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Articles by Craig Tapscott
A new venue and more affordable buy-ins: Jeff Platt talks WSOP Paradise 2026
This December, the World Series of Poker will wrap up the year once again with the WSOP Paradise series, moving to a new home base at the Baha Mar Resort in The Bahamas. Last year’s $25K Super Main Event drew 2,891 total entrants, and this winter could bring a bigger prize pool than last year’s $72,275,000, with $10,000,000 going to winner Bernhard Binder.
The good, the bad and the ugly: Jeff Platt looks back at WSOP 2026
It’s not easy to track down WSOP’s MC Jeff Platt; he’s a man on the move. But shortly after Jeff landed at the WSOP’s Palm Beach Circuit event this past week, we pinned him down. We had questions about fans’ and the players' experiences from this past summer’s WSOP series. And, as usual, Platt graciously delivered on everything we threw at him.
'It stops you going down the rabbit hole': Octopi Poker's fresh approach to solver study
Every poker player has leaks. Whether you’re Phil Hellmuth going for a record 18 bracelets or a weekend grinder looking for your first WSOP Circuit ring, there are always spots in your game you can fix if you’re willing to seek them out and put in the work. The trick is identifying the mistakes that keep costing you money without throwing the baby out with the bathwater. For many players, that’s where things get complicated. Solvers can be very intimidating from the get go.
Garrett Adelstein: ‘I felt like a commodity to poker fans’
For Garrett Adelstein, returning to the iconic Commerce Casino in Los Angeles isn’t just another chance to sit down for a high-stakes cash game. The Commerce was where Adelstein’s meteoric rise in live high-stakes cash games began. He could be found night after night, grinding till sunrise, long before livestream poker made him one of the most recognizable cash-game players in the world. On October 6, Adelstein returns under very different circumstances.
Justin Arnwine on poker success: 'Please ban them so I can win twice as much'
There’s something a little different about the way Justin Arnwine sees a poker table – and remembers it. His results are certainly unusual. Arnwine has won 156 live events, along with more than 2,600 first-place finishes in online SNGs and MTTs. This week, Arnwine hit the top of the GPI leaderboard as the #1-ranked player in the 2026 GPI Mid-Major Player of the Year race. On the surface, those numbers seem absurd. Yet Arnwine puts his success down to a healthy combination of bravado and humility.
First-Hand Hands: 'Deltoid88' analyzes gutsy hero call on Venom final table
This hand occurred during the recent streamed final table of ACR Poker’s $12 million guaranteed NLH Mystery Bounty Venom event. The 4,792 entries played down to a lucky final nine players who were battling for a massive $865,869 payday. The notables at the table included four-time WSOP Bracelet winner Chance Kornuth, two-time bracelet winner Chris Moorman, 2024 Venom Mystery Bounty champion Brazilian Ivan Limeira, and Serbian grinder Stefan ‘Deltoid88’ Rados – the eventual winner.
'Live and online bracelets should be equal': Norman Chad weighs in
If it was so easy to win an online bracelet, then why haven’t you won one of your very own? That’s a good question. If you were fortunate enough to win one online, would you value it as much as winning a live WSOP event for the gold? That’s a better question. The first online bracelet was awarded 11 years ago The first WSOP online bracelet was awarded in 2015 in a $1,000 NLH event.
Andrew Lichtenberger on the aspects of poker that can’t be solved
There’s always been something a little different about the way Andrew ‘LuckyChewy’ Lichtenberger plays the game of poker. On the surface, he seems like any other poker boomer who was inspired by Chris Moneymaker’s story, and the WSOP on ESPN. And when talking with the WSOP bracelet winner it's easy to discern that Lichtenberger truly loves to play the game, .
Who is Deltoid88? Meet the crusher behind the $865K Venom win
Who are the best online poker players you’ve never heard of? It's a question that may never be fully answered. But it’s no secret that dozens of elite online MTT grinders have won millions from behind screen names while remaining largely anonymous to the wider poker world. One such grinder, Stefan Rados, aka 'Deltoid88', recently emerged from behind the online curtain after taking down ACR Poker’s $12 million guaranteed NLH Mystery Bounty Venom.
Hollywood meets the felt: Poker stars, celebs ante up for a great cause
When it comes to supporting a worthy cause, the poker community has never been afraid to put its money on the table when it matters most. This past summer two of the most impactful voices in the game, WSOP Main Event champion Jamie Gold and the voice of the UFC and longtime poker player, Bruce Buffer, co-hosted the 14th annual Variety Poker & Casino Night, benefiting Variety: the Children’s Charity of Southern California, on the iconic Paramount Studios lot in Hollywood.
