Australian poker player Alex Thompson has turned the biggest opportunity of his tournament career into a World Poker Tour title, winning the 2026 WPT Australia Championship at The Star Sydney.
Thompson topped a field of 527 entries in the A$5,000 Championship Event, collecting a package worth AU$465,900 including a seat in the WPT World Championship.
Filip Radic finished runner-up for AU$290,000, with Pranav Bhatt taking third for AU$214,000.
For Thompson, however, the significance of the result went well beyond adding another Australian name to the WPT trophy.
Biggest Result of Thompson’s Career
Thompson entered WPT Australia with a relatively modest live tournament record compared with many players competing at the top level.
His previous recorded live tournament earnings were around US$100,000, while his largest individual result had been just over US$20,000. His victory in Sydney therefore comfortably eclipsed anything he had previously achieved at the poker tables.
Thompson had already taken control of the tournament before reaching the final table and began the final six with the chip lead. He never gave it up.
Radic briefly drew level during the final table, but Thompson quickly regained control and eventually entered heads-up play with approximately a six-to-one chip advantage. The final battle lasted only around five minutes before Thompson secured the title.
WPT Australia Championship Final Table
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Alex Thompson | AU$465,900 |
| 2nd | Filip Radic | AU$290,000 |
| 3rd | Pranav Bhatt | AU$214,000 |
| 4th | Jack Sweet | AU$159,000 |
| 5th | Tingjia Huang | AU$119,000 |
| 6th | Ryan Henry | AU$89,000 |
Strong Numbers for WPT Australia
Thompson’s victory completed a sizeable three-week WPT Australia festival at The Star Sydney.
Across the full schedule, the festival recorded 4,942 entries from 22 countries across 63 events, generating more than US$5.1 million in combined prize pools.
The AU$5,000 Championship alone attracted 527 entries and generated an approximately AU$2.42 million prize pool.
The festival also included the WPT Prime Australia Championship, won by Cooper Feltham, giving Sydney two major WPT championship events during the same series.
Australian Live Poker Continues Its Rebuild
The result comes during an increasingly busy period for Australian tournament poker.
The return of the Aussie Millions earlier in 2026 was an important step for the local live scene, while major WPT and Australian Poker Tour festivals have continued to produce sizeable fields around the country.
Attention now shifts to Melbourne, where Crown is preparing for another run of major tournament poker during October.
For Thompson, though, WPT Australia will be difficult to top.
He arrived in Sydney without a major international tournament title and left as a World Poker Tour champion, having led the biggest event of the festival from the front when it mattered most.