Two Seasons, One Vegas Summer: ETBPL Heads to the WSOP!

It’s a wrap — the 2026 WSOP Main Event is in the books for Elite Tampa Bay, and it was a summer to remember. Three of our reps made it into the money, and one of them turned in one of the deepest runs in league history.

Dan Johnson, playing all series in honor of the late Tom McDonald, and Juan Rodriguez, fresh off his $5K Seniors High Roller bracelet win earlier in the series, both cashed for $15,000 on Day 4. But the headline belongs to Ryan Harfouch, the only Elite Tampa Bay rep to reach Day 5. He bagged 190,000 to close Day 4 — during which he shared a feature table with reigning WSOP Player of the Year Shaun Deeb — and ultimately finished in 400th place out of 9,208 entries for $40,000, capping off the best Main Event run the league has ever seen.

Three cashes, one Day 5 appearance, and a league rep holding his own against one of the best players in the world — that’s a WSOP summer worth celebrating. Congratulations to Dan, Juan, and Ryan, and to all 15 Elite Tampa Bay reps who made the trip to Vegas this year.

How We Got Here

It’s finally here — the 2026 WSOP is underway, and once again we’ve got winners from two full seasons of the Elite Tampa Bay Poker League repping the league out in Vegas. That’s 15 players in the Main Event this summer — we don’t know of another league anywhere that sends that many. Between the Fall and Spring seat holders, our Main Event roster is stacked, and the early results are already turning heads.

Flights were locked in early on, and Day 1 wrapped up for the whole crew except Jordan Joeckel and Ray Mancini, who entered directly on Day 2. Three of our reps played Day 1B and crushed it: Ryan Harfouch bagged a monster 216,700, Juan Rodriguez banked 111,200, and Evan Pantano added 97,100. The rest of the crew played Day 1D, led by Josh Nicholson‘s 93,000. Not every story was a happy one — Saif Keshwani ran into a tough day and was eliminated. Jordan Joeckel entered the fray on Day 2ABC with a 60,000 starting stack, and Ray Mancini took his seat for Day 2D.

Heading into Day 3, four Elite Tampa Bay reps were still alive: Ryan Harfouch, Juan Rodriguez, Dan Johnson, and David Smith. Ryan wasn’t just still in it — he was a top stack in the entire Main Event field, bagging 528,500 to close out Day 2. David Smith was eliminated during Day 3, while the other three battled into Day 4 seven spots from the money.

Early Cashes Are Already Rolling In

Juan Rodriguez got the league’s WSOP off to a hot start, taking down a huge score in the $5K Seniors High Roller. Not to be outdone, Stuart Phillips won a big event over at Aria, and his Fall Partner Saif Keshwani went one better in an Aria event of his own, taking down an even bigger score with a runner-up finish. Meanwhile Evan Pantano put in a marathon effort in the WSOP Mini Main, grinding through a field of over 12,000 entries all the way to a 30th-place finish. Add in a handful of other members who’ve already banked cashes around town, and it’s shaping up to be one of the league’s best WSOP summers yet.

WSOP 2026 Main Event Seat Holders

Final Results

$10K WPT Seats

Qualified for 10% Season Proceeds