The 2026 World Series of Poker’s $10,000 Championship Event – the “Main Event” to the world – has blasted through its first four Day Ones and its two Day Two flights. Over 9,000 players entered the tournament, and as of Wednesday morning, only 3,294 of those hopefuls remain. For those who were able to watch the broadcast of the Main Event on ESPN+, they were treated to the dominance of Alex Foxen as it literally seemed that players were looking to give their chips to him.
Fourth Largest Main Event of All-Time
Once the smoke cleared from late registration on Tuesday’s Day 2B, the players finally learned what they were playing for. 9,208 players came out in 2026 for the Main Event, a notable downturn from 2025 and nearly a thousand players fewer than in the record-setting year of 2024 (10,112). Those still involved in the tournament have a lot still left to play for, however.
Of the 3,294 players still in the mix, 1,382 of the runners will earn a piece of the $85,634,400 prize pool. The minimum payday for the 1,382nd place finisher will be a slight increase over the $10K buy-in – $15,000 – with the payouts ramping up from that. The final table will create nine new millionaires, with ninth place handing $1 million to that player and the next World Champion picking up $10 million for their achievement.
Even with this largesse, people are wondering about the downturn. It is entirely possible that what was expected in 2025 only took a year to take effect. Economic realities, the crackdown on internationals coming to the U.S., and further instances of harassment from the U.S. government that were expected last year might have just taken a year to show up. The reality is that airline costs are up, as are lodging and eating, and in 2026, those facts might have hit the WSOP. Still, being the fourth-largest Main Event in history is nothing to be ashamed of, especially given the WSOP’s 57-year history.
And About ESPN’s Coverage…
There has also been tremendous outrage over ESPN’s coverage of the 2026 WSOP Main Event. In the first year of the WSOP’s new deal, people were apparently expecting the Worldwide Leader to give up much of its programming day to airing of the WSOP Main Event. That, unfortunately, is not a reality, and people have been complaining about it.
For some reason, viewers want to go back to last year’s arrangement, when PokerGO kept coverage behind a paywall, and there was no attention at all from the mainstream broadcasting world. This is also unrealistic because PokerGO wasn’t doing an adequate job with its strictly streaming broadcasts. At least with ESPN, there will be future broadcasts live on ESPN’s main channels.
For those who do not have ESPN+, check with your cable provider, as some offer the Disney+ package as part of their cable packages. If that is not possible, then there is a monthly charge for the Disney+ package, which earns access to THREE streaming outlets – Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+. Within the next couple of days, the broadcasts will air on the free ESPN outlets.
On Wednesday, Day Three festivities will be shown from 8 PM to 2 AM on ESPN+, and they will do the coverage so they can cut the dinner break and show quite a bit of action. Thursday, the ESPN coverage will move to 3PM-7PM and 9PM-3AM, and at some point, it will be shifted to the general ESPN broadcasting channels (ESPN and ESPN2), possibly as soon as the Day Four play. The 2026 Main Event final table will air on August 3-5 on the main ESPN channel, with time yet to be determined.
Oh, There Was Poker Played, Too…
The Main Event broadcasts on ESPN+ were quite entertaining, and they chose to emphasize the poker being played rather than the “personalities” in the field. Plenty of top names came to the featured tables, including Shaun Deeb, Alex Foxen, and former World Champion Hossein Ensan, and they showed their skills quite well. Of course, some of the challengers’ antics had some shaking their heads, especially when they benefited the “big guns.”
In one particular moment, Foxen was sitting with pocket Aces while an opponent, who I believe was named Hinh Nyugen, was considering his action with an A♠ 6♠. At this point, Foxen was sitting at the mid-300,000-chip mark, while Nguyen had about 60K. Inexplicably, Nguyen pushed with his stack, and a more-than-willing Foxen made the call. “How do you make that call, bro?” was all Nguyen could say as the runout kept Foxen in the lead and sent Nguyen and his beer to the rail (don’t drink when you’re playing, kiddoes). The table could not have been pleased that Foxen received a chip donation like that, and Foxen would eventually end the day on a 493,000 stack.
Deeb also motored through the Day 2B field rather decently. He was tasked with Jason Mercier on the felt, and Mercier could never find a hand to get his day jump-started. He would eventually fall to Deeb, who finished the day with 368,000 in chips.
For those who enjoy torture, you won’t have Martin Kabrhel to administer it anymore. He would be sent to the rail by a particularly joyful Farid Jattin, who told PokerNews, “I had to take care of him,” as he sent him to the rail. As we prepare for The Gathering of the 3,294 “immortals,” of which there can be only one left standing, here is how the Top Ten (unofficially) stand:
1. Michael Rossito, 770,500
2. Gaspar Fernandez, 754,000*
3. Jeff Fenster, 747,000
4. Yannick Schumacher, 738,000
5. Mason Vieth, 730,000*
6. Robert Gill, 728,000
7. Joseph Baghdalian, 705,000
8. Arturas Astrauskas, 646,500*
9. Michael Banducci, 630,000*
(tie) Farid Jattin, 630,000
(* – Day 2A players)
Action resumes this afternoon at 11 AM (PDT), with another five levels of play in the 2026 WSOP Main Event.
