14 Aug Chris Moneymaker is the 2026 World Series of Poker Main Event’s Bubble Boy
Reading Time: 11 minutesWSOP THE 2026 WORLD SERIES OF POKER MAIN EVENT REACHES ITS FINAL TABLE
APT tournaments generally start and end earlier, and the buy-ins are lower and more affordable. He loves his ‘Lady Gagas’ and when he wins a big pot, it’s still “Touchdown Tom Brady” time. Tony ‘Ren’ Lin has expanded his high stakes prowess to his home continent of Asia as he looks to add APT accolades to his esteemed poker resume. But some people don’t have time for the stream.
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.
Chris Moneymaker is the 2026 World Series of Poker Main Event’s Bubble Boy
Registration for all summer events will open soon, streamlining the path to the podium. Play will proceed until the final table is reached on July 13, with specifics on the Main Event final table play dates and broadcast coverage to be announced at a later date. In 2024, the flagship event in Las Vegas attracted 229,553 entrants and awarded more than $438 million in prize money – both all-time records for the series. For the historic achievement of winning his fourth Poker Players Championship as well as the Main Event in the same summer, the now nine-time WSOP bracelet winner was informed by his peers that, via a unanimous vote, he would become the 65th member of the Poker Hall of Fame. Cate Schiller is a Global Content Coordinator for The Sporting News affiliate and commercial content team, focused on partnerships supporting live events, entertainment and travel.
The $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Online WSOP Bracelet event broke new ground for the WSOP, allowing poker players across the state of Nevada to compete for WSOP glory from the comfort of their laptops and computers. Acknowledging the prominence and impact online poker had on the industry, in 2015 the WSOP offered its first online WSOP bracelet events. One of the greatest poker players of all time, Chan’s success on the felt transcended poker, as he famously made a cameo in the 1998 poker film Rounders, starring Matt Damon and Edward Norton.
He sits one spot ahead of his wife, Kristen Foxen, who won her sixth bracelet just a week earlier to extend her leads on both the women’s all-time money list and WSOP titles leaderboards. The former collegiate football player now has $60,565,402 in career cashes to his name after this victory. “I think your career is really about repeated performance and an entire body of work, rather than one event proving something,” Foxen told PokerNews live reporters after closing out the win. In fact, from 2016 through 2025, he had the second-best record of any player on the planet when it comes to Card Player Player of the Year points accumulated. Alex Foxen has been an elite poker tournament performer over the past decade. In the last three years in the WSOP main event, Nagami finished in 21st in 2024, 170th in 2025, and now 23rd place ($325,000) in 2026.
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.
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.
What did interviewing them face-to-face reveal that the public version of those players concealed? I can promise you, more often than not, the voice in the meetings speaking up for the players was Seth’s. No one ever said, \”well, you can’t interview players because you have to be hot to do that,\” but no one was really clamoring for me to interview players on camera. How did that affect the opportunities you received, the way players treated you, and how hard you had to work before people assumed you knew what you were talking about?
Lucas Jumalon increased his chip lead in the World Series of Poker $10,000 buy-in No-limit Hold’em World Championship on the first day of the final table. We are the number one source for poker news, gambling industry updates, reviews and free educational content for players of all levels. Phil Ivey has 11 bracelet wins, with Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, and Erik Seidel (10) the only players with double-digit WSOP bracelet wins. In 2015, the WSOP awarded their first online poker gold bracelet, with Anthony ‘casedismised’ Spinella winning the inaugural event. The first WSOP took place in 1970, and it continues to attract some of the best poker players in the world. It doesn’t appear that Caesars is forcing players to comply with measures of that magnitude.
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 pokernewsdaily.com 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
Remaining Contenders Guaranteed At Least $1.5 Million, With $10 Million And The Championship Bracelet Up Top
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.
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.
As the official live reporting partner, we go all-in on coverage of poker’s most famous tournament, from Day 1 flights to the final river card of the heads-up duel. And this year, with a bit of help from the new WSOP+ app, fans can expect fewer mystery players, fewer misspellings, and (finally!) an end to the reign of “Opponent” in hand histories. This will be the eighth time that a WSOP main event champion has earned an eight-figure payday after coming away with the hardware. The past four main events have set a new standard for the tournament, with the 2023 version breaking a 17-year streak for the 2006 main event (8,773 entries) atop the event’s field-size rankings. Winning the historic 2023 WSOP Main Event, American professional poker player Daniel Weinman took home the record-breaking $12,100,000 top prize and his second career WSOP bracelet. The official home of the WSOP, poker players can find the Poker Hall of Fame within the Horseshoe, just outside of the WSOP Hall of Fame Poker Room.
Daniel Negreanu Has Spent $1M on 2026 WSOP Buy-ins; How Much Has He Profited?
The annual migration cycle of poker players to Las Vegas for the WSOP is now over, and runners are now returning to the other poker hot spots for more action. The PLO event will end on Day 2 and the NLH edition will play down to a final table on September 1. The first two weeks of December may not have enough players for two giant festivals at the same time, but there’s still plenty of interest to go around if they all learn to share. However, since I play mainly high-stakes tournaments in the US, most of the players I’m familiar with are also high-stakes regulars. The tables are livelier; they’re more willing to chase draws and take gambles, and their fundamentals are still a bit weaker compared to US players. The biggest difference between tournaments in Asia and those in the US is that Asian players tend to play more aggressively.
