2026 World Series of Poker May 26th - July 15th

Yeah he had red queens on a board that Qd was either worst or 2nd worst card to have in your hand to bluff catch but blockers don't matter all that much when someone is getting quite a bit out of line and that image paid off. (I think it's a fold anyway unless you're quite sure but Trayner gotta trust what got him multiple million dollar paydays over what someone on the internet who has none of those thinks) That call ended up by far the biggest spot of the tournament, swapped many millions of dollars in real money in the end.

4/5 POY leaders are still alive near the money bubble in the $25k HORSE (Foxen, Kihara, Deeb, and Arieh).

Mike may have been on to something...

erik seidel is at the 3k plo final table

Seidel HU is $3K PLO, but down 7-1 in chips.

Do you think all nine in ME will make a deal? If so, how much would each get?

Still some interesting play for the bracelet and honor.

Think it's way too difficult for 9 ppl to make a deal, especially with such varying chip counts. I think a deal is more likely at 2-4 left. Too hard to do with too many people.

I may even try and calculate the theoretical numbers. Starting from

Lucas Jumalon: 194 million
Rami Hammoud: 79 million
Jamie Shaevel: 56 million
Greg Mueller: 48.5 million
Michael Gagliano: 46.5 million
Mario Boos: 44 million
Lauri Saaskilahti: 37.5 million
Han Feng: 25 million
Evagoras Evagorou: 22.5 million

1st place: $10 million
2nd place: $6 million
3rd place: $3.75 million
4th place: $2.75 million
5th place: $2.25 million
6th place: $1.75 million
7th place: $1.5 million
8th place: $1.25 million
9th place: $1 million

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/25454816-wsop-2026-main-event-results-and-prize-money-payouts-ahead-final-table

bleacherreport

WSOP 2026 Main Event Results and Prize Money Payouts Ahead of Final Table

You could easily calculate ICM chop values.

So the ME players get 2+ weeks off to get coaching. With the money involved, they could justify any reasonable coaching expense that could be done in that time.

618.89
405.42
341.43
317.72
311.11
302.65
279.56
229.66
218.57

https://www.icmizer.com/icmcalculator/#a...

Above are ICM chop values in $10,000s.

Insane that Jumalon’s stack is worth more than second place money. He should snap take ICM

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Does WSOP allow deals anymore? I don't think so. And then if you did an under the table deal, you need to trust 8 other people with 7-figures of money. Which is impossible

Hey guys, I gave my brother 20% of my action and we agreed I pay him the amount after taxes. I was thinking of doing 65,000 * .76 * .20 = $9,980. Does this seem to be fair? Not entirely sure if I should treat the poker winnings with my tax bracket, his tax bracket, or a combination of both. What do you think is the most fair way to go about this?

I think technically you are supposed to give him the whole amount and you both pay taxes on your own. One or both of you may have to fill out a form, I've never done that part.

Practically speaking just giving him the amount minus taxes probably easier and I doubt it ever matters.

Correct, WSOP won't facilitate deals, you just gotta trust people will pay and then taxes become a nightmare as well.

Up to you but if you are paying him "Under the table" then I would use your tax bracket. Your call how you actually "give" him the cash, if IRS were to find out then the money would get double taxed.

From a technical standpoint, please check with an accountant or someone who actually knows what they are doing. As mentioned above about a form. The proper way I think is you give him the money, pre-tax but also give him a 1099 or whatever the proper form is. Then the money doesn't hit your income, hits his instead and he pays based on his bracket.

Not financial advice 😀 but hypothetically giving it to him under the table post tax is probably simplest for the amount you are talking about. If you had cashed for like 500k, it would be trickier.

Yeah, you're supposed to each individually report and pay taxes on your earnings. IIRC, WSOP makes this a bit complicated because they don't accept Form 5754 which would cause them to issue a W2-G to each backer, instead of just one to you. I'm not a tax professional so I don't know the correct route (I think it might involve issuing a 1099-MISC to your brother and then deducting on your end), so if you choose to go about this the right way, you should research this issue or, better yet, seek the advice of a tax professional with experience dealing with gambling income. Russ Fox's shop is well regarded in this area.

If you choose to not take the legally correct, albeit onerous, route of just paying the taxes yourself and then paying your brother under the table, you should give him 20% of whatever your after-tax earnings are. Because you are the one paying the taxes, his tax rate is irrelevant. If you used a different tax rate, you're either giving yourself or him a windfall.

The most fair way is to pay him 20% of $65k and have your accountant give him a 1099. Then you will be able to deduct that amount from your winnings and he would be responsible for paying his own taxes.

And don't forget to deduct the entry fee from the prize amount

Yes, deals are allowed. However, they do not recognize the deals. So if you made a save for 100K heads-up, and the other guy wins, he will get paid the entire first prize money, and get a W2-g that says that amount. You then have to trust him to give you the 100K. As such, it is likely a mistake to make a deal unless you are already friends with and trust the other players in the deal. Definitely do NOT make a deal with Maurice Hawkins and the like.

Or run in both ways and see which results in lower tax obligations.

Man, the ICMs run close.

If your brother bought your action, it's probably correct that you need to fill out the forms to create separate tax liability for each of your shares of the winnings, as this would be reportable income for both of you.

But if it is simply a gift (as you describe it), there should be no tax liability for the giftee, and this would under the threshold for the gifter to need to report. So I think in that situation you can give him whatever you both think is fair. You would still be reponsible for the tax on the whole of the winnings.

Good call, forgot about this, yeah you can "gift" him up to 19k, you already paid taxes on it and should not affect your returns, give him whatever you agree upon post tax for you. Again consult tax person 😀 but found this

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-bus...

FYI - you're allowed to gift a person up to $19,000 per year, so that amount is under that so he wouldn't need to pay taxes. I think you paying him an amount net of your tax obligation is more than fair and pretty transparent as explained. In your shoes I'd be comfortable with that payment.

Yes, if someone wanted to be official and pay gross amount and issue 1099 to person, maybe that's a play with someone you don't know. But this is your brother paying him amount less 24% tax (maybe guesstimate your federal and state tax to feel 100% that 24% is a good figure).