Updated on 22 Feb 26 by
Barry Carter
Poker Expert

Week in Review: What's behind the growth of the Main Event?

We look back at what the poker world was watching and talking about over the past seven days, and yes the Main Event gets a mention.





What were we talking about?

wsop 2018

The Main Event, obviously, as we will be doing all next week too. 

Usually it's just the usual chip counts and bad beat stories but this was quite a remarkable year for the Main Event. We had the biggest Day 1B, Day 1C and the 2nd biggest field overall. The first prize is the fifth largest one ever and it's the second 7,000+ field in a row, not to mention the third year of growth in a row. 

It's very hard to pin this down to any one key thing and I'll be thinking about it a little more next week, but online poker in the US is on the up, especially now we have the first interstate US poker liquidity. It's hard not to put it down to that factor making the Main Event a bit more reachable to home grown players. 

If that is the reason, then it looks like next year could be even better, as online poker becomes more widespread and the image of it as 'safe' in America begins to come around. 

Who were we talking about?

Love him or hate him, and you are usually in one camp or the other, the annual Phil Hellmuth entrance in the Main Event meant we could not help but talk about the Poker Brat:

What were we watching?

We gave him a special mention last week but now it's serious, Matt Staples is close to overtaking Lex right now in terms of his weekly views, thanks to an amazing run at the tables that shows no signs of stopping. We spoke to Jason Somerville this week who confirmed that deep tourney runs is what gets you views on Twitch:

KidPoker may have the biggest channel but for the second week in a row Doug Polk had the biggest video with over 100,000 views, as he reviews this much talked about hand:

What to look out for next week

wsop one drop

The really interesting thing coming up this week, at least if you are a nerd like me, is not so much the culmination of the Main Event but how it ranks alongside One Drop. 

The $1 million buy-in One Drop starts on Sunday July 15, the day after the Main Event concludes. That seems almost like an admission that One Drop, with a ready made super star in every seat compared to most likely nine unknowns in the Main event finale, is now viewed as the 'real' Main Event with the WSOP, ESPN and PokerGO. 

So assuming the Main Event doesn't have any mega stars left in when the field is down to, say, three tables, I wonder how much attention each event will get? And also, what are the odds the eventual Main Event champion decides 'fuck it' and buys into One Drop with one eighth of their $8 million? 

What were your poker highlights this week? Let us know in the comments:


Barry Carter
Poker Expert

Barry Carter is the editor of PokerStrategy.com and the co-author of The Mental Game of Poker 1 & 2, Poker Satellite Strategy, PKO Poker Strategy, Endgame Poker Strategy, GTO Poker Simplified, Mystery Bounty Poker Strategy and Beyond GTO. In 2025, he won the Global Poker Awards for Best Book and Twitter Personality of the Year.