Now that 2025 is behind us, it’s time to look at what awaits the poker world in 2026. This year will bring huge tournaments, new twists on favorite games, and tons of fresh faces to the tables. Let’s take a look at the year ahead and see what the poker world has planned for 2026.
2026 Poker Tournament Events
World Series of Poker
As always, the poker world will be fixated on the WSOP, which will run from May 26th through July 15th at the Horseshoe and Paris casinos. Although official details aren’t fully locked in yet, players can expect around a hundred bracelet events, a prize pool reaching nearly $100M, and over 10,000 competitors at the tables. There will likely be innovative twists on events as well, like 2025’s “Battle of the Ages,” T.O.R.S.E., and Hall of Fame Bounty games. There may be rule tweaks, like last year’s ban on the use of electronic devices by players’ helpers spectating from the rail.
WSOP Circuit
WSOP organizers have announced that the 2026 Circuit season will shift to a permanent calendar-year format. The previous model used to kick off after the summer WSOP and go through the end of the year (and sometimes into the next). The new calendar model will hopefully be easier to manage logistically for players.
The WSOP Circuit will feature events at premier casinos in the U.S. in cities like Baltimore, Tulsa, and Austin, and also international games taking place in cities like Rozvadov (Czech Republic), Calgary, and Marrakesh. Every WSOP Circuit gold ring winner in 2026 will receive a $5,000 WSOP travel package, including tournament buy-in and hotel accommodations, redeemable for events like WSOP Europe or WSOP Paradise.
WSOP promoters will release the remainder of the year’s schedule (covering June to December) in summer 2026 before the Main Event in Vegas.
European Poker Tour
After a brief absence, the EPT will be back in action with major events like EPT Paris (restored to the schedule after a hiccup in 2025, and set for February 18th to March 1st) and EPT Monte Carlo (taking place April 30th to May 10th).
World Poker Tour
The WPT will be all over the globe, with events at casinos in Florida, Phnom Penh (Cambodia), Cyprus, and lots more. The WPT Venetian Las Vegas Spring Championship will feature a livestreamed final table that fans won’t want to miss. Schuyler Thornton won the 2025 WPT World Championship, earning around $2.3 million by overcoming a field of over 1,800 competitors. He’ll have his hands this year (if he chooses to compete) as a fresh round of players use online qualifiers to take on the WPT.
Triton
The dizzying stakes of Triton events will continue to generate monster prize pools as events like the Super High Roller game make stops in Jeju (South Korea) and Montenegro. 2026 will also see the return of Triton ONE. Players will have to bring their A+ game if they want to take on Triton’s stacked lineups that include world-class crushers like Alex Foxen and Canada’s Xuan Liu, who was the first woman to win a Triton title. Liu topped the field at the $25,000 WPT Global Slam, scooping the $860,000 first prize.
2026 Poker Game Formats
Poker in 2026 won’t be “all no limit hold’em, all the time” (even though NLHE will still be the core competition game format for the big-name events). For example, pot-limit Omaha continues to expand in both prestige and accessibility. Michael Wang’s 2025 WSOP PLO Championship (Event #74) earned him nearly $1.4M and a bracelet. There’s no doubt that there will be plenty of competitors chasing that prize in 2026.
Live card rooms have also been leaning into novel side formats that create action and don’t require players to be focused on solver analysis. Expect more double-board variants and bomb-pot-heavy cash environments to keep creeping into the mainstream. Why? Partly because they’re fun and partly because they offer a decent rake, which means the games work for game providers as well. Players who can stay calm in the chaos of multiway hands, split pots, and unusual equities are going to do better than the players who only know how to play “normal poker” and get annoyed when the deck doesn’t cooperate.
And of course, Ignition has a huge variety of game types for players of all levels, including Tournaments, Sit & Gