The 57^th annual World Series of Poker is about to begin. Seven weeks of poker action will be played, 100 WSOP bracelets will be awarded and millions of dollars in prizes will be given out. Who will win biggest in the pressure cooker of Las Vegas this World Series? We’ve taken a look in our crystal ball and predicted five achievements – or not – that could play out this summer in Sin City.

Could There Be a New WSOP Main Event Record?

The WSOP Main Event has given us so many memories over the years that to rank any above another is to be subjective. Was the Moneymaker win in 2003 the most important? Possibly. Could the $12.1 million won by Daniel Weinman be the biggest top prize for a long time? Almost certainly. Will there ever be a world champion like Michael Mizrachi just 10 months ago? Absolutely not.

Last July, ‘Grinder’ took down the $10,000-entry WSOP Main Event for a top prize of $10,000,000. More than that, however, Mizrachi won his second major title in a matter of days, having claimed his fourth and record-breaking Poker Players Championship early in the WSOP. Mizrachi’s PPC titles in 2010, 2012, 2018 and 2025, combined with his Main Event win, meant he was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame after an emergency meeting between the living members of the HoF.

The only player ever to win the Main Event and PPC in the same year, it is unlikely that Mizrachi, now a GGPoker Global Ambassador, will retain his Main Event. No player has since Johnny Chan achieved the feat in 1988, with ‘The Orient Express’ sensationally denied three in a row by Phil Hellmuth heads-up in 1989.

The Main Event’s growth in recent years with players qualifying via GGPoker has been astonishing. In 2023, the record attendance of 8,773 that populated The Rio back in 2006, the year Jamie Gold won $12m, was smashed. A total of 10,043 players took part in the World Championship three years ago when Daniel Weinman won $12.1 million, the biggest top prize ever.

After this record was exceeded 12 months later in 2024 with 10,112 entries, last year’s attendance fell just 377 players short of the record at 9,735. Could this year be even bigger than in 2024? We see no reason why not.

Could a Player Win Three Bracelets?

Winning a single WSOP bracelet in a career is the dream of millions of poker players around the world. Winning two in one series? An absolute fantasy. So what are the chances of a single player winning three WSOP bracelets out of the 100 on offer in Las Vegas? Surely they’re astronomical! Well, if the last two years are anything to go by, that’s not the case.

Over the 56-year history of the World Series of Poker, in just eight years has a player won three WSOP bracelets in the same series. Puggy Pearson (1973), Ted Forrest (1993), Phil Hellmuth Jr. (1993), and Phil Ivey (2002) all achieved the feat in the pre-Moneymaker era. In 2009, Aussie Jeff Lisandro achieved the feat, and he was followed into the record books by George Danzer in 2014.

A decade-long drought of triple winners followed before Scott Seiver took three bracelets on his way to becoming WSOP Player of the Year in 2024. Last year, the feat of three bracelets in one series was repeated, as PokerStake seller Benny Glaser bagged a trio of titles, albeit falling just short of POY thanks to a phenomenal run to the finish line by Shaun Deeb.

Could we see three triple bracelet winners in three years? We think it’s a distinct possibility. Of all the players to do so, however, which one is most likely to claim glory? We love the chances of another PokerStake player this year and think that by the year’s end we might be calling it ‘The Year of Brock’.

Brock Wilson has already won the PokerGO Cup and U.S. Poker Open titles year, meaning we caught up with him and his partner Cherish Andrews this week in order to find out what makes the two crushers tick. Brock’s record already this year is impressive but what makes us believe this could be his year is the volume he’s likely to play. Sure to be a massive threat in high rollers, Brock is selling his action too, so if you agree with us you can back him today.

Three More Predictions for the 2026 WSOP

With 100 bracelet events and weeks of drama ahead, what else could we see happen at the felt? Firstly, we think this could be the year that ‘Chainsaw’ finally cuts through. After years of winning WSOP Circuit events and major mixed game titles, Allen Kessler has never won a WSOP bracelet. With 100 on offer and events such as T.O.R.S.E. playing into his skillset, we think this could be the year Chainsaw finally bags gold at the WSOP.

Last year, Leo Margets reached the final table of the World Series of Poker Main Event, eventually finishing in seventh place. The Spanish poker pro was the first female player to reach the final table of the Main since Barbara Enright in 1995. The chances of that being repeated 12 months on is extremely rare but with a number of top female players in the game such as Kristen Foxen and Cherish Andrews, we think that female players will win at least five WSOP bracelets of the 100 live events that take place in Las Vegas.

Finally, with 100 bracelets due to be awarded in 2025, only 99 were given out after the scandal in the $1,500 Millionaire Maker event saw the organizers refuse to award the bracelet. In 2026, we don’t think that will happen, but we’re going to predict that the first permitted deal in Las Vegas sees a level chop in a bracelet event where only the gold itself is played for at the last.

The 57^th annual WSOP is just 24 hours away… so who is your money on? Back your favorite and stake the WSOP champions of this series by heading to the official PokerStake staking page today.

It’s going to be a great summer!