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PokerNews marked its 1,000th podcast episode with a live show at PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas, in front of a studio audience. The milestone episode was sponsored by FanDuel Poker and brought together hosts Chad Holloway, Mike Holtz, and Ben Ludlow.

According to PokerNews, the show also featured Jeremy Ausmus, who talked about life as a high-stakes pro, his Poker Hall of Fame picks, and why he started vlogging. The episode welcomed Greg "FBT" Mueller and Michael "Gags" Gagliano as well, with the pair introduced as 2026 WSOP Main Event finalists who would be playing for a $10 million top prize.

The final nine were officially set, Lucas Jumalon held the chip lead, and every remaining player had locked up at least $1 million.

Jumalon went into Day 8 with 40.8 million chips. He cracked Malcolm Trayner’s pocket queens with jack-jack to make a river full house, climbed to 155 million by dinner, and ended the day with 194 million after sending Trayner out in 10th.

Rami Hammoud sat second with 79 million and Jamie Shaevel was third with 56 million. Mueller and Gagliano both trailed Jumalon by more than 140 million chips heading into the final table.

Mueller arrived there as the most decorated player left, a Canadian ex-hockey player with three WSOP bracelets. His first title came in 2009 in the World Championship of Limit Hold’em, and less than two weeks later he won the $1,500 Shootout to double his bracelet count.

Mueller entered this year’s Main Event on Day 1d and nearly doubled his stack inside three levels after flopping an early set and eliminating an opponent who turned two pair. He bagged 41st in chips on Day 3 with 1,389 players still remaining, and by Day 6 he was comfortably inside the top half after pocket kings and a timely fold with pocket jacks. On Day 7, he eliminated Ori Elul by cracking kings with ace-jack after flopping an ace, then took out Romain Lewis in a classic aces-versus-kings setup. A double with jacks through the pocket nines of Rami Hammoud moved him out of the danger zone, and he later won a massive flip against Michael Gagliano when his queens held against Gagliano’s ace-king.

Gagliano’s path was more of a grind. The BetMGM Ambassador first recorded a live cash in 2008, and his Hendon Mob profile now shows 155 in-the-money finishes, $3.3 million in cashes, and four WSOP bracelets.

He had already cashed the Main Event twice before, finishing 842nd in 2016 and 148th in 2025. This summer he also built the Summer Poker Calendar app, which tracks Las Vegas tournament structures, and he said the app will return next summer.

Gagliano’s Main Event run finally clicked this year. He bagged 46.5 million chips for fifth place at the restart, called the long grind "Groundhog Day," and said he was happy only when there were nine left.

On Day 8, he doubled through Shaun Deeb with tens against ace-jack, moved past 100 million after sending Antonio Galiana to the payout desk, and later lost 26.5 million in a flip against Mueller when queens held against ace-king. When play stopped after Malcolm Trayner busted in 10th, Gagliano had 46.5 million chips, and the winner was still set to collect $10 million.

WPT Global has opened a low-cost route into the €350 IPO Dublin Main Event, with $4.40 feeder satellites that roll into $44 qualifiers. The $44 events each guarantee three Main Event seats, and the prize is tied to the International Poker Open at the Bonnington Dublin this October, where the headline event carries a €200,000 guarantee.

According to PokerNews, the $4.40 feeders run six times per day, at six minutes past the hour from 4:06 p.m. to 9:06 p.m. UTC+1. Players start with 5,000 chips, play eight-minute levels, and begin at 25/50/5a.

Winning one of those feeders automatically registers the player for the next available $44 satellite, and unregistering is not allowed. The $44 events run every Monday and Thursday at 8 p.m. UTC+1, with 10,000-chip stacks, eight-minute levels, and 50/100/10a blinds.

The IPO has a decent recent history in Dublin. Last year’s Main Event drew 844 entrants, with Noel Murphy winning €42,340, Mark Muldoon taking €35,000 for second, and Keith Smith finishing third for €20,640. In 2024, Latvia’s Vitalijs Polukejevs beat 908 opponents to win €34,630, and in 2023 Belgium’s Steven Rothheut turned a €350 buy-in into €45,240.

Other publicly known 2026 IPO Dublin events included a €300 Seniors tournament with a €25,000 guarantee, a €1,100 Super High Roller with a €25,000 guarantee, a €500 Leslie McLean High Roller, and a €170 Mini Main Event with a €15,000 guarantee. The Main Event itself will have six flights, including an online Day 1 set for 8 p.m. UTC+1 on 18 October.

888poker has opened satellites to its 888poker LIVE London Main Event, giving players a route in from as little as $0.01. The promotion also includes a September challenge that can lead to one of four $2,500 packages.

