Every year the poker world moves through the same rhythm: spring high-roller season, the Las Vegas summer grind, Barcelona in August, and a championship sprint in December. This guide lays out the major poker tournaments of 2026 month by month — dates, venues, and buy-ins for the WSOP, EPT, WPT, Triton, and the biggest online series — so you can plan a trip, a satellite grind, or just know when to tune into the livestreams.
This is a schedule guide. If you're looking for the largest prize pools and record-setting events ever held, see our companion piece on the biggest poker tournaments in the world.
What Are the Major Poker Tours?
Five circuits dominate the live calendar, plus two online series that rival them in prize money:
- WSOP (World Series of Poker) — the game's oldest and most prestigious series. The Las Vegas summer festival awards gold bracelets across ~100 events, headlined by the $10,000 Main Event.
- EPT (European Poker Tour) — PokerStars' flagship live tour. Its €5,300 Main Events in Barcelona, Monte Carlo, Paris, and Prague draw the largest fields in Europe.
- WPT (World Poker Tour) — a global tour of televised events culminating in the WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas each December.
- Triton Poker Series — the super high roller circuit, with buy-ins from $25,000 to $200,000+. In 2026 Triton celebrates its 10th anniversary.
- WSOP Circuit & regional festivals — hundreds of smaller ring events and casino series (Venetian DeepStack, Seminole Hard Rock, Parx Big Stax) that fill every month of the calendar.
- WCOOP and SCOOP (PokerStars) — the two biggest online series of the year, each guaranteeing tens of millions of dollars.
2026 Poker Tournament Calendar at a Glance
| Month | Event | Location | 2026 Dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| February | EPT Paris | Palais des Congrès, Paris | Feb 18 – Mar 1 |
| March | Triton Jeju (Triton ONE + Super High Roller Series) | Landing Resort, Jeju, South Korea | Mar 5 – Apr 1 |
| March–April | WSOP Europe | Hilton Prague, Czech Republic | Mar 31 – Apr 12 |
| April–May | EPT Monte Carlo | Sporting Monte-Carlo, Monaco | Apr 30 – May 10 |
| May | Triton Montenegro | Montenegro | May 13 – 28 |
| May–July | WSOP Las Vegas (100 bracelet events) | Horseshoe & Paris Las Vegas | May 26 – Jul 13 |
| July | WSOP Main Event | Las Vegas | Jul 2 – 13 |
| August | WSOP Main Event final table | Las Vegas | Aug 3 – 5 |
| August | EPT Barcelona | Casino Barcelona, Spain | Aug 16 – 29 |
| September | WCOOP (online, 25th edition) | PokerStars | Sep 6 – 30 |
| September | Venetian DeepStack Extravaganza | Las Vegas | Sep 1 – 27 |
| December | EPT Prague | Hilton Prague | Dec 2 – 13 |
| December | WSOP Paradise | Baha Mar, Bahamas | Dec 2 – 17 |
| December | WPT World Championship | Wynn Las Vegas | Dates TBA (December) |
Below is the same calendar in detail, season by season.
What's Happening in Early 2026? (January – April)
The year opens with the PokerStars Open season (January 23 – December 7), a mid-stakes tour visiting Campione, Paris, Philadelphia, Dublin, Monte Carlo, and Prague — the most accessible way to play a PokerStars live event, with Main Event buy-ins around €1,650.
EPT Paris (February 18 – March 1) kicked off the EPT year at the Palais des Congrès. The €5,300 Main Event drew 1,474 entries for a prize pool of roughly €7.1 million, won by Jorge Abreu.
Triton Jeju (March 5 – April 1) was the biggest festival in Triton's history: the mid-stakes Triton ONE series (March 5–15, headlined by the $8,000 Main Event) followed by an 18-day Super High Roller Series with No-Limit Hold'em, Short Deck, and PLO events.
