Pro Players From Foxen’s Big Call to Moneymaker’s Bubble: ACR Poker Pros Stay in ESPN’s Main Event Story July 29, 2026 Posted by Americas Cardroom Americas Cardroom URL has been copied successfully! From Alex Foxen’s standout opening coverage to Chris Moneymaker’s brutal bubble exit, ACR Poker remained part of the story as ESPN followed 9,208 players down to the final nine.ESPN’s return to major poker coverage gave the 2026 Main Event a familiar television home again, and ACR Poker was visible from the beginning. In the opening two episodes, Alex Foxen became one of the recurring faces of the broadcast. ESPN returned to his table, showed the ACR Poker patch clearly and gave viewers time to watch him work through difficult decisions, including the all-in call he later broke down in detail. That was the kind of coverage poker players appreciate: not simply a logo in the background, but a real hand, a real read and a decision that invited debate after the cards were turned over.The next two episodes changed the pace. Chris Moneymaker appeared at the center of the money bubble, while Foxen’s role became lighter as the tournament moved deeper. Together, they showed two very different sides of the ACR Poker Pro team: the player whose 2003 victory helped create poker’s television boom, and the modern high-stakes pro whose decisions had already helped shape ESPN’s early episodes. By the time Episode 3 reached its Bubble Cam sequence, the field was no longer being introduced. It was being cut down quickly, from 174 players on Day 6 to 20 at the start of Episode 4, and finally to the nine players who would return for the championship finale.That shift is what makes Episodes 3 and 4 worth revisiting. The ACR Poker airtime was not as extensive as it had been in the opening shows, but the story became more dramatic. Moneymaker’s appearance was short, painful and instantly understandable. Foxen remained connected to the broadcast because the earlier episodes had already made him recognizable. Around them, one of poker’s largest fields became a small group of players with seven-figure final-table seats within reach.This is the full story of what happened, why the two bubbles mattered and how ACR Poker’s overall presence carried across ESPN’s first four edited episodes. The Coverage at a Glance Stat Number Why It Matters Starting field 9,208 players One of the largest Main Event fields ever assembled. Prize pool $85,634,400 The final nine are guaranteed at least $1 million each. Episode 3 opening 174 players Every survivor had already outlasted more than 98% of the field. Episode 4 opening 20 players The broadcast’s job was to reach the final nine. First prize $10,000,000 The championship payout waiting at the end. Minimum cash $15,000 The payout Moneymaker missed in the normal prize structure. Moneymaker’s share $10,000 Three simultaneous bubble eliminations split $30,000. ACR Poker’s Main Event Story Kept MovingThe first two ESPN episodes had room to explore. Thousands of players were still in the tournament, every table offered a new personality and the broadcast could spend time introducing names that might become important later. Foxen fit that stage perfectly. He was already a proven high-stakes player, he entered the summer in strong form and his table decisions gave the production team something useful to build around.Episodes 3 and 4 had a different job. The tournament had reached the point where the player count itself supplied the tension. Episode 3 opened with 174 players remaining from 9,208 entries. Episode 4 began with 20. There was less time to stop, explain and introduce because every elimination changed the leaderboard and moved the field closer to the final table.That is why the ACR Poker coverage feels different in the later shows. Moneymaker appears in a focused recap of the money bubble. Foxen is present more as part of a story ESPN had already established. Neither player dominates the hour, and the article should not pretend otherwise. The value comes from seeing how their moments fit into the wider tournament: Foxen’s early momentum, Moneymaker’s painful exit and the race from a packed convention room to one final table. 🚨💥TEAM ACR SWEAT ALERT💥🚨The bubble has burst and the team is in the money!!! 🔒$15K🔒🏆$10M + World Series of Poker Bracelet! #wsop2026 pic.twitter.com/ZrgS5F8kKx— ACR Poker (@ACR_POKER) July 9, 2026 Episode 3 Starts With 174 Players—and Then Looks BackEpisode 3 opens on Day 6. The screen shows the numbers that matter: 9,208 players started, only 174 remain and $10 million is waiting for the winner. The average stack is roughly 3.1 million, which sounds enormous until the blinds, antes and pressure of a deep Main Event are taken into account.Every player left has already survived more than 98% of the field. That is a major achievement, but it is also the awkward middle ground of a deep run. A player can look close to the finish when viewed against the original field and still be days away from the final table. There are too many strong players remaining to coast, the pay jumps are becoming more meaningful and one bad level can erase a week of good