Lucas Jumalon Leads Final Seven In 2026 WSOP Main Event Poker News
Most other poker rooms around town will have a regular offering of daily tournaments, and they can be convenient if you are staying nearby. But it’s Las Vegas, and we don’t stop playing poker just because the WSOP left town. I’ve won every tournament I’ve ever played heads-up in PLO. You don’t get punished for that as you would in no-limit, because the crux of the game is played post-flop. The way I would describe it is that preflop, when you’re playing no-limit hold’em, you can make some really big mistakes.
What is the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Paradise?
Here’s a look at the qualified players and their chip counts entering the WSOP Main Event Final Table. Only nine elite players remain in contention for a title, and each are already guaranteed a prize of at least $1 million. It’s been a summer of poker in Las Vegas, but now it’s time to crown a champion.
Just 83 players secured a spot for Day 2, with Youness Barakat leading the way. “Building on last year’s triumphs and familiar faces winning WSOP bracelets, we are excited to see who will expand their legacy or become a new legend by passing poker’s ultimate test in the game’s most iconic arena.” The full daily event schedule for the 56th annual WSOP will be announced in early 2025. Our team is made up of a group of dedicated players, including our own Player Advisory Board and well-known journalists. A big part of our mission is to give back to the game and you, the players that make it so popular. Carrying the biggest stack forward into Thursday’s play is Yuxuan Deng, the only player to bag a seven-figure stack with 1,052,000. By night’s end here at Paradise City Casino, 207 players had secured at least $2,700 from the $2,148,960 prize pool – more than double the $1 million guarantee.
Fan favorites, including the Mystery Millions, Millionaire Maker, and the Senior’s Championship, are set to return to the schedule along with some new, exciting tournament formats. Defending champion Junjie He won’t be defending his crown after starting the day with 88,500 and hitting the rail before night’s end. Two of the biggest names in the field to start Wednesday saw their days end surprisingly quickly. 2023 APT Taipei Main Event champion Punnat Punsri will join the Day 3 field from the Natural8 ‘Onlive’ flight with 492,000. Other notables moving on include Bin Duan, whose career-best cash of $351,000 came here in South Korea in a 2025 Triton event. Haohui Ma had an eventful couple of levels, starting with a dramatic double-up when he got his pocket kings in against Tomoya Kojima’s aces and drilled a two-outer on the river.
Starting May 26, the streams will bring live action from a revamped TV set featuring some of poker’s most familiar voices. WSOP Circuit tournaments usually enjoy large crowds, but the ones in Las Vegas this summer could break attendance records with so many grinders being in Sin City for the 2026 WSOP. How do you top perhaps the greatest summer in poker history? In any other year, Michael Mizrachi winning the PPC for an unprecedented fourth time might have been the story of the summer, but you might remember «The Grinder» went and added something else to his record as well. Last year, the Millionaire Maker was one of the most talked-about stories of the series, controversial but compelling, it remains a standout event that always draws a massive crowd. The format, which ran from 2008 to 2016, featured a four-month gap between the Main Event final table being set and the next world champion being crowned.
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.
What was once a sea of 9,208 entries is down to just three tables going into day 8, and by the close of play on Monday, July 13, the final nine will claim their place in poker history. More than 68 percent of the players who reached day 5 fell by the end of the night. For almost any other player, even a hint of repeating as WSOP main event champion would be an absurdity. Other players to keep an eye on heading into day 6 include Patrick Leonard, Loren Klein, Sean Winter, Lara Eisenberg, Dylan Smith, Caitlin Comeskey, Matt Salsberg, Brock Wilson, and Zdenek Zizka.
The PLO and NLH Venom tournaments kicked off today with a combined $15M in guarantees spread across several starting flights all month. No matter what happens with the season finale, it’s clear that WPT is intent on establishing a greater presence in Las Vegas, especially during the times of year when WSOP isn’t around. “The success of the spring championship reaffirmed what makes The Venetian Resort a premier destination for tournament poker,” said Tommy LaRosa, director of poker operations at The Venetian Resort Las Vegas. The rest of the festival promises several bounty events, the regular seniors’ event, and lots of satellites into the championship.
