Monster Stack 2026 WSOP

I've played quite a few of the baby NLHE events at the WSOP and this is the best one for sure.

I won't be playing it this year, but it's a great one to fire if you want a taste of that mega field WSOP lottery experience.

Deep starting stacks and 60 minute levels give you a lot of leeway to navigate, and the tables are typically a diverse mix of solid reg/pros and random shot takers.

Yeah, the Monster is great, definitely my favorite event under $2k. Boy has it changed in the last couple years though. For most of those years you have numbers for, there were two flights, and you could only enter once per flight. The field combined on Day 2, and the money bursts about midway through. In 2024 they added a third flight. Last year they added a fourth. You could still only enter once per flight, and everyone who bagged chips was combined into a single Day 2. This year they've made their biggest changes yet to this event. There are four flights, but you can re-enter once per flight, and more importantly, each flight will have its own Day 2 the following day. You can now bust on Day 2 of the Monster, and unless it was the last flight, you can re-enter the next day's flight.

What percentage of people who min-cash and then bust the Monster on Day 2A or 2B will turn around and fire flights C and/or D? I'd put the over-under at 90% at least.

So yeah, with these changes it's hard to imagine them not blowing past 10k total entries.

The trajectory from 7,192 to 9,920 over ten years is pretty linear so 10k feels realistic, but I'd be curious whether the earlier date helps or hurts. A lot of regs I know don't show up until the second or third week of June when the series is in full swing and the cash games are juiced. Starting June 3rd puts it right at the beginning when Vegas hasn't really hit peak poker tourist mode yet. That said, the $1,500 price point basically sells itself for a tournament with that kind of structure.

I agree with you, in general first week is not known for Sharkey Pro players and cash grinders.
Though Opening event with low buy-ins and with bounties is one of biggest draw for thousands of players ( I am guessing between 25000-27000 players).
And in my opinion Monster with early schedule will be the biggest beneficiary.

I'm playing the Monster this year for the first time in my life, so make it 9921 and counting haha

Let’s make it 9922 !!!

It’s one of the best tournament in that buy-in category!!

I also never played it though

This year seems like my last year of visiting WSOP (Age, Health…)

Definitely playing The Monster Stack

LGLG, see you at the final table!