LFG POKER
T I M E S
WEEK OF MONDAY, JULY 20, 2026 · LFGPOKER.APP
SHRPO OPENS JULY 28 · $3,000,000 CHAMPIONSHIP · BORGATA CHAMPIONSHIP RUNS $1,000,000
Big Stories
Florida's Biggest Series Opens Next Monday
The Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open runs July 28 through August 11 at Hollywood, and it is the largest tournament series in the state this year. It opens Tuesday with a $300 Quad Stack and does not let up for two weeks.
Two events anchor it. The $400 Deep Stack carries a $1,000,000 guarantee across eight starting flights from July 29 to August 1, with 20,000 starting chips, 30-minute levels and late registration through Level 9. At $400 to enter, that is one of the best guarantee-to-buy-in ratios you will find anywhere this year. Then the $5,300 Championship plays two flights on August 7 and 8 for a $3,000,000 guarantee, 50,000 chips and hour-long levels, finishing August 11.
There is also a $25,500 High Roller on August 10 with a $1,000,000 guarantee and 100,000 starting chips. And if the Championship price is steep, Hard Rock is running a deep satellite schedule into it all series long, from $150 turbos up to $600 megas. Every one of those is now on the site with its structure.
The WSOP, Wrapped
The WSOP Drew Its Biggest Crowd Ever and Paid Out Less
The 2026 World Series of Poker has finished its schedule, and the headline numbers tell two different stories at once. More people played the WSOP this year than in any year before it: 251,899 entries across the series, up from 246,960 in 2025. But the total prize money went the other way, landing at $469.9 million against last year's $481.7 million. That leaves 2026 as the second-largest WSOP ever by prize money, behind only the edition it just outdrew.
The gap is the story. Record bodies through the door and roughly $11.8 million less in prize pools means the average player spent less. Cheaper events did the heavy lifting, and the big-buy-in end of the schedule did not keep pace. If you have felt like the value has been in the smaller fields lately, the series-wide math agrees with you.
For the record, the series generated $47.3 million in tournament fees. Of that, about $33.1 million stayed with the WSOP and roughly $14.2 million went to dealers and tournament staff.
The Number
251,899
Entries across the 2026 WSOP, a record, in a year when total prize money fell.
Results of Note
WSOP Main Event · 9,208 entries
The fourth-largest Main Event field in the tournament's 57-year history, roughly $85.6 million in the prize pool. Short of last year's 9,735 and well short of the 10,112 record set in 2024.
Main Event Final Table · plays August 3
The final nine return to Las Vegas on August 3 under this year's ESPN deal, with the champion crowned August 5. Every finalist has already locked up at least $1,000,000, and $10,000,000 waits up top.
Worth Knowing
- Nevada's May gaming win came in at $1.39 billion, up 7.43% year over year. The Las Vegas Strip alone posted $807.9 million, up 13.19%, its eighth-best month on record. No poker-specific figures were broken out.
- Atlantic City is in the middle of its Summer Poker Open right now. Borgata runs the $500 Almighty Stack ($750,000 GTD) through July 27, then the $2,700 Championship for $1,000,000 starting July 26, then a $580 Monster Mirror Mystery Bounty for $250,000 to close the month.
- Vegas does not go quiet after the WSOP. Two major series were announced for August, historically the softest month on the Strip calendar. More on both below.
- Florida is hosting back-to-back seven-figure series. SHRPO opens July 28 in Hollywood, and the WPT lands at bestbet Jacksonville on August 20. Between them the state has $5 million in guarantees on the calendar in six weeks.
This Week's Top Tournaments · Nationwide Highlights
SHRPO Championship$3,000,000 GTD
Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood · $5,300 · Flights August 7 & 8, finishes August 11
SHRPO $400 Deep Stack$1,000,000 GTD
Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood · Eight flights July 29 – August 1 · 20,000 chips, late reg to Level 9
Borgata Summer Poker Open Championship$1,000,000 GTD
Borgata, Atlantic City · $2,700 · Flights July 26, 27 & 28 · finishes July 31
WPT bestbet Scramble$1,000,000 GTD
bestbet Jacksonville · August 20 – September 9 · Championship $5,000, Day 1A September 4
Wynn Signature Series$400,000 GTD
Wynn Las Vegas · August 17 – September 7 · $1,100 NLH is the anchor, Day 1A September 3
Venetian DeepStack Showdown$150,000 GTD
Venetian · August 3 – 31 · 37 events, buy-ins $200 to $600
$300 NLH July Multi-Day$100,000 GTD
Casino Dania Beach · Flights through July 25, Day 2 July 26
New to LFG Poker
We added 229 events this week, nearly all of them August and September. The Wynn Signature Series and the Venetian DeepStack Showdown are both loaded end to end, every event carrying its starting stack, level length and late-reg cutoff straight from the official structure sheets.
The bestbet Jacksonville addition is the one worth a look. The full WPT Scramble is in, all sixteen numbered events plus the satellite slate running from now through September, along with the LIPS series starting July 30.
SHRPO is loaded in full, all 117 events across the two weeks. That includes the complete satellite schedule into the Championship and the High Roller, so if you are looking to spin up a seat rather than buy in directly, every qualifier is on the site with its structure attached.
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