PokerNews live coverage of this event will begin on Day 2 (July 11). 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.
The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is set to usher in a new era for its winter flagship, WSOP Paradise, after confirming the festival will move from Atlantis Paradise Island to the luxury Baha Mar resort, also in the Bahamas.
The 2026 edition, slated to run from Tuesday, December 1 to Friday, December 18, will shuffle up and deal in a new home roughly six miles up the Bahamian coast from where Austria’s Bernhard Binder announced himself to the wider poker world, capturing the record-breaking 2025 WSOP Paradise Super Main Event just a few months ago.
In an announcement on social media platform X, the WSOP wrote, "The next chapter of WSOP Paradise is coming... Bigger. Better. Unmissable. This December, the world's fastest-growing poker event arrives at the stunning Baha Mar."
According to the WSOP LIVE app.
ESPN is ramping up its WSOP Main Event coverage this year, the first year the Bristol, CT-based sports network has aired poker's premier tournament since COVID.
The $10,000 buy-in World Championship event is underway at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, and runs through Aug. 5, with a three-week break when the final table is reached. Poker fans who watched the WSOP on ESPN before it moved to CBS Sports Network from 2021-2025 will notice some similarities to the broadcasts of old, and a new, enhanced Main Event television and livestream schedule.
According to the WSOP LIVE app.
When he wasn't milking cows on his family dairy farm in Windsor, Texas, Mason Vieth was playing poker at the nearest casino in Thackerville, Oklahoma.
"I grew up milking the cows and playing poker at WinStar World Casino," the former dairy farmer told PokerNews. "I would stay up all night playing poker, then go milk them, then go back. Three days in a row most of the time. No sleep."
Those hard-earned poker chops are now paying off for Vieth, better known as "Milkman," — as embroidered on his royal blue cap —who is one of 533 players who advanced to Day 5 of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event.
PokerNews caught up with Vieth during a break on Day 4 as he chased his first bracelet and life-changing money in an event that will award $10 million.
Have you heard about MyStack by PokerNews? It is a free-to-use tool built into the PokerNews website that puts you in control of your chip counts on our live reporting pages. MyStack directly connects you to PokerNews live reporting pages, making you an even bigger part of the action in the events you play.
MyStack is a free poker tool and PokerNews activates MyStack for every event it is live reporting from, regardless of that tournament's buy-in. Once you have created a free PokerNews account, you can use MyStack to update your chip counts in real time; hopefully, your stack will continue increasing throughout the event!
Welcome back to the 2026 World Series of Poker (WSOP) at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.
Today sees Day 1c of Event #89: $3,000 Mid-Stakes Championship No-Limit Hold’em, the third and final starting flight, with action underway at 12 p.m. with a winner crowned on July 13.
The Mid-Stakes Championship is a prestigious tournament for the mid-stakes grinders around the world who don’t always get the same recognition as the high rollers. This is their event to shine, and the one where a $1 million top prize is highly likely.
Yesterday's Day 1b saw 263 players from a 951-strong crowd advance to Day 2. Portugal's Luis Faria (431,000) topped the chip counts in the WSOP LIVE app.
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luis Faria | Portugal | 431,000 | 172 |
| 2 | Agustin Naranja | Argentina | 413,000 | 165 |
| 3 | Yuxi Huang | China | 399,500 | 160 |
| 4 | James Sileo | United States | 387,500 | 155 |
| 5 | Daemon Richardson | United States | 387,000 | 155 |
| 6 | Tom Kunze | Germany | 367,000 | 147 |
| 7 | Maher Achour | Turkey | 355,500 | 142 |
| 8 | Robert Nemeskeri-Kiss | United States | 344,500 | 138 |
| 9 | Lucas Cortijo | Argentina | 343,000 | 137 |
| 10 | Laith Sheena | United Kingdom | 342,000 | 137 |
Day 1c of the $3,000 Mid-Stakes Championship No-Limit Hold’em event starts at noon local time on July 10, with the final starting flight. Each entrant gets 40,000 chips at the start of play. Late registration remains open for 11 levels, which is one level into Day 2. Blind levels will remain at 60 minutes throughout the tournament.
Day 1 will run until 10 levels have been completed. There will be 20-minute breaks every two levels, and a 60-minute dinner break is scheduled after Level 6, around 6:40 p.m.
Day 2 restart is set for noon on July 11. Breaks will drop to 15 minutes, but players will again play 10 levels. Dinner break, again 60 minutes, is set for around 7:30 p.m. after Level 26. Traditional PokerNews coverage begins on Day 2.
Day 3 on July 12 will have the same structure as Day 2, and the noon restart for Day 4 on July 13 will play down to a winner.
At the 2025 WSOP, Ian O’Hara beat a field of 3,797 entrants to win $1,109,408 plus bounties from the $6,054,734 prize pool, and, of course, the Mid-Stakes Championship bracelet.
Clement Richez was the 2024 Mid-Stakes champion. He beat a field with 3,177 entrants for the bracelet and $1,041,989 first-place prize.
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Event #89: $3,000 Mid-Stakes Championship No-Limit Hold'em
Day 1c Started
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