Event #60: $50,000 Poker Players Championship 2026 World Series of Poker
This put Saaskilahti to a decision for his tournament life, and he took a moment while talking to his rail. After taking some more time, Saaskilahti announced a call. „I’m going to need a couple of days (to think about it),” Jumalon said, „but nothing too rash.” His mother, Robin Jumalon, who pushed her son to graduate earlier this year before going all-in on poker, got teary-eyed as she discussed her son’s accomplishment. After much thought, he finally decided that there was a strong possibility Jumalon was bluffing.
Poker players during that era had television identities, online personas, forum reputations, and private selves that could be very different from one another. 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 itself and break down a hand. Nothing compared to that format of podcast where you heard the news of what was going on in the tournament, what the gossip was, where people ended up after play ended, and, my personal favorite, the table talk. 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. I always thought it was an advantage to be a woman in the tournament reporting space because poker tournaments are very boring and these guys are stuck in their seats and just want someone to talk to. It was simply that I knew which online screennames belonged to which real-life poker tournament participants.
The World Series of Poker first appeared on ESPN in 1987, with coverage initially limited to documentary-style highlights that aired months after the event. With our new ownership’s commitment to growth, this is the perfect time to bring the 'World Championship’ back to the biggest stage in sports.” The announcement puts an end to weeks of speculation following the release of the 2026 WSOP schedule, which hinted at a major shake-up to the tournament structure. For the first time since 2020, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event is returning to ESPN.
Why ‘Emotional Bankroll’ Management Matters Just as Much as Your Chips
Just like that, one river card completely changed the trajectory of the tournament. Jumalon began to pick on on his opponent, but then it all turned around in the matter of one hand. But Saaskilahti was far from passive, even in some instances where he held weak hands. The chip leader then took another meaningful pot with middle pair in a non-raised preflop hand. Jumalon drew early blood a few hands into the match with a preflop raise, large-sized continuation bet, and a half-pot turn bet that took down the pot.
Then there are other players who are really about that life. But they completely neglect the fact that poker is a multi-street game. A lot of people call the turn because they think they have the best hand enough of the time.
Sam Greenwood breaks down that hand from the heads up battle between Lauri Saaskilahti and Lucas Jumalon on his Punt of the Day Substack. 👏@NickWalshTV looks at the hand that saw the Argentinian turn $5 into $1,000,000 in a Spin & Go. $374K+ goes to the winner and they’ll be a day away from it in just hours.
Click on an individual event and you’ll be taken straight to the tournament coverage. Yes, several, there are six $25,000 high rollers, four $50,000 events, two $100,000 buy-ins, and the $250,000 Super High Roller. That’s incredibly more than 833 times more expensive than the cheapest event on the schedule! There are several poker shows in the industry, but none have run as long in the poker news sector as the PokerNews Podcast. The Life Outside Poker Podcast releases sporadically on a Tuesday at 8a PT / 4p UK time.The MSPT Podcast Presented By PokerNews releases every other week on Wednesdays at 8a PT / 4p UK time. The audio version and YouTube live version both release at 8a PT / 4p UK time.
Understanding how your friends play and being ready to change your plan is key. Playing poker at home is fun with friends and family, and having a good strategy makes it even better. The best strategy for cash games means knowing how to deal with these changes.
- Well, the last couple of days I had Lucas Jumalon on my left with mountains of chips.
- Today we’re going to talk about five questions you can ask yourself before making a thinner call.
- In tournament poker, mastering diverse strategies is crucial due to shifting dynamics like increasing blinds and varying stack sizes.
- And then Negreanu took center stage – first providing listeners with a bit of his poker backstory before launching into a story about his first bracelet win back in 1998.
Glaser, Arieh, and Ivey made up a star-studded final three, but none carried more pedigree in the event than Ivey. Within the space of a few orbits, the six-handed finale had been cut in half. „I think I’m up there. I don’t personally like saying I’m number one. I think there’s a lot of other great players who are in contention.” If there were any lingering doubts about Glaser’s place among the game’s all-time mixed-game greats, the past 12 months have erased them.
