Image courtesy of the World Series of Poker (Alicia Skillman)
The week behind us (and the few days ahead of us) represent the most exciting time of every World Series of Poker. It is, of course, the week of the Main Event!
This year’s tournament ended up attracting 9,208 players, making it the fourth-largest in the series history. While the attendance saw a bit of a drop compared to the last couple of years, it is still a massive field for a $10k event.
From that 9,000+, the field is down to just 174 players at the time of writing this article. They will be coming back later today for Day 6 action to continue their journey toward the most coveted of all WSOP bracelets.
The Main Event overshadowed all other happenings at the series, but Phil Hellmuth managed to make some noise and get the discussion going on the current Player of the Year system, challenging its validity and claiming that a player who doesn’t end up in profit should not be considered for the title.
2027 WSOP Week 7 Bracelet Winners
| Event | Winner | Prize Money | Total Entries |
| #64 — $25,000 High Roller PLO/NLH Mixed | Eelis Parssinen | $1,172,296 | 214 |
| #65 — $1,500 Freezeout No-Limit Hold’em | Ciro Gonzalez | $449,067 | 2,617 |
| #66 — $1,000 Tag Team No-Limit Hold’em | Breno Drumond — Henrique Lessa | $184,769 | 1,375 |
| #67 — $10,000 Limit 2-7 Championship | Koji Fujimoto | $392,478 | 176 |
| #81 — $800 Summer Celebration | Toby Price | $500,000 | 6,803 |
| #83 — $1,500 Double Board Bomb Pot Pot-Limit Omaha | Justin Fawcett | $322,564 | 1,673 |
| #84 — $5,000 Super Turbo Bounty No-Limit Hold’em | Myles Mullaly | $593,601 | 1,213 |
| #85 — $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em | Zixuan Liu | $219,391 | 1,738 |
| #86 — $600 Ultra Stack No-Limit Hold’em | Eric Weber | $400,000 | 8,007 |
| #87: $1,000 Mystery Bounty Pot-Limit Omaha | Matthew Shepsky | $305,000 | 4,764 |
The Top 2%
With the Main Event down to 174 players, it means that there is only 2% of the original field left in the tournament. When you think about it that way, it is really quite an accomplishment for everyone who managed to find a bag at the end of Day 5.
All of them are guaranteed to pocket at least $57,500, which is a decent return on the original $10,000 buy-in. However, there is not a single person still left in the field not dreaming of capturing one of the seats at the final table, which comes with a seven-figure guarantee and a shot at the $10,000,000 first place.
Michael Mizrachi, the defending champion, was making a deep run, and the eyes of the poker world were on him to see if he could perhaps do the impossible. Unfortunately, his hopes were crushed yesterday as he was sent to the rail.
Ryan Riess and Greg Raymer were eliminated, too, leaving only one former Main Event winner in the field. Hossein Ensan will be coming back to a rather healthy stack of 70 big blinds, looking to repeat his 2019 run.
Shaun Deeb, the man eyeing the Player of the Year title, survived the day as well, and he’ll be coming back to a very solid stack. With Alex Foxen having been eliminated yesterday as well, Deeb is now in a position to close the gap between him and the current leader.
Brock Wilson made it through as well, although he’ll be working with a bit of a shorter stack. Todd Brunson managed to find a bag, too, and he has some chips to work with.
Lara Eisenberg and Caitlin Comeskey are carrying the banner for the ladies in the tournament. Having bagged stacks of over 30 big blinds, their Main Event dreams are still alive and well.
The action will continue today, and there is no telling what’s in the cards. If you’d like to watch things unfold (almost) live, tune in for the free Main Event stream on YouTube (if you’re outside of the US) or check out the ESPN app if you’re trying to watch from the United States.
Hellmuth Criticizes the POY System
Although the Main Event is stealing most of the attention of the poker world, Phil Hellmuth managed to get some of it by challenging the current Player of the Year system.
The 17-WSOP-bracelet-winner came out stating that only the players who actually make a profit during the series should be eligible for the Player of the Year title.
This idea did not get a lot of support from his fellow professionals, with the likes of Daniel Negreanu pointing out that the whole POY race wasn’t designed with a recreational player in mind.
While Hellmuth’s proposal may seem to make sense, the World Series of Poker spans a huge range of buy-ins, from just a few hundred bucks to several hundred thousand. A player could win two or three small buy-in events with massive fields and still end up losing money if they ran bad in high rollers.
This could lead to some strange situations where those chasing the POY title are reluctant to enter big buy-in events, and those fields tend to be quite small as it is.
While the current Player of the Year system isn’t perfect, it works pretty well, given the huge span of buy-ins and the number of different poker variants featured at the series.
It is designed to reward serious players who put in the time and the volume, and it feels that’s exactly what the POY race should be. Imagine punishing someone who won a couple of bracelets and had a few deep runs just because they busted early from a few $100k+ tournaments, and now they end up in the red.
It just doesn’t feel right.
It’s the Final Countdown
The 2026 World Series of Poker is nearing its conclusion. There are only a handful of tournaments left to play before the poker summer camp in Las Vegas closes down for the year.
Of course, this year, we’ll have to wait a bit longer to find out the name of the Main Event winner, as the final table action will be postponed for early August.
This will give us something to look forward to once the rest of the series is over and some time to get to know the nine who make it to the biggest of big stages!
