The challenge in our free WSOP Main Event Pick 3 contest is simple: pick 3 players you think would collectively win the most money in poker's most prestigious tournament.
The person who does wins a $5K trip to Aruba to play the Moneymaker Poker Tour in September.
Of course, whoever wins the Main Event gets $10 million, meaning that should you actually pick the winner you’d be guaranteed to win our contest (barring a tie).
But picking the specific winner from such a huge field — over 9,000 players entered this year’s Main Event — is such a tall order that no one could reasonably expect to do it. Right?
Right?
Well, here we are; at the time of writing we are down to the final 21 hopefuls in the tournament, and there are still five eligible players remaining who could win the top prize — and earn their teams that guaranteed top score that comes with it.
They are:
- Shaun Deeb
- Brock Wilson
- Dylan Smith
- Todd Brunson
- Hossein Ensan
So what does this mean for your chances of success in the WSOP Main Event Pick 3 contest?
The payouts at this stage of the Main Event get mighty big, mighty quick.
The last player to hit the rail on Sunday, Zhao Liu, received $325K. The next payjump comes with 17 remaining ($425,475), then 13 ($510K) and 11 ($750K) before the final table is set.
Remaining WSOP Main Event payouts
- 1st: $10,000,000
- 2nd: $6,000,000
- 3rd: $3,750,000
- 4th: $2,750,000
- 5th: $2,250,000
- 6th: $1,750,000
- 7th: $1,500,000
- 8th: $1,250,000
- 9th: $1,000,000
- 10th-11th: $750,000
- 12th-13th: $510,000
- 14th-17th: $410,475
- 18th-21st: $325,000
Everyone at that final table will win a minimum of $1 million. That’s the kind of score that makes a big difference in people’s lives, and could be the decisive factor in determining the winner of our contest.
How many teams in the Pick 3 contest still have a shot?
Realistically, there are three teams still in with a chance at the $5K Aruba package: Team DeebsDoubleDs, Team That’s Levitation Holmes and Team Cousin Raider.
Which of those ends up at the top of the pile obviously depends on what happens in the remainder of the Main Event.
If Shaun Deeb and/or Brock Wilson finish highest
48 different teams have Shaun Deeb on the roster, and the former WSOP Player of the Year is having his best Main Event ever. Should Deeb go deepest of the five remaining eligible players, it will depend on where those teams have picked up other points.
Brock Wilson is on eight different Pick 3 teams, but crucially only one has both Deeb and Wilson, and that’s Team DeebsDoubleDs.
Having both big hitters on the team gives DeebsDoubleDs a great shot at victory and surely makes them the favorite as we approach the home stretch.
Nevertheless, an outright event win for one of the other eligible players would still be enough for victory; first place pays $10 million, which is more than 2nd ($6M) and 3rd ($3.75M) combined.
If Dylan Smith goes all the way
Those other players include Dylan Smith, who is on 10 different Pick 3 teams.
If Smith were to go much deeper than his Pick 3 rivals it would likely leave Team 4 Cools & a Dude and Team That’s Levitation Holmes in top spot. Those teams both have Smith, but also have 57,500 points in the bank courtesy of Josh Arieh’s Main Event cash.
In the event of a tie, the winner would be the team that made the best guess as to the final field size in the Main Event, and that would be That’s Levitation Holmes with a guess of 9,379 (the actual number was 9,208).
Of course, this still depends on how well Deeb and Wilson do. Should Smith finish 5th, for example, he would pick up the same points as Deeb/Wilson would if they finished 7th and 8th.
If Todd Brunson follows in his father’s footsteps
Then there’s Todd Brunson, the son of Doyle and a celebrated player in his own right. A very deep run by Brunson would be great news for Team Cousin Raider, given it is literally the only team that picked him.
That team’s other picks both collected zero cashes, but nevertheless if Brunson were to go all the way it would be enough to deliver Team Cousin Raider the win.
If Brunson makes the final table it would still be enough, but only if he does better than Smith, Deeb or Wilson AND if the latter two players fail to make the final 13. If they do, Brunson will need to finish higher than 9th to have a chance.
What about Hossein Ensan?
Winner of the 2019 WSOP Main Event, Hossein Ensan is trying to do something no one has done for almost 30 years: a repeat win in the Big One.
Stu Ungar was the last to manage it in 1997, winning the Main for a third time after previous victories in 1980 and 1981.
But that was an altogether different time. In the post-Moneymaker era of four- or even five-figure fields, no one has ever repeated.
Perhaps that’s why Hossein Ensan was selected by zero teams in the Pick 3 contest. If the German wins, the victory will be his alone.
21 players are left in the 2026 WSOP Main Event, and right now the only thing we’re certain of is that there will be plenty more twists and turns in this story before a champion is crowned on August 5.
But will a Pick 3 winner be confirmed before we even get there? Stay tuned.
What's happening in the PokerOrg Fantasy Freeroll?
The Main Event Pick 3 contest is not the only competition we're running this summer, there's also the PokerOrg Fantasy Freeroll.
We asked you to select a team of 8 players while keeping under a certain budget. Player prices were set at the $25K Fantasy Draft before the WSOP began, with all players who were drafted in that competition incuded in ours.
Now, as the WSOP approaches the end, it's tight at the top. There are still several events still to play out, so it's not quite time to pop the champagne just yet, but there are four teams drawing increasingly clear at the top of the leaderboard... and one with a lead of over 100 points right at the top.
| Place | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | SmolNPudgy | 1,777 |
| 2 | Kath's Calls | 1,664 |
| 3 | Never you mind | 1,590 |
| 4 | BB Poker | 1,500 |
The gap between 4th and 5th is currently 100 points, so it seems certain the eventual winner will come from this group. And with none of these teams having any players still involved in the Main Event, any last minute upsets will have to come from the remaining side events.
Can SmolNPudgy be caught? Only time will tell.
