It’s almost time to shuffle up and deal.
The 57th edition of the World Series of Poker gets underway Tuesday at Horseshoe Las Vegas and Paris Las Vegas. The series features 100 live events, including the $10,000 buy-in No-limit Hold’em World Championship Main Event, along with 30 online tournaments.
Here are five storylines to follow during the series, which runs through July 15:
Players to watch
The 2025 WSOP was the year of the old guard, with Michael Mizrachi steamrolling the field to win the Main Event and numerous other professionals picking up bracelets, which are awarded for tournament victories.
Benny Glaser won three events in 2025, and the mixed-game specialist from England continues to climb the all-time list with eight career bracelets. Poker hall of famers Brian Rast and Nick Schulman picked up their seventh career bracelets, and Spain’s Adrian Mateos added No. 5.
As always, superstars such as Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu will command attention as they look to add to their bracelet totals.
Another notable to keep an eye on is Japan’s Shiina Okamoto, who will look to win the Ladies Championship an unprecedented third straight year.
Main Event returns to ESPN
ESPN’s coverage of the WSOP helped fuel the poker boom of the early 2000s, and the Main Event is back on the worldwide leader after leaving in 2021.
The tournament begins July 2 and will pause once the final table is reached July 13. The nine remaining players will then return for the live, three-day finale that will air Aug. 3-5 on ESPN from 6-9 p.m. PT.
The “cliffhanger” television format is similar to the “November Nine” that was used from 2008-2016 when the Main Event paused and was resumed live on ESPN nearly four months later.
Player of the Year changes
The race for WSOP Player of the Year used to be about bragging rights and having a personalized banner hanging on the walls at the Horseshoe and Paris. That’s it.
But after years of players bickering about the system that was used to determine the winner, the WSOP revamped the competition for 2026.
Rather than determining the champion at the end of the summer, the Player of the Year race now includes all open live bracelet events from WSOP Europe and WSOP Paradise in the Bahamas in addition to the WSOP in Las Vegas.
The first-place finisher receives a $100,000 WSOP Paradise package, and a total of $1 million will be awarded to competitors.
Marius Kudzmanas of Lithuania won the 2026 WSOP Europe Main Event and leads the current POY standings over last year’s winner Shaun Deeb.
New events
The schedule features its usual tentpole events such as the $50,000 buy-in Poker Players Championship, the “Millionaire Maker” and Seniors Championship.
There are also some notable additions to the summer including the Mini Mystery Millions No-limit Hold’em event that kicks off the action Tuesday and should draw a sizable field. The $550 buy-in features a guaranteed $1 million bounty prize.
The GGMillion$ High Roller No-limit Hold’em tournament has a $10,000 buy-in.
For cash-game enthusiasts, the “Million Dollar Game” takes place June 12 and features a $1 million minimum buy-in, which could produce some of the largest pots ever seen.
Will attendance suffer?
After two straight years of five-figure Main Event fields, last year had a small decline in turnout.
Some of the dip was attributed to international politics, as the number of players traveling from Canada and the United Kingdom was noticeably down.
This time, American players could be the ones most impacted. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act changed how gambling winnings are taxed.
Gambling industry officials and tax professionals argue the change, in which players can deduct 90 percent of their gambling losses instead of 100 percent, unfairly targets professional gamblers and high-stakes players.
Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on X.
