Erik Fast

The 2026 World Series of Poker main event is well underway, with two of the four starting flights now in the books. A total of 1,810 entries have been made so far, with 772 on day 1A and another 1,038 for day 1B. The latter flight, held on Friday, July 3, played host to a wild hand at one of the featured tables of the ESPN broadcast. The pot took place in the final level of the day, and ballooned to 115,600 by the end. That amounts to nearly two full starting stacks of 60,000.

Dzmitry Urbanovich took down the 2016 European Poker Tour Dublin main event at the age of 20. Before that marquee victory, he had a handful of massive scores around Europe, including a runner-up finish in the €100,000 high roller at the EPT Grand Final for over $1.6 million. The Polish poker pro was not even legally able to participate in the World Series of Poker, and already had a major live tournament title and multiple millions in earnings to his name.

Michael Mizrachi’s 2025 World Series of Poker run was instantly iconic. Fresh off of a record-extending fourth victory in the WSOP $50,000 Poker Players Championship, he topped the third-largest field in WSOP main event history to earn his eighth bracelet and $10,000,000. The incredible one-two punch was enough to earn ‘The Grinder’ an impromptu induction into the Poker Hall of Fame. Mizrachi, now 45, backed up his dominant 2025 with another win this summer.