The 2026 World Series of Poker kicks off on May 26 at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas with 100 bracelet events and 749 tables. It’s the biggest schedule in WSOP history. But several recognizable names are locked out of Las Vegas entirely, and others are choosing to stay home.

Between a drug arrest at US customs, the first bracelet ever withheld for cheating, and a new gambling tax cap that has pushed a 10x bracelet winner into semi-retirement, the list of pros who can’t or won’t play the 2026 WSOP is unusually long.

Here’s every story and what it means for the field heading into this summer.

Charlie Carrel: Banned from America Since 2017

British poker pro Charlie Carrel won’t be at the 2026 WSOP. He won’t be at the 2027 WSOP either. Carrel has been banned from entering the United States for over eight years, and for the first time, he’s told the full story publicly.

The Arrest That Ended His WSOP Career

Carrel revealed what happened in a YouTube video titled “I Messed Up” in February 2026. The story resurfaced this week, one week before the 2026 series begins.

In early 2017, shortly after Donald Trump first took office, Carrel flew to Las Vegas. Border security had tightened. A customs agent searched his bags and found three pink pills inside a jar.

“A lot of the border security had kind of tightened up on foreigners, and to this day, I’m still outraged, because he didn’t mean me, he didn’t mean English foreigners. But they had to be non-discriminatory.”

Carrel says he wasn’t sure whether the pills were illegal. He also didn’t know if there were more drugs elsewhere in his suitcase. He was arrested and spent one night in Clark County, Nevada jail.

“I got arrested in America, and I got banned from America. I’m currently not allowed in the United States of America, unless I’m sure if I came in the South border. Oh, no, no, Trump’s in, can’t even do that. I’m done for, I’m screwed.”

His last WSOP appearance was that same year: 88th place in the 2017 Main Event out of 7,221 entries for $72,514. Nine straight summers have passed without him.

Carrel’s Career Numbers

Where Carrel Plays Now

Carrel has shifted to crypto poker platforms. He is a CoinPoker ambassador and competed in the 2026 Cash Game World Championship series earlier this year. His YouTube channel focuses on hand reviews, coaching sessions, and the occasional confessional like the one that broke this story.

The US ban doesn’t block him from online play. WSOP Online bracelet events run on GGPoker in parallel with the live series, so Carrel could still chase a bracelet from London without ever boarding a flight to Las Vegas.

Yaginuma and Carroll: Lifetime Bans After the Millionaire Maker Scandal

The 2025 $1,500 Millionaire Maker drew nearly 12,000 entries and should have produced one of the biggest feel-good stories of the summer. Instead, it became the first event in WSOP history where no bracelet was awarded, and both finalists were banned for life from all Caesars properties.

The $1M Bonus That Created the Incentive

Jesse Yaginuma entered the Millionaire Maker holding a ClubWPT Gold “Gold Rush” ticket. The promotion was simple: if Yaginuma won any of 11 designated WSOP events, he’d collect a $1,000,000 bonus on top of the regular prize money.

He made it to heads-up play against James Carroll, a two-time WPT champion with $7.6 million in career live earnings. Carroll held a commanding chip lead. Yaginuma was down 9 to 1, a deficit that swelled to 16 to 1 at its worst.

Then the comeback happened. Yaginuma erased the entire deficit in 59 hands. Viewers watching the PokerGO stream couldn’t believe what they were seeing.

The Hands That Set Off the Investigation

The stream captured a string of plays from Carroll that made no strategic sense at any level of poker:

The poker community reacted in real time. Chip dumping accusations flooded social media before the final hand was even dealt. The WSOP launched a formal investigation the next morning.

The WSOP’s Unprecedented Response

On July 1, 2025, the WSOP released its official ruling:

“We have concluded that in order to uphold the integrity of the game and to uphold our official WSOP Tournament Rules, no winner will be recognized and no bracelet will be awarded for this year’s tournament.”

This was the first time in WSOP history that a bracelet was withheld over integrity concerns. The remaining prize pool was split between the two finalists, with each receiving $1,133,750 (first and second place money averaged).

ClubWPT Gold honored the $1 million bonus regardless. Their creative director publicly joked that Yaginuma would only get to “spend half of it,” a comment widely read as confirming the assumption of an under-the-table split deal.

