26 tips for acing the World Series of Poker
Newly updated for 2026. Here’s what I’ve learned after many long hours at the WSOP.
The 2026 World Series of Poker begins this Tuesday (May 26). I’ll be out there, of course, and hope to see some Silver Bulletin readers at the tables. But my schedule will be a little unusual. I’ll literally be playing from the first day of the WSOP for a 7-10 day trip, then back home for a month to hopefully launch our World Cup and midterms models, and then probably back at the end for the Main Event.
The distractions are unwelcome from a poker standpoint. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that my better years at the WSOP have tended to be in odd-numbered (i.e., non-election) years. That includes last year, when I had an excellent series, cashing 7 events, including my second deep Main Event run in three years. (I made it to Day 6 in 2023 and Day 5 last year.)
Some of that was variance/luck. But I do think I have a certain knack for playing the WSOP. The format tends to help people like me who have experience playing against fish, tough lineups, and everything in between, because you’re going to encounter all of that at the World Series.
So this guide contains some of my best tips for the WSOP. It was originally published in 2024, but I’ve decided to make it a little tradition to add one new tip every year to match the calendar (so we’re now up to 26 tips for 2026):
The main addition this year is a long tip (#11) about what to do when you do encounter tougher opponents — contrary to what your instincts might tell you, it’s not necessarily a time to back down.
There’s also a much expanded section (#18) on scouting your opponents, something which is even more essential now since the WSOP+ app reveals the names of your opponents from the first hand.
Most of the other tips should hold up well, but I’ve given them a light edit to match recent changes in the structure of the WSOP. And if you need advice on where to stay, see also: Nate’s Incomplete Guide to Vegas.
Almost every poker player loves the World Series. It’s sort of our version of summer camp. Except, it’s a summer camp that also features the softest poker tournaments in the world.
This is a guide to the tournament written for a relatively specific audience: a competent-to-proficient poker player who is now looking to take the WSOP more seriously. In other words, this guide is written for … myself from a few years ago. After having treated the WSOP as kind of an afterthought for most of my poker-playing career, I’ve made multi-week trips every year since 2021, and those long days in the Paris, Horseshoe and Rio ballrooms have given me some insight into how the WSOP just isn’t like any other tournament series. In 2023 felt like I really got the hang of the WSOP, cashing seven events and making deep runs in the Millionaire Maker and the Main Event. Last year was another strong series, as I wrote above. But I barely even remember anything that happened at the 2024 World Series, except for incredibly dramatic political news constantly interrupting my poker schedule. So it goes sometimes when trying to balance the World Series with other priorities, but this guide is explicitly written for people in similar circumstances.
I’ll break these tips down into three categories — logistics, mindset and strategy. The first section is free, and — since this is Actionable Gambling Advice — the rest is for paying subscribers.
Logistics
Don’t just play World Series events.
It feels weird to begin a guide to the WSOP by telling you not to play the World Series. But in addition to the WSOP, at least seven other venues across Las Vegas will be holding poker tournament series; you can find a complete list of these using Kenny Hallaert’s awesome spreadsheet (updated for 2026). It’s true that the WSOP events come with more notoriety and media coverage — and probably have the softest fields relative to the buy-in levels. But they can also be a shitshow; the Wynn in particular is luxurious by comparison. So I recommend mixing and matching. Sometimes, one of these other venues will be the best use of your poker time. It will still feel great when you make a deep run.
Have a plan A, B and C for each day. If you want to make time for non-poker things, be explicit about it.
The sheer abundance of poker all around town at the WSOP — not just tournaments but also cash games — is a luxury, especially if your home base is somewhere like New York where the nearest legal cardroom is more than an hour away. So what happens in my experience is that all non-poker activity tends to fall by the wayside. Once you’re on site, it’s just too tempting to register for another tournament even if you’ve busted out of something. Vague plans to get dinner with your long-lost friend at some point during the WSOP? Probably won’t happen unless you make an explicit effort to follow through. Exercise and non-poker work? Budget time in the morning or build some off-days into your schedule or it won’t get done.
For planning the poker part of your trip, I recommend going through Hallaert’s schedule and marking it up with 1 to 4 stars — one meaning events that are just barely worth playing for you, and four meaning “destination” events that are among the main reasons for your trip. (Say, the Main Event.) Start with your 3- and 4-star events and build your schedule backward from there. The summer schedule can be a jigsaw puzzle — for instance, you'll need to ensure that potential Day 2s or 3s don’t conflict with other events you’re committed to playing. Poker players love being able to set their own schedules, but this is the one time you’ll really benefit from advanced planning.
Never play an event you can't finish.
In 2023, there was a guy who flew to his buddy’s wedding in the middle of the Main Event. And I knew another guy who was planning to skip any Main Event days on Saturday because he observes the Sabbath. Listen, those might be honorable practices. But it’s very, very –EV to play an event that you can’t see to completion; most of the prize pool goes to people who are lucky enough to make a deep run.
