WSOP 2026 Week #6: Main Event Madness Starts!

​The 57th edition of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) has finally reached its climax – the $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event. And while the ultimate tournament of the year is underway, the other events haven’t slowed down for a single second. New bracelets for Daniel Negreanu and Shaun Deeb, a one-round penalty for Mike Matusow, and a brutal cooler Dough Polk faced shaped the past week’s action. Let’s uncover these events in more detail.

Negreanu & Deeb Add +1 Bracelet to Their Arsenal

It was a legendary week for poker icons: Daniel Negreanu and Shaun Deeb. Each player grabbed 1 golden reward during WSOP 2026 Week #6. KidPoker crashed the $100K High Roller PLO table, got his eighth bracelet and cashed $2,257,718. This incredible payout helped the Canadian recover from his staggering $1M losses during the festival. It’s Daniel’s first bracelet acquired at an Omaha table. And with this victory, his total live cashes surpassed the mark of $60M, according to Hendon Mob. Well played, KidPoker!

Shaun Deeb’s stretch of bad luck ended at $1,5K 8-Game Mix. The player emerged victorious after a tough heads-up match with Dean Joe. This is only the third cash he had this summer but the second 8-Game Mix win in his career. Carry on, Shaun!

2026 WSOP Main Event Registers 9,208 Entries

Registration for the $10K No-Limit Hold'em Main Event has officially ended. This year doesn’t set a record (only 9,208 entries), but it is the fourth biggest field in tournament history. Let’s take a look at the attendance in previous years:

• 2025 – 9,735
• 2024 – 10,112
• 2023 – 10,043
• 2022 – 8,663

The total prize pool reaches $85,634,400, with a massive $10,000,000 allocated exclusively for the tournament champion. On top of that, around 80 six-figure cash prizes wait for their owners. Although it has been less than a week since the Main Event started, we’ve already seen some dramatic action, emotional swings, and controversial cases.

Well, Mike Matusow made headlines with inappropriate behaviour. The owner of four WSOP bracelets exposed a card in a heads-up match against Steven Ross when it was not allowed. He received a penalty and sat on the rail for one round of blinds.

The start of the Main Event was insane for Dough Polk, too. In just one hour, the three-time bracelet winner lost a hand with strong hole cards, doubled up, and then faced a disaster, losing 90% of his stack. The green felt does not favour serial retirees, so it seems.

Main Event Cooler Ruins Commentator’s Comeback

A famous podcast host and political commentator, Tim Pool, had a very short journey to the $10 million top prize. Pool dreamed about crushing the Main Event table, but Day 2d showed that this didn’t come true. He joined the table with a good stack that decreased to 9,000 chips. Tim’s dedication helped him to climb back to 96K chips, but his Ace-King hand lost to pocket Aces. That’s a very heartbreaking end. Don’t give up, Tim!

Week #6 Bracelet Winners at a Glance

The previous week brought us 12 more golden trophy owners, and the most prominent names are below:

The race for the world champion title and $10,000,000 cash continues up to August 5. The first days were already full of action, but the real drama is going to heat up more and more with each day. Stay tuned to see who takes the crown in 2026!