Overview
- Registration ended with 9,208 paid entries, producing an $85.6 million prize pool and a $10,000,000 first-place award while the top 1,382 finishers are guaranteed payouts (minimum cash about $15,000).
- Tuesday’s late registration added 819 players, and late entrants began with smaller effective stacks than Day 1 players, which changes the math for deep runs and short-stack strategy.
- Phil Ivey was one of the final players to take a seat with a short stack, and defending champion Michael Mizrachi survived to Day 3 with about 202,500 chips (roughly 101 big blinds).
- Play combines for Day 3 with roughly 3,294 players returning; the money bubble is forecast for early Day 4 and the final table is scheduled for Aug. 3–5 with ESPN2 and ESPN coverage.
- The field is down from 9,735 in 2025, a year-over-year decline that coverage links to rising inflation, recent U.S. tax changes and fewer international travelers, even as the Main Event remains one of the biggest poker tournaments worldwide.