The 2026 WSOP Main Event marked the first time the final table had been delayed since 2016, the final year of the November Nine.
Ylon Schwartz was one of the original November Niners and he didn’t hold back in 2008 when he was asked if he liked the delay or not. In a column long since gone on ESPN he said, “It ruins the integrity of the tournament. The purity of old-time Las Vegas is gone. The antiquity and purity of the tournament have been liquidated into pure greed and capitalism.”
Looking back, almost everyone agrees waiting until November was too long.
But how long is too long, and what did Schwartz mean when he talked about “integrity”?
Two-time EPT winner Victoria Coren also talked about it in a column in The Guardian from 2008. She is as wonderful with words as she is with playing cards, so forgive me an extended quote.
“It's part of World Series tradition: either rooting for the beauty of the game and the pro player who tackles it best, or the fairytale story of the amateur underdog who comes good. The delaying of the final, however, ruins the distinction. With $9m available to the winner, those amateurs would be insane not to put their accountancy jobs on hold and train all summer. So they'll all be professionals by November. Claims were made that the break would allow 'personalities to come out', but more likely they'll just grow increasingly similar to each other. People have told me that I'll come round to the idea of a delayed final, but I find new reasons to dislike it every day.”
What Schwartz meant by "integrity"
We didn’t have a three-month delay this year. The Main Event played down to the final table on July 13 and then broke for almost three weeks, with the action picking up again on August 3.
The delay still lasted almost twice as long as it took to play down to the final table.
That's certainly less time to disappear into the GTO lab. But as Coren said before solvers even existed, with the amount of money on offer, you’d be “insane” not to get at least some rudimentary advice on how to play your stack, given your seat position, with all the ICM dynamics at play.
This year's winner Lucas Jumalon had Patrick Leonard on his rail, one of poker's best coaches. He spent three weeks working with a player who had a huge chip lead. Would the result have been the same if they'd played immediately? We'll never know.
It also gives players time to recharge after eight days of relentless play and disrupted sleep, and refine how they should play. Day 1 of this year’s final table suggested that all nine players were aware of the ICM implications. (Although the call from Saaskilahti at the end proved that punts weren’t eliminated.)
Where did this year’s delay come from?
One word: ESPN.
In an interview with Casino City Times, Jack Effell said of the decision, “I'll punt that more to Ty Stewart and World Series of Poker and the new deal with ESPN. It could've been the next week. It could've been three months. But this was the time that was best for ESPN and the WSOP agreement, and this is where we ended up."
No talk of building personalities. No talk of what was good for the game.
But personalities were built. We interviewed all nine players and the stories generated interest, not just from PokerOrg readers, but local media. By August 3, I knew far more about Lucas Jumalon than I did on July 13.
The delay also gave friends and family time to make the rail and provide the noise. The atmosphere was fantastic, even if some rails weren't as respectful during big decisions as they should have been. You’re not getting that if the final table played out on July 15.
How long should the break be?
But do we really need a three-week delay?
If ESPN was going to run an hour of highlights every day, then sure. But they put out four one-hour episodes – that's just four hours of television to justify a three-week delay.
Three weeks is hardly enough time for non-Americans to travel home, unpack, and then repack to come back out again. It’s also too long to stay in Las Vegas waiting.
2026 Main Event runner-up Lauri Saaskilahti, meanwhile, came away with a different perspective. When we spoke to him after the final table, he said the break "definitely benefited" him.
"I was mentally and physically done on Day 8," he said. "I could really recharge my batteries and have a good mindset coming into the final table."
Even so, he suggested the break could have been shorter. "Perhaps the break could have been a week shorter."
Saaskilahti said he probably prepared less than anyone else at the final table. He didn't study until the last three or four days and believes that avoiding weeks of solver work may even have helped preserve his natural game.
"I have a feeling that maybe for some other people who did heavy training... maybe it messed up a little bit," he said.
What players think
Six-time WSOP bracelet winner Josh Arieh said on X: “The 3 week break has gotta go. Yes the main is grueling and everyone is sleep deprived, but come on, that’s part of competing. Give everyone 3 days (max) to recharge. These guys all come back much different players. As fans/viewers of poker, we want to see crazy hands and weird shit happening. When you give these guys 3 weeks to prepare, the chances of punts go way down.”
Three days isn't enough for the media to tell these players' stories. Give us a week and we can do it.
A week also falls within the range suggested by someone who knows exactly what he's talking about. Kenny Hallaert made the Main Event final table twice – once with no delay and once with a three-month delay.
He wrote on X: “3 months is just too long. Everyone basically resets and you play a big SNG from scratch. 1 day is too short if you want to bring in friends and family. Especially for non-US players. 3 weeks also feels too long still. As non-US, you can't really fly home. Think 5-7 days is a good time.”
So, how long is too long? Anything over a week feels unnecessary. Here's hoping the WSOP and ESPN can find a better balance in 2027.
