Earl Burton

The 2026 World Series of Poker has begun in Las Vegas, but no broadcast of the tournament action has hit the air yet. The first event to be broadcast will be on Friday, when the WSOP will air the play from the $10,000 No Limit Hold’em Heads-Up World Championship on YouTube. When that action kicks off on Friday, these are the people who will be commenting on it, and they are an all-star cast with years of experience broadcasting poker content.

The 2026 World Series of Poker is underway, but fans might have been left in the dark trying to find information about it. The WSOP, in its infinite wisdom (/off sarcasm), has decided that people don’t need to read about what is going on without downloading an app that is notoriously wonky and difficult to use. The broadcasting efforts for the WSOP, under the auspices of GGPoker, are a mixed bag, with both improvements and failures.

The first week of the 2026 World Series of Poker is in the books, and five men have been fortunate enough to walk away with one of the most prized trophies in poker. The early action has been dominated by non-Texas Hold’em events, with Seven Card Stud and Pot Limit Omaha taking center stage at the 2026 WSOP. That will change on Monday as the Final Four from the $25,000 Heads-Up World Championship square off to determine the biggest buy-in tournament of the Vegas ‘summer camp’ to date.

Monday was a busy day at the 2026 World Series of Poker as two World Championship events concluded their action. In one, the Final Four of the $25,000 Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em event became the “last man standing.” In the other, a noted high-stakes pro fended off two Poker Hall of Famers on his way to capturing the World Championship of Omaha Hi/Lo.

The 2026 World Series of Poker is into its second weekend of the schedule, and players have become accustomed to the daily grind of the tournament. One of the highlights of the past few days has been the victory by poker professional Jeff Madsen, who came off the short stack to win the $1,500 Dealer’s Choice event for his fifth overall bracelet. Meanwhile, in the High Roller world, 22 players remain in the $25,000 No Limit Hold’em High Roller, with Kristen Foxen and Jesse Lonis looking to go deeper into the event.

It’s not like Kristen Foxen has been sneaking up on the poker world. She is one of the few women who step into the high-stakes world of “High Roller” poker, tournaments that run over $10,000. She has won five World Series of Poker bracelets in her career, topping her husband, Alex Foxen, in that category. Kristen can now add another tick mark to her bracelet ledger – and a $1.77 million payday, the biggest of her career – after winning Event #19, the $25,000 High Roller tournament, at the 2026 WSOP.

We are creeping up on the halfway point of the 2026 World Series of Poker, and the race for the Player of the Year is beginning to heat up. It would seem to be natural that the first (and so far, only) double-bracelet winner of the 2026 WSOP, Naoya Kihara, is atop the POY standings. Kihara is facing the onslaught of a perennial challenger for the 2026 WSOP POY crown in Shaun Deeb, and there are plenty of other contenders for the crown.

Since the organization’s creation in 1979, the Poker Hall of Fame has sought to honor the greats of the game ( actually having a physical location would be a good start, but I digress ). To date, 63 members have been inducted, making it a highly exclusive club (there are 33 living members of the Hall). Over the past few years, however, there have been numerous complaints about the Hall’s voting process – and the “powers that be” at the Hall hope that radical changes to the voting process will quash these complaints.

For all intents and purposes, we have reached the halfway point of the 2026 World Series of Poker. 49 tournaments are in the books, and there has been heartbreak and triumph throughout the first half of the schedule. Here are just a few of the highlights – and some lows – that have occurred over the initial half of the 2026 WSOP.

We may have passed the halfway point of the 2026 World Series of Poker, but it seems that some players still have more than enough bankroll to take swings. The first day of the $50,000 Poker Players’ Championship is in the books, although the survivors still don’t know what they are playing for. In another $50,000 buy-in tournament, the PLO High Rollers, there were quite a few familiar names in the mix, with Brazil’s Joao Simao emerging as the champion.