Lifetime Caesars Bans

Both Yaginuma and Carroll received lifetime bans from all Caesars Entertainment properties. Since the WSOP is held at Caesars venues, this permanently locks them out of the live series.

Daniel Negreanu confirmed the bans on his daily vlog and clarified where the decision came from:

“The WSOP doesn’t even have jurisdiction over this. What happens when something like this happens is Nevada Gaming and Caesars make decisions on what these players do.”

Carroll, who had $7.6 million in career earnings and two WPT titles before the scandal, and Yaginuma, a three-time WSOP Online bracelet winner, are both now permanently excluded from the biggest annual poker event in the world.

What Changed in the 2026 Rulebook

The scandal triggered a direct rule change. The 2026 WSOP rulebook now includes Rule 40(e), which states that any player who accepts a third-party payment based on the outcome of a WSOP event forfeits all prize money, recoverable with interest.

The new WSOP 2026 rule changes also ban electronic devices at the final three tables of every event and strengthen penalties for stalling.

Erik Seidel: 10 Bracelets, Forced Into Semi-Retirement

Erik Seidel is one of the most decorated tournament players alive. He holds 10 WSOP bracelets, ranks among the top five on the all-time money list with $48 million+ in career earnings, and has been a fixture at the World Series for over three decades. In 2026, he’s stepping back.

The reason isn’t burnout, health, or a change of heart. It’s a tax rule.

The Math That Broke the Schedule

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), signed on July 4, 2025, caps gambling loss deductions at 90% instead of the previous 100%. That 10% gap creates taxable income on money a player never actually made.

Seidel told CNBC in April 2026 that the numbers no longer work:

“The margins are really, really thin. If you’re a professional poker player, you’re not even guaranteed to have a profit at the end of the year. This just creates a situation where it’s really untenable.”

He used to play between 100 and 150 tournaments every year. That number is now down to roughly a quarter. He’s avoiding all $10K+ buy-in events, which are exactly the tournaments that define a WSOP summer for high-stakes pros.

“I’m going smaller because I don’t want the numbers to get too high if I’m only able to deduct 90%. I’ve just been really taking it easy and avoiding $10K tournaments and above, which are the tournaments that I normally play.”

Seidel was clear that the impact goes far beyond his own career:

“I can afford to not play as much, but it’s a devastating thing for people who are much younger than me.”

The Tax Expert’s Warning

Russ Fox, an enrolled agent at Clayton Financial & Tax who specializes in gambling taxation, confirmed the trend is not limited to one player.

“For most professionals, the 90% loss limitation is going to have a major impact.”

Fox told CNBC that several of his professional poker clients have already stopped playing entirely. His advice to those still active: run your 2025 numbers with the 90% cap applied and see what the damage looks like. According to Fox, “a few have been very surprised. Not in a positive manner.”

The Pros Speaking Out

Seidel isn’t the only high-profile name raising the alarm. Several of the game’s biggest voices have gone on record about the 90% cap, and the tone is consistent: this rule could push professional poker out of the United States.

Doug Polk has been the most visible campaigner. He sat down with Senator Catherine Cortez Masto on his YouTube channel, appeared on NewsNation, and told CNBC:

“You’re taxing people on money they didn’t make.”

Polk’s argument centers on the bell curve of results: most winning gamblers are small winners, and the 10% disallowed deduction wipes out their entire edge. In his words, it’s “basically a game-ender for people that are in high-volume gambling fields who do not have substantial, substantial edges.”

Phil Galfond put out the math that made the problem visual. His worked example: a player who wins $5.2 million and loses $5 million nets $200,000 in real profit but gets taxed as if they made $700,000. He called the rule “very scary for poker” and told the Associated Press it would “end professional gambling in the U.S.”

Phil Hellmuth coined the phrase “Poker Player’s Death Tax” and took the issue directly to Senator Ted Cruz. Maria Konnikova called it “a tax on the very right to play.” Daniel Negreanu described the situation as “as big as it gets.”

What This Means for the 2026 WSOP Field

Between entry bans, Caesars trespasses, and the tax exodus, the 2026 WSOP is losing a measurable chunk of its regular high-stakes field. Seidel alone accounted for over 100 tournament entries per year. Multiply that pattern across the “several” pros that Russ Fox says have already quit, and the impact becomes real.

Here’s what that means in practice:

The WSOP has never been bigger on paper, but the question heading into May 26 is whether the field can match the schedule.