For years, the poker community has debated an almost religious question: is it better to play like a computer or like an old casino fox? The World Series of Poker 2026 reignited that debate and left a conclusion worthy of a Freak Friday on CodigoPoker: neither side won the war.
In one corner were the disciples of GTO (Game Theory Optimal), armed with hours of study in front of solvers, balanced ranges, and almost surgical frequencies. In the other, the fans of Street Poker, those players who live by reads, tells, the rhythm of the table, and intuition. And, curiously, this year’s biggest successes came when both worlds mixed.
The best example was the Spaniard Adrián Mateos
Adrián Mateos, a Spanish Multichampion.
On the other side appeared Daniel Negreanu
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Shaun Deeb
Daniel Negreanu, Exponent of the Old School.
What if we mix them?
And here appears the true rarity of 2026: the so-called “Hybrid Poker“. The new trend consists of using GTO as a solid base, but abandoning the script when the situation demands it. It’s like driving with GPS… but taking a shortcut when you know there’s a monumental traffic jam.
The upcoming Main Event final table will be the perfect laboratory to test this. Young chip leader Lucas Jumalon represents the new generation obsessed with solvers, while veterans like Greg Mueller continue to rely on decades of experience and live reads.
So, if anyone expected WSOP 2026 to decree the death of Street Poker or GTO, they will have to keep waiting. In Las Vegas, it was demonstrated that modern poker is no longer played with a single instruction book. It’s played with a calculator… and also with gut feeling.
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