As the 2026 World Series of Poker gets underway, poker fans have noticed one peculiarity when looking to watch the old WSOP tapes. They were no longer available on PokerGO!
A few days ago, the world’s largest aggregator of poker content removed the entire library of WSOP footage from previous years from its platform due to a rights transition from PokerGO to ESPN.
For several years, all WSOP coverage was taken care of by PokerGO, and fans could find hundreds of hours of footage from previous years, going back decades, on the popular platform.
This is no longer the case, as PokeGO’s tenure as the holder of WSOP rights has expired, and the only questions that remain are what will happen to all the old footage and whether we will be able to watch it elsewhere.
What WSOP Footage Was Lost?
While old WSOP footage may not be too interesting to some casual poker fans, for the diehard poker enthusiasts, summer is often the time to go into the library and re-watch the old Main Event episodes, as well as other iconic moments from the Series’ history.
PokeGO held that entire library safely tucked away behind its paywall until just days ago, including Main Event episodes going back to the 1970s, live-stream Main Event footage from the more recent years, and hundreds of final tables played across different poker formats.
For many players, this footage was a great way to study the game and learn about tournament poker as well, without having to pay for expensive poker coaching sessions or poker training site subscriptions.
Watching the best players in the world ply their trade was a great way to understand their way of thinking, and also one of the few opportunities most players got to learn about mixed games, for which there is so little content out there.
Loading up the WSOP library on PokerGO gave us a chance to watch the likes of Phil Ivey, Jeremy Ausmus, Benny Glaser, and Scott Seiver play games like Seven Card Stud and 2-7 Single Draw, and get a unique perspective on how these elite players approach different forms of poker.
None of this will be possible at PokerGO anymore, as the platform has been completely scraped of all WSOP content, while shows like High Stakes Poker and No Gamble No Future remained intact.
Where Can We Watch the WSOP Now?
When it comes to this year’s coverage, there is good news! The 2026 WSOP coverage will be available on the WSOP’s YouTube channel, and has already begun with the $25k Heads Up Championship, and continues with the $10k GGMillion$, the $25k High Roller, and the $1.5k Monster Stack over the next few days.
The Main Event itself, of course, will be covered in full by ESPN, and we should be able to watch live streams of the early days on the WSOP YouTube as well.
However, the question still remains of what happens to all the old footage and the thousands of hours of WSOP content that were removed from PokerGO.
A small portion of that content, namely the WSOP Main Event live streams from recent years, remains available on PokerGO’s YouTube channel, although it’s not clear if this content will also be removed.
On the other hand, all the edited episodes and the various final table footage from other events are not available anywhere right now, and may not be for the foreseeable future.
If we are going to speculate, there is a good chance that all of this content shows up on the WSOP YouTube page, completely free of charge, and free for everyone to watch quite soon.
It would seem silly for the WSOP and GGPoker to let all of this perfectly good content go to waste, and given PokerGO is the only subscription-based poker content aggregator, the content is likely to be free, wherever it may show up.
WSOP could also charge a YouTube channel subscription for fans looking to access the content in the future, but it currently doesn’t seem too interested in monetizing the content in this way.
Instead, what’s more likely to happen is that all poker fans will soon have a chance to watch their favorite WSOP moments without a paywall, which can only be a good thing for the global expansion of poker.
How Will This Affect PokerGO?
Since launching in 2017, PokerGO has been the go-to platform for poker fans looking to enjoy some poker content. From premium cash game shows like High Stakes Poker to coverage of live events like the WSOP and the PokerGO Tour, the platform held most of the high-quality poker content behind a paywall.
PokerGO held the sole rights to the WSOP, by far the most popular poker tournament series in the world, which meant all fans who wanted to watch the footage were forced to pay a subscription.
Moving forward, this won’t be the case anymore, and it could mean that many who used to log into their PokerGO accounts on a regular basis may instead choose to get their poker action fix elsewhere.
The platform will still have shows like No Gamble No Future and High Stakes Poker available, and this alone will be enough for many diehard fans to keep paying their subscriptions.
Yet, for the casual fan, the lack of WSOP coverage may be the breaking point, and the platform is guaranteed to suffer some decline in active subscribers in the coming months.
Whether PokerGO can recover by bringing us the next big thing in poker remains to be seen, but losing the WSOP content was a major blow that will take some recovering from.
For the time being, keep refreshing the WSOP YouTube page on a daily basis for more 2026 coverage, and stay on the lookout for the old WSOP content resurfacing on a different platform in the coming weeks.
