Lex Veldhuis avalia sua participação na WSOP Online 2026: “não podemos ver o sucesso apenas como vitória ou lucro”

My first WSOP Online was a wild one. I wanted to share some stats and thoughts about the experience. (Sorry this turned out to be a bit of a long and deep feelstrip :D) Streaming/series numbers: 📊550,000 Hours Watched 👥260,000 Unique Viewers 🔥10,000 peak viewership (Deep in $5k Main Event) 🙏2,100,000 long form views 📉-$120,000 💰Average Buyin $640 🏆Best Bracelet finishes: 5th, 10th, 14th, 14th, 15th. I remember being gutted when the online version of WSOP moved to GG, as my partnership with Stars meant I wouldn't be participating. However, bracelets and the WSOP brand have always meant a lot to me. Back in the day it was because of the glory and the pokerdream I saw on TV. Now it's more about trying to prove I can do things right. Twenty years ago I was grinding (a lot), but I wasn't really enjoying the process or thinking about the future. The thrill of competition is what made me want to compete at the highest level. I focused too much on specific moments instead of things like longevity, continuity, a perspective on the future. Maybe it was thrill-seeking, or maybe I was just a wornout 20-year-old with an erratic, competitive mentality and too much success too soon. I ended up too tired and unprepared to deal with the storm I consistently put myself in. Regret can be quite a toxic emotion to experience or dwell on, but when it comes to my poker career, I feel a lot of it. At a certain point, the game and its players humbled me in several ways. I focused too much on different disciplines, neglected studying to improve, and rarely communicated strategy with friends or peers. As a direct result the game passed me by and I hit a big downswing. At the same time I had other huge financial setbacks: money I had lent out wasn't being paid back, people I vouched for cost me high six figures, and weird tax laws were being applied retro-actively in the Netherlands. When all of this came together it put me in a really bad spot and I had no clue who I was in the poker world anymore. Back then I was a blaster without purpose. I know there was merit to the strategies I was pursuing but the way I deployed them was over the top and unfocused. It was like I had become a caricature of myself. I wasn't really proud of anything I had done. It put me in a pretty dark place and I knew something had to change. Then streaming came along. It was a big turning point in my career and it wasn't a coincidence. My now wife Myrthe and I got together around that time, and it really made me want to think about the future and improve my life. Streaming has given me the opportunity to start over and do things differently. Really try to learn and respect the game, appreciate the opportunity in front of me, be an ambassador who is easy to work with and goes the extra mile, and communicate with other players while also giving them respect instead of attitude. Some of the things I wanted to do better might seem very silly or quite specific, like playing in the Big Game in the way that opportunity and show deserve. I think getting completely wiped out was the best thing that could have happened to the person I was. The process has almost felt like a recovery/rebuilding process. For instance, I messaged total strangers to apologize for behaviour at the table during periods where I felt completely lost. It's like I'm going down a checklist of things I regret doing or not appreciating to mend my feelings about my past. Grinding a full schedule at the WSOP is a gorgeous thing. You feel the energy, the grind, the competition, the sourness, the misery.. simply amazing. I truly miss it. I haven't been at the WSOP in Vegas since 2014. At first it was because I put everything into streaming and I have always felt that taking 6-7 weeks off kills your momentum. When I was more established and had a loyal, core audience, family life started. With an already busy work schedule I didn't want to sacrifice more family time to go to Vegas in the summer. This year I got to play my first WSOP Online and all year leading up to it I felt this huge motivation to grind it hard. It's one of the things on my list that I want to prove to myself I can do the right way . I'm very proud of the grind over the past 6 weeks. Even though -$120k isn't a big swing for the average buy-in I'm playing, losing 15-20 sessions in a row can be quite draining, especially while under the camera's scrutiny. I really wanted to win a bracelet. However, making that the sole goal to prove I can do things the right way would be silly. This is not what poker is about. We can't only view things as a success if the outcome is victory/profit. I loved the grind, the series and being able to participate in it. I played at higher stakes than normal which brought much more competition and pressure. People are so fucking creative and good, it's inspiring. I have been working on my game a lot, but I have so much more to learn. If you saw some of the clips or streams, you could see the emotional investment, and I felt the need to write about it a bit. This series just felt different for me. This post wasn't meant to be this long or deep, but it just came out. Shout out if you got this far. Thanks everyone for the support during the series. I'm gonna start grinding again tomorrow. Streams will be every Tue/Wed/Thur/Sunday. <3

— Lex Veldhuis (@LexVeldhuis) October 5, 2026