If you miss out on a WSOP bracelet, you could return home with a WSOPC ring. One would imagine those numbers will be much larger this summer. A WSOP Circuit runs during the 2026 WSOP for the first time in the festival’s history. As mentioned, the $550 Mini Mystery Millions opens the series on May 26 and it could be one of the best curtain raisers for the series.
- In 2015, the WSOP awarded their first online poker gold bracelet, with Anthony ‘casedismised’ Spinella winning the inaugural event.
- The two-time POY-award winner (2004, 2013) is rounding into form as he looks for a third win in this prestigious points race.
- Although she finished in 5th place, Enright solidified herself in WSOP history, and has added three WSOP bracelets to her list of accolades.
- WSOP Paradise returned bigger than before in 2024 with a $500,000 buy-in event in partnership with Triton and a $50 million guaranteed Super Main Event.
- Moving to the Horseshoe and Paris in 2022, for the first time in the event’s history, the WSOP would be held on the Las Vegas Strip.
Leaving the world of professional poker, Asi Moshe has returned in spectacular fashion, winning his fifth WSOP bracelet after outlasting 1,792 total entrants in the $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em Freezeout. Stud specialist Matt Grapenthien wins his second WSOP bracelet in his favorite poker format. Harrah’s Atlantic City hosts the WSOP Circuit August 13-24, 2026, offering 18 WSOP Circuit ring events with a $600,000 guaranteed No-Limit Hold’em Main Event.
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.
PokerNews has been providing live coverage of the event for all three editions, with photos, videos, and player interviews live from the tournament floor in The Bahamas. 2026 will see another 100 live bracelet events played out inside Horseshoe Las Vegas and Paris Las Vegas, with nonstop excitement and hundreds of millions in prize money awarded along the way. MyStack lets players update their stacks in real time, directly into the PokerNews live feed. MyStack returns this year, allowing players to directly update their chip counts in the live reporting feed and give friends and followers the most accurate picture of their tournament progress. The final 1,382 players will be in the money and guaranteed at least $15,000, with the eventual champion taking home the… pic.twitter.com/w9P2acqUWH
In December 2023, the Bahamas hosted a WSOP bracelet series for the first time. With essentially every poker game and format to choose from, and buy-ins from $300 up to $250,000, this year’s schedule has something for every player and fan. Those survivors will lock up at least $1 million before returning to Las Vegas on August 3 to play for poker’s most coveted title, the gold bracelet and the $10 million first-place prize. Zhao Liu, who started third in chips, was the final player to fall. Gaston was the only player to finish Saturday with more than 20 million chips, yet his big stack translated into a 36th-place finish. Deeb, meanwhile, continues to treat poker’s biggest tournament like it’s just another day at the office.
What started as a field of seven in 1970 has grown to an event that draws thousands of poker players from all over the world every year. Known for its rich history and vibrant poker culture, this casino laid the foundation for what would become the World Series of Poker, bringing together legendary players and setting the stage for decades of poker excellence. Daehyung Lee (Seoul, South Korea) – 34,900,000 ChipsDaehyung Lee, 46, is a Korean poker player with cashes across the globe, resulting in over $148 thousand in live tournament winnings. Adam Hendrix (Arlington, Virginia, United States) – 48,000,000 ChipsAdam Hendrix, 32, is a professional poker player from Anchorage, Alaska, who is a familiar face on the pro tournament circuit.
Winning the largest piece of the $90,535,500 total prize pool, Mizrachi takes home $10 million along with a Main Event bracelet valued at half a million dollars. In her free time, she enjoys baking, getting outdoors and discovering new music. Stream ESPN, ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and 100+ top channels of live TV and sports without cable.
Shawn Buchanan (73rd), Dominick Sarle (70th), Samuel Ju (41st), and 2013 WSOP Main Event champion Ryan Riess (29th) also bowed out after the dinner break as the field shrank to the final three tables. That’s why I played this one feeling better,” he said. “Oh my God, oh my God,” Wong kept repeating in disbelief after winning his bracelet. Nakai earned $144,101 for his runner-up finish, while Dzmitry Urbanovich, winner of the $10,000 8-Game Mixed Championship earlier this summer, rounded out the podium with a third-place finish worth $104,032. A total of 1,699 entries were recorded in this tournament, creating a $1,495,120 prize pool. Is there a better way to end the 2026 World Series of Poker (WSOP) than by winning a bracelet?
David Yedvobnick was the first final table casualty, finishing in 10th after falling to Nakai’s runner-runner straight. With the average stack around ten big blinds, every player was just one hand away from either building a stack or heading to the payout desk. I’ll go back to Hong Kong, maybe play tournaments in Asia, and come back here in December.” “I’ve been waiting for this for a long time,” he eventually said. But Negreanu has fared worse in some of the higher buy-in events. The 2025 WSOP Paradise schedule once again leaned into scale, with every event on the slate awarding a coveted gold bracelet and a mix of massive fields and ultra-high-stakes showpieces.
So apart from the summer WSOP series in Las Vegas, I spend most of my time in Asia. After winning two APT events earlier this year, did you decide to play more APTs? How is the competition different from American players? We experimented with short-form videos, guest blogs from players, including how many blinds a player had, and even just invented a recap show no one at WPT ever asked for called Jess & BJ.