Neymar chooses poker tournament over Venezuela match
We’ve seen Neymar’s commitment to poker in the past, like the time he was playing a tournament during his daughter’s birthday party.
The PokerStars ambassador is at it again, playing the Brazil Series of Poker instead of playing soccer beside his Club Santos teammates.
But Santos manager Cuca was quick to explain, saying Neymar’s break was to let him “get even stronger.” Even without him, Santos won the match.
However, it looks like his BSOP trip was not a success. Last year in the BSOP Sao Paulo, he made about $80,000 from three cashes. This year, the number is $0.
Great jacket though. You can’t buy this, but $30 worth of embroidery can get the job done.
Flutter merges PokerStars and Betfair in the UK
A large merger has begun, starting with PokerStars absorbing Betfair, and soon being joined by sites like Paddy Power and Sky Poker.
This will be a massive boost to the UK player pool, and will instantly help player traffic for PokerStars.
Here’s the simple version of what is happening:
- The PokerStars UK software will move to the Betfair platform
- The UK player pools of both brands will combine
- The PokerStars UK standalone software will close eventually
- Paddy Power Poker and Sky Poker will migrate to PokerStars software
This move is great for PokerStars, but also for the players. This could return PokerStars to their previous status as one of the best poker platforms in the world. In recent years, ask any experienced reg, and they’ll tell you that the brand has slightly fallen off. With a quick boost to liquidity, that could be turned around, at least in the United Kingdom.
$10,000,000 for Lucas Jumalon? More like $6,000,000, or much less
It’s great winning $10 million in the Main Event, but that headline number is not the prize you actually walk away with.
Lucas Jumalon will take home $6,009,174 after paying federal and self-employment taxes. Let that sink in for a moment. You battle for over 10 days against a field of over 9,000 players, overcome countless all-ins and endless hours of variance, and the government scores $4 million from your efforts.
America is truly the land of the free, and the home of the heavily taxed poker players.
A federal tax professional named Russell Fox gave us a sobering look at the reality of these big wins. While the player sweats, the government gets a guaranteed payday.
The final nine made $30,250,000, and the US government took $12,273,963 (over 40%).
| Place | Player | Pre-Tax | Tax Rate | Withheld | Post-Tax |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lucas Jumalon | $10,000,000 | 39.91% | $3,990,826 | $6,009,174 |
| 2 | Lauri Saaskilahti | $6,000,000 | 46.22% | $2,773,000 | $3,227,000 |
| 3 | Greg Mueller | $3,750,000 | 29.92% | $1,122,000 | $2,628,000 |
| 4 | Michael Gagliano | $2,750,000 | 48.39% | $1,330,683 | $1,419,317 |
| 5 | Han Feng | $2,250,000 | 39.54% | $889,753 | $1,360,247 |
| 6 | Rami Hammoud | $1,750,000 | 29.83% | $522,000 | $1,228,000 |
| 7 | Jamie Shaevel | $1,500,000 | 50.37% | $755,500 | $744,500 |
| 8 | Mario Boos | $1,250,000 | 43.50% | $543,701 | $706,299 |
| 9 | Evagoras Evagorou | $1,000,000 | 34.65% | $346,500 | $653,500 |
| Totals: | $30,250,000 | 40.58% | $12,273,963 | $17,976,037 |
These numbers are without knowing who sold their action.
The top nine could be leaving the 2026 WSOP with far, far less than advertised.
GGPoker signs 100-year-old ambassador
When we think of being 100 years old, we imagine a life of inactivity, armchairs, and not much else.
Apparently, for Ivor Parker, being 100 years old means signing sponsorships with the world’s largest poker brand.
GGPoker added Parker to their roster, about 86 years after he first started playing cards at the age of 14. That was back in 1940, in a Boston pub.
Ivor may be the oldest player ever to sit at the online tables, and very likely the oldest player to ever sign a poker ambassadorship contract.
Whatever the marketing angle is, it really doesn’t matter. Signing a player at this age is a feel-good move, and we can’t wait to see him in action. Ivor is a person, but he’s also a message now. That message is that poker is a game for any age (any age above the legal limit).
His first act as part of the GGPoker team was to host a VIP event in Grosvenor, where other ambassadors played.
An AI predicted who would win the 2026 Main Event
Using behavioural traits and about a million simulations of the final table, an AI program decided who of the nine Main Event finalists would be the champ this year.
Steve Blay of Advanced Poker Training predicted the 2016 winner flawlessly, choosing Qui Nguyen as the victor.
Lucas Jumalon and his huge chip lead was an easy pick for the 2026 winner, and we didn’t need an AI to know that.
If we only looked at chip counts, predictions wouldn’t be impressive at all, but the behavioral input gives different answers.
- Only Jumalon, Mueller, and Shaevel were predicted to outperform ICM value
- Rami Hammound was predicted to underperform his ICM value by 5%
Steve Blay chose Mueller as the probable winner before the event finished.
“The player who kept jumping off the page in my simulations was Greg Mueller. Time after time he found a way to outperform his chip stack, and there's a reason for that. Experience matters, especially under the brightest lights in poker."
| Player | % of Chips Before Final Table | Predicted Chance of 1st | Predicted Chance of 2nd | Predicted Chance of 3rd |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lucas Jumalon | 35.1% | 40.4% | 20.4% | 13.1% |
| Rami Hammoud | 14.3% | 13.2% | 15.3% | 14.2% |
| Jamie Shaevel | 10.1% | 11.3% | 13.4% | 13.7% |
| Greg Mueller | 8.8% | 10.9% | 13.5% | 13.5% |
| Michael Gagliano | 8.4% | 7.0% | 10.0% | 11.3% |
| Mario Boos | 8% | 6.5% | 9.4% | 10.9% |
| Lauri Saaskilahti | 6.8% | 5.2% | 7.9% | 9.8% |
| Han Feng | 4.5% | 3.0% | 5.3% | 7.2% |
| Evagoras Evagorou | 4.1% | 2.5% | 4.7% | 6.3% |
Jason Koon creates GoFundMe for Virginia floods affecting his hometown
West Virginia was hit by flash flooding at the end of July, and a statewide emergency was declared.
The one and only Poker Hall of Famer of 2026, Jason Koon, comes from Weston, a town heavily affected by the flooding.
Families describe watching homes drift away, moments before getting out. Businesses lost millions in equipment, and people were left homeless. From news videos, we can see a hotel filling up to the first floor with murky brown water, showing just how far a few inches of water can go.
Jason Koon stepped up with a fundraiser that has now collected over $25,000.
https://t.co/V6cpAXiEEc
— Jason Koon (@JasonKoon) July 23, 2026
Hey guys, my hometown and neighboring college town (Weston and Buckhannon WV) were ravaged by massive flooding over the last few days. I've put together a @gofundme that I will personally manage to help some folks back there. It would mean a lot to me if…