What happened to Aaron Jones? Poker, DFS millions and life after poker
Online high-stakes phenom Aaron 'aejones' Jones was almost as well known for his strategy contributions on the 2+2 forums as he was for his heads-up play online. While studying philosophy at Butler University from 2005 to 2009, Jones survived the brutal swings of variance and more than a few bankroll wipeouts, eventually emerging from those hard-learned lessons as one of the most successful high-stakes players of the online poker boom.
Norman Chad on the new-look WSOP: What worked – and what needs fixing
Norman Chad was back where he belonged this past summer: talking poker and picking on Phil Hellmuth at the World Series of Poker. Alongside longtime partner Lon McEachern, Chad helped bring a familiar sound back to ESPN. The sense of nostalgia was impossible to ignore. Whether you missed the rants or lost count of how many ex-wives Norman has, it still felt good to have him (and Lon) back in the mixduring ESPN’s Main Event broadcasts and the pregame shows.
Poker’s $90M man Bryn Kenney: ‘I don’t want to study. I play a different game’
Watch the world’s elite tournament grinders long enough, and there are moments when the game begins to look less like mathematics and more like a work of high art. When the all-time live poker tournament earnings leader, Bryn Kenney, is dealt two cards, he sees a masterpiece waiting to be created. Every bet, check, raise, and bet sizing becomes another brush stroke on the felt canvas, slowly revealing the picture he envisions in his mind. “The game of poker is like an art form to me.
Lex Veldhuis has unfinished business: 'I’m going to kick the WSOP's ass!'
Many times in life, before you can move forward, you have to look back at where you’ve been. And quite often, you might not particularly like what you see or even where you're headed. That’s exactly where Lex Veldhuis found himself two years ago. One of poker's most popular and entertaining online streamers — and a player who has shared live tables with the likes of Doyle Brunson and Phil Ivey — was aware that something needed to change, both in poker and in life.
Daniel Negreanu ready to ‘snipe’ on HCL debut: ‘That’s my whole career’
He’s finally coming to Hustler Casino Live! After years of invites and apparently a whole lot of begging, Daniel Negreanu is making his HCL debut today at 2pm PT. And, naturally, they’re rolling out the red carpet, albeit HCL-style: crazy videos, WWE hype, a wild lineup, and Nik Airball calling for Daniel's head. It's just a normal high-stakes Friday night on the most-watched cash game livestream in the game. And it all goes down today with an earlier start time.
Lucas Jumalon's new goal after $10M WSOP win: ‘Get online poker back in the US’
As the final table of the 2026 WSOP Main Event kicked off on ESPN, all eyes wereon the 22-year-old chip leader Lucas Jumalon, and for good reason. Poker Twitter had been lit for two weeks with both praise and speculation: would the young Spokane, Washington, native go wire to wire for the $10,000,000 payday, or crash and burn under the pressure? Not since Koray Aldemir in 2021 had a player begun the final table as the chip leader and gone on to win the bracelet.
Phil Hellmuth reveals plan to rewrite WSOP schedule in hunt for 24 bracelets
Phil Hellmuth is still recovering and even losing sleep over falling one spot short of capturing WSOP bracelet #18 this summer. Yet the loss hasn’t dented his motivation or his goal of reaching 24 bracelets. One of the players tipped to pass him on the all-time bracelet list is Shaun Deeb, who has dismissed Hellmuth's chances of winning another. Last December he told the WSOP's Jeff Platt: "I don't think Phil will win another bracelet. The game has passed him by." Hellmuth begs to differ.
'I’m a recovering perfectionist': Exclusive interview with Garrett Adelstein
Garrett Adelstein has only played poker a mere handful of times since the infamous J-4 hand played on the Hustler Casino Live stream in September 2022. And, surprisingly, he seems to have few, if any, regrets. Walking away would once have been unthinkable for a player who thrived on the big pots and even bigger bluffs that became Adelstein’s trademarks over a poker career spanning two decades.
‘That haunts me’: Hellmuth reveals the WSOP mistake he can’t stop replaying
It’s been over a month since the curtain fell on the 2026 WSOP, yet Phil Hellmuth is still haunted by the bracelet he believes got away. The 17-time bracelet winner had a chance to make it 18 late in the series, when he found himself heads-up against Darren Rabinowitz in the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em (Event #99). He lost, but believes he should have won it. In fact, he says he knows he should have won it.