Additional flights have also been added to several of our most popular bracelet events offering players more opportunities than ever before to play their favorite WSOP events. Many players earn their seats through live and online satellite tournaments. While some poker experience is helpful, there are plenty of events suitable for players of all skill levels.
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. Mystery bounties in the $550 Mini Mystery Millions come into play on day two of the event, scheduled for Sunday, May 31, with cards in the air at 1 P.M. While the buy-in may be lower for the Mini Mystery Millions compared to the Mystery Millions, there is still great riches for the poker player lucky enough to win the biggest bounty. Each poker player is permitted 2 re-entries per flight. The surviving finalists will reconvene 20 days later for a live, three-day televised finale airing August 3-5 from 9pm-12am EST. Under the new agreement, poker fans can expect wall-to-wall coverage, with each tournament day receiving a minimum of six hours of programming.
Each sheet outlines the tournament format, including starting stacks, level lengths, blind structures, break times, and registration details. The Main Event begins on July 2, with four starting flights, and concludes with the final table on July 15–16. Download it now for free, print it off and study at your leisure ahead of what will be another memorable instalment of the world’s biggest poker series. The prestigious $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event is scheduled to begin on July 2, culminating with the final table on July 15-16. The official schedule for the 2025 World Series of Poker was released in February 2025 and anticipation is already building for another thrilling summer of poker action in Las Vegas.
Michelle Chin joins Kristen Foxen as the only women thus far to win bracelets at the 2026 WSOP. Las Vegas, Nevada (June 25, 2026) – The 2026 World Series of Poker continues to produce unforgettable moments as the summer grind rolls on in Las Vegas. A few hands later, Wong’s ace-deuce held against Nakai’s eight-nine, securing the victory and sending the bracelet to Wong. Nakai and Wong began heads-up play with almost identical stacks. He eventually moved all in with ace-queen but lost a coin flip to Wong’s pocket nines.
ESPN coverage of the 2026 WSOP main event is set to start with day 1a of the tournament, on Thursday, July 2, and run through the entirety of the tournament. The first official day of WSOP tournament action also includes a $5,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em event, which kicks off at 2 p.m. Until ESPN enters the picture later in the summer, final tables and live streams will air in-house on WSOP’s digital platforms, primarily on YouTube, starting on May 29. Once the final nine players are set, chip bags come out, and players are sent on their way for an extended break. While most WSOP events last three days and several take a full week to complete, this turbo tournament was finished in a single session. He is just the ninth player to ever surpass the $60-million mark, and is now ranked ninth on poker’s all-time money list.
A dedicated mixed game player, Canada’s Patrick Stacey wins his first WSOP bracelet after defeating high-stakes professional poker player Danny Tang heads-up. Professional poker player Caitlin Comeskey continued her successful summer at the World Series of Poker by making Day 5 of the Main Event. Las Vegas resident Ralph Perry held the unofficial chip lead in the World Series of Poker Main Event on Day 6 Saturday with 90 players still standing. When Day 7 of the WSOP Main Event started Sunday, all the remaining players were notified a “shot clock” would be implemented in an effort to speed up play. Malcolm Trayner of Australia had the chip lead in the World Series of Poker Main Event when action was paused on Day 7 late Sunday with 21 players left.
- The World Series of Poker Paradise is a poker stop that the WSOP first launched in 2023.
- $5,300 SHRPO Championship final table results
- The 57th annual edition of the most famous poker festival in the world once again features 100 live gold bracelet events inside the Horseshoe Las Vegas and Paris Las Vegas.
- Hundreds of other hopes to claim the title of world champion were crushed with more than 1,200 players departing today.
