Down the Rabbit Hole: Beyond the Rail at the 2026 WSOP

^{One of the feature tables at the WSOP Main Event, where millions of dollars are on the line. (Photo: Christina Bradfield / Casinos.com)}

LAS VEGAS – Working at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) is like being Alice in Wonderland. Your entire life is swallowed up while you’re there as you enter a parallel universe with new sights, sounds (and smells). I have no energy, time, or ability to do anything other than be and work there.

I’m usually a writer here at Casinos.com and other outlets. I love writing articles about how to prepare for poker summer camp and I even used my own advice about what you should bring before you embark on your WSOP journey. but was lucky enough to also get two weeks to go back and work the Main Event.

It’s my first day of the tenth year of working the Main Event at the world’s biggest poker tournament. It lasts for two weeks and attracted 9,208 players this year. I haven’t worked every year straight, but I’ve gone down the rabbit hole for years, where I wouldn’t even know what it’d be like to have the Fourth of July off. This year, the final table will be held August 3-5 after a few weeks off.

This year, I interviewed the Main Event players who came up to the feature tables at the back of the Paris. I miss the nickname “Thunderdome” for the main stage at the Horseshoe, but no new ones have stuck as of yet. Our team gets the players’ biographical information like statistics, how they first got into poker, and audio with how their name is pronounced. This information gets into the hands of live streamers, who use it to educate and inform viewers. 

This year also brought a new production partner: Omaha Productions, co-founded by NFL legend Peyton Manning, took the helm of Main Event coverage. I'd be shocked if you'd told me a few years ago that I'd now be working for a behemoth football company, but I was still with my favorite poker boss ever, Dan Gati, and a team of people I've known for years.

Day One: New Building, Same Rabbit Hole

I wear a dress every year on the first day I work the series. I need to remind myself that I’m a woman. That may seem dramatic, but after I’m done, all sense of femininity is gone. Poof. After that, it’s not practical, and I’ll be quietly (or not so quietly) suffering in jeans and a black logoed t-shirt or strappy tank top and sweatshirt the rest of my time. My black HOKAs will protect my feet as we walk miles upon miles in time-free zones, aka the Horseshoe and the Paris.

 When the dress code calls for a black T-shirt, you raid your stash of old media merch!

A new element was also working primarily at the Paris Casino, as the Main Stage was there, not at the Horseshoe. I’d always worked in the Horseshoe, so I was interested in logistics and how it’d work out.

By the end of the first day, I'd had a three-way hug, scored a rare banana at the production truck (most people at the series eat like 12-year-old boys), and taken my first trip down what our crew calls "the stairs of stink.” It’s the back exit past the loading dock, where the garbage bins wait to greet you on your way in and out. It's not glamorous, but it's the WSOP.

Day two brought the dreaded jeans into a “dry” heat. “A blowtorch is also a dry heat,” a coworker said. 

Hellmuth Family Suits Up, Negreanu Wins Eighth Bracelet 

Phil Hellmuth, who recently became a Las Vegas resident, was going to be making his grand entrance today, an annual tradition. This year’s theme was superheroes, and Hellmuth went as Superman, his son Nick as Batman and I believe Phil Jr. as Captain America. Batgirls holding up signs with the amount of bracelets Hellmuth has won, 17, followed along with fellow poker pro Dan “Jungleman” Cates, robots lit up with neon lights, and a coterie of poker media following behind.

I got to interview Nick before the next level of the tournament and went behind black curtains where the Hellmuth family and friends were assembled before the rest of the media saw them. Nick was lovely and answered all my questions right before they all trekked to the tournament area.

Daniel Negreanu ended up winning his eighth bracelet that day in the $100,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller Eight-Handed tournament for over $2 million dollars. A happy crowd surrounded the final table, including his wife Amanda.

I thought that day couldn’t get any more bizarre, but it did. While I was driving home, waiting at the Las Vegas Boulevard and Flamingo Road light, two girls on the passenger sides of a car were sitting in the windows with their butts hanging out. The girl was wearing black mesh and a thong. One of them ended up getting out of the car to dance barefoot in the road until a car (rightly) honked at her. Sometimes I truly forget I’m in Vegas.  

Two Main Event Winners, a Senator and a Porn Star

On the third day, I keep hearing the name Katie Morgan as we prepare for a new feature table. We have three feature tables: A, B, and C. She’d been placed on our A table. 

I had no idea who she was, but I love feature tables showcasing any woman. Last year, we were lucky enough to get Leo Margets of Spain to the final table, ending a 30-year drought for women since Barbara Enright came in fifth in 1995. Margets ended up in seventh place, earning $1.5 million.

Turns out, Katie Morgan (born Sarah Jackman) is an adult film actress. She won the 2009 AVN (Adult Video News) Crossover Star of the Year award, and was inducted into AVN’s Hall of Fame in 2013. She’d left the adult industry for a while to act, including Zack and Miri Make a Porno with Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks, before returning to adult entertainment in 2015.

At the next feature table sat Jesse Green, whom I later discovered was an Iowa State Senator. Green, who has about $194k in live tournament winnings according to the Hendon Mob, was extremely friendly and told me more about his background. He looked freshly scrubbed and could’ve been heading to a golf course. 

