The cards are in the air at the 56th version of the World Series of Poker, and while many questions have been answered — no, there will not be a credit card fee to register for events through the WSOP+ app this year — several remain.
Will Hellmuth skip Main Event?
Love him or hate him, Phil Hellmuth is poker’s greatest living showman. Whenever he brings his lanky 6’7″ frame into any room, all eyes turn and watch. He’s even parlayed his fame into a lengthy career shelling goods, and currently can be seen as a spokesman for BetRivers in TV commercials.
Still, Hellmuth, who turned 60 during last year’s WSOP, took to Twitter in February with a poll asking his fanbase if he should boycott this year’s Main Event. His issue: He wants Day 6 to become a day off because the event is just too damn long for old-heads like himself.
But soon after the poll went from favoring “he should play” to “boycott,” it was deleted, leaving everyone now wondering: Will Phil play in the Main Event?
If he skipped, it would be the first time he missed since 1988, the year before he won his first bracelet as Main Event champion.
Hellmuth is semi-famous for his sometimes cringe-worthy grand entrances to the Main Event. Oh, and there’s also the fact that he holds the WSOP bracelet record with 11. There’s no doubt he craves attention as much as a badger can’t help but dig for all that honey.
With nearly a full week of late registration time available for the Main Event starting July 2, the Phil Hellmuth watch will be real. And you know he loves it.
Here’s another storyline to watch: If Hellmuth does enter and manages an improbable deep run, the tournament is scheduled to end on July 16 — Hellmuth’s 61st birthday.
Will the Main Event record be broken again?
It’s a question that keeps WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart’s stomach churning: Will the number of Main Event entrants be enough to break the record — again.
During an Ask Me Anything thread on Reddit, Stewart admitted he worries too much on whether or not the record will be broken year-after-year. Answering a question about his favorite and least favorite moments of the Series, he addressed the pressure he feels to make sure the numbers are high for the WSOP Main Event.
“I think my favorite moment every year is the sweat of Main Event registration coming to a close. I think my least favorite moment every year is also the sweat of Main Event registration coming to a close.
That number probably takes on too much importance to signal health of industry, but I know what it means to people and to me and the staff. We feel a great responsibility to everyone to show poker’s healthy.”
The magic number to pass this year is 10,112, which was set last year, beating the previous high mark of 10,043 in 2023.
Someone get Stewart some Tums, because it’s going to be a close. And that’s a very good thing, because no matter how you cut it, pulling-off a 10,000-plus contest is an amazing achievement.
Will Roland win one?
Roland Israelashvili has had an amazing tournament poker career, particularly in World Series of Poker events, where he sits second on the all-time number of cashes list at 509. Arkadiy Tsinis is the only player with more, with an astounding 532. Brett Apter sits in third with 327. That number includes Circuit events.
Although he has 11 WSOP Circuit rings and more than $4 million in WSOP tournament winnings, Israelashvili has never won a bracelet. And while he’s made the final table in WSOP events around the world 75 times, only seven of those came in bracelet events.
Come on, poker Gods, the man is flippin’ due.