decisions.The tournament floor also looks completely different from the opening episodes. Empty space appears where rows of tables once stood. Camera crews have fewer places to move. Leaderboards become easier to follow because the same names keep returning. The broadcast no longer needs to find stories among thousands of hopefuls; it can watch the surviving stories collide.Then, about 11 minutes into the episode, ESPN steps backward. The Day 6 action pauses and the coverage returns to Day 4, when the field was still waiting for the money bubble to burst. The transition is immediate: a crowd gathers, cameras hurry toward the action and the words ‘Bubble Cam‘ appear on screen. At the center of the scene is Chris Moneymaker.Bubble Cam Finds the Most Famous Possible Bubble PlayerThere are quieter ways to leave a poker tournament. On an early day, a player can lose the last of a short stack, shake a few hands, pick up a backpack and walk away while dozens of tables continue as if nothing happened. The Main Event bubble offers no such privacy.At the bubble, the entire room is waiting for one more elimination. Short stacks are trying to survive. Medium stacks are protecting the days of work that brought them that far. Big stacks are looking for players who are folding too much. Tournament staff are coordinating hand-for-hand play, while media crews move from table to table whenever an all-in is announced.That was the environment ESPN showed around Moneymaker. The segment did not need a long speech to explain why the moment mattered. The crowd did the work. So did the cameras packed around the table. A lower-third graphic identified Moneymaker, and viewers watched one of the most famous champions in poker history become one of the players whose elimination allowed the rest of the room to celebrate.The sequence lasts less than a minute, but it has a complete story. The crowd gathers. Moneymaker is identified. The bubble breaks. He leaves the playing area. For anyone who has ever survived deep into a tournament only to fall just short of the next milestone, the scene is painfully familiar. What Actually Happened on Moneymaker’s Final HandThe edited ESPN sequence focuses mainly on the scene and the aftermath, but the full hand adds useful context. Day 4 had begun with 1,389 players remaining, only seven eliminations away from the money. The tournament quickly reached the stone bubble, and several all-ins were happening at different tables at the same time.Moneymaker began Day 4 with 221,000 chips. With the blinds at 4,000/8,000, he raised to 17,000 from the hijack holding J♥9♦. Antonio Vargas looked down at A♥A♠ and three-bet to 42,000. Moneymaker called, taking a speculative hand to the flop against the strongest possible starting hand.The flop came 8♥ 7♠ 7♦. Vargas continued for 20,000 and Moneymaker called with a gutshot straight draw: any ten could complete a jack-high straight. The 7♣ turn changed the board completely. Vargas bet 45,000 and Moneymaker called again, but against pocket aces he was now drawing dead. The 8♠ river put sevens full of eights on the board. Vargas moved all in for roughly Moneymaker’s final 100,000, and Moneymaker called. Vargas showed A♥A♠ for sevens full of aces, beating the full house available on the board and ending Moneymaker’s run. Chris Moneymaker’s Final Hand — Street by Street Stage Action Cards / Board What Changed Setup Day 4; blinds 4,000/8,000 Moneymaker: J♥9♦Vargas: A♥A♠ Moneymaker starts with 221,000 chips and is not yet forced all in. Preflop Moneymaker raises to 17,000; Vargas three-bets to 42,000; Moneymaker calls. J♥9♦ vs. A♥A♠ Moneymaker enters the flop against the best starting hand in hold’em. Flop Vargas bets 20,000; Moneymaker calls. 8♥ 7♠ 7♦ Moneymaker has a gutshot: a ten can complete a jack-high straight. Turn Vargas bets 45,000; Moneymaker calls. 7♣ The board contains three sevens. Against pocket aces, Moneymaker is drawing dead. River Vargas shoves for roughly Moneymaker’s final 100,000; Moneymaker calls. 8♠ The board shows sevens full of eights; Vargas makes sevens full of aces. Result Vargas wins and Moneymaker is eliminated during hand-for-hand play. Final board: 8♥ 7♠ 7♦ 7♣ 8♠ Three simultaneous eliminations split $30,000, giving Moneymaker $10,000. Moneymaker was not the only player eliminated during that final hand-for-hand round. Stoyan Madanzhiev and Zhaken Seitbekov also lost their stacks at other tables. Three eliminations therefore occurred at the same time, while only two $15,000 minimum-cash positions were available.The available $30,000 was divided equally, so each of the three eliminated players received $10,000. Moneymaker therefore recorded a payout, but he was still one of the players whose elimination officially burst the bubble. The accounting softens the financial result. It does not make the televised exit feel any less brutal. The Moneymaker Effect, 23 Years LaterIn 2003, Moneymaker arrived as an online qualifier playing his first live tournament. The Main Event drew 839 entries, and he defeated Sammy Farha heads-up to win $2.5 million. ESPN’s hole-card coverage let viewers see the decisions, bluffs