Yau entered heads-up against one of poker’s most feared opponents, but he wasn’t without help. The Spanish superstar had previously gone a perfect 6-0 with a bracelet on the line but had to settle for $175,150 after coming up short this time. The victory also saw Yau hand Mateos his first-ever defeat in a WSOP bracelet heads-up match. The tournament attracted 226 entries, and generated a $1,130,000 prize pool.
The atmosphere will be electric, and you can expect some big names to come check out the final table of the greatest poker tournament in the world. I wish him and all the final table players the joy and thrill of it that I was so fortunate to have. I think it’s clear Jumalon is the favorite, and as long as he can play a good final table, he should secure a nice payday. I don’t want to play poker full-time, but I will definitely try to play more tournaments than I have so far.
Even the world’s best poker player look for ways to continually improve their game. PokerNews is the leading authority on bringing you the best poker news and live reporting. The championship features three starting flights before the surviving players battle through three more days for a share of the $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool and the coveted title. The series opens with the $600 Deep Stack Kick Off, which carries a $1,000,000 guarantee and features six starting flights before players return to play down to a champion.
Poker Hands Rankings: The Best Poker Hands From High to Low
Rami Hammoud played amazing for an alleged 'rec’. All I really care about is someone who loves and represents the game in the best way possible. But if not them, I think Jumalon would be a very good ambassador of the game. Has this Main Event run reignited your passion to play a bit more during the year?
Holtz has just over $775K in career cashes, according to The Hendon Mob, with his highest score coming in a live event at the Venetian in February of 2023. Mike Holtz is a poker player from Ocean City, MD, and is the reigning WSOP Online Player of the Year. MSPT Podcast Presented By PokerNews releases a new episode every other week at 8a PT / 4p UK time on Wednesdays. Every Thursday at 8a PT / 4p UK time, a new PokerNews Podcast is released on all major podcasting platforms and can be watched on YouTube.
As if there isn’t enough live poker going on to keep players happy, PokerStars is offering the latest version of their World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP). It only took a couple of hours to go from the final seven players, blow past the final three players, and reach the final two survivors in the tournament. After a Monday night that seemed like it would last forever, it was a rather rapid Tuesday for the 2026 WSOP Main Event final table.
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Since 1854, when the California Grand Casino opened in Pacheco, poker has been established in the state. That is about all we know for the time being – complete schedule and details will be published in the coming weeks – but it enough for now for… Read more » Quarter-century of poker Online poker giant PokerStars has announced that the 25th running of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) will be September 6-30. That will be rectified this week as the crème of the European poker world goes to one of its favorite locations, the Casino Barcelona in Spain. Since 1970, the WSOP has been the place where that dream lives. The WSOP bracelet is the ultimate symbol of poker history and greatness.
While it took 38 hands to go from eight players to seven, it took only 16 more to reach heads-up play, setting up a memorable battle and a fitting conclusion. What was your take on the way the WSOP Main Event final table went down? “I really have no idea how many final tables I made this summer.” Justin Hammer is the Live Events Director for PokerAtlas, an online tournament director for the Texas-based poker app Hijack, and a tournament director at Thunder Valley Casino Resort. We posted a lot of videos on social media to reach out to all the area’s poker players.
On the flip side, Smit observed many players in the WSOP Main Event were seemingly oblivious to the moment-by-moment play of each hand. And the best players understood the difference and exploited it relentlessly. Guy Richards Smit didn’t travel from NYC to Las Vegas this summer as a poker player for the love of the game, or to compete at the WSOP. Even if I win this thing, can I get back to the final table again?
Molenaar peeked down at kh,kd in the big blind, covering both players. Start-of-day leader Reoma Ogawa was ousted in seventh place when his roughly nine-big-blind three-bet shove was called by Molenaar’s ac,qs. It finally came 38 hands later with Yuya Arito falling to Chan after he jammed 5h,5d from the small blind and couldn’t hold up against Chan’s call from the big blind with ks,jh. The Thai player, who entered the day with just over $22K in Hendon Mob-reported earnings, opened to five big blinds from a 14-big-blind stack with ac,td. Sutthi Denvitaya was the unfortunate bubble boy, exiting in a curiously played hand.