A high roller event with a format that encourages exciting poker action! Under the tutelage of five-time WSOP bracelet winner Kristen Foxen, Philip Chun won his first WSOP bracelet and turned his $550 buy-in into $400,000. There are many storylines to follow this summer, starting with Seiver, who won three bracelets last year. The 56th annual poker extravaganza kicked off with the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Mystery Millions event. Winning a WSOP bracelet within two days, Myles Mullaly goes on a heater and pulls off a heads-up comeback against Pete Chen to win his first WSOP bracelet.
Where to watch World Series of Poker Main Event: Schedule, live stream, channel for 2026 WSOP
More than ten poker players have already won WSOP bracelets and life-changing scores at the 2026 WSOP, some being first-time champions and others further adding to their list of WSOP accolades. WSOP Europe and WSOP Paradise now bring bracelet competition to international destinations, and dozens of Circuit events run year-round for players who want serious competition closer to home. Fans and players are also encouraged to download the WSOP Live app, a one-stop shop for players to not only follow chip stacks and updates in real time, but also register for WSOP events held at the Las Vegas Paris and Horseshoe. It remains one of the largest and most popular poker events in the world, attracting recreational players and poker pros alike.
The break gave players respite from the gruelling Main Event grind, the chance to drum up sponsorship deals, and fly family and friends to Las Vegas for the biggest final table of their lives. Seven-time WSOP bracelet winner and GGPoker ambassador Daniel Negreanu also pointed to expanded online qualification paths, encouraging players worldwide to “take your shot at the gold in 2026.” Returning to the WSOP for the second year and continuing to revolutionize how poker players experience WSOP events around the world, the WSOP Live App serves as a one-stop shop for everything poker players need throughout the 2026 WSOP. Taking one of the most popular events at the WSOP and lowering the buy-in to attract even more poker players, Flight A of the $550 No-Limit Hold’em Mini Mystery Millions serves as the perfect starting event for the 2026 WSOP.
This summer I saw my former WPT colleagues, Mickey Doft and BJ Nemeth, both working with the streaming crew in Vegas. If they want only the fun and sanitized poker stories, that is what you write. So, if livestreams are paramount, they can demand you delay your updates and you have to say yes. You are also beholden to your client to deliver a product they want. However, since the media has largely moved in-house or to a model in which the outlet is a contractor of the casino or tour, you only get one version of the story. On the flip side, I think poker tours consolidating media in house or to official contractors has really killed the rest of poker content.
Michael Mizrachi (Las Vegas, Nevada, United States) – 93,000,000 ChipsMichael Mizrachi, 44, is the most decorated poker player to reach the 2025 WSOP Main Event final table. John Wasnock (North Bend, Washington, United States) – 108,100,000 ChipsJohn Wasnock, 50, is a poker player from North Bend, Washington who will be proudly representing the Evergreen state at the WSOP Main Event final table as the overall chip leader. LAS VEGAS (July 15, 2025) – Out of 9,735 total entrants in the third-largest World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event in history, only nine players remain as the lineup is set for the 56th annual WSOP Main Event final table.
Visit the Card Player 2026 World Series of Poker landing page for schedules, news, interviews, and the latest event results. Stapleton, who signed on with WSOP after 15 years with PokerStars, will play a large role in the broadcasts as well, as will Jeff Platt, another recent WSOP signing. The broadcast is set to feature Ali Nejad, David Williams, Lon MacEachern, and Norman Chad in commentary roles throughout the summer. According to the WSOP’s website viewers can, “Watch every 2026 WSOP event for free on the official WSOP YouTube channel.”
From Aug. 3-5, the final table will play out live on ESPN platforms for the first time in six years, rekindling one of the oldest relationships in poker broadcasting. The fourth-largest WSOP main event of all time features top players from multiple eras of the game, some new standouts, and one previous main event champion looking for the unlikeliest of repeat performances. Only 174 players remain from a field of 9,208 in the 2026 World Series of Poker $10,000 no-limit hold’em main event. As expected, they include Specialty Landmark Mega Satellites taking place each day, allowing players to satellite into the following day’s $5,000 or $10,000 buy-in events.