Negreanu & Hellmuth on Hall of Fame voting: 'The system itself was the problem'
The WSOP Poker Hall of Fame changed its voting rules in June with one very clear objective: make it possible for multiple inductees to join each year That didn’t happen. The 2026 shortlist was packed with worthy candidates, including Jason Koon, Shaun Deeb, Scott Seiver, Isaac Haxton, and PokerStars founder and seven-time nominee Isai Scheinberg. Many people expected at least the first three names to be inducted. In the end, only Koon hit the voting threshold.
‘You got it backward’ – Daniel Negreanu reveals why PLO is misunderstood
Daniel Negreanu has made it crystal clear that pot-limit Omaha (PLO) is his game right now.And the results don't lie. He cashed in eight PLO events at this summer's WSOP, and won his eighth bracelet and $2,257,718 in the biggest PLO buy-in of the summer – the $100,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller. But there’s more to Negreanu’s love affair with PLO than his recent results. The GGPoker pro believes the game plays directly into the post-flop instincts he’s spent a lifetime developing.
Daniel Negreanu: ‘I was really shocked’ by this call at the WSOP Main Event
You could state, with zero reservations, that Daniel Negreanu had himself a summer. It began with a wild 25K Fantasy Draft, where Negreanu selected himself and buddy Josh Arieh, and ended with more than $2.9 million in WSOP cashes, which doesn’t include his Fantasy team's binking of $250,000 for capturing first place. So, how busy was he really? It seemed ‘like a blur,’ Negreanu said. “I really have no idea how many final tables I made this summer.” We told him five. Not bad.
First-Hand Hands: The 11-minute hand that could have changed WSOP history
This massive hand between Lauri Saaskilahti and Lucas Jumalon will go down as one of the most memorable 11 minutes in WSOP Main Event history – and one of its most debated hero calls. The hand occurred during the 2026 Main Event final table on August 5 at the Horseshoe Casino. At this point, the two combatants were heads-up for the bracelet and $10,000,000, with the blinds at 2,000,000/4,000,000 with a 4,000,000 big blind ante.
One spot from poker history: Lauri Saaskilahti reflects on his $6M WSOP run
The runner-up in the WSOP Main Event marathon is rarely remembered for long after the lights go down. Lauri Saaskilahti may well be the exception. The Finnish businessman came within one player of achieving a lofty goal he had scribbled on a piece of paper and tucked safely away in a drawer at the beginning of 2026. It simply read: “Win the WSOP Main Event.” Lofty? Absolutely. Impossible? Apparently not.
How the WSOP Main Event reignited Greg Mueller's love for poker
Greg Mueller's poker journey began on long bus rides during his professional hockey career. The former pro learned the game while traveling between cities and found that many of the same qualities that made him successful on the ice carried over into poker. “As far as the competitive nature of hockey and the discipline required, those are the similarities with poker,” says Mueller.
Who will win the 2026 WSOP Main Event? The poker pros make their picks
The 2026 World Series of Poker Main Event final table starts on Monday and this year's winner will be crowned on Wednesday. But who's it going to be? Here are the chip stacks going into the final table: Lucas Jumalon - 194M Rami Hammoud - 79M Jamie Shaevel - 56M Greg Mueller - 48.5M Michael Gagliano - 46.5M Mario Boos - 44M Lauri Saaskilahti - 37.5M Han Feng - 25M Evagoras Evagorou - 22.5M Lucas Jumalon enters the final table with a commanding chip lead.
Lucas Jumalon: The heartbreak behind his WSOP Main Event run
When the final nine players return to the Horseshoe on Monday to play for the WSOP Main Event title and chance to win $10,000,000, 22-year-old Lucas Jumalon will be king of the hill. Armed with a commanding stack of 194,000,000 chips, Jumalon is the player the other eight finalists must catch if they hope to capture poker's most prestigious championship and a place in poker history.
Cartoonist Guy Richards Smit finds art in poker's smallest moments
Guy Richards Smit didn't travel from NYC to Las Vegas this summer as a poker player for the love of the game, or to compete at the WSOP. He arrived as an artist curious about a world he never imagined he would explore. He quickly discovered that sitting behind every stack of chips was a different life story among a diverse cast of characters.
Jonathan Little breaks down 100 hands to help you win more
For two decades, Jonathan Little has answered the same question from poker players: "How should I have played this hand?" His most recent book from D&B Poker, The Complete Poker Workout, turns those lessons into real tournament hands that help players think through every decision before they face it at the tables. Little’s first tournament cash came 20 years ago at a WSOP Circuit event. A short two years later, he would take home the 2008 World Poker Tour Player of the Year award.
Where can you watch the WSOP Main Event? Norman Chad spills the beans
If you were struggling to find the live coverage of the WSOP Main Event on the ESPN network, you weren't alone. For many players and fans, tracking down poker's premiere event on the ESPN platform proved challenging, and the confusion was widespread. How to watch the WSOP Main Event PokerOrg reached out to Norman Chad, the ever-irascible co-host of The Main Event’s Inside the WSOP show, to clear up any confusion.
