One poker player has been doing the 2026 World Series of Poker Main Event a little differently than everyone else.
Recreational player Amit Agarwal has become one of Poker Twitter’s unexpected stars over the last few days, documenting a Main Event run that’s featured more trips to the movie theater than hours at the poker table.
Rather than grinding every level of poker’s world championship, Agarwal has repeatedly left with chips still in play to watch Obsession — a film he’d already seen several times — jump into low-stakes cash games, hit the gym, grab dinner and document it all on X. Somehow, despite repeatedly cutting his days short, he’s managed to turn his 60,000-chip starting stack into more than 200,000.
According to The Hendon Mob, the Florida resident has just eight recorded live tournament cashes worth $31,633, with more than half of that total coming from a 10th-place finish in the 2025 WSOP $1,000 Super Turbo.
He picked up three WSOP cashes last summer, while his only score so far this series came with a 94th-place finish in the $3,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em event for $6,490.
Away from poker, his X feed is mostly dedicated to stock trading, where he shares companies he likes and dislikes.
Before his Main Event even got underway, Agarwal shared his goal on social media. He simply wanted to cash and he even posted the maths behind it, estimating that around 400,000 chips should be enough to comfortably make the money, which is expected to happen on Day 4.
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Things started well enough on Day 1d as Agarwal built his 60,000 starting stack to around 130,000 and most players would’ve happily played out the final two levels. However, Agarwal had other ideas.
Before making his decision, he asked ChatGPT to estimate how many chips he would lose by leaving early. The answer was roughly 16,000 chips, depending on how quickly his table played and that seemed like a fair trade for Agarwal.
Claiming his brain was tired, that it wasn’t normal to be “threatening people with financial injury,” and admitting he struggles with impulse control, Agarwal packed up his chips and headed to the movie theater for his fifth viewing of Obsession.
While waiting for the movie to start, Agarwal decided he didn’t want to sit through 25 minutes and bought into a $1/$2 No-Limit Hold’em cash game at Boulder Station while his Main Event stack slowly blinded away.
The side quest didn’t last long as according to his updates, his $500 buy-in disappeared in just four hands. His Main Event stack, meanwhile, had only slipped to 113,900 by the time the chip bags came out.
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Day 2d? More of the Same
If anyone thought Agarwal might settle in for a proper grind on Day 2, they were mistaken. Within the first hour he had doubled his stack to around 240,000 chips. Most players would’ve happily settled in with a big stack and looked to build on it throughout the afternoon.
Instead, Agarwal headed for the exit once again. The Destination? Another screening of Obsession. At this point, it’s probably fair to say Agarwal has developed an obsession with Obsession.
The movie wasn’t the end of his day, either. His social media updates showed him buying into a $40 Limit Hold’em game, heading out for dinner, posting more thoughts on stocks, praising Wimbledon, fitting in a gym session and eventually calling it an early night in his Ellis Island hotel room to catch up on House of the Dragon.
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“It Is Very Important to Be Ridiculous”
As bizarre as his approach might seem, Agarwal said on social media:
It’s certainly not how most players would take on the biggest tournament in poker. Yet in the final level of Day 2, Agarwal still has more than 200,000 chips and looks certain to bag for Day 3. The only question now is whether he’ll decide to show up… or if Obsession has another showing.
Calum Grant
Senior Editor & Live Events Executive