For all intents and purposes, we have reached the halfway point of the 2026 World Series of Poker. 49 tournaments are in the books, and there has been heartbreak and triumph throughout the first half of the schedule. Here are just a few of the highlights – and some lows – that have occurred over the initial half of the 2026 WSOP.
Frustrating Start for Negreanu and Hellmuth
It has been a frustrating start to the 2026 WSOP for Daniel Negreanu. With a bambino on the way (wife Amanda is expecting), Negreanu arguably has more impetus to do well on the WSOP stage this year. Of the tournaments he has played, however, Negreanu has only managed five finishes and one final table (Event #28, the $600 NLHE/PLO Eight-Handed Deepstack). It leaves Negreanu looking for some more substantive results from the more focused schedule he spoke about before the start of the Series.
Facing a similar beginning to the 2026 WSOP is Phil Hellmuth. The cards have stymied the former World Champion and seventeen-time WSOP bracelet winner – or is it the opposition? – in Las Vegas this summer, the first one he is playing as a Nevada resident. At the halfway mark of the schedule, Hellmuth has only been able to cobble together three cashes, with two of those being tantalizing final table efforts (Event #17, $10,000 No Limit Deuce to Seven Draw Lowball; Event #9, $10,000 Limit Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or Better). Don’t bet against “The Poker Brat” scoring in the last half of the schedule.
Anything You Can Do, I…Can Do Too!
It has been fun watching the battle on the felt between poker’s Golden Couple, Alex and Kristen Foxen. Through the halfway point of the 2026 WSOP, they have both been able to grasp the brass ring, or, in this case, the gold bracelet signifying poker excellence. It keeps the familial battle between the two of them as it was at the start of the Series, with Kristen leading by two bracelets.
Kristen battled her way through one of the tougher fields you’ll see in Event #19, the $25,000 No Limit Hold’em High Roller. It was not that she won the tournament that was the surprise; what was the surprise was the ease with which she did it, as if it were a moment that was her destiny. It was the sixth WSOP bracelet of her career, continuing to add to her record for most bracelets by a female player and potentially etching her name for future Poker Hall of Fame consideration.
Alex, for his part, has been quite busy on the felt. He has booked five final tables over the first half of the 2026 WSOP and topped it off with a win in the $10,000 Eight-Handed Super Turbo Bounty tournament (Event #44). That brings Alex to four total bracelets – still behind the missus, Alex – but he can claim something that Kristen has not done yet – he is the current leader for the WSOP Player of the Year, which would be a nice feather in his cap.
Plenty of Time for Mateos
When you look back at the career of Spain’s Adrian Mateos, you are shocked at how much he has achieved in a rather brief period. That was accentuated earlier in the 2026 WSOP when he took down his sixth bracelet in the $250,000 No Limit Hold’em Super High Roller. Defeating such notables as Phil Ivey, Sean Winter, and Bryn Kenney (the runner-up), Mateos picked up the $4.4 million payday and, at 31, must be considered a potential candidate for approaching Hellmuth’s 17-bracelet record.
A Double Bracelet Winner? We Got That…
Arguably, one of the great achievements at the WSOP each year is winning two bracelets. It only took Japan’s Naoya Kihara 23 events (roughly two weeks) before he pulled off the feat.
On June 4, Kihara picked up the title of the $10,000 No Limit Deuce to Seven Lowball Draw World Championship. Only three days later, Naoya would turn around and take another major $10,000 tournament, this time winning the Seven Card Stud World Championship. With more than a month left on the schedule, is Kihara looking to become one of the rarest birds of all at the WSOP – a three-time bracelet winner in a given year (eight other men have pulled off the feat, most recently Benny Glaser in 2025)?
So that is a look at the highs – and the lows – that have occurred in just the first month of the 2026 WSOP. We can only expect to see greater achievements in the second half of the schedule as we watch poker history fold…and unfold…at the 2026 World Series of Poker.
The post Halfway There: Highlights of the 2026 WSOP at the Midpoint of the Schedule appeared first on Poker News Daily.
About The Author
