2026 World Series of Poker review - Part 1 of 2
The perspective of the fan.
The 2026 version of the World Series of Poker is well underway with controversy, hardware, and Hall of Fame talk being thrown around every which direction. As you are probably aware by now, this newsletter isn’t about digging into the gossip or who’s who of the poker world but rather the experience of the mindful player and how a person can get the most from this game.
That said, the reality is the WSOP is the face of tournament poker. As this is truth, I feel like it is pertinent to share thoughts on the direction of our game and the direction of its flagship.
This is part 1 of a 2 part series looking at the 2026 WSOP. In this issue, we will be talking about the series from the fan / viewer point of view. This is the experience of the WSOP that we have at home or work through the various screens that occupy our lives. This includes “live” coverage, poker media, the WSOP Live app, and other sources that we enjoy or are experiencing.
Let’s start with the stream.
A subscription to PokerGo is no longer required to enjoy the WSOP live stream play. This may sound great - and it is in a lot of ways - but the product is very different in a lot of other ways. And in my opinion - both for the good and bad.
The Main Event will be on ESPN. I think it is an uncontroversial slam dunk that makes most everyone happy. I hope that the entire stream is available rather than the abridged version of the broadcast that ESPN aired in the past. I really enjoy watching the entire Main Event coverage throughout the year. Putting the biggest stage of the game on ESPN is the best move to draw interest to the game from potential new players and viewers.
Which brings me to another point. My wife and I were in the middle of Day 7 of the 2025 WSOP Main when PokerGo lost their rights to the WSOP earlier this month. Now we can’t watch ANY WSOP coverage on PokerGo. I understand that television rights are valuable and once a contract ends that’s it. However, what I don’t understand is when an organization knows that the contract is ending -GG Poker- and fails to have the new platform ready for broadcasting the content that is tied to the rights. Essentially, if GG wants to use YouTube or ESPN for streaming older content, why did they not have it ready to go the moment the PokerGo contract ended? This makes no sense to me from a fan or business perspective.
This year’s streaming on YouTube also has its problems. It has a 2 hour delay which I don’t have a big problem with but it seems to irk some other viewers. It also appears the selection of games that are streamed have been limited primarily to high roller No Limit action. I have nothing against the high rollers but you would think the coverage would be broken up a little. It seems every day I’m watching another 25K, 100K, 250K. Further, they seem to be mostly NLH save a couple PLO tournaments. I would think it would be in the best interest to keep things fresh by streaming some lower budget tournaments that the average Joe may play when he makes it out there later in the summer.
To be fair, Jeff Platt has said that there will be more of these lower buyins on stream coming soon. While I take Jeff at his word on this, I also - sadly - have to take him at his word that there will be little or no streaming of mixed games. One thing PokerGo did really well was to show final tables or guys and gals that knew what they were doing playing a game that we aren’t all familiar with. I really enjoyed watching last year’s O8 championship final table with Viktor Blom, Ryan Bambrick, and Daniel Negreanu. Further, we wouldn’t have gotten a front row seat to watch Benny Glaser take down multiple bracelets in the mix. This year, we simply missed watching Nick Schulman win his 8th bracelet in the $1500 H.O.R.S.E. Missed it. From what I understand, there is no broadcast of it at all. That’s a tragedy and a major downgrade.
GG and WSOP are smart. They are following some kind of statistics or algorithm when making these decisions. I feel like they know what the public wants and they want to provide it without going “outside the lines”. To their point, I have no doubt that 95% of poker viewers want to watch NLH or PLO streams exclusively. However, the people watching non Main Event streams are not everyday viewers. We are a small percentage of the overall poker viewers. We are the die hards. I would venture to guess that those of us tuning in everyday are more interested in the mixed games than the average person watching the Main Event.
On top of this, participation numbers are down a bit - around 8%. This isn’t due to WSOP decisions per se but rather the ebbs and flows of players and the economy - and uncertainty of it - play a part as well.
However, the events where player entries are up across the board? - Mixed Games.
Countdown Show
This was a great idea. Its not perfected but the idea is a countdown to the stream by going over what happened the day an night before. They discuss themes of the series, bracelet winners, interviews, and some hand analysis. Of the episodes that I have watched, they often have a guest host from the poker world. (Imagine a condensed College Gameday for poker)
The hosts are Jeff Platt, David Williams, Joe Stapleton, and Norman Chad and, while they are still finding their cadence and characters, its worth the watch.
WSOP Live app
The WSOP+ app was introduced last year and it was an absolute game changer. No more waiting in lines or trying to find your friend - whether while in the room or across the country. Being able to virtual rail without disturbing the player and follow the action on multiple fronts is amazing.
Well they managed to improve it! It seems that the player history shown in her profile now includes comprehensive results - not just the WSOP variety. We are now seeing full Hendon Mob like thoroughness at our fingertips.
The Stories section now allows you to tag players and specific tournaments and if you ask #WSOPMedia to take photos of you playing they will send a photographer to your table and seat and capture and tag you so you can share with your friends and rail.
It has been exciting seeing the changes to this year’s series from the perspective of the fan. I hope that improvement continues because this is worth getting right.
We will be going to the WSOP next week on our annual pilgrimage. This means in part 2 of this series we will be able to give an experienced review of this year’s series from the perspective of the player. We will try to touch on all the aspects of the player experience including money deposits, the new setup of the mothership, rate the dealer feature, and - hopefully - the payout process ;).
I hope you enjoyed this essay and it made you think about how my experience as a fan compares to yours. I’d love to hear what your experience as a fan has been like so far this year. Please feel free to leave a comment below and if you enjoyed this, please leave a like (heart). It is appreciated. As always, thanks for reading.
When you come do Vegas for the WSOP, come find me. I’d love to chat!