Students Surpass Their Mentors as Drumond and Lessa Win 2026 WSOP Tag Team Title

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Jun 27, 2026 5 min read

Last year, Kelvin Kerber and Peter Patricio captured the $1,000 Tag Team No-Limit Hold’em title at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) inside the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas. Since then, the pair have continued coaching Brazilian players, including Breno Drumond and Henrique Lessa, who followed in their mentors’ footsteps by winning the 2026 edition of the event.

After a long and rollercoaster-filled final table, the duo captured their first WSOP gold bracelets and shared the first-place prize of $184,769 from the $1,210,000 prize pool, having outlasted a field of 1,375 entries.

Team Drumond defeated Ruka Yamauchi and Shotaro Murase in heads-up play, while the Japanese duo collected $123,119 for their runner-up finish.

Event #66: $1,000 Tag Team No-Limit Hold'em Final Table Results

"We Came Here to Live This Dream, and Now We Are Living It"

Moments after securing the victory, Drumond and Lessa couldn’t stop smiling during their interview with the WSOP. “It’s a dream. It’s been seven years of hard work chasing this dream. We come here to live this dream, and now we are living it,” Lessa said, translating Drumond’s words into English.

Their journey to this moment began seven years ago with a friendship forged after they both joined the Brazilian Samba Poker Team. "We quickly became good friends. We’ve traveled together, worked on projects together, and we work together,” they explained. It was through the team that they met the reigning Tag Team champions who eventually became their coaches.

Not only did this environment lead them to success, but their experience also helped Drumond, who had some revenge to claim after finishing second in the 2025 WSOP $2,500 Freezeout event. “Last year’s heads-up was very important because it prepared me for today,” Drumond explained. Not to mention the rail, which “carried and motivated” them throughout the final table.

"I saw that Breno was playing very well, so when he replaced me with five players left, I told him ‘go,’ and he played until heads-up.”

Heading into this Tag Team event, Drumond and Lessa had a clear plan: “At the beginning, we were swapping every two hours. Then I saw that Breno was playing very well, so when he replaced me with five players left, I told him ‘go,’ and he played until heads-up,” Lessa explained.

But on their way to victory, they came close to elimination when Drumond moved all-in for just three big blinds during the final table. Team Yamauchi, who had raised, only had one big blind left to call but ultimately folded. “I think they thought we had more chips. The player was nervous and probably made a mistake,” Drumond said.

They then quickly doubled up to get back into contention and went on to face the Japanese team and its “crazy” style during heads-up play to capture the bracelet. It is already the third Brazilian win of the summer, after Yuri Dzivielevski in the $100,000 High Roller and Joao Simao in the $50,000 High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha. With more possibly to come? “We will be there until the end,” Drumond and Lessa confirmed.

The Tag Team Dream

Twenty-seven teams remained in contention at the start of Day 3, but bracelet dreams were quickly dashed for teams like Team Freitas, Team Neves, and Team Van Leeuwen, who were among the first to be eliminated.

After the first two levels, the field had been reduced to the final two tables. However, Team Johnsen didn’t last much longer after running its ace-queen into ace-king. Team Tucci followed, as did the team of Karanvir Singh and 2018 Main Event runner-up Tony Miles. Holding king-nine against king-ten, Singh, at risk, flopped two pair, but Team Zewe hit a runner-runner straight to send them to the rail.

Team Twitty then lost with queens against ace-king, while Team Kato fell to ace-eight, leaving the final ten teams to combine at the unofficial final table. After another hour of play, however, Team Phillips saw its pocket queens cracked by Team Monaco, whose rivered king denied them a spot at the official final table.

The Final Table

Despite the relatively slow pace, Team Franklin couldn’t have asked for a better start to the official final table, doubling up with aces against kings through Team Zewe. Team Franklin later recorded the first elimination of the final table, sending Team Buchmiller to the rail in ninth place.

Team Chong then ran into aces and exited in eighth place. Moments later, Jennifer Zewe thought she was about to score a double-up with top pair, but her shove was called by Breno Drumond of Team Drumond, who hit trips on the turn. Visibly disappointed, Zewe exited in seventh place before a rare break in this otherwise non-stop event.

Another long wait for an elimination followed before Team Brewer doubled through both Team Franklin and Team Drumond. Not long after, Team Franklin saw its run come to an end in sixth place after running into two pair.

With the average stack now sitting at around 20 big blinds, the five remaining teams became increasingly selective, waiting for strong hands to go all in. Joseph Monaco was rewarded for his patience when he picked up pocket aces to double through Tomas Szwarcberg’s tens.

At the same time, the chip-leading team at the start of Day 3, composed of Mexico’s Szwarcberg and Belgium’s Sebastien Hetzel, ran into top pair and exited in fifth place.

Left with just three big blinds, Team Drumond managed to double up before Team Yamauchi doubled with a set to take the chip lead.

Four-handed play then continued until Team Brewer, with ace-deuce, saw Team Yamauchi flop trips and was eliminated in fourth place. Team Monaco followed shortly after by running into kings, setting up a heads-up battle between Team Drumond and Team Yamauchi with even stacks for the bracelet.

Drumond quickly took the lead by catching his opponent bluffing, and secured the win a few hands later with aces to capture the bracelet.

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