Over the past two months, thousands of players descended on Las Vegas to take part in the 57^th annual World Series of Poker (WSOP). With just three more tournament days to go until the Main Event concludes next week, 51 tournament days are in the bag and the numbers are in from a phenomenal series.

Expanded Schedule and Broadcast Reaches Millions

“The energy inside Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas was nothing short of electric.”

One of the biggest changes in 2026 was that across the seven-week series, not only were live and online WSOP bracelet events conducted seamlessly, but a new broadcast team brought the action to more viewers than ever. A mammoth 378 million views on the WSOP social media channels saw more poker fans reached than ever before and the action inside Paris Las Vegas and Horseshoe Las Vegas was great too.

The redesign of the WSOP Broadcast Stage at Paris Las Vegas coincided with a brand-new team on hand to present the action, with anchor Jeff Platt ably supported by Joe Stapleton, David Williams and Norman Chad, with guests from the world of poker stepping into one of those three ‘pundit’ seats throughout the WSOP.

Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with the 100 live gold bracelet events brought to life with entertaining commentary, bullish predictions and the Stapes feature ‘Tight Laydown’ bringing action to life in exactly the way poker fans wanted it.

“The 57^th annual World Series of Poker proved that Las Vegas remains the undisputed epicenter of the poker universe,” Ty Stewart, the WSOP’s Chief Executive Officer said. “The energy inside Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas was nothing short of electric. What is truly remarkable this year is how our community expanded far beyond the physical walls of the casino floor.”

Stewart himself credited the physical changes made to the set in Las Vegas as transformative to the standard of the WSOP broadcast.

“Through our newly redesigned final table arena, extensive linear broadcast schedule, and unprecedented digital engagement, we brought the drama, excitement, and glory of winning a WSOP gold bracelet to millions of new fans worldwide,” he said. “We are incredibly proud of this summer’s success and cannot wait to witness the Final Nine battle for the World Championship on ESPN next month.”

Big Names Build Legends

The Las Vegas Strip was the place to be all summer and one constant theme of the 2026 WSOP in as Vegas was that while many players won their first bracelets, several stars of the game added to their legacies alongside them. Winning a WSOP gold bracelet is the dream of so many players, and several big names carved out historic wins. Daniel Negreanu won his eighth WSOP bracelet by taking down Event #76, the $100,000 PLO High Roller event for over $2.2 million, laying down a marker for his year by beating Russian pro Artur Martirosian heads-up for the gold.

The 2025 WSOP Main Event champion Michael ‘The Grinder’ Mizrachi took down Event #70, the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship for his ninth WSOP title and over $1.35m, while Kristen and Alex Foxen won their sixth and fourth WSOP bracelets to date, winning Event #19, the $25,000 NLHE High Roller and Event #44, the $10,000 NLHE Super Turbo Bounty events respectively.

Benny Glaser took down the $50,000 buy-in Poker Players Championship for the biggest bracelet win of his career to join Mizrachi on nine WSOP wins and he was soon in the winner’s circle with a very familiar name as Shaun Deeb took down Event #74, the $1,500 8-Game 6-Max event for a top score of $181,625.

Deeb’s win was pivotal in terms of the WSOP Player of the Year race. With the Japanese comparative newcomer Naoya Kihara winning two bracelets and coming runner-up when heads-up for a third, Deeb’s victory put him on top of the leaderboard heading into The Bahamas WSOP Paradise series, where this year’s POY will be confirmed at the Baha Mar resort from December 1 to 17 inclusive. Alex Foxen could yet be the biggest threat to Deeb making history and retaining a POY crown, something never done before in poker.

Bumper Numbers Signal Positive Growth

Attendances were huge in Las Vegas this summer, and the WSOP Main Event – often a solid gauge of numbers – was the fourth largest in poker history. Clocking in at a massive 9,208, this year’s Main Event field meant that once again a top prize of $10,000,000 will be on the line when players return to the ESPN-screened final table between August 3^rd and 5^th. Here are the start times, with all times local to Las Vegas.

• August 3rd – 5pm (PST) with broadcast 9pm-12am EST on a one-hour delay.
• August 4th – 4pm (PST)
• August 5th – 6pm (PST). ESPN coverage due to start at 10.30 EST, but depending on the baseball game run time, the broadcast may begin earlier as the WSOP will directly follow the game coverage.

The action will also be broadcast around the world, with global partners HBO Max, Eurosport, and TNT Sports bringing the action to millions of poker fans next week.

The renamed WSOP Live mobile app thrived once again, with real-time updates, table draws, and registrations continuing to make the player and fan experiences more aligned than ever. As well as streamlining registration processes, almost entirely ruling out lengthy queues during the summer, real-time seat alerts and player-friendly live updates made playing at the WSOP an experience that could be enjoyed by players of all levels.

Some of the numbers put down by this year’s WSOP are simply mind-blowing, but here are our highlights:

• 251,899 total WSOP entries – a new record was set in 2026 for pure attendance.
• 35,157 places paid – more players than ever cashed in a WSOP event.
• 22,811 entered the Mystery Millions – Event #63 saw its biggest field ever, making it the largest $1,000 buy-in event in live tournament poker history.
• 1,368 Ladies Played Their Championship – the biggest Ladies Championship field ever sat down in Las Vegas to make history on the Strip.
• A Monster 11,933 Entries – the Monster Stack was the largest ever at the WSOP.
• PLO Mystery Bounty Breaks Records -With 4,764 entries, the largest Pot-Limit Omaha event in live tournament poker history played out in Event #87.
• Mini Main Event Goes to the Max – there were 12,560 entries in Event #72, the $1,000  Mini Main event, making it the biggest one yet.
• Double-Oh Heaven – 57 events paid out $2m-plus prize pools, equalling 2025.
• Global Play – a total of 149 countries were represented at the WSOP over the summer, with a record 111 countries’ players taking on the Main Event.
• Experience Counts – The oldest player to take part in a WSOP event was Merle Vangieson, who turned 95 during the series!
• Youth Joins In – Spare a thought for Easton Jorgensen, who had to wait until July 13^th to take part when he turned 21 in Las Vegas and played his first WSOP event!