This year, viewers and participants alike are thrilled with the World Series broadcasts. The tournament is available to watch daily, completely free, on YouTube and other platforms. The only area that has drawn sharp criticism is the performance of some of the commentators.
Jason Mo was infuriated by David Williams (the veteran's invitation as an expert initially raised eyebrows) and Ali Nejad, who were working the heads-up championship:
The duo that is commentating the the $25k heads up WSOP needs to be replaced, unwatchable. Standard hands being played and they are cluelessly commenting on “misplays” like they have any clue how to play poker in the first place.
Just two idiots who see all the cards and explain to successful high-stakes reg Biao Ding how he should have played. That's all we need.
Jason was outraged by the criticism of Biao when he called 30 blinds with A9s and beat Negreanu with just three outs.
2 retards that can see both hole cards telling high stakes crusher biao how to play poker, just what we want to listen to pic.twitter.com/C7uLq7WwrU
— jmo (@cuntycakes123) June 1, 2026
"We desperately need commentators to focus on calling the action," Alex Foxen agreed. "Say what is happening in case people can't follow. This trend of turning live streams into training videos needs to die ASAP."
"I don’t always watch poker," said Rounder Magazine co-founder Evert Caldwell. "But when I do, I prefer the sound off."
Andrew Moreno wanted to register for a World Series tournament and showed up at the casino with cash, but was refused :
– Arrived to WSOP today, excited to play, but sadly they would not accept my money. They asked me where the money came from, and I told them I won in a poker tournament at Aria. I was then informed that I cannot use poker winnings to deposit into my account. However, if I had won the money playing slots or table games, they would be happy to accept my deposit. I asked if I could take the money to the bank and deposit it, and then withdraw it and bring it back to deposit. She wouldn't tell me I could do that, but if I had the bank receipt, "that should work."
Patrick Leonard said, "I did exactly the same thing, and they accepted it. They just asked to check the date of the tournament on Hendon Mob."
"I tried this approach as well," Andrew said. "Supervisor stated that it’s because “they no longer accept poker winnings”. How do I even respond to that??"
The next day, Andrew apparently ran to the nearest bank, after which he was able to play the GG Millions tournament for $10k, in which he took 25th place ($35k).
The tournament, with unlimited reentries and two starting days, attracted 627 entries, but the structure raised many questions among players.
"I wonder if the WSOP will ever realize how stupid it is to start a tournament with a 500bb stack?" Sergio Aido wondered, seeing that only one table had filled up at the start.
"This tournament has both the best and the worst structure," Adam Hendricks agreed. "There's zero chance players will play from the start. And then there are unlimited reentries 🤯"
On Day 2, with two hours left in registration, the board showed 434 entries, with the final two levels adding almost 200 buy-ins to the prize pool.
The tournament turned out to be rich in strange hands.
With about 40 players left in the money, Viktor Blom bet A-high on the river and instantly mucked when called by K-high.
Viktor was eliminated shortly after, leaving his brave opponent Rick Mehammil to finish in 12th place ($64k).
Patrick Leonard recalled a similar hand from the past between Roland de Wolfe and Tobias Reinkemeier. But back then, the German representative acted deliberately:
Back in the EPT days Roland used to bluff a lot and just muck when called. The Germans caught onto it and deep in huge spot Tobias went for the trick in a huge slot, Roland did his usual and Tobias couldn’t hold it in and showed lol crazy hand https://t.co/UPKW82sIZ1 pic.twitter.com/Vnx3Otes5q
— Patrick Leonard 🫡 (@padspoker) June 3, 2026
In another hand, Ricky Landis got it all in with against Bobby James.
The dealer delivered the flop with a and a .
Floor decided to shuffle all four cards and remove one. A new runout removed the from the board, and then Bobby James hit a straight, eliminating Landis in 22nd place ($42k).
The hand has already been dubbed "the worst bad beat in history."
Landis took his departure with great dignity.
Social media users began calling for justice, demanding that Daniel Negreanu and other stars pay attention to the situation. But Lance Bradley found out that everything was done according to the rules:
Here is the Poker TDA rule on four-card flops:
"If the flop has four rather than three cards, exposed or not, and regardless of whether the door card is presumed known, the floor will be called. The dealer then scrambles the four cards face down, the floor randomly selects one as the next burn card and the other three are the flop."
And if you're calling for the dealer to be fired or punished, do better. Mistakes happen.
