Good or Bad? Our Poker Predictions for 2026; Will the WSOP Raise the Main Event Buy-in?
Release Date: 01/08/2026
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Good or Bad? Our Poker Predictions for 2026; Will the WSOP Raise the Main Event Buy-in?
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In the 933rd episode of the PokerNews Podcast, Chad Holloway, Mike Holtz, and Ben Ludlow kick off Season 17 with some poker predictions for 2026. Will the Big Beautiful Bill's gambling tax situation be resolved or lead to big ramifications in the industry? Will Phil Hellmuth win his 18th gold bracelet? Would the World Series of Poker (WSOP) ever raise the buy-in for the Main Event? The triumvirate also covers recent stories, including poker players Galen Hall and Jason Somerville winning big in the Circa Survivor content, arbitration ending between Maurice Hawkins and Denise Pratt, and Lex...
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SWAT Team Cracks Down on €100 Poker Tournament + Maurice Hawkins Fight
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In the 928th episode of the PokerNews Podcast, Chad Holloway is joined by Mike Holtz and Ben Ludlow at Level 9 Studios to talk about the SWAT team raid of a low-stakes poker game in Sweden. Find out what caused armed authorities, supported by drones and even a helicopter, to raise the $100 buy-in poker tournament. The trio then discusses the physical altercation between Maurice Hawkins and a player known as "Eugene" in a Florida home game. Was Maurice running his mouth? Was it an unprovoked attack? Not only do you get to hear about what happened, but you can see some video clips of the...
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Is AI Killing Poker Content? And How Did PokerNews Piss Off Shaun Deeb?
PokerNews Podcast
In the 927th episode of the PokerNews Podcast, Chad Holloway is joined by Connor Richards at Level 9 Studios to talk about the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) when it comes to poker content. The discussion stems from the recent controversy involving the World Series of Poker (WSOP) documentary No Limit, in which showrunner Dustin Iannotti admittedly used AI in edits involving Alan Keating's quotes. The show was pulled from YouTube by the WSOP as a result, and opened up a whole can of worms. PokerNews also pissed off Shaun Deeb with an AI oopsie of our own, while ClubWPT Gold’s tweet...
info_outlineIn the 933rd episode of the PokerNews Podcast, Chad Holloway, Mike Holtz, and Ben Ludlow kick off Season 17 with some poker predictions for 2026. Will the Big Beautiful Bill's gambling tax situation be resolved or lead to big ramifications in the industry? Will Phil Hellmuth win his 18th gold bracelet? Would the World Series of Poker (WSOP) ever raise the buy-in for the Main Event?
The triumvirate also covers recent stories, including poker players Galen Hall and Jason Somerville winning big in the Circa Survivor content, arbitration ending between Maurice Hawkins and Denise Pratt, and Lex Veldhuis returning to the streaming streets, albeit not as a PokerStars Ambassador. Similarly, Caitlin Comeskey's ambassadorship with PokerStars US came to an end, and got the crew asking, "Is there still value in poker ambassadors?"
You'll also see a short interview of Poker Hall of Famer Erik Seidel chatting with Rep. Dina Titus about the aforementioned tax bill, hear about Jeremy Becker and Matthew Wantman winning titles at the Venetian, and another book giveaway for a copy of Jonathan Little's The Complete Poker Workout.
A new PokerNews Podcast drops every Thursday at 8a PT / 11a ET / 4p UK time. Remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you do not miss an episode!
Time Stamps
*Time Topic*
00:00 | Welcome to the show
01:40 | Poker players win big in Circa’s Survivor contest
08:20 | Maurice Hawkins arbitration ends
21:56 | Lex Veldhuis is back!
26:07 | What are the value of “Poker Ambassadors” nowadays?
30:00 | Poker predictions for 2026
30:42 | Video: Erik Seidel chats w/ Rep. Dina Titus
38:29 | Trivia – Venezuela’s all-time money list
40:03 | Is late reg and unlimited reentries a problem?
47:45 | Could WSOP Main Event be $15,000?
49:50 | Hellmuth will win bracelet No. 16 in 2026
50:30 | Recent Tournament Winners presented by 888poker
51:18 | Jeremy Becker claims title at Venetian
51:35 | Matthew Wantman kicks off New Year with win
51:46 | Preston Dean wins RoughRider Poker Tour title
52:10 | Jonathan Little book giveaway
54:13 | Disc golf with TJ Reid