Poker Writer
Phil Hellmuth kicked off a debate about the World Series of Poker main event last year when he threatened not to play. According to Hellmuth, the strenuous schedule made the tournament an “endurance event” rather than a test of poker skill.
Now, the WSOP will once again go to a delayed final table for its main event, though the timeline hasn’t been completely revealed yet.
That begs the question of whether days off in the WSOP main event are good or bad. Some have expressed support for them. They provide much-needed breaks in a marathon structure and give players a chance to improve by soliciting coaching before playing in the biggest spot of their lives.
On the other hand, days off stretch an already long event to an even longer timeline. And in some ways, they produce a less authentic product. Turning the tournament into a contest of who can find the best coaching changes the dynamic.
PokerScout contacted a few players who recently made deep runs in the WSOP main event to gauge their thoughts on potentially adding days off to the schedule.
Keep Reading
2025 Third-Place Finisher Prefers Staying ‘In the Zone’
Braxton Dunaway, the 2023 WSOP Monster Stack winner who finished third in the 2025 main event, disagreed with Hellmuth. He told PokerScout:
I like playing consecutively. One day off before the final table was great. I am a firm believer in kind of ‘staying in the zone,’ and trying to keep the same routine.
Poker players are very much creatures of habit, and having a day off could disrupt a rhythm as much as it could provide actual rest. The 42-year-old Dunaway also admitted that his opinion may change as he gets older:
That may change the older I get lol, but for now I like playing in a row.
Main Event Already a Long Process
The main event is already the most unique event of the poker calendar. Two-hour levels lead to long days of play. But the 10 hours of play per day is pretty standard for tournament poker and still gives players time to recover for the next day.
In the few cases where play stretches late into the early morning (like when trying to pop the money bubble), the tournament directors will often delay the start of the next day’s play by an hour or two to compensate.
There is an argument that the length of days prevents older players from competing at their peaks in the main event. In some cases, it even discourages them from playing it at all.
The sheer number of days in the main event is far more than in any other poker tournament. The 2026 structure sets aside eight full days of play before the final table. It is a hefty 11 days from day 1A to day 8, making it a nearly two-week investment for some players.
Adding off days toward the end makes the process even longer. Amateur players would have to take more time away from work or home in order to play. And added off days could come during parts of the tournament, such as before Days 6 or 7, when life-changing money is not yet guaranteed.
Hellmuth Has Little Recent Experience Deep in the Main
Hellmuth would argue that the stakes are much higher in the main event than in other tournaments. Once you get to the later days, the mental pressure of playing for more and more money adds to the fatigue factor.
But it has been some time since Hellmuth has truly experienced the mental grind of making the later days. He has not cashed in the Main Event in a decade, with a 417th-place finish in 2015. He has not had a significant deep run since 2008, when he finished 45th.
It is hard to say that his increasing age has been the reason for this lack of success, since he has often crashed out on day 2 or 3, or even on day 1, in recent years. He also plays a full WSOP schedule every year, with many days of 10+ hours of poker, so it is not as if he is unused to long days at the poker table.
The all-time WSOP bracelet win leader eventually reneged on his threat not to play the main event. He was eliminated on day 3 by a brutal runout on the river.
Image credit: WPT/Flickr (license)