and close calls that carried an unknown accountant all the way to the title.The result changed poker. The following year’s Main Event drew 2,576 players. In 2005, the field grew again to 5,619. The idea that an everyday online player could win a satellite, sit down with the biggest names in the game and become world champion was no longer a marketing line. Millions of viewers had watched it happen.That is why Moneymaker still means something different on an ESPN poker broadcast. Plenty of champions have returned to the Main Event over the years, but his relationship with television is part of the reason the modern event became so large. His 2003 run was not simply recorded by ESPN; it was turned into a story that helped create a new generation of players.The 2026 Bubble Cam footage lands because viewers know that background, even when the broadcast does not repeat every detail. In 2003, Moneymaker was the symbol of surviving every stage. In 2026, he survived thousands of players and several long days, only to leave at the precise line separating the paid field from everyone else.There is also something refreshingly human about the reversal. Poker legends still run into aces. Champions still make calls that do not work. A player can be responsible for one of the game’s happiest stories and, 23 years later, become the face of its most uncomfortable milestone. That is not a contradiction. It is the reason tournament poker keeps producing stories people recognize in themselves. Foxen’s Coverage Had Already Done the Heavy LiftingAlex Foxen’s role in Episodes 3 and 4 was lighter than it had been in the opening shows, but the earlier coverage had already produced one of the most memorable hands of ESPN’s Main Event package. It was not simply a correct call. It was a decision for more than 50 big blinds, made with another player still behind and a hand that is usually an uncomfortable bluff-catcher in a four-bet pot.The hand took place on Day 2D with blinds of 600/1,200. Vinh Nguyen began the confrontation with 67,100 chips and J♥10♥. Foxen covered him comfortably with 340,400 and held A♠J♣. Nguyen raised to 2,700, Foxen called, and Yoshitaka Hayasaki made a very small three-bet to 6,500 from the big blind.Nguyen then moved all in for 67,100. The shove asked Foxen to call another 64,400 while Hayasaki still had the option to wake up with a real hand behind him. Foxen did not snap. He studied Nguyen, listened to the table talk and compared the shove with what he had observed during the previous hours. Nguyen had played loose and splashy, Foxen’s flat call made his own range look capped, and Hayasaki’s unusually small three-bet created a tempting target for a squeeze.Foxen eventually called with A♠J♣, Hayasaki folded, and Nguyen turned over J♥10♥. Foxen was ahead, but Nguyen was live with two suited cards and straight possibilities. The flop came 6♦ K♥ 5♣, leaving Foxen’s ace-high in front. The A♥ turn paired Foxen but also gave Nguyen a heart-flush draw. The 6♠ river missed Nguyen completely. Foxen won the 142,500-chip pot with aces and sixes, eliminated Nguyen and climbed to roughly 416,000 chips.The runout made the clip satisfying, but it did not create the call. Foxen’s decision was built before the dealer produced the flop: the strange three-bet size, Nguyen’s previous play, the pressure Nguyen could apply to two apparently limited ranges and a change in his behavior when Foxen challenged the story he was telling. By the time Episodes 3 and 4 aired, ESPN no longer needed to establish Foxen. The opening shows had already demonstrated exactly why the cameras kept returning to him. Alex Foxen’s “Sick Call” — Every Bet and Card Stage Action Cards / Board Why It Mattered Setup Day 2D; blinds 600/1,200 Foxen: A♠J♣Nguyen: J♥10♥ Foxen starts with 340,400; Nguyen has 67,100. Open Nguyen raises to 2,700. J♥10♥ A standard-sized open from a player Foxen had seen playing loose and splashy. Call Foxen calls 2,700. A♠J♣ The flat keeps Foxen’s range broad but makes premium pairs less likely. Three-bet Hayasaki raises from the big blind to 6,500. — The unusually small size makes the raise look less intimidating. Shove Nguyen moves all in for 67,100. J♥10♥ The shove attacks two ranges that appear capped and asks Foxen to call 64,400 more. Decision Foxen calls; Hayasaki folds. A♠J♣ vs. J♥10♥ Table history, range logic, sizing and Nguyen’s table talk all point in the same direction. Flop The cards are dealt. 6♦ K♥ 5♣ Foxen’s ace-high remains ahead. Turn Nguyen picks up a flush draw. A♥ Foxen pairs his ace; Nguyen can still win with a heart or queen. River The draw misses. 