WSOP World Series of Poker @WSOP
The very first WSOP online bracelet tournament was in 2015, with the $1,000 WSOP.com Online No-Limit Hold ‘Em won by Anthony Spinella over a field of 905 for $197,743. In 2024, the WSOP Main Event saw a record 10,112 players. However, from 2017 entries in the Main Event increased year-on-year, with the 8,569 players in the 2019 WSOP Main Event the second-highest ever, just short of the record of 8,773 set in 2006. In 2008, the WSOP introduced the November Nine where the Main Event plays down to a final table of nine in July, before resuming in November. Barbara Enright became the only woman to make the Main Event final table with her fifth-place finish in 1995, until Leo Margets achieved the same feat in 2025 where she finished seventh.
Six multi-time bracelet winners remain in the 2026 WSOP main event, including Deeb (9), Mueller (3), Dutch Boyd (3), Antonio Galiana (2), Ryan Miller (2), and Boris Kolev (2). “I treat the main event like a regular tournament, just try to figure out how my opponents are playing and maximize my EV,” said Deeb. The nine-time bracelet winner and two-time WSOP POY winner has already locked up the biggest main event cash of his career, but his focus is on a far greater goal. After 48 hours of poker, Zhao Liu has the inside track as the chip leader going into day 6 of the WSOP main event, with 10,150,000.
Every summer since 2022, thousands of poker players from all over the world have made the trip to Las Vegas to compete for WSOP bracelets and life-changing money at Horseshoe and Paris. The group of players who reached the final table each year would be dubbed the November Nine, contributing to a significant chapter in WSOP and televised poker history. In an effort to capitalize on popularity and boost viewership, from 2008 to 2016, the WSOP Main Event would play out during the yearly summer series, but would hold the final table of the event four months later in November. A recreational poker player who won his $10,000 buy-in through a $86 online satellite tournament, Moneymaker’s Main Event win inspired people around the world to take up the game of poker both online and live, triggering the Poker Boom of the early 2000’s. Completing one of, if not the greatest career comeback in poker history, Ungar went on to win the 1997 Main Event, joining Johnny Moss as the only two players to win the event 3 times. In the late 1960s, casino magnate Benny Binion aspired to hold an event pitting the best poker players in the world against each other at the poker table.
Live coverage of WSOP Paradise can be found on PokerNews, with information on livestreaming to be announced at a later date. Players in Ontario and across the world were also able to compete for a spot in the Millionaire Maker in Paradise event. GGPoker also gave away 200 $35,000 High Roller packages into the $25,000 GGMillion$ event. Main Event packages included the $5,000 buy-in, as well as 11 nights of hotel accommodation and a buffet lunch every day. Elsewhere, bracelets also went to Matthias Eibinger, David Coleman, Tom Vogelsang, and Imari Love
Santhosh Suvarna Wins Third World Series of Poker Bracelet in $50,000 High Roller Event

Head straight to the PokerNews Live Reporting page, the one-stop hub for real-time tournament coverage. PokerNews is also proud to host its own WSOP-bracelet event, the $600 PokerNews Deepstack Championship. “This is the biggest summer in poker, and there’s no better place to follow it all than PokerNews,” said Shirley Ang, PokerNews Global Live Events Manager.
WSOP’s Comeback on ESPN Had a Rough Start
- During the early days of the WSOP, Benny Binion famously told Doyle Brunson “You know, Doyle, someday we may have a hundred people in this tournament”.
- Don’t forget to mark your calendars for the start of the $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em WSOP Main Event, as airing returns to ESPN from Thursday, July 2 through Monday, July 13, with a special three-day final table finale taking place Monday, August 3 through Wednesday, August 5.
- There were a few players like Kathy Liebert, JJ Liu, and Jennifer Harman that weren’t sexualized all the time, but the default for players and media personalities alike was to frame them in a sexy way.
- Just 1,389 players remained at the close of Day 3, meaning that the biggest poker tournament of the year sits seven places from the money as everyone left bids to make profit and then push on towards the $10,000,000 top prize.
- Or, even better, there’s a chance you could capture both pieces of sought-after poker jewelry.
Shaun Deeb is the reigning WSOP Player of the Year, having cashed in 18 live events, six online bracelet events, and reached five final tables in 2025. From the smallest fields to the largest, the $1,500 Monster Stack and $500 Colossus, will once again draw enormous crowds, as players of all levels embark on their annual poker pilgrimage to play two of the summer’s most popular events. With a $5,000 pricetag, the event is sure to draw some of poker’s best full-time professional players who look to secure a big score and add a shiny, new WSOP gold bracelet to their wrist. Elsewhere at the SHRPO series, statistical anomalies were on tap as three different players won four events in the series. The most prestigious mixed-game poker tournament of the year is down to its final six contenders, and the remaining half dozen players include some of the most decorated names in the game.
