For many poker players, winning a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet is the pinnacle of tournament poker success.
It's a physical representation of the fact that you've battled with the best and come out on top. While many see the bracelet as a signifier of skill, it's far from the be-all and end-all of the game. After all, there are a handful of players – many of whom would be considered elite poker minds – that haven't won a bracelet yet.
To be clear, there's no shortage of players who could make this list – we've simply chosen a handful of those who put in high-volume at WSOP events year in and year out, but have yet to taste the glory.
So, without further ado, let's take a look at some of the best poker players still in the hunt for WSOP bling.
Christoph Vogelsang
With upwards of $45M in live tournament earnings across more than a decade's worth of results, Germany's Christoph Vogelsang has multiple seven-figure scores – but no bracelets.
And it's not for a lack of trying. More than $10M of Vogelsang's career earnings have come in WSOP events. With 44 cashes and 10 final table appearances, the German has been closer than most.
Vogelsang's closest call came at the 2022 WSOP when he finished runner-up in the $25,000 Heads Up No-Limit Championship.
Ben Tollerene
In 2024, Ben Tollerene came agonizingly close to a bracelet on two occasions – finishing runner-up in both the $250,000 Super High Roller No-Limit Hold'em at the summer series and the Pot-Limit Omaha Super High Roller during WSOP Paradise.
For his efforts, Tollerene added more than $4M in earnings to his career tally, but the silverware eluded him.
With only 20 cashes and 7 final table appearances in WSOP events, Tollerene hasn't had as many chances at the bracelet as others on this list – but all it takes is one.
Steve O'Dwyer
In comparison to Tollerene and Vogelsang, Steve O'Dwyer feels like a long shot to get the bracelet monkey off of his back in the near future – but that's only because he puts in significantly less volume.
O'Dwyer's last recorded cash in a live bracelet event came back in 2018 at the WSOP Europe. Since then, he has recorded several scores in WSOP Online events, but his wrists remain unadorned.
O'Dwyer's closest call came in a fifth-place finish in The Oktoberfest - €550 No-Limit Hold’em event at WSOP Europe in 2015. As he's currently based in Ireland, O'Dwyer tends to focus his efforts on festivals closer to home – putting in higher volume on the European Poker Tour (EPT) and the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series.
Maria Ho
With 115 cashes and nine final table appearances in WSOP events, Maria Ho has proven time and time again that she has what it takes to succeed on poker's biggest stage – she just hasn't made it across the finish line yet.
In 2011, Ho outlasted all but one player in the 865-entrant field in the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em event, taking home $540,020 for her efforts. In the years since, she's finished in sixth place or higher in every final table appearance she has made – but still no silverware.
In 2025, Ho skipped the summer series for the first time in 16 years, citing more important priorities at the time.
Will she return this summer to rejoin the hunt? We sure hope so.
Jonathan Jaffe
Despite amassing upwards of $6M in cashes in WSOP tournaments, the closest that Jonathan Jaffe has come to a bracelet was a third-place finish back in 2021 in the 6-Handed No-Limit Hold'em event.
Aside from that third-place finish, Jaffe has reached the final table in bracelet events on eight other occasions, but has been unable to add to or improve upon his lone podium finish. With the vast majority of his cashes coming in no-limit hold'em events, Jaffe does have less opportunities to hunt for silverware than other players on this list – but that doesn't mean it'll never happen.
Patrik Antonius
On account of his sheer longevity in the game, Patrik Antonius might be the one name on this list that comes as a total shock. With WSOP cashes that stretch all the way back to 2005, Antonius' lack of bling stands out from the rest of the players listed here – after such a long and successful career, it almost feels like he does have one and that there's an error in the bookkeeping somewhere.
Alas, no errors – just a lot of close calls and what ifs.
In 2007, the Finn finished third in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship for $311,394 – the closest he's come to silverware across his six final table appearances.
Viktor Blom
When Viktor Blom arrived on the scene, he took the online poker world by storm. As 'Isildur1', he terrorized the high stakes cash game scene – but never put in significant volume in WSOP events. In 2023, that changed. Blom started to rack up cashes in bracelet events, finding success across a wide variety of poker variants.
With nine final table appearances in the years since his resurgent interest in tournament poker, Blom has re-established himself as a force to be reckoned with. This time, however, it's not the heads-up cash game tables he wants to dominate. It's the tournament scene.