By the end of the day, we had two main event winners: Grey Raymer and Michael 'The Grinder' Mizrachi. And we had a porn star and a Senator at two of our tables. One thing I love about poker, it’s a great equalizer. Money is the only thing that separates the event from anyone. And at $10,000, that’s a lot of money for a lot of people. 

Fourth of July at the Series 

I love the fact that the WSOP is a spectacle in and of itself. Outside of the bubble and the final table, the scene reaches its pinnacle on the Fourth of July. I got to work and saw a couple in matching American flag clothing before I even went inside. While inside, festivities were already starting with a player alternating between singing and talking like a duck.

 This patriotic couple greeted me at the front of the Horseshoe on the Fourth of July.

Later that evening, I started hearing sounds. It got louder and I thought maybe someone was stomping their feet on the viewing section of the Main Stage. (People can come watch the feature tables, there’s ample space and a crowd usually gathers near the end of the series.) It turned out to be fireworks right outside where we were. It was nice to be close even if I wish we’d been able to see it. 

Patriotic gear on the Fourth is just the tip of the iceberg. You'll see silly outfits no matter what day it is at the WSOP.

When I went down to grab dinner with the team and the rest of the crew, Sweet Home Alabama was playing, and hot dogs were an option for dinner. With the crew around, a moment of solidarity between us, this is the most patriotic I’ve felt in a while.

A Very Good Dog (and Very Bad Bathroom)

During the series, security is at a premium. Security guards are omnipresent in all areas, including areas accessible only to the crew. There’s also enhanced security, including a bomb squad team and a dog. I was able to pet him, which was a wholesome moment of zen for that day. (I would definitely ask for permission to pet anything in the tournament area.) 

"My moment of dog Zen came when I got to pet one of the security dogs from the bomb squad on-site."

With all the money that’s being exchanged during the series, I’m grateful for them. But that much liquid cash in one area can be enticing, and the danger doesn’t end when you walk out of the Horseshoe. Just weeks ago, poker pro Jared Griener said he was robbed of his entire $57,500 cashout at his Vegas Airbnb after leaving the WSOP, so always be careful. 

At this point in the series, the bathrooms become dicier. Women usually play the game of stall roulette when using a bathroom, pushing a door in to see if it’s acceptable. I had about a 50% success rate at day five. Women can be gross too – I saw one spit in the trashcan as I was leaving. Yuck.

ClubWPT’s Cheeky Marketing Stunt

Leaving work that day, I was waiting patiently to turn onto Flamingo Road, which is a nightmare to traverse. Whether it’s the entitled tourists, the bush blocking your view, or cabs that will drive through you to get to where they need to go, it’s full of inconveniences. That night, there was something else blocking my way.

It was five black trucks, small semis, that had a digital display with Phil Ivey, Doug Polk, and Ethan Yau “Rampage” shirtless and dancing. The display read “GOLD direct to you” with a phone number, an obvious parody of the trucks on the Strip with Girls Direct to You signage and photos of girls that were maybe taken 15 years ago, if not longer.

Though the photos are obviously AI, it was a smart counter-marketing move by ClubWPT Gold, an online poker gaming offshoot of the World Poker Tour. Last year, there was a major controversy at the WSOP when ClubWPT Gold ran its “Gold Rush” promotion, which awarded a $1 million bonus to whichever players won a bracelet at the WSOP. 

However, these players were approved ClubWPT Gold ambassadors and were required to wear the brand’s patches. Things got sticky when players were accused of chip dumping in order to land that bonus at the WSOP Millionaire Maker. There was a tightening of the patch rules this year, and I did not see one ClubWPT Gold patch.

So my eyes were unprepared to see five trucks driving down the street at the WSOP with Rampage in nipple pasties and Doug Polk in a leather harness. 

Dance, Dance Baby

Day six had nothing of note, but day seven brought one of the best feature tables I’ve ever seen. When a table has chemistry, it’s one of the most fun to watch and play at. An unforced camaraderie is there, making them seem like friends playing a game rather than vying for millions of dollars. Professional poker player Jimmy D’Ambrosio, aka “Jimmy D,” led this table along with David Welch, a former Britain’s Got Talent finalist. 

 I admire anyone who enjoys themselves that much while playing for so much money. I’ve had tables where I’ve had that good of a time, but it was for baby money. Welch won an all-in to double up, danced at the table, and had one of the most viral moments of the summer. 

The opposite of that moment was two senior citizen poker players out at the Horseshoe casino, yelling and throwing drinks at each other. By that time in the series, I was unfazed as I was walking towards my car at the end of the day.

My hilarious team helped me get through the WSOP journey.

I’m happy to be out of the rabbit hole of the WSOP into natural sunlight, but I already miss my coworkers. They give me the ability to be myself, my funniest self in between moments where I need to be my best self. I care most about the players, especially those who are first-timers or who are checking it off their bucket list. Being a part of the World Series of Poker is thrilling but scary. I want to be that moment of Zen for them while doing my job. I’m their bomb dog.

The WSOP Main Event final table resumes next Monday, Aug. 3, It will air semi-live on ESPN, ESPN 2 and other network partners around the globe, with a new champion being crowned and awarded $10 million on Wednesday, Aug. 5 

Photos: Christina Bradfield / Casinos.com