PokerNews live coverage of this event will begin on Day 2 (July 9). Until then, we will keep readers informed with updates on chip counts and core event statistics, including entries and the prize pool. Scroll down to see more.
According to the WSOP LIVE app.
The least and most surprising World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion ever is arguably the same person.
Confused? You won't be in a bit. Poker's most prestigious annual event, with the purpose of crowning a 2026 world champion, kicks off today at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas. Michael Mizrachi, the newest Poker Hall of Famer, won this $10,000 buy-in tournament last summer for $10,000,000.
"The Grinder's" win brought some excitement around the poker community, but it wasn't a huge surprise like some past champs. Mizrachi didn't come out of nowhere before winning the Main Event. He wasn't an accountant who won a cheap online satellite to enter the tournament or some random amateur low-stakes cash game player.
According to the WSOP LIVE app.
According to the WSOP LIVE App.
For the first time in well over a decade, Brad Booth was back in the World Series of Poker Main Event.
The Canadian, affectionately known as "Yukon Brad," was one of the biggest personalities of poker's boom years. From battling in Bobby's Room to pulling off one of the most memorable bluffs in High Stakes Poker history against Phil Ivey, Booth was never far from the spotlight.
Booth believes the last time he played the Main Event was around 2012, and after years away from the WSOP and a well-documented fall from the high-stakes scene, he's back in poker's biggest tournament with a very different outlook.
"It's been a minute," Booth told PokerNews. "Definitely north of a decade. I was in the woods there for a wee bit."
Earlier this week, the Tournament Directors Association (TDA) held its biennial summit, which debuted back in 2001. The TDA Summit XII was held at the PokerGO Studio and drew more than 200 industry professionals from around the world.
“The goal of the TDA remains that we want a standard set of rules that players, tournament directors, and card room managers can reference,” said TDA board member Matt Savage, who recently appeared on the PokerNews Podcast to talk about the summit.
“It was an eventful meeting again. No major rule changes this time around, but some good tweaks to existing ones,” said famed tournament director and PokerStars Ambassador Kenny Hallaert. “It’s always good for the game of poker to share our experiences from PokerStars events with the rest of the industry and pick up new ideas from other operators.”
Likewise, PokerStars EPT Tournament Director Toby Stone told PokerNews: “The beauty of the TDA Summit is the mutual exchange of knowledge. Our core focus is always on making tournaments safer, fairer, and more enjoyable for the players. While the EPT is proud to already implement a lot of the cutting-edge rules and security measures being discussed, the summit is about lifting the global standard together. A huge congratulations to Matt Savage on 25 years of the TDA. What he started back then has transformed the live poker landscape, and his ongoing work continues to protect and grow the game we all love.”
The 2026 World Series of Poker (WSOP) at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas is gearing up for Event #87: $1,000 Mystery Bounty Pot-Limit Omaha. Day 1b, the second and final starting flight of this event has been moved to 2 .m. on Wednesday, July 8, and we’ll have a bracelet winner on July 9. The Day 2 restart has been moved to 1 p.m. Thursday.
Pot-Limit Omaha is the second most popular poker variant, right behind no-limit Texas Hold’em. Poker fans love the mystery bounty component, which gives players the chance to win massive surprise bounties by eliminating opponents.
On Day 1a, 1,922 entries were processed, but only 288 of those starters advanced to Day 2. Two-time bracelet winner Tyler Brown (871,000) was one of the stars who bagged big on Day 1a. Brown has a knack for navigating large fields, having won the $1,000 Mystery Millions in 2023 and the $600 NLH/PLO event in 2025.
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robert Scherer | United States | 1,138,000 | 228 |
| 2 | Lautaro Guerra | Spain | 1,135,000 | 227 |
| 3 | Grant Maruya | United States | 1,071,000 | 214 |
| 4 | Marco Damico | United States | 1,043,000 | 209 |
| 5 | Brian Brunner | United States | 927,000 | 185 |
| 6 | Kee Fredkove | United States | 885,000 | 177 |
| 7 | Tyler Brown | United States | 871,000 | 174 |
| 8 | Bradley Butcher | United States | 869,000 | 174 |
| 9 | Jerry Robinson | United States | 840,000 | 168 |
| 10 | Rehman Kassam | United Kingdom | 810,000 | 162 |
Flight B of the $1,000 Mystery Bounty Pot-Limit Omaha event starts at 2 p.m. local time on July 8. Each entrant will receive 40,000 chips at the start of play. Late registration remains open for 12 levels and will close at about 11 p.m.
Day 1 will run until the field has reached its final 15 percent. There will be 40-minute levels throughout the tournament. Breaks (15 minutes) on Day 1 will occur every three levels.
The Day 2 restart has been moved to 1 p.m. on July 9. Levels remain 40 minutes long, and the day won't conclude until a winner is determined.
At the 2025 WSOP, Ferenc Deak beat a field of 5,284 entrants to win $329,890, plus bounties, out of the $3,064,720 prize pool, and of course the bracelet.
Stay closer than ever to the action with MyPlayers. This brand new, free feature on PokerNews puts your favorite poker players front and center. Whether you're keeping tabs on legends like Daniel Negreanu or following a friend grinding their way through a Day 2, MyPlayers delivers real-time updates tailored just for you. No subscriptions, no paywalls - just the hands, chip counts, and bustouts that matter most.
It’s simple: log in, search for any player in our live coverage, hit the star, and they’ll be added to your personalized MyPlayers list. You’ll see their progress across all live-reported events, with chip counts and updates pinned right where you need them at the top.
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Event #87: $1,000 Mystery Bounty Pot-Limit Omaha
Day 1b Started
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