The biggest structural change of 2026: WSOP Europe moved to Prague. After nine years at King's Casino in Rozvadov, the series ran March 31 – April 12 at the Hilton Prague — and moved from its traditional autumn slot to spring, ending its long calendar clash with the EPT. The festival awarded 15 bracelets with buy-ins from €350 to €25,000, and the Main Event carried a record €10,000,000 guarantee. If you last checked the WSOPE schedule a year ago, both the city and the season have changed — PokerNews covered the move in detail.
EPT Monte Carlo (April 30 – May 10) closed the spring swing at the Sporting Monte-Carlo — the tour's most glamorous stop and a traditional warm-up for high rollers heading to Vegas.
When Is the WSOP in 2026?
The 57th World Series of Poker ran May 26 – July 13, 2026 at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, with 100 live bracelet events (the full event list lives on the official WSOP schedule). Buy-ins ranged from the $300 Gladiators of Poker up to the $250,000 Super High Roller, with the $10,000 Main Event beginning July 2 across four starting flights.
Playing cash games between events? Our comparison of Las Vegas poker rooms covers the tables, games, rake and comps at eight majors, including the WSOP host property.
New in 2026: the Main Event final table was split from the summer series. Play paused when the field reached the final nine, and the finalists returned three weeks later to play it out live on August 3–5 — a format designed to let televised coverage build an audience before the champion is crowned. It worked as a spectator event: for the first time in years, the poker world's biggest moment happened in August rather than July. Lucas Jumalon, 22, won it on August 5 for $10,000,000, beating Lauri Sääskilahti heads-up from a 9,208-entry field, the fourth-largest in Main Event history. Full payouts and the decisive hands are in our 2026 WSOP Main Event results.
If you're planning a first trip to the WSOP, two practical notes. First, you don't need $10,000 — dozens of bracelet events cost under $1,000, and daily deepstacks and satellites run around the clock. Second, treat your bankroll seriously before you go: our bankroll management guide covers how many buy-ins a tournament trip actually requires.
Why Is August the Biggest Month in European Poker?
August belongs to Barcelona. EPT Barcelona (August 16–29, 2026) at Casino Barcelona is the largest recurring poker festival in Europe: the 2025 edition's €5,300 Main Event built a prize pool of nearly €10 million and paid its champion over €1.4 million, making it one of the three biggest Main Events in EPT history. The 2026 edition drew 1,823 entries for a €8,841,550 prize pool, and Italy's Manuel Ferrari won it for €1,002,488 after a three-way deal. The festival is twinned with a PokerStars Open stop, so the two weeks offer everything from €550 cups to €100,000 Super High Rollers (full festival schedule at PokerStars Live).
Barcelona is also the EPT stop most worth attending as a fan: the casino sits on the beachfront next to the Hotel Arts, the rail is open, and the livestream final tables run daily. Combine that with the city itself and it's arguably poker's best spectator trip — we ranked Barcelona among the best gambling destinations in the world for exactly this reason.
August 2026 in the US belonged to the grind circuits: the Venetian DeepStack Showdown (August 3–31, $1.1M+ guaranteed) in Las Vegas and the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open (July 28 – August 11), Florida's largest annual festival. Online, PokerStars ran its WCOOP Boot Camp warm-up series August 2–17 with over $6.5 million guaranteed across 130 tournaments. The Venetian follows straight on with its DeepStack Extravaganza (September 1–27, more than $1.4 million guaranteed).
What Are the Biggest Online Poker Series in 2026?
The World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) is the flagship: its 25th edition runs September 6–30, 2026 on PokerStars, with 121 events (350 tournaments across Low, Medium and High tiers) and buy-ins from $5.50 to $25,000. The Main Events run September 27–28, led by the $10,300 NLHE Championship with a $2.5 million guarantee. Its spring sibling, SCOOP, runs each format at three simultaneous buy-in tiers, making it the more accessible of the two. GGPoker counters with its own bracelet events and the GGMillion$ weekly high roller.
