The 2026 World Series of Poker is all but over. The WSOP still hasn’t crowned the Main Event champion, but we know it’s going to be one of nine players who already have a new $1,000,000 entry on their Hendon Mob profiles. One player will win $10,000,000 on August 5.
That’s to come – what about what already happened? 99 bracelets were awarded. No one died (that we know of). And we’ve seen some huge numbers:
- 251,899 total entries – a new record for the WSOP in a single series
- $469,975,059 – the total amount given away in prize money
- $47.3 million taken in tournament fees ($33.1 million was kept by the WSOP and $14.2 million was paid to dealers and staff)
- 41 – the number of prizes of $1 million or more given out
- 149 – countries represented at the 2026 WSOP
- 111 – countries represented in the Main Event. A new record and up from 103 last year
- 7 – tournaments attracted more than 10,000 entries
- 95 – the age of Merle Vangieson, the oldest person to play this summer
The 2026 WSOP gave away $469,975,059 in prize money.Top 10 countries represented at the 2026 WSOP
The World Series of Poker is truly international, unlike some other 'World Series' events held in the United States. In 2026, it was more global than ever, with players from 149 countries competing across the series and 111 represented in the Main Event alone.
- USA
- Canada
- France
- Great Britain
- Japan
- China
- Israel
- Germany
- Brazil
- Mexico
2026 was the most successful year for Japanese players, with four bracelets. And Naoya Kihara threatened to win several more in an incredible summer that saw him end second on the Player of the Year leaderboard, only narrowly behind Shaun Deeb despite not playing the WSOPE.
- Naoya Kihara - $10K 7 Card Stud
- Naoya Kihara - $10K NL 2-7 Single Draw
- Koji Fujimoto - $10K 2-7 Triple Draw
- Daisuke Ogita - $1K Mini Main Event
Naoya Kihara won two WSOP bracelets and ended second on the Player of the Year leaderboard.
2026 Main Event
It didn’t get anywhere near the 10,000 mark, but 9,208 players made it the fourth-biggest of all time. That’s still a great number for a freezeout, even if the three biggest Main Events have all come in the previous three years.
- 2023 Main Event: 10,043
- 2024 Main Event: 10,112
- 2025 Main Event: 9,735
- 2026 Main Event: 9,208
A record 431 women played the Main Event this year (4.68% of the field and up from 369 in 2025).
Ladies Championship
Talking of women and records, 1,475 entries to the 2026 Ladies Championship made it the largest women’s event in poker history.
- 2023 Ladies Championship: 1,295
- 2024 Ladies Championship: 1,245
- 2025 Ladies Championship: 1,368
- 2026 Ladies Championship: 1,475
Pot Limit Omaha
Daniel Negreanu is fond of saying, “PLO is my jam” – and it’s hard to argue after he won his eighth bracelet in the $100K High Roller PLO for $2,257,718.
But it’s also ‘the jam’ of an ever-growing number of players. Event #87: $1,000 Mystery Bounty Pot-Limit Omaha became the largest PLO event in live tournament history, with 4,764 entries.
Negreanu won the biggest buy-in PLO event at the 2026 WSOP.Record attendances
The WSOP boasted new records in a number of tournaments.
- 22,811 entries in Event #63: $1,000 Mystery Millions No-Limit Hold’em – 2026’s biggest field and the biggest $1,000 event in live tournament history.
- 12,560 entries in Event #72: $1,000 Mini Main Event – a new record for the Mini Main Event.
- 11,933 entries in Event #18: $1,500 Monster Stack No-Limit Hold’em – a new record for the Monster Stack.
However, it’s hard to judge records on uneven playing fields.
The $1,500 Monster Stack at the 2026 WSOP crossed 10,000 entries for the first time in its 12-year history. It ended with an incredible 11,933 entries – smashing the old record of 9,920 entries in 2025.
The 2026 Monster Stack was the biggest in its 12-year history.That only tells half the story.
When it ran for the first time in 2014, the $1,500 Monster Stack was a freezeout with just one starting day. It led to what was then the largest single-day field in WSOP history, attracting 7,977 players.
It remained a freezeout through 2021 before adding a second starting flight in 2022. If you bust Day 1A, you could also play Day 1B.
A third starting flight was added in 2024 and a fourth in 2025.
In 2026, you could re-enter once in each alphabet flight, with staggered Day 2s, meaning you could fire a total of eight bullets – which many pros did.
That led to criticism from some players – and a reminder that bigger numbers don’t always mean a better playing experience, especially for recreational players.
High rollers in decline
One area that showed a sharp decline in numbers was the high roller events. Almost every event declined from 2025, with some sharp drops. Only two events grew year over year: the $50K Poker Players Championship (108, up from 107) and the $100K High Roller NLH (115, up from 103). Maybe we need to see crypto bouncing back to see a shift in these numbers in 2027.
2026 WSOP high rollers
- $25K High Roller NLH: 345 entries
- $25K High Roller Six-Handed NLH: 242 entries
- $50K High Roller NLH: 167 entries
- $100K High Roller NLH: 115 entries
- $250K Super High Roller NLH: 56 entries
- $25K High Roller PLO: 451 entries
- $50K High Roller PLO: 110 entries
- $50K Poker Players Championship: 108 entries
- $25K High Roller NLH/PLO Mixed: 214 entries
- $100K High Roller PLO: 83 entries
- $25K High Roller H.O.R.S.E: 148 entries
2025 WSOP high rollers
- $25K High Roller NLH: 392 entries
- $25K High Roller Six-Handed NLH: 336 entries
- $50K High Roller NLH: 252 entries
- $100K High Roller NLH: 103 entries
- $250K Super High Roller NLH: 63 entries
- $25K High Roller PLO: 489 entries
- $50K High Roller PLO: 194 entries
- $50K Poker Players Championship: 107 entries
- $25K High Roller NLH/PLO Mixed: 245 entries
- $100K High Roller PLO: 121 entries
- $25K High Roller H.O.R.S.E: 150 entries
Adrian Mateos won his sixth WSOP bracelet and $4,334,411 in the $250K Super High Roller.Beyond the numbers
Overall, the WSOP will consider the 2026 festival a huge success – and it will be hoping that the ESPN broadcast of the Main Event in August will lead to a new bump for 2027.
It’s easy to get blinded by numbers, but when you reflect on how far the WSOP has come, the growth over five decades has been extraordinary.
It’s now awarded over 2,000 bracelets, over $5.5 billion in prize money and registered over 2.5 million entries. Despite its critics, it’s by far the biggest festival of poker and its competitors aren’t even a close second.
But numbers only tell a small part of the story. Over the next few days we'll tell the rest of the story: the good and the bad from summer camp '26.
Additional image courtesy of the WSOP.