Winning his first WSOP bracelet as well as the highest score of his poker tournament career, cash game grinder Markus Gonsalves joins one of poker’s most exclusive clubs. International satellites to WSOP live events are hosted exclusively at GGPoker, the World’s Biggest Poker Room. In 2025, the flagship event in Las Vegas attracted 246,960 entrants and awarded more than $481 million in prize money – both all-time records for the series. After years of grinding on the felt towards poker’s biggest prize, poker pro Dylan Smith finally nabs his first WSOP bracelet in the $2,500 Mixed Big Bet Event. Defeating Aubrey Williams in a thrilling heads-up duel, Skye Chen not only scores her first live tournament cash, but her first WSOP bracelet. Former champion Chris Moneymaker was eliminated from the World Series of Poker Main Event early in Day 4, ensuring all the remaining players made the money.
Saaskilahti became the second player to hit the 100-million mark when he pulled off a big bluff with queen high. I just prepared a little bit, like psychologically,” he said when asked about the three-week layoff from when the final table was set back on July 13th. Jumalon continued to fall from his early high water mark when his preflop raising war with Saaskilahti ended the Finnish player five-betting A♣K♠. Neither player improved on the end and Jumalon opted not to continue bluffing with six high. After taking down that pot, he chipped up to 214,000,000, or just shy of 3,567 times the initial starting stack of 60,000 for this championship event. Bruce Buffer, the famous voice of mixed martial arts and a poker tournament regular, kicked off the proceedings with his signature catchphrase.
There were a few players like Kathy Liebert, JJ Liu, and Jennifer Harman that weren’t sexualized all the time, but the default for players and media personalities alike was to frame them in a sexy way. Maxx Coleman is the only player remaining without a final-table appearance in this tournament. Seven-time bracelet winner Josh Arieh and three-time bracelet winner Paul Volpe are both at their third PPC final tables. On what would ultimately be the 108th, and final, hand of day 9 of the 2026 WSOP main event, Feng capped off his incredible spin-up with one more pot at Saaskilahti’s expense. The two shortest players to start the day, Evagoras Evagorou and Feng, were both ground down to single-digit big blind stacks during the early action. The 39-year-old spent much of Monday’s action in second place, and Saaskilahti was one of the few players to even briefly halt Jumalon’s overwhelming, consistent pressure throughout the day.
Not a bad payday for a roughly $1,765 buy-in. If you’re playing at a higher level, or if you just want to stop by and watch those who are, the PokerGO Tour will be back on the beat with its fall schedule. No matter where you might toss the dart on the calendar, you’ll find something to play, so we did a deep dive on the schedule to map out the rest of 2026. The World Series of Poker is gone but poker never stops in Las Vegas. It was definitely the summer of PLO for me, where my biggest scores came. There were a couple of spots where if he had called, the tournament would have been over.
PokerListings is one of the world’s oldest trusted poker sites. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the postponement of the World Series of Poker for the first time in its history. Maurice Hawkins holds the record for most circuit rings with 25.
A sincere thank you to every player and staffer who came to Las Vegas and made this a summer to remember.” International players may also need additional proof of address, such as a utility bill or signed lease. Buy-ins for WSOP events range from affordable entry-level tournaments to the prestigious $10,000 Main Event. He topped a field of 10,112 players, the largest Main Event in WSOP history.
In 2024, more than 800 players took advantage of the extended registration period to start their journey with 75 and 60 big blinds, respectively. He topped a field of 10,043 players, the largest Main Event in WSOP history. In addition, mega satellites in 2024 will be played as “Landmark Mega Satellites”, where players will earn their seat when they reach a predetermined amount of chips. International players are required to bring an additional form of identification that shows residential address, such as a signed Las Vegas lease agreement, a utility bill or a mobile phone bill. Just log in to your free PokerNews account, star the players you care about, and they’ll always appear at the top of your chip count list.
The season finale has taken place at Wynn Las Vegas over the last few years, but competition with WSOP Paradise is fierce. While a third APT win hasn’t yet been in the cards for him so far in Incheon, he did finish 6th of 184 entries in the $2K High Roller on Thursday for just over $17K in his third career cash on the tour. Most of my family is in China, especially my mom, and I want to have more time to spend with her.
Many more will follow within the next two weeks as the eyes of the global poker community are once again firmly set on the grandest of spectacles. This time, the end for Aguero came in Level 5 when his king-nine suited couldn’t beat the pocket tens of Andrius Mazurkevicius. Belonging into the latter category is certainly football striker Sergio Aguero from Argentina, who has already competed in multiple WSOP tournaments. Last year’s runner-up Jordan Griff also participated on Day 1d but bowed out during the final level of the night, Pyzara certainly wasn’t the only one to suffer a horrendous beat, as Jared Bleznick saw his pocket aces cracked in a six-bet pot by Romain Locquet on the live-stream table when the Frenchman made quads nines. Hundreds of other dreams were crushed thereafter, with nearly ten percent of the field already on the rail by the time the dinner break kicked off at the end of Level 3.
Those are just the first two bracelet events out of 100 this summer (plus 30 online at WSOP Online). As Japanese poker players continue to excel at the 2026 WSOP, Daisuke Ogita wins the largest score of his poker career and his first WSOP bracelet. While the biggest poker tournament in the world continues to unfold, WSOP bracelets continue to be won in other WSOP events. Las Vegas, Nevada (July 2, 2026) – Today is the day thousands of poker players from around the world have been waiting for.
Since PocketFives Live only covered the members of the online community, we also had a lot more latitude than other outlets. These were the days when outlets that weren’t PokerNews were only allowed to post once an hour. What do you remember about those first days? Your first WSOP job was near the bottom of the poker-media ladder, but you treated it as an opportunity to prove you belonged. The behaviors I observed and wrote about certainly happened at the series, so I guess I didn’t get anything ‘wrong’ per se?
Players will be able to register 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It is super straightforward to play in the 2024 World Series of Poker as long as you have the buy-in and are aged 21 or over. The property originally opened in 1973 and was fully renovated in time for the 2023 World Series of Poker.
Thus, it’s unlikely Las Vegas casinos will relax this type of scrutiny any time soon. In 2018, Dennis Blieden won the World Poker Tour Los Angeles Poker Classic main event for $1 million. 2024 WSOP main event champion Jonathan Tamayo told Card Player he needed to show a copy of his tax returns when he deposited cash. Sadly, was locked out of playing yesterday because of it.

The meat of my career was live updates, so I hold a soft spot for those because that remains the best way to really embrace the game pokernewsdaily.com itself and break down a hand. Even after being on camera in various capacities for years, when I worked as the WPT Live Update Hostess in Season X, the larger poker community still pushed back. Thankfully, Wicked Chops Poker created this position for me on their weekly poker show where I popped in and gave them the major headlines from the industry for five minutes. As a tournament reporter, I was so behind the scenes and so low on the ladder that I did not feel that pressure. A lot of people would say poker was pretty nasty with misogyny during that period.
Hachem and Brunson remain in contention to make history as the younger half of a father-and-son WSOP main event championship combo, with Joe Hachem having won in 2005 and the late Doyle Brunson in 1976 and 1977. I also care less about the pay jumps than most, and I’m trying to win the tournament no matter what day it is. Trayner also took down the return of the Aussie Millions main event earlier this year. One of them will eventually hoist this year’s championship gold bracelet, and bank the $10,000,000 first-place prize from the fourth-largest world championship in history. Stream live NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL, college sports, plus SportsCenter, First Take, and all your favorite ESPN shows—anytime, anywhere—only in the ESPN app. If you’re a poker fan, there’s no bigger tournament than this.
The 83-entry turnout for this event made for a prize pool of $7,968,000, with only the top 13 finishers making the money. The two-time POY-award winner (2004, 2013) is rounding into form as he looks for a third win in this prestigious points race. This was the third POY-qualified score of 2026 for Negreanu, all coming from final-table finishes at the WSOP.
Similarly, fans got to read profiles, interviews, debate likely winners, and enjoy some mainstream coverage of poker’s greatest spectacle. Poker’s greatest tournament, the $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em World Championship — better known as the Main Event — is back, and this year comes with a distinct hint of déjà vu. As ever, the schedule covers the full poker spectrum with buy-ins to suit every bankroll. We’ll break down that event and other new additions later in this guide.
As he looks to navigate his way through day 8 of poker’s world championship, those experiences could prove incredibly valuable. Two months ago, in his home country, Trayner won the return of the Aussie Millions main event, for just shy of another $1 million. Over the last two years, Trayner has navigated some massive fields and big spots in major live tournaments. Usually, I play poker with headphones, and I’m very locked in.
Daniel and Amanda Negreanu posing with WSOP bracelet number eight. Las Vegas, Nevada (July 6, 2026) – Now well within the initial days of the 2026 WSOP Main Event, the excitement and pressure have kicked up a notch here at the Las Vegas Paris and Horseshoe. Players should follow @WSOP on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram or check WSOP.com for more event news and updates. Before all eyes turn to the 2026 WSOP Main Event, get caught up on all that has unfolded these past few days at the WSOP. Greg Mueller of White Rock, British Columbia, made a magical run in this year’s World Series of Poker Main Event after the longtime pro burned out on the game. After six hours of action in the World Series of Poker Main Event at Horseshoe Events Center, play was halted with Lucas Jumalon maintaining the chip lead.
Inspired by similar “invite-only” events that ran at the time, Binion began laying the groundwork for what would eventually become the World Series of Poker (WSOP). Winning his lone piece of WSOP hardware by taking down the Monster Stack event at the 2024 WSOP International Circuit series in Marrakech ($45,600), Bojovic is in contention to win the most prestigious poker trophy of them all. Luka Bojovic (Vienna, Austria) – 51,000,000 ChipsLuka Bojovic, 37, is a Serbian doctor and poker player residing in Vienna, Austria. Kenny Hallaert (London, England, United Kingdom) – 80,500,000 ChipsKenny Hallaert, 43, is a Belgian professional poker player residing in London, England. On the cusp of adding a WSOP Main Event title to his already long list of poker accolades, taking down the 2025 WSOP Main Event would add $10 million to Mizrachi’s already impressive live tournament earnings total of just over $19 million. A seven-time WSOP bracelet winner, Mizrachi has already had a historic summer, winning his record fourth Poker Players Championship title.
