Artur Martirosian's bid for back-to-back WSOP High Roller titles ended on the meanest run of pocket aces poker has handed out this Series. The four-time bracelet winner had aces cracked TWICE in consecutive hands on the money bubble of the 2026 WSOP $100,000 High Roller.
Per PokerNews, Martirosian was sitting on a stack chasing the $201,754 min-cash when the variance dropped on him. He found A-A in the big blind, three-bet to 680,000 against Christopher Nguyen's hijack open, and then snap-called Nguyen's 3.48M shove. Nguyen turned over K-Q suited. The flop missed everyone clean. The king on the turn and the queen on the river gave Nguyen two pair.
Hand two
The very next hand, Martirosian woke up with A-A again, in the big blind again. Teun Mulder opened to 160,000 in the hijack, Martirosian three-bet shoved for his last 495,000, Mulder called with J-10 suited. The board ran 8-Q-6-6-9, hitting Mulder's rivered straight on the 9. Two hands, two sets of aces, two coolers, no money.
Aces twice on the bubble. That is poker.
Artur Martirosian (paraphrased)
The context this lands in
Three days before the bubble cooler, Martirosian had won the $25,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em for $1,286,285 - his fourth WSOP bracelet, putting him in a small group of active players who have won four bracelets before turning thirty. The High Roller double would have written him into the early Player of the Year picture. Instead, the door slammed on the bubble with the worst possible cards.
Why this matters
Two reasons. First, Martirosian is one of the few active Russian pros with a multi-bracelet record at the top of the live circuit, and a back-to-back High Roller double in 2026 would have been a milestone the Russian poker community has been waiting for. Second, the bubble cooler is the kind of moment that becomes the WSOP-week clip everyone shares, and it lands at the same time the broader Series narrative is the new ESPN Main Stage coverage chase.
He now has a profile on PokerInfluencers, tracking his Series from here to the Main Event. We'll keep updating the Martirosian profile as he fires again.
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