WSOP 2026 Begins Now!!!
Two Seasons, One Vegas Summer: ETBPL Heads to the WSOP!
The Elite Tampa Bay Poker League sends its biggest crew yet to the 2026 World Series of Poker
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.
A quick housekeeping note before the standings: Karl Manouchakian exercised his option to take the $5K cash buyout instead of playing, which freed up 43% of a Main Event seat. Andra Zachow, next in line in the standings, picked up that share, sold off a little action to cover the rest, and will be taking her seat at the Main Event felt this summer. We also want to give a shoutout to our three Fall reps — James McKinnon, Ray Mancini, and Ryan Harfouch — who already cashed in their $10K WPT seats back in December. No deep runs that time, but hey, that’s poker.
As of this update, none of our Main Event seat holders have locked in their Day 1 flight — so the whole crew is still deciding between the early and later starting days. We’ll keep everyone posted as flights get chosen.
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. We’re expecting big things — stay tuned!