As a corollary, avoid playing events that will cause a significant amount of stress or hardship if you run deep, like having to cancel an important business meeting. This is a particular issue with the Main Event, since it takes nearly two weeks from start to finish. Now, granted, you can play the percentages — only about 1 percent of the field makes it to Day 6 of the Main, and that qualifies as enough of a once-in-a-lifetime experience that you won’t feel guilty for changing plans. Still, as the pressure builds later in a tournament, the last thing you want is to have any subconscious excuse to punt off your chips.
If you make it to Day 3, aggressively cancel other commitments.
The counterpart to this is that if you do make a deep run, you’ll want to devote 100 percent of your energy to the following: playing poker, studying poker, sleep, eating adequately and maybe working out. Since WSOP events typically have players on the clock for 12 hours a day, these categories alone make for a full schedule.
Because, as Maria and I talked about on Risky Business, focus is a scarce resource when you’re playing poker day after day. By Day 3 of an $1,000 tournament, you may suddenly be playing a de facto $25,000 tournament. That means that getting an extra hour of sleep, or not playing hangry, or not having to write a bunch of work emails in between hands, can be extremely valuable. Deep runs do not happen all that often and you want to make the most of them.
Stay within walking distance.
Some people really like renting a house with their buddies for the WSOP and I can see the appeal — I’ve never done that for the World Series, but I had a cute little Airbnb apartment at EPT Paris in 2024 and it was kind of great. But along the theme of minimizing unnecessary distractions, one thing I don’t want to have to worry about is catching an Uber or fighting through traffic in the morning. And Las Vegas hotels in general offer good value for the money relative to what the same categories would cost in other cities. (Do sign up for the various casino rewards programs; even bottom-tier status can get you meaningful discounts on room rates.)
You can find my Vegas hotel guide here for reviews of basically all the mid-tier-and-above Strip resorts. But you might adjust it based on walking distance: your default should probably be to stay somewhere nearish to Paris/Horseshoe. I’d consider anything from roughly MGM Grand on the south side of the Strip to the Venetian on the north side to qualify.
Don’t come in cold.
Because the WSOP is such a hive of activity, it can take some time to get your bearings. Like most casinos, Paris/Horseshoe is a sprawling, mildly confusing venue. It helps to literally and figuratively know where the bathrooms are and other logistics of the property. If you’re in town for, say, the Main Event, I’d recommend playing at least one other event or some cash games first.
And if you can’t, at least get to the venue early to do some walking around.
Let me be a bit more explicit about this. If you haven’t touched physical playing cards in 3+ months, it's probably worthwhile to get a cash-game poker session in before your big event. But absolutely should not be a priority over sleep, etc.
I will say, though, that the new WSOP+ App introduced in 2025 has made tournament registration and other things less stressful. I’d call it a genuinely well-run tournament at this point, which I wouldn’t have said a few years ago.
Watch for dealer errors.
A couple of times a summer, I’ll deal a backyard game for friends — and man, it’s really given me a new appreciation for what dealers have to put up with. Dealing a poker game is highly skilled labor.
Unfortunately, Caesars faces a problem: there’s far more demand for poker dealers at the WSOP than at any other time of year. So they inevitably wind up hiring some people who don’t have much experience. By the end of the tournament, the worst dealers have gotten some reps in and/or been weeded out. But for the first two or three weeks, you’ll see dealers make a lot of mistakes. Protect yourself: don’t muck your cards until the pot has been awarded to you, use proper change if at all possible, and double-check the dealer’s calculations in large all-in pots. And if you see something — like the dealer not reading the board correctly in a split-pot game — be a good poker citizen and say something.
The WSOP has controversially introduced a dealer rating system this year, and I’m actually a fan of this. Yes, some players are probably going to mark down dealers if they take a bad beat. But usually, there’s a ~5 percent left tail of dealers who just aren’t fit for duty. The rating system could make the weed-out process smoother if WSOP staff can detect reliable signals from this.
Consider the small mixed-games events.
In 2021, I cashed the $10K HORSE event and finished 2nd in the $10K Limit Hold’em and got a reputation as a “mixed games guy” that I don’t really deserve. Other than limit hold’em — which I used to play professionally — no limit is by far my best game.
With that said, I still like the mixed games experience — events like the $1,500 Single Draw, $1,500 Bagudi or $1,500 Eight-Game Mix are typically a lot of fun. Many of your opponents won’t be playing at an expert level either and the level of camaraderie is higher than at other points of the schedule. (Mixed games players are some real characters.) And these events are a comparatively cheap introduction to the mixed games, which are often played only as part of high-stakes cash games. Plus they feature smaller fields, which makes final tables more likely. So consider them a long-term investment in your WSOP bracelet equity.
Mindset
Recognize that most WSOP opponents are far from GTO optimal.
This is a dangerous tip, but an important one. In general, I think you’ll do better in poker — and other walks of life — by not underestimating your opponents. Nowadays, even amateur players have access to GTO solvers, coaching sites, and all sorts of other poker tools. Some geezer you assume is terrible at poker might actually be running PioSOLVER sims.