Online series are where most players should start: satellites run for cents, and the fields — while enormous — are far softer per dollar than live championship events. If you're weighing which format suits your game, our comparison of cash games vs tournament poker breaks down the variance and skill differences.
How Does the 2026 Season End? (November – December)
December is championship season, with three festivals competing for the calendar:
EPT Prague (December 2–13) at the Hilton Prague closes the EPT year. The 2025 edition drew over 1,200 Main Event entries for a €5.9 million prize pool, and the festival's mix of EPT, PokerStars Open, and side events makes it Europe's biggest winter stop.
The WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas caps the American year. Exact 2026 dates are still to be announced, but the festival has run through the first three weeks of December every year since its launch, and its $10,400 Main Event has carried the largest guarantee in tournament poker. WSOP Paradise, the Bahamas-based bracelet series run with GGPoker, runs December 2–17 at Baha Mar with 20 bracelet events and $120 million in guarantees, headlined by the Super Main Event ($25,000 plus fee, $50 million guaranteed) and the $10,000 GGMillion$ Championship ($20 million guaranteed). It also settles the 2026 WSOP Player of the Year race.
How Do You Qualify for a Major Poker Tournament?
Nobody has to pay the full buy-in. The three standard routes:
- Online satellites — PokerStars runs qualifiers to every EPT stop from about $10, and GGPoker does the same for WSOP bracelet events. Multi-step satellites can turn a few dollars into a €5,300 seat.
- Live satellites — every major festival runs single-table and mega satellites on site in the days before the Main Event, typically at ~10% of the target buy-in.
- Playing up — the mid-stakes tours (PokerStars Open, WSOP Circuit, WPT Prime) offer €500–€1,700 Main Events with the same structure and broadcast treatment as the majors, and their champions often win packages to the year-end championships.
Whichever route you take, the skill floor at championship events is high — reviewing starting hand fundamentals and having a real study plan matters more than the satellite ticket.
Key Takeaways
- The 2026 live calendar peaks three times: WSOP Las Vegas (May 26 – Jul 13), EPT Barcelona (Aug 16 – 29), and December's EPT Prague + WPT World Championship.
- New for 2026: the WSOP Main Event final table plays in August (Aug 3–5), three weeks after the field reaches nine players.
- WSOP Europe moved — from Rozvadov to the Hilton Prague, and from autumn to spring (Mar 31 – Apr 12).
- Triton's 10th-anniversary season opened with its biggest festival ever in Jeju (Mar 5 – Apr 1).
- The biggest online series is WCOOP (Sep 6 – 30, 2026) — its 25th edition — with satellites from a few dollars.
- You never need the full buy-in: satellites and mid-stakes tours (PokerStars Open, WPT Prime) are the standard path to championship seats.
- Related: the biggest poker tournaments ever held — records, prize pools, and history.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is the WSOP in 2026?
The 2026 World Series of Poker ran May 26 – July 13 at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, with 100 bracelet events. The $10,000 Main Event began July 2, and its final table was played live on August 3–5 after a three-week break.
When is EPT Barcelona 2026?
EPT Barcelona runs August 16–29, 2026 at Casino Barcelona. The €5,300 Main Event is Europe's largest annual poker tournament — the 2025 edition built a prize pool of nearly €10 million.
Where is WSOP Europe held in 2026?
WSOP Europe moved to the Hilton Prague in 2026, after nine years in Rozvadov, and shifted from autumn to spring — running March 31 – April 12 with 15 bracelet events and a €10 million guaranteed Main Event.
What is the biggest online poker tournament series?
PokerStars WCOOP is the biggest online series of the year. Its 25th edition runs September 6–30, 2026, preceded by a Boot Camp warm-up series (August 2–17) with over $6.5 million guaranteed.
How much does it cost to enter a major poker tournament?
Championship Main Events cost $5,000–$10,000 (EPT €5,300, WSOP $10,000), but satellites start around $10 online, and mid-stakes tours like the PokerStars Open offer comparable festivals with €500–€1,700 Main Events.