June 18-25
Years since Joe Liberta's previous best score, a $124K win in the $1,500 Big Stax at Parx Casino in 2016.
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1ST
Joe Liberta
$1,250,000
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2ND
Michael Monroig
$1,000,000
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3RD
Bradley Gafford
$750,000
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4TH
Halford Fairchild
$530,000
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5TH
Joseph Baghdalian
$410,000
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6TH
Alex Kim
$315,000
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7TH
Jacob Gagnon
$245,000
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8TH
Garry Gurevich
$190,000
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9TH
Yifu He
$150,068
For decades, players around the world have come to Las Vegas to chase the poker dream at the WSOP.
The concept of winning life-changing money and achieving financial freedom through poker has been a big draw since the Moneymaker boom of 2003, and few tournaments capture that idea better than the $1,500 Millionaire Maker.
It's an event that attracts thousands of players each year, with a lucky few walking away with scores that most players dream of for their entire career.
Longtime New Jersey grinder Joe Liberta turned that dream into reality on Wednesday, winning $1,250,000 after defeating Michael Monroig heads-up to be crowned the 2026 Millionaire Maker champion.
The achievement of besting the mammoth 11,769-entry field earned Liberta his first WSOP gold bracelet and nearly doubled his previous career earnings of $1,542,378.
Two new millionaires
“It’s completely surreal, man. I’ve been coming here for a long time," Liberta told Jeff Platt the win. "I just want to thank my parents. I love them the most. They supported me. My friends who supported me through it. I’m just extremely grateful. I ran so good, it’s crazy.”
“So many ups and downs," Liberta added. "It’s just crazy. I’m ecstatic.”
Liberta wasn't the only player to walk away with a seven-figure score from the event. Runner-up Monroig claimed an even $1,000,000 for his second-place finish.
“So, mostly, I feel pretty grateful," Monroig shared with WSOP's Natalie Bode afterwards. "Incredibly blessed to finish second, win $1,000,000 on a $1,500 buy-in, 12,000 players... It’s an unbelievable experience. This is the poker dream."
“When I grew up playing this game when I was 14-years old, the dream was to win $1,000,000 one day. We saw it on TV, we saw it on ESPN. I just did it. (It) took longer than I wish it would have, but who am I to complain right now. This is incredible.”
Monroig described a wild week leading up to him registering and ultimately finishing second in the event.
“It’s such a whirlwind for me. I had a wedding in Cancun last weekend – shout out Eddie and Dominique. So I partied very hard, came home for two days to help with my son and my wife, but then it was straight to the milly maker. I just feel like it’s been a blur since I got here. I think I averaged about four hours of sleep from the first three nights, and two hours last night from all the adrenaline."
Monroig's plans following the win involved getting some much needed rest after the aforementioned whirlwind week.
"I’m looking forward to a little bit of sleep and to get back out there. Maybe take a day off.”