See how the Triton Poker Series reshaped high-stakes poker – Jeju’s record fields, Triton ONE, and next-gen broadcasting. Full 33-event schedule, a $25M Main Event, $5M+ in promos, and how to qualify cheaply. Micheal O’Neill and Hyunkyou Park share their paths to WPT success and why NagaWorld at Cambodia remains their favorite poker stop in Asia. Shinichiro Kano leads the final 47 in the record APT Incheon Main Event, while the Zodiac Classic draws 403 entries and Yingjie Chen wins. If you’re curious how this plays out outside the felt, our prediction markets guide shows how real‑world forecasting works They include odds calculators, hand charts, strategy books and training courses.
Playing at the 2026 WSOP isn’t something reserved just for the millionaires and top poker pros. With nearly 100,000 square feet of gaming space, over 2,900 rooms, and iconic replicas of the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe, Paris Las Vegas delivers both grandeur and excitement. Its storied poker room and upgraded amenities make it the perfect setting for this year’s poker spectacle. A true landmark in Las Vegas poker history, Horseshoe Las Vegas combines decades of tradition with modern flair. The 2026 WSOP kicks off on Tuesday, May 26, and runs through Wednesday, July 15, 2026.
Connor started reporting with PokerNews at the 2021 World Series of Poker and has covered events including the 2023 WSOP Main Event, PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) and the PokerStars Players Championship (PSPC). Kyna England is an American poker player with nearly $1.1 million in career earnings who was named the 2021 Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) Player of the Year. Ben Ludlow is a professional poker player and comedian from Cincinnati, Ohio (go Bengals).
When we got down to heads-up, he had become handcuffed and in really bad shape because he had completely run out of time banks. 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. My types of mistakes in PLO are not reraising, four-betting, and all that stuff – it’s just playing too many hands, which is fine.
The announcement marks the beginning of a new era for players in the regulated US states of New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan, with PokerStars exclusively on FanDuel also available to players in Ontario. The move will see FanDuel become the exclusive home of PokerStars, combining the PokerStars experience players know and love with FanDuel’s large existing player base. But there are many other players who could bolster their PHOF credentials with strong performances this summer, potentially taking the induction Poker News Daily away from Schulman or Seiver. A second tournament, $500 Industry Employees No-Limit Hold’em, will begin at 2 p.m. The 56th annual poker extravaganza kicked off with the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Mystery Millions event. For the 24th straight year, Lon McEachern and Norman Chad will commentate on the 2026 WSOP Main Event, but they will not be involved with the daily livestreams through the series.
Ten levels are scheduled or playing down to 48 players. Catch all the action LIVE now on the APT livestream with Punnat Punsri at the feature table. Follow along with the APT live stream all day long! We are the place to be for the latest chip counts, updates and photos from some of the biggest events around the world.
Because it’s much easier to truly improve at the game than it used to be. It’s no secret that the quality of poker training has increased by orders of magnitude since the boom years. If you stick to those, you’re much safer and more secure than you would have been in even casino poker rooms 25 or 30 years ago.
Sometimes I’ll be playing live, and I’ll have a really nice lady at the table. The 2026 WSOP Main Event final table runs from Monday to Wednesday this coming week on ESPN2 and ESPN. I also want to give a shoutout to Mario Boos, the only player at the final table I shared the felt with (Day 6 feature table). And a player with a commanding chip lead at the final table will always start as the favorite.
Maria Ho, a popular longtime poker pro, will serve as an analyst. The commentators have all been announced for the daily livestreaming coverage, which begins May 29, and they are all familiar faces within the poker community. So, poker fans who don’t want to pay to watch the Main Event can still catch plenty of the action for free, albeit non-live. ESPN is part of virtually every cable package and played an integral role in poker’s exponential growth in the early 2000s. But fear not, the biggest event of the year in poker will be easily accessible to poker fans around the world, for free (well, most of it).
It is always important to look at which hands you block and which hands you do not block because that can influence your decision. If there are easier spots at the table, you do not always need to take the thinnest possible edge against the toughest opponent. I was running over the entire table and doing really well.