Before Greg Mueller was a three-time WSOP bracelet winner, the former professional hockey player was just another guy who couldn't wait for poker summer camp.
"I was so excited. I couldn't wait to run up those stairs at the Rio."
Mueller's first WSOP cash was a small one in 2003, but he returned in 2005 and hit the payout window four times, including a ninth-place finish in the $5K Limit event. They were the first few steps toward what is now $4.5 million in career earnings, three WSOP titles, and a spot at the 2026 WSOP Main Event final table.
But Mueller finds himself at the final table at a peculiar time in his poker life — a time when he's just not that into it.
"I just loved playing every day, and it's not like that for me anymore."
Back in the game
That doesn't mean he's not in it to win it. Mueller has been playing world-class poker from Day 1D of the WSOP Main Event.
"I committed to playing this Main Event with my heart and soul. I can still play. I made it a big priority, and here I am somehow."
It has taken some effort to make poker a priority again. After twenty years in the game, Mueller has taken up other interests in life, like golf.
"I took up golf during COVID, and that's my passion. Poker has been dwindling on my priority charts. It takes up so much time. It's sedentary."
Greg Mueller's Final Table Tale of the Tape
- Chips: 48,500,000 (4/9)
- Country: Canada
- Career earnings: $4,540,270
Mueller will still play cash games, if anything, but he's waiting for any excuse to bail. "If I am playing and somebody calls me: 'Hey Mules, I just landed in Vegas. You wanna go golfing or go for dinner?' Right on, deal me out."
Tournaments? Forget about it.
"In a tournament, I can't leave my table for two hours. Then I have a little break. Then I've got dinner at five. Well, what about tomorrow? Nope, tomorrow I'll be back at noon. And so it feels too much like having a boss, you know?"
The signs of burnout were obvious. It's time to take a step back when you're constantly jumping into tournaments at the last possible moment of registration, Mueller said. You get a few big blinds, take your shot, and hit the golf course.
"Zip it in. Busto."
A heart-to-heart with friends got his mind right for what has become a life-defining run. It's the WSOP Main Event, and it matters. If Mueller plays one tournament all year, let it be this one, and with everything he's got.
'Feel good, look good, play good'
He's back home now, resting up for the big push for poker immortality on ESPN in August. Mueller is committed to dropping a few pounds, mostly to look good on TV.
"I'm probably down seven to eight pounds from eating cleaner, sleeping a bit more, moving the body, doing some stairs, lifting some weights, and walking. We had a wicked little hockey game last night with a bunch of my former NHL buddies, and ESPN came out to film it. It was pretty amazing."
Greg Mueller's day-by-day chip count
- Day 1D - 100,000
- Day 2D - 175,000
- Day 3 - 1,224,000
- Day 4 - 1,500,000
- Day 5 - 4,415,000
- Day 6 - 10,000,000
- Day 7 - 13,200,000
- Day 8 - 48,500,000
The commitment to physical fitness was loud and proud. Mueller brought it up in several interviews after the final nine wrapped up play on Day 8. He's stuck now, and he needs to show up for ESPN in great shape.
"I maybe shouldn't have said it like that. I should have just said I want to go home, take two weeks off, regroup, rest, and feel a bit better.
"In Vegas, we went to Johnny Rockets after every poker session at 2am and had the milkshake, fries, and burger. And then I'd usually have my dessert, which would be about four Tums so that I could get through the night."
Now Mueller is back home, and he hasn't needed a single Tum. He's sleeping, exercising, and eating clean. All in the name of looking great for his date with $10 million.
"That's the mission: feel good, look good, play good."
Interview: Craig Tapscott