6♠ Foxen wins with aces and sixes. Result Nguyen is eliminated. Final pot: 142,500 Foxen moves to approximately 416,000 chips. “It looked like he wanted to say something but didn’t know what to say. That very clearly screamed weakness to me.” Episode 3 Becomes a Day 6 SprintAfter the Bubble Cam recap, Episode 3 returns to Day 6 and immediately feels faster. Moneymaker’s run is over. The surviving players are already deep, but 174 is still a long way from nine. Every table contains players capable of changing the tournament with one large pot.At this stage, stack sizes become easier for viewers to understand in relative terms. A player near the top of the leaderboard can suddenly lose half a stack. A shorter stack can double and move from danger into contention. The same name may appear near the top early in the show and be gone before the episode ends.The physical room helps tell the story. There are fewer tables and more space between them. The rail can gather around specific areas. Feature-table action feels less like one small corner of a giant event and more like the center of the tournament. The deeper the field goes, the more each visible hand seems connected to the final result.This is where the overall ACR Poker presence becomes one thread inside a much larger race. Foxen’s opening-episode decisions still matter because viewers remember them. Moneymaker’s exit provides the emotional callback. But the active story belongs to the players still building stacks, avoiding disaster and trying to reach the final day. Episode 4: Twenty Players, Nine SeatsThe official Day 8 began with 21 players, but by the time Episode 4 establishes the field, only 20 remain. The scale of the tournament has changed completely. A field that once filled two large Las Vegas poker rooms can now fit onto one leaderboard.The payouts make every elimination more serious. The final nine are each guaranteed at least $1 million. Tenth place pays $750,000. That means the final-table bubble carries a $250,000 jump before anyone plays another hand at the official final table. The winner is still chasing $10 million, but first each player has to secure a seat among the final nine.Episode 4 works because the goal is so clear. Twenty players must become nine. Every exit moves the tournament closer. The broadcast introduces the final 15, then continues eliminating recognizable names and strong stacks from contention.Shaun Deeb, one of the most accomplished players left in the field, is eliminated in 15th place for $410,475. Former Main Event champion Hossein Ensan had also reached the last stages before finishing 13th. Tolga Karakaya exits in 11th for $750,000. Suddenly, only 10 players remain and one of them will become the final-table bubble.For viewers, the pressure is simple to follow. Nine names will return for ESPN’s live finale. One will leave with an enormous score that still feels painful because it came one place short of poker’s most visible table.The Chip Leader Who Finished TenthThe final-table bubble became even more dramatic because of the player who landed on it. Malcolm Trayner began Day 8 as the overall chip leader with 63.2 million chips—approximately 105 big blinds. By the final 10, that stack had been reduced to only a few blinds, leaving one last confrontation between the former leader and Lucas Jumalon.With blinds of 1,000,000/1,500,000 and a 1,500,000 big-blind ante, Jumalon raised to 3,000,000 from middle position. Trayner called from the big blind, committing most of his remaining chips and leaving roughly 3,000,000 behind. The flop came 4♥ 8♥ 8♠. Trayner moved all in and Jumalon called.Trayner showed J♣4♣ for eights and fours. Jumalon had K♣Q♦ and was behind with king-high. The 9♠ turn changed nothing, but the 9♣ river paired the board a second time and counterfeited Trayner’s pair of fours. Both players now used the two nines and two eights on the board; the final card became the kicker. Jumalon’s king played ahead of Trayner’s jack, sending the Day 8 chip leader out on the final-table bubble. The Final-Table Bubble Hand Stage Action Cards / Board Result Preflop Jumalon raises to 3,000,000; Trayner calls from the big blind. Trayner: J♣4♣Jumalon: K♣Q♦ Trayner leaves roughly 3,000,000 behind. Flop Trayner shoves; Jumalon calls. 4♥ 8♥ 8♠ Trayner is ahead with eights and fours. Turn No change to the lead. 9♠ Trayner remains one card from the final table. River The board pairs again. 9♣ Trayner’s fours are counterfeited; Jumalon wins with a king kicker. Payout Trayner exits in 10th. $750,000 The remaining nine lock up at least $1 million each. Trayner finished 10th for $750,000 after outlasting 9,198 players. The result was enormous by any normal measure and still carried an immediate sting: the remaining nine had each secured at least $1 million and a seat in ESPN’s live finale. One river card had turned Trayner from the player ahead on the flop into the last player eliminated before the final table.Once Trayner was eliminated, the final nine were set, led by Lucas Jumalon with 194 million chips. Rami Hammoud returned second with 79 million, while the remaining stacks ranged down to Evagoras Evagorou with 22.5 million. Every finalist had secured seven figures and a chance to play for the $10 million title. Two Bubbles, Two Completely Different Kinds of PainEpisodes 3 and 4 accidentally create a neat two-part structure. Episode 3 looks back at the money bubble. Episode 4 ends at the final-table bubble. Poker uses the same word for both moments, but they test players in very different ways.The money bubble is about reaching the prize pool. Hundreds of players may still be spread across many