Despite the abundance of stars, the main GGMillions prize pool was awarded to lesser-known players. The winner was Iraqi-born businessman Nasim Salem.
In 2015, Salem was arrested by FBI agents and charged with running an illegal poker club and money laundering. The trial lasted two years, and all charges against Salem were ultimately dropped.
Scott Clements won the Omaha Hi-Lo Championship.
Scott has been combining grueling physical training with a wine-based diet for years. He usually brings a couple of bottles of red wine to tournaments.
Scott has always been considered an Omaha specialist, especially Omaha Hi-Lo, but he's recently retreated into the shadows and isn't seen at the tables as often. He was overlooked in this year's Negreanu draft, even though just a few years ago he was always worth a solid 50-60 points.
Scott declined his interview, citing that he needed to run off to play the next tournament.
The $600 deepstack was won by Karapet Galstyan, representing the USA.
The tournament attracted over 4,000 entrants, and a champion was determined within two days. When the final table began, the chip leader had 20 big blinds, and three players had less than 10 big blinds.
“In any tournament with the word ‘deepstack’ in its name, the average stack should be over 30BB at any stage,” says Patrick Leonard.
"These are good, fun, and fast-paced tournaments that regular people enjoy," countered Jeff Platt. "Recreationists love the deep stacks early on. And for those who enjoy longer tournaments, there's the Monster Stack and the Milly Maker."
– Then call such tournaments “good, fun, fast.” Maybe that will even attract more participants.
The game on the second day lasted more than 12 hours and ended late at night.
"My wife was supporting me from home," said Karapet, his face unmoving after his victory. "I texted her about every elimination, but at some point she stopped responding. She must have just fallen asleep, haha. But I still sent her one last message: 'I won.'"
In a similar deep-stack PLO tournament, players made 2,636 entries. Cigar connoisseur Philip Ardier emerged as the champion. He came back from a two blind stack heads-up.
Martin Kabrhel celebrated his own elimination in a very boisterous manner.
He Thought He Won,But Actually...
— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) June 4, 2026
With just 17 players remaining in Event #15: $600 Pot-Limit Omaha from a field of 2,636 entries, @martinkabrhell was all in and at risk while chasing a crucial triple up.
When the river hit, he thought he had secured the pot and began… pic.twitter.com/eAM8pjOJ56
Martin made a straight and didn't notice his opponent hit a better straight on the river. Skeptics and haters, as always, are convinced it's all just a show and acting for the cameras.
The $1,500 buy-in 6-max tournament ended with 26-year-old graduate student Honghao Zhang winning.
Zhang is a student at Georgia Tech.
"I started playing in 2023. I often play cash games and sometimes go to tournaments. But I'm still a student, and poker is just a hobby for me, but I really enjoy it."
Despite his amateur approach, this isn't even Zhang's best cash. Last December, he earned $355k for second place in a WPT tournament.
A couple of days ago, Ben Lamb updated the information regarding his failed bet with Shaun Deeb:
After the first week at the WSOP, Shaun Deeb is on a slow start with the chicken fingers with just 12 eaten.
Buy ins are leading with 18.
This will likely come down to the wire.
"Cuz he hasn’t gone deep in an event yet," Chance Kornutj hinted that the number of strips could increase dramatically as Sean gets closer to a bracelet.
At the time of writing, Sean was playing at the final table of the $10,000 buy-in NL2-7 Championship. He finished fifth for $99.5k. Prior to this tournament, Sean had zero cashes at this year's WSOP. It's unknown whether he ate strips; there was no broadcast, although it was originally planned.
The cancellation left Chris Veatch very upset :
– I dropped out of the tournament and am running to commentate on the final table for NL2-7.
"Sigh I’m very sorry," Chris wrote a few hours later, "bait & switched by whoever makes production decisions for WSOP. I’m super upset, skipped plo/8 which I final tabled last year to do NLSD & they didn’t show it. You probably won’t see me on the stream again, I can’t work with this unprofessional incompetence."
Chris was told in the comments that he'd been working on something for the record. Some moments from the final table, with his commentary, might be shown during breaks during future broadcasts. However, that's unlikely to have been any consolation to him.
One of the most popular players, Erik Seidel, missed the start of the 2026 WSOP series :
– Whoa, hold on a sec, how come nobody told me WSOP started? OTW.
Erik has already made over $141,000 in 2026 from the EPT, WPT, and PokerGO tour.
He's also number 4 on our list of dream World Series of Poker Main Event winners for 2026.