Bryn Kenney: 'If Bonomo's not in the Hall of Fame, I'm not showing up'
Poker's all-time money leader, Bryn Kenney, says the Poker Hall of Fame would be "a complete joke" if Justin Bonomo isn't inducted. Bonomo made the eight-name shortlist for the class of 2026 and needs to pick up 22 votes from the 33 existing Hall of Fame members to be inducted. However, his outspoken political views, most recently on Palestine, have made him a polarizing figure in the poker world.
Here we go again: Terrance Reid makes another Main Event run
It was a little more than six months ago that Terrance 'TJ' Reid turned a breakout run in the $25,000 WSOP Paradise Super Main Event into a $3 million career-high payday and a fourth-place finish. Now he's making another charge on poker's biggest stage. At the Day 5 dinner break in the 2026 WSOP Main Event, Reid was among the final 325 players from a field of 9,208 entrants. Could he do it again?
The Interview: Before PLO solvers, there was 'JNandez'
As any mixed game player will tell you, poker isn't so much a game as it is a collection of games. Most casual players will be familiar with no-limit hold'em, but one of the fastest growing variants out there is Omaha. The four-card twist on hold'em has nuances, depth and strategy all of its own, and one of its deepest thinkers is Fernando 'JNANDEZ' Habegger, the subject of this month's edition of PokerOrg's The Interview.
Ladies Poker Collective helps Catherine Scoville live out her Main Event dream
A year of competing in an online women's poker community earned Catherine Scoville a dream seat at the WSOP Main Event. Scoville won her $10,000 seat through the Ladies Poker Collective, a ClubGG women's poker community. After topping the year-long leaderboard, she turned her dream into reality, making it to Day 2 of poker's biggest tournament before her run came to an end. “About a year ago, I got more serious about tournament poker,” says Scoville. “That’s when I found the Ladies Poker Collective.
Ask the pros: How to survive Day 1 of the WSOP Main Event
How hard can it be? Is surviving Day 1 of the WSOP Main Event really that difficult? After all, the last player standing has included the likes of Chris Moneymaker, Dan Weinman, Michael Mizrachi, Jamie Gold, Annette Obrestad, and plenty of other seemingly ordinary humans. Then again, plenty of accomplished pros will tell you they have never made it through Day 1, or that if they have, it’s rare. Today is the last day for many would be Main Event champions to take their shot at glory.
How Fernando 'JNANDEZ' Habegger mastered the art of teaching PLO
Fernando ‘JNANDEZ’ Habegger’s poker beginnings mirror those of many players inspired by Chris Moneymaker’s fairytale finish at the 2003 WSOP Main Event. “I dabbled between no-limit hold'em and limit hold 'em online,” says Habegger. “I grew up in Switzerland.
Esther Taylor: 'It's important to me to find ways to give back to poker'
It's hard to imagine a more unlikely path to professional poker than Esther Taylor's life story. The remarkable journey that shaped her life also became one of the inspirations behind the upcoming launch of Taylor’s coaching site, Her Edge Academy. “I have a pretty unique story myself,” shared Taylor on PokerOrg’s ‘The Interview’ podcast. “A passerby had found me wandering around as a baby at a train station in Seoul, South Korea.” “Eventually, I was taken to an orphanage.
Did Brandon Cantu call Esther Taylor a DEI hire? Here's what really happened
Esther ‘E-Tay’ Taylor vs. Brandon Cantu wasn’t on our fight card this summer, but a single tweet seemed to change all of that. When Taylor announced that she was honored to be the new poker ambassador for BetMGM, Poker Twitter was almost unanimous in its support — until Cantu posted: "Wow, another DEI hire. So few white males get sponsorships these days it’s really sad. Hopefully equality overrides sexual and racial divide.
Luck be a lady: WSOP Ladies Championship begins today
Step aside, gentlemen. The WSOP spotlightshifts to the ladies today as the $1,000 Ladies Championship takes center stage. Since its debut in 1977, only four players have captured multiple Ladies Championship titles: Barbara Enright, Susie Isaacs, Nani Dollison, and defending two-time champion Shiina Okamoto. Lights, cameras... the ladies Over the next four days, another name will be engraved into poker history at the WSOP. Or perhaps not.
