K9 & Canine Lucky for Jonathan Cohen in Event #26: $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship ($245,678)

Los Angeles' Jonathan Cohen is the latest 2022 World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner after taking down Event #26: $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship for a career-best $245,678 and his first bracelet. Cohen defeated Wisconsin's Kyle Dilschneider in a marathon heads-up battle that lasted nearly seven hours and spanned multiple days in an event that attracted 92 runners to generate a prize pool of $857,900.

The victory comes a decade after Cohen finished runner-up in Event #14: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout at the 2012 WSOP for $192,559, a close call that was fresh in his mind as he battled for his first bracelet.

“That was misery," Cohen told PokerNews in an interview after the victory. "I definitely didn’t want to come second twice. I feel very relieved.”

Other players who made deep runs in the Championship Limit Hold'em Event include fellow Los Angeles grinder Matthew Schreiber (3rd - $107,978), poker coach and high stakes pro Matthew Gonzales (4th - $107,978) and Chad Eveslage (6th - $44,194), who was after his second bracelet of the series after winning Event #8: $25,000 High Roller.

Event #26: $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship Final Table Results

Final Table Action

The final table action kicked off with nine hopefuls and saw David Litt being the first to go in a cooler where his trips were no good against the straight of Joey Couden, who himself later bowed out in fifth place.

Eveslage, the Day 2 chip leader, exited in sixth in brutal fashion when he made a full house only to be counterfeited by quads on the board to lose to the ace-high of Cohen.

Schreiber was down to just a few big bets during six-handed play but managed to run up his stack and ladder to third place, falling when he got it in with middle pair to be drawing thin against the two pair of Cohen.

Cohen and Dilschneider battled heads-up for two-and-a-half hours before breaking on Day 3 and returning the next day to finish the tournament. Day 4 lasted over four hours and saw both players exchanging chip leads as the betting limits crept up.

Dilschneider eventually got down to a few big bets and got his final chips in on a nine-high board with pocket fives. Unfortunately for Dilschneider, Cohen held king-nine and the runner-up failed to improve as the river brought a king to give Cohen two pair.

Cohen told PokerNews he “I wasn’t even (planning on) playing" the tournament that wound up bringing him his first bracelet.

"I busted out of the Shootout with like two minutes to register ... (and Schreiber) begged me to come play," he said. "And he just like got me to come play with him.”

The unsung hero in the Limit Championship Event was Riley, an eight-year-old service dog that never left Cohen's side as he played multiple 12-hour days. Poetically, Cohen wrapped the event holding the K-9 (the hole cards, that is), as the winning hand.

"How much of it does Riley get?" Dilschneider joked earlier as he got short.

"He's my backer, and I'm in makeup!" Cohen joked back.

That wraps up the PokerNews live reporting team's coverage of Event #26: $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship. Be sure to check out the WSOP live reporting hub for coverage of other bracelet events.