Historic Back-to-Back Finishes at the WSOP Circuit in Las Vegas

Imagine sitting down at a poker table, outlasting hundreds of competitors, and facing the exact same opponent for the title twice in one week. That is exactly what happened during the recent WSOP Circuit Horseshoe PLO events in Las Vegas. It is a poker story that sounds almost too wild to be true. However, it just became a reality, leaving fans and players completely amazed.
After the main summer World Series of Poker 2026 wrapped up, the action smoothly transitioned to the Circuit series . Players from all over the world stuck around to chase prestigious gold rings. Yet, nobody expected to witness back-to-back WSOP finals featuring the identical top two finishers.
Winning a standard Texas Hold’em event is hard enough. But succeeding in a complex Pot-Limit Omaha tournament takes a special kind of skill, patience, and adaptability. For those new to the game, Omaha is a format where players receive four hole cards instead of two. This creates huge draws and wild swings, making it incredibly difficult to achieve consistent results. To dominate it twice in just a few days against the same final boss is truly historic.
The First Clash: $600 WSOP Circuit Horseshoe PLO
The incredible saga began in Event #3 of the series, which featured a $600 buy-in. This Pot-Limit Omaha tournament attracted a massive field of 451 entries, building a prize pool of over $232,000. Navigating through such a large crowd is never easy, but two players clearly brought their absolute best game to the felt.
Eventually, it came down to a heads-up battle between Thomas Taylor and David Simon. For Thomas Taylor, this victory was a massive milestone. Taylor defeated Simon to claim the top prize of $44,586 and his third career WSOP Circuit ring.
David Simon played brilliantly but had to settle for a very respectable runner-up finish. He walked away with $29,699 for his outstanding effort. Most players would be thrilled with this result, assuming they would never face that exact high-pressure scenario again.
The Rematch: Lightning Strikes Twice in Las Vegas
Just a few days and a couple of events later, lightning actually did strike twice. The buy-in increased to $800 for Event #6, drawing a competitive field of 247 entries. Despite the different field size and higher stakes, the tournament ended with exactly the same two players staring each other down across the table.
Reaching back-to-back WSOP finals against the exact same opponent is mathematically staggering. The pressure was firmly on for both men. Simon was undoubtedly eager for revenge, while Taylor aimed to prove his first win was absolutely no fluke.
Once again, Taylor got the better of Simon in the final showdown. He banked another gold ring and a cool $38,826. Simon added another second-place finish to his amazing run, taking home $25,549 this time around.
Summarizing the Thomas Taylor Poker Dominance
By pulling off this unbelievable double victory, Taylor became the first multiple-event winner of this specific series. The Thomas Taylor poker resume now looks stronger than ever. Over the course of just a few days, he collected a combined total of over $83,000 in prize money from these two distinct events. Taylor earned two WSOP Circuit rings in less than a week.
David Simon also had an incredibly profitable week at the tables. While finishing second twice can feel a bit frustrating, he still turned his deep runs into over $55,000. Here is a quick breakdown of their incredible heads-up results:
| Event Name | Buy-In | Total entries | 1st Place (Thomas Taylor) | 2nd Place (David Simon) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event #3 PLO | $600 | 451 | $44,586 | $29,699 |
| Event #6 PLO | $800 | 247 | $38,826 | $25,549 |
In the poker world, we often talk about variance and luck being massive factors. However, seeing the exact same result in consecutive WSOP Circuit Horseshoe PLO tournaments proves that high-level skill plays a major role. It is a legendary moment that poker fans and players will talk about for a very long time.
Beus Zsoldos is SoMuchPoker's Senior Copywriter and Player Stories Editor, covering WSOP color moments, player profiles and poker personalities for the site's Stories section. She has spent more than 20 years around the game, first as a player, then as a live tournament director and localization manager for a major online poker room, before moving into full time poker writing.



















