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Pokerfuse reported that only live WSOP Circuit winners will get a WSOP Paradise package, and that the rule does not apply to online winners. The outlet described the live-only eligibility as a departure from previous years and said the change seemed to have passed players by.

In a WSOP news post, the company said every live and online WSOP Circuit ring winner through Dec. 2, 2025 received free entry to the WSOP Circuit Championship Mystery Bounty and a $5,000 package to cover the stay in the Bahamas.

WSOP Paradise is the Bahamas-based extension of the main World Series of Poker festival, and all Paradise winners earn bracelets. Pokerfuse’s Paradise guide says the 2026 series runs from Dec. 3 to 17 at Baha Mar, making it the fourth edition after the event debuted in 2023 and has returned each December since.

The same guide says the 2026 stop is expected to lean more toward higher buy-ins and high rollers, with the full schedule still to come. It also says the 2025 Paradise schedule had 15 bracelet-awarding events and that 2026 is likely to match or exceed that number.

Pokerfuse says the 2025 WSOP Paradise Main Event drew 2,891 entries and produced a $72.2 million prize pool, while the Super Main Event carried a $25,000 buy-in and a $60 million guarantee.

At the time of the guide, there were no satellites running specifically for the 2026 series yet. International players could qualify through GGPoker, US players through WSOP Online satellites, and players in Ontario through GGPoker Ontario.

WSOP reversed course and said the 2026 Main Event final table will be played without a shot clock. The final nine will return to Horseshoe Las Vegas on Aug. 3-5 to play down to a winner, with the final table taking place in the Paris Ballroom.

The clock had only just been added on Day 6 after Loren Klein spent more than 15 minutes in the tank while trying to chase a pay jump. That was the first time the Main Event had ever used a shot clock in its 57-year history.

In a statement on its official X account, WSOP said the change came after discussions with players and tournament staff. The same rules still let any player call for the clock if an opponent is taking an unreasonable amount of time, and staff keep that authority as well, though WSOP said it should be used only in exceptional situations.

WSOP also left itself room to put the clock back in if repeated or excessive stalling starts to hurt the pace of play. When the system was in place, players had 20 seconds to act, with a 30-second extension and time-bank chips, and the setup gave players six time banks at the start plus four more after the second afternoon break.

The early reaction was mostly positive. Barny Boatman called it "a very good decision," and Adam Hendrix also backed the move, while Harry Gandia and some other commenters said the timing looked like the rules were being changed midstream.

The shot clock had been used through Days 7 and 8 while the field shrank to the final table, but it will not be part of the live finish. The final three days are set for Aug. 3-5 on ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery partners.

Chris Moneymaker has explained the river call that ended his run on the 2026 WSOP Main Event money bubble. He said the decision was driven by the range he put Antonio Vargas on, not by J-9 offsuit standing alone.

According to Card Player, Moneymaker said he had watched Vargas closely at the table and believed the same action would have meant something very different from a tighter player. He said, “He may be the only player I make that call against,” and added that he still had enough chips to play with about 27.6 big blinds.

At the time, the Main Event had drawn 9,208 entries and Day 4 began with 1,389 players. The top 1,382 would be paid, so the field was seven eliminations away from the $15,000 minimum cash when play resumed with blinds at 4,000-8,000 and an 8,000 big-blind ante.

Moneymaker opened to 17,000 from the hijack with J♥9♦, then called Vargas’s three-bet to 42,000. Vargas had A♥A♠. On the flop, 8♥7♠7♦, Vargas bet 20,000 into an estimated 96,000-pot and Moneymaker continued with a gutshot and two overcards.

Vargas kept barreling with 45,000 on the 7♣ turn, and Moneymaker called again. The 8♠ river made a full house on the board, and Moneymaker said the key point was that many possible bluffs did not improve either. He said he was not calling because he thought J-9 beat aces, but because enough of Vargas’s range played the board.

Vargas tabled the aces and Moneymaker was eliminated. Stoyan Madanzhiev and Zhaken Seitbekov were also knocked out in the same hand-for-hand sequence, and because only two $15,000 minimum-cash spots were available, the $30,000 was split three ways for $10,000 each. The three then flipped for a $25,000 WSOP Paradise package, which Seitbekov won.

PokerStars’ WCOOP Boot Camp is back for August 2-17, and the latest reporting puts the warm-up at 65 events with $6.5 million in guarantees. The series is being framed as the lead-in to WCOOP’s 25th edition, which is scheduled for September 6-30.

The schedule lines up around a two-tier structure. The events come in low and high buy-in versions, with entries from $2.20 to $1,050 and online satellites starting at $0.55.

The schedule mixes hold’em, PLO, PLO8, H.O.R.S.E., 8-Game, Razz, Badugi and 2-7 draw formats across full-ring, six-max, seven-max and heads-up tables. It also includes progressive knockouts, mystery bounties and marathon events.

BBZ Poker says it is supplying the training for the second straight year. The partner is running three full coaching days on July 31, August 7 and August 14, with four 50-minute seminars each day, free on BBZ Discord and open without a subscription.

The coaching roster includes Jordan “bigbluffzinc” Drummond, Jargo Alaväli, Andy “Bowie” Wilson, Brian “bfizz” Fite, Adam Calder, Rodrigo Maseda Erlin, Ryan “newguy89” McEathron and Giuseppe “JOJEPE” Calio. Each training day ends with a $0.01 password-protected tournament on PokerStars that awards up to $1,500 in WCOOP tickets, and BBZ says the password is dropped during the seminars so attendees can enter.

The tournament side starts with a pair of Series Opener events on August 2, one at $11 with a $40,000 guarantee and one at $109 with a $75,000 guarantee. It then builds toward two Main Events on August 16, a $109 version with a $500,000 guarantee and a $1,050 version with a $300,000 prize pool.

Jamie Shaevel goes into the WSOP Main Event final table with 56 million chips, third among the final nine, and at least $1 million already locked up. The Santa Monica regular also still has a shot at the $10 million first prize when play resumes Aug. 3.

Card Player described the 39-year-old as a cash-game grinder who has played the Main Event 18 times. His best result before this year was 100th place in 2011 for $54,851, and his prior tournament cashes totaled just over $402,000.

Shaevel has been open about how unusual the run is for him. He told PokerNews that the Main Event is basically the only tournament he plays all year, and that the slower, deeper structure fits his cash-game background better than most events.

His path to the final table took a few key swings on Days 6 through 8. On Day 6, he first made a nut flush to beat Christopher Chaudey’s flopped set of fours, then later knocked out Chaudey with aces against jacks. He ended the night just outside the top 10 with 62 players left.

Day 7 began rough, but Shaevel got back on track with pocket aces against Rami Hammoud’s pocket kings, a pot that pushed him back into eight-figure territory. He started Day 8 near the bottom of the remaining 21 players, then doubled through Evagoras Evagorou when a river bluff ran into sevens full of tens, before finishing off Tolga Karakaya in 11th place with jacks against ace-ten.

Lucas Jumalon took the final-table chip lead with 194 million, Hammoud had 79 million, and Shaevel sat third. The final table is set for Aug. 3 at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN2, moves to ESPN on Aug. 4, and the finale airs Aug. 5 at 10:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.