Over 20 years later, poker's most famous double act is still on the mic
The entertainment world is filled with dynamic duos: Batman and Robin, Abbott and Costello, Laurel and Hardy, Penn and Teller, and Sherlock Holmes and Watson. Poker's nomination for this legendary club is easy: McEachern and Chad. For more than two decades, the poker world has had its own iconic crusaders in Norman Chad and Lon McEachern, both of whom have left a lasting mark on the game.
Poker’s biggest names reveal their Hall of Fame picks
Few topics spark more intense debate among poker players and rabid fans than the WSOP Poker Hall of Fame choice of inductees and nominee process each year. Who will join last year's inductee Nick Schulman (above) in 2026? Who deserves a seat among the legends? Who has been overlooked? You can submit your choice to the WSOP as the public nominations for the 2026 shortlist are open now until June 20.
'A little better every day': Jeff Platt on evolving the WSOP viewer experience
Jeff Platt is the man on the scene at the WSOP for what seems like a whirlwind round-the-clock shift. To get this exclusive interview with Jeff, it felt like jumping in front of a moving freight train. But it was well worth the risk. Platt was very candid. He was quick to respond to both the negative and positive complaints/suggestions that fans and players have brought forth on social media.
The WSOP built a broadcast beast: Players have notes
Fans and players have been weighing in on the WSOP's new broadcast arena and the experience it creates both on the streaming platform as well as live on the rail. The reactions range from rave reviews to a wide array of criticism, but one thing isn't up for debate: the WSOP has made a significant investment in its broadcast product. The new Paris Ballroom arena is one of the most visually striking production spaces in WSOP history, and it looks every bit the part on camera.
WSOP Week #2: Ask Platt, 4-card flops, parking drama and a curse on Deeb
Welcome to PokerOrg's weekly roundup of the WSOP moments that made us laugh, gasp, cringe, shake our heads, and immediately send screenshots to all our homies who wish they were at the WSOP this summer. We'll be keeping tabs on the biggest controversies, hilarious moments, social media beefs, four-card flops, and accidental comedy from the tournament floor and beyond all summer long. This is Week #2 Nobody has been arrested. Yet. But someone has been removed from a WSOP stream.
WSOP Countdown: Poker gets its own pregame show
The new WSOP Countdown show isn't just another run-of-the-mill poker broadcast. Oh no, siree. Your average poker broadcast doesn't have Norman Chad yelling in the background – and that's a feature, not a bug. The show's four regulars – Chad, Joe Stapleton, David Williams and Jeff Platt – bring vastly different backgrounds and perspectives.
'From outhouse to penthouse': Norman Chad on poker's new era
Guess who’s back, back again? Norman’s back; tell a friend. Unless you’ve been stranded in the Horseshoe parking lot since the WSOP started, you’ve likely noticed the return of iconic WSOP commentator Norman Chad. Love him a lot or kinda hate him, Chad is bringing his signature mix of quirky quick takes, meandering observations, and verbal acrobatics to the World Series of Poker broadcast team once again this summer.
WSOP Week #1: Chaos, controversy, and can't-miss moments
Welcome to PokerOrg's weekly roundup of the WSOP moments that made us laugh, gasp, cringe, shake our heads, and immediately send screenshots to all our homies who wish they were at the WSOP this summer. Every summer, the WSOP delivers gold bracelets, horrific bad beats, strange happenings, and enough side plots to fill a season of HBO's Euphoria.
Meet the dealer who turned a bucket-list dream into a WSOP final table
Making a WSOP final table is a bucket-list item for any poker player. For Jessica Odom, it was a dream moment that let her experience one of poker's greatest moments from the other side of the box. As a longtime WSOP dealer, Odom has spent many years watching poker's biggest moments unfold inches away. This week it was her time in the spotlight, as she made a deep run in the $500 Industry Employees event.
He played Ungar heads-up in the Main Event – now he’s 90 and still at the WSOP
When Phil Hellmuth asks for a selfie with someone at the WSOP, you know you're in the presence of poker royalty. For 50 years, Perry Green has been part of poker's storied history. The three-time bracelet winner famously lost to Stu Ungar heads-up for the Main Event title in 1981. Now, aged 90, he's still competing at the WSOP. Green's road to poker started in Alaska Poker was never meant to be a defining part of Green's life. He spent most of his business career as a fur trader in Alaska.
Ryan Depaulo brings a baby, a camera crew, and full degen mode to the WSOP
The 2026 WSOP is here. 100 bracelets. The world's best players. And PokerOrg is on the floor from start to finish. Ryan Depaulo is a professional poker player and one of the most entertaining content creators in the industry. He is an ambassador for CoinPoker and is the host and creator of the Degen Debrief Report on YouTube. How have you been preparing for the WSOP? I've been figuring out logistics in Vegas – things like where my family will stay.
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