tables, and one elimination gives everyone else the security of a recorded cash. Players can sometimes survive by folding, waiting and hoping another short stack disappears first.The final-table bubble is smaller and more exposed. Only 10 players remain. Everyone can see the stacks, the pay jumps and the player most at risk. There is nowhere for the deciding elimination to hide. The entire tournament is watching the same shrinking group.Moneymaker’s bubble carried the weight of history. Trayner’s carried the shock of a same-day collapse from chip leader to tenth place. Moneymaker’s exit released the tension for more than a thousand players. Trayner’s exit released it for nine. One bubble secured the first payout level. The other secured seats on the biggest remaining stage.What connects them is the uncomfortable truth at the center of every tournament bubble: one player’s disappointment is the signal for everybody else to celebrate. Poker players understand that it is not personal, but that does not make it easier to be the person walking away.What the First Four Episodes Added Up To for ACR PokerLooking across all four edited episodes gives a more complete picture than measuring each hour separately. The opening shows delivered the larger ACR Poker moments. Foxen received recurring airtime, his patch was visible and his major call became a genuine strategy story. Moneymaker’s presence connected the coverage to the ESPN era that helped change poker.Episodes 3 and 4 delivered less total airtime but more consequences. Moneymaker’s run ended on the bubble. Foxen’s earlier storyline carried forward without another feature-length hand. The tournament moved from Day 6 to the final nine, leaving less room for any individual player who was no longer driving the action.That balance is important. There is no need to turn a brief appearance into a supposed takeover. Poker players can tell when coverage is being stretched beyond what actually happened. The better story is also the honest one: ACR Poker had meaningful exposure across the opening episodes, one unforgettable bubble moment in Episode 3 and continuing recognition as the field raced toward the final table.Foxen and Moneymaker also represented two different reasons a poker player becomes valuable on television. Foxen gave viewers current strategy, composure and a difficult decision to discuss. Moneymaker brought history that made even a short scene feel larger. One story was about how a top modern pro reads a hand. The other was about what happens when poker’s most famous qualifier lands on the wrong side of the line.Together, they gave ACR Poker a presence that felt connected to the poker itself. The patch appeared during decisions that mattered. The players were not inserted into the show as advertisements; they were there because their hands, careers and tournament results belonged in the edit.What Comes Next on ESPNESPN’s 2026 agreement brought more than 100 hours of Main Event coverage across its platforms, including edited episodes and a three-night live final table. The final nine are scheduled to return August 3 through August 5, with the opening night on ESPN2 and the next two nights on ESPN.Lucas Jumalon will begin with a commanding chip lead, but the final-table bubble has already shown why no stack guarantees a finish. Every player has at least $1 million locked up. The winner will receive $10 million and join the same list of champions that made Moneymaker famous more than two decades ago.For ACR Poker players, the first four episodes have already delivered plenty to follow: Foxen’s read and call, Moneymaker’s Bubble Cam exit and the tournament’s sprint from thousands of entries to nine finalists. The coverage did not need to manufacture a connection. ACR Poker’s pros were already part of the hands and moments that shaped the story.Big Call. Brutal Bubble. One Main Event Story.Alex Foxen and Chris Moneymaker did not receive the same kind of coverage, and they did not need to. Foxen’s biggest moments came early, when ESPN had time to follow the action at his table and let viewers think alongside him. Moneymaker’s defining moment came in a short burst of Bubble Cam footage, surrounded by a crowd waiting for the field to reach the money.Foxen showed why modern poker coverage works when it gives a difficult decision room to breathe. Moneymaker showed why history can make a brief scene unforgettable. Then Episode 4 showed the tournament moving beyond both players, cutting down the final 20 until one last elimination produced the final table.There was no need to claim that ACR Poker owned every minute of the broadcast. The real story was better. Across four episodes, ACR pros appeared in meaningful spots, from a debated hero call to the most watched bubble in the room. Their coverage connected poker’s ESPN past with its current high-stakes game, while the Main Event did what it always does: reward patience, punish mistakes and find new ways to make one position feel like the longest distance in the world.Follow ACR Poker News for more player stories, tournament coverage and updates from the biggest stages in poker.