In 888poker’s magazine, the satellite path starts with step satellites or direct buy-in and works up to a $109 LIVE London Festival 2026 ME Qualifier. That qualifier awards $2,500 live-event packages.

A separate challenge runs from September 5-26. Players who complete one of the weekly tasks earn a freeroll ticket.

Coverage differs on the festival dates. PokerNews put 888poker LIVE London at Grosvenor’s London Victoria Casino from October 8-18 and said the schedule includes a £1,250 Main Event. 888poker’s own guide instead says the Main Event is scheduled for October 14-18 at the VIC Poker Room.

The promotion follows last year’s London Main Event, which drew 367 entrants and built a £383,500 prize pool, well above the advertised £250,000 guarantee. Gang Wang beat Calogero Morreale heads-up for £86,600, and 888poker ambassadors Vivian Saliba and Nick Eastwood each won titles at the 2025 festival.

Those September challenge winners will meet in the freeroll at 7 p.m. GMT on September 27.

Chengyu Liao turned a weekend trip to Cyprus into a $300,000 score by winning the 2026 NOIR Poker Series $7,500 High Roller at Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa in North Cyprus. He beat Giorgiy Skhulukhiya heads-up after a final preflop all-in sealed the title.

According to PokerNews, Liao is not a professional player. He works in Istanbul, flew to Cyprus just for the event, and had to fire a second bullet after busting his first entry. He also said this was the highest-stakes tournament he had played and the biggest win of his poker life.

He said he was nervous at the final table, felt like the weakest player there, and was not trying to wait for a payout. He planned to fly back to Istanbul the next day and said he would keep the celebration simple, spending time with friends.

The event drew 209 entries and built a $1,345,960 prize pool, comfortably beating the guarantee. Thirty-one players made the money for at least $12,000, and the 16 survivors who reached the final day locked up $16,100 apiece with the $300,000 top prize still waiting.

Day 2 started with 78 players returning, while Skhulukhiya led the way with 3,115,000 chips. He was the only returning player above 100 big blinds, with Gor Musinyan and Julian Pineda Lozano starting second and third.

The money bubble took five hands to burst, ending with Natalia Nikitina's 32nd-place exit. After that, Gaspare Sposato, Caner Gunes, Joris Ruijs, and start-of-day chip leader Aliaksandr Hirs were among the early casualties, and the field was eventually trimmed to 16.

The final day moved fast. Tobias Peters fell in 14th place and four more players were gone within 15 minutes. Arsenii Karmatckii's 10th-place exit put the tournament on its final table inside the first two levels, Geoffrey Mooney was out in ninth just before the two-hour mark, and Julian Pineda Lozano followed soon after. The next five knockouts, Leonid Orman, Yesset Aimukhanov, Daniil Kiselev, Zorlu Er, and Gor Musinyan, all went in preflop with dominated hands.

Skhulukhiya took a slight chip lead into heads-up play, but Liao grabbed the edge with a draw-heavy hand when his flopped set held against Skhulukhiya's combo draw. Liao said he did not have much heads-up experience and just went with the flow, and the flow kept moving his way.

The match ended when Liao limp-shoved and Skhulukhiya called off with A♣10♣. Liao tabled K♦J♠, paired his king on the K♠5♥7♠ flop, and held through the 3♠ turn and 4♥ river to take the trophy.

CoinPoker has made CoinMillion a permanent monthly tournament after the $215 event’s first two Sunday editions pulled in 9,062 combined entries. The $1 million guarantee stays in place, and the next running is set for August 9.

The move follows CoinMillion’s debut on May 10 during the World Poker Masters and its second outing on July 12 during the Battle of Malta Online series. Those two editions drew 4,278 and 4,784 entries, respectively, and paid out a combined $248,000 to the champions.

According to PokerStrategy, the tournament will now sit in CoinPoker’s lobby every month on the first Sunday. Future editions are already listed for September 6 and October 4, before the schedule settles into that monthly rhythm.

CoinMillion is a two-day, $215 tournament with 10-minute blind levels and late registration open until the end of Level 19. It uses a starting stack of 100,000 chips, equivalent to 200 big blinds.

The event also leans into a top-heavy payout structure. The first two champions each collected more than 12% of the $1 million guarantee, with DaniC1994 taking $126,500 in the opener and monc banking $121,500 in the second running.

Winners also receive physical and digital trophies and a place in the CoinMillion Hall of Champions.

Qualification is open through direct satellites that run ahead of each monthly edition, with buy-ins from $5.50 to $44. The cheapest path is much lighter than the main buy-in, and Step 3 and Step 4 freerolls can feed into those satellite routes.

Freerolls and satellites are running several times each day in the lead-up to the next event, and players can find the routes by searching for “CoinMillion” in the CoinPoker tournament lobby. CoinPoker also had more than 22,000 active players on July 26.