But when he said he won the cash in a poker tournament at Aria, they still wouldn’t take the money. However, Nevada regulators began levying heavy fines on Las Vegas casinos after they allowed several illegal bookmakers to play at their properties. Then she obtained a verified check from another casino, and the WSOP allowed her to play. A fixture in the high-stakes poker ecosystem was removed from a live-streamed cash game at the World Series of Poker. Based in the United Kingdom, Will started working for PokerNews as a freelance live reporter in 2015 and joined the full-time staff in 2019. For the first time in over a week, just a single winner will be crowned on Wednesday as the $10,000 Razz Championship crowns its winner.
Today’s Action
But the biggest move of the day, and the story to keep an eye on heading into Tuesday night’s WSOP main event final table action, belongs to Han Feng. The first of three days of action at the 2026 World Series of Poker main event final table is in the books. This very last event concludes PokerNews’ live coverage of the 2026 World Series of Poker until the WSOP Main Event final table, which will be played from August 3-5. Of the 255 players who made the money, only 95 survived through Level 21 to earn a 60-minute dinner break before returning for the final sprint to the bracelet. In 2023, GGPoker sent at least 1,000 players to WSOP Paradise through a series of online qualifiers.
We also go beyond live hands and chip counts. You can add our WSOP Main Event live reporting page to your favorites right now, so when cards go in the air, you’ll have instant access from the get-go. PokerNews will also have the usual highlight banner on our homepage throughout the WSOP, so getting to the WSOP live updates is always only one click away. This five-week leaderboard competition will reward the best performers in WSOP Daily Deepstacks with 50 tournament tickets to the PokerNews Deepstack Championship. “It’s another example of how we’re continuing to innovate and elevate poker media.”
Since I mostly play high-stakes events in the US, which normally start and finish late, I might be more suited to the pace of US high-stakes tournaments because I’m a night owl. How are APT events different from tournaments that you play in the United States? Tony ‘Ren’ Lin has become one of the most recognizable and successful players in the world, crushing the high-stakes tournament scene to the tune of over $20M in Hendon Mob-recorded earnings. Towards the tail end of my career, as Black Friday’s immediate effects had worn off and people realized the new status quo was never going to be the boom again, players became very wary of the media. Poker players during that era had television identities, online personas, forum reputations, and private selves that could be very different from one another.
Owning over $143 thousand in live tournament earnings, Wasnock’s largest career cash of $56,330 has been far surpassed with his performance in the Main Event. WSOP Europe moved from the fall to the spring, with 15 events that took place in early April. Behind the late Johnny Moss, who sits in sixth place all time with nine bracelet wins, the possibility of another 10-time winner being crowned in 2026 looms large. Phil Hellmuth maintains a tight grip pokernewsdaily.com on the all-time record for most gold bracelets, with 17. Instead, it was Shaun Deeb, on the strength of a resume anchored by his seventh career WSOP bracelet win and two runner-up finishes, among a long list of results. The second time around, he won it in dominant fashion, claiming the $10 million first-place prize and his eighth career bracelet.
How much you can win at the 2024 WSOP varies from event to event. However, some poker experience is recommended Yes, beginners can play at the 2024 WSOP. You do not need to be American to play in the 2024 WSOP. Players have a variety of ways to quality for the WSOP, including international and domestic online satellites on GGPoker and WSOP.com.
Check out the best no deposit online casino bonuses for August 2026. The easiest guide on the planet to play Texas hold’em poker Watch live poker on the PokerNews Twitch channel. Watch the best poker action at the partypoker live stream. 888poker has one of the best poker live streams in the world.
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. Five bracelet events come in under $1,000, while 54 tournaments fall between $1,000 and $5,000, forming the core of the summer grind. On behalf of the entire WSOP staff, best of luck to every poker player competing throughout the series, whether you fire one bullet in the $300 No-Limit Hold’em Gladiators of Poker, the $100,000 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller, or every event in between. Check out our Poker Player of the Year race, as well as years of data of poker player results and casino poker tournament pay-outs.