hot to win the bracelet.
“There’s one player on the other table with an $8K bounty and 10 big blinds,” he said on stream. “This tournament is f*****g mad.”
With stacks short, he slipped to fourth with 11 left when he picked up aces – 
– and potted it. German pro Rainer Kempe called to see the 
flop. Kempe bet out, Veldhuis moved all in and Kempe called.
Kempe had the best of it with 
but still needed to hit one of his outs.
The 
turn left the equity split 50/50. Veldhuis sweated the river in real time and celebrated when he saw it was the 
.
“We’re good! We’re good! Yes!” he shouted. That pot gave him the chip lead again with 10 left.
Veldhuis on his first WSOP final table in 17 years
Veldhuis made the final table of seven in third place. “The first WSOP bracelet final table I’ve made in 17 years,” Veldhuis said.
That was the $40,000 No Limit Hold'em 40th Anniversary event in 2009, where he finished seventh for $277,939. That was also his best WSOP bracelet finish.
Back in the present, there was still a long way to go. And Veldhuis almost destroyed his PC with a glass of water during the break. That would have been an odd way to hit the rail.
You could feel the tension on stream as Veldhuis won a big pot to move into second place with five left.
Then he picked up aces in the small blind, and limp-potted over a raise from chip leader 'Cursed79'.
The money went in on the 
flop – and 'Cursed79' had flopped a set with 
. Veldhuis couldn't find a miracle on the turn or river and was eliminated in fifth for $41,466, including bounties.
"Oh my god, we're getting so close," Veldhuis sighed. "That's tough, man."
'Cursed79' couldn't close out the tournament, losing to Finland's Kai Lehto heads-up. Lehto took $147,226 and the coveted WSOP bracelet.
The WSOP Online series runs until the end of September, with Day 2 of the $5K buy-in, $25M guaranteed Main Event playing on September 21.
