Poker Writer
Attendance is down at the 2026 WSOP, and international attendance especially so. Most events with direct comparables from previous years have seen smaller fields, and there are fewer international players represented in late-stage tournament fields compared to the 2023 WSOP.
The likely reasons for the decline are multifold. Domestically, the cost of living is surely a factor. When it comes to international attendance, the unpopularity of President Donald Trump’s foreign policies and tighter travel restrictions may be discouraging some players.
PokerScout chose the 2023 series as its point of comparison because those factors have been building over the past two years, so it makes more sense to look back to an earlier era than to do a simple year-over-year comparison.
On top of those longer-term effects, the U.S. is also hosting the World Cup this summer. The tournament, which begins today, will overlap with most of the series and may be competing with WSOP for players’ recreational budgets, and for international tourists’ attention. It also caused an increase in airfares for summer travel to the U.S.
On the other hand, attendance at the tail end of the series might benefit if some fans who’ve traveled to L.A. for the World Cup end up taking a trip to Las Vegas after their teams are eliminated.
2026 Events vs 2023 By the Numbers
| Event | Field ('23) | Field ('26) | % Change | Int'l Top 100 ('23) | Int'l Top 100 ('26) | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mystery Millions* | 18,188 | 20,488 | 12.65% | 23 | 25 | 8.7% |
| $1,500 NLH 6-Handed | 2,454 | 1,840 | - 25% | 33 | 38 | 15% |
| Monster Stack* | 8,317 | 11,933 | 30.30% | 43 | 26 | - 39.5% |
| $600 PLO Deepstack | 3,200 | 2,636 | - 17.6% | 29 | 28 | - 3% |
| $600 Deepstack | 4,303 | 4,622 | 7.4% | 39 | 21 | - 46% |
| $500 Freezeout | 5,342 | 4,100 | - 23.2% | 32 | 19 | - 40% |
| $2,000 NLH | 1,962 | 968 | - 50.66% | 50 | 37 | - 26% |
| $5,000 8-Handed | 813 | 570 | - 29.9% | 40 | 30 | - 25% |
* denotes significant structure or buy-in change from 2023.
We looked at eight 2026 WSOP events that were also played in 2023, specifically choosing events that are attractive to recreational players and known to attract large fields.
Three events saw an increase in registration, but for two of these, that can be attributed to changes in format. The Mystery Millions event changed from a $1,000 buy-in in 2023 to $550 in 2026, while the Monster Stack added far more opportunities for re-buys in 2026. Outside of those two events, the $600 Deepstack was the lone exception to the downward trend.
The $2,000 no-limit hold’em event in particular saw its field decline by more than half.
Fewer International Top 100 Finishers in 2026
To compare how many international players participated in each event, we looked at the top 100 finishers in each event as reported by PokerNews, and counted how many came from countries other than the USA. Although the top 100 may not be reflective of the overall composition of the field, it is valid as a year-to-year comparison metric.
Aside from the outlier example of the $1,500 NLH 6-Handed event, every other event we compared showed a significant drop-off in the number of top-100 international finishers. Especially notable in the events most popular among recreational players, the Monster Stack, $500 Freezeout, and $600 Deepstack, which all saw reductions of nearly 40% or more.
Between a decline in overall attendance and in international representation, it is probably fair to say that reduced travel to the U.S. is at least part of the reason the series is smaller this year.
Still, there are some additional questions to consider.
Will the World Cup Bring More Players in Later in the Series?
The 2026 WSOP is not even a third of the way finished yet, so several prominent events are still to come to see if this trend continues through the summer. The World Cup is expected to bring many international tourists and fans to the USA. So far, the WSOP has not seen the World Cup bump, but that could still come once it truly gets into full gear, but that’s because fans are getting ready to watch the Group Stage games. The Main Event kicks off on July 4 weekend, just as the soccer tournament will be entering the Round of 16. That will give fans whose teams were eliminated in the Round of 32 enough time to make a side trip to Vegas before the World Cup final on July 19.
Despite hosting matches at Allegiant Stadium for the 2024 Copa America, Las Vegas is not a World Cup host city. The closest city hosting games is Los Angeles, so any soccer fans making side trips would likely be coming from there. Vegas is always an epicenter of sports betting and parties, so international tourists may choose it as a home base to enjoy the World Cup without attending a match.
Is Trumpian Politics Scaring Players Away?
There was widespread concern in the poker world that international attendance would be down this year. President Trump’s harsher travel laws for international visitors and the increased presence of ICE were uncomfortable for many who had been planning to come. Several decided it was simply not worth the potential risk of being apprehended or turned away by immigration at the airport.
Even though news about ICE has decreased slightly in recent months after several viral moments early in the year, international visitors are still being turned away in large numbers, particularly those coming for the World Cup.
Fewer international players in the WSOP events so far shows that the more strict laws have turned poker players away as well, which could partially explain the steady drop in overall entry numbers as well.
Are Canadian boycotts having an effect?
For the 2023 WSOP, I tracked the results of international players to monitor the countries doing the best in the “WSOP Global Battle”. The one thing that really jumped out as I meticulously combed through the results was just how many Canadian players there were. The maple leaf was by far the most common flag appearing in the results, other than the stars and stripes. Canadians outnumbered the second-place non-American nationality — British — by a factor of two.
Trump’s antics in his second term have put more strain on the relationship with Canada than any other allied country. His taunts about annexing Canada as the 51st state did not go over well, causing many Canucks to boycott American products and avoid traveling south of the border.
Vegas, in particular, has suffered from this as Canadians usually flock to Vegas to spend their vacation money.
The temperature between the US and Canada has somewhat cooled since the peak of tensions in early 2025, but it could be that Canadian poker players are not ready to forgive and forget.
Photo credit: Lennart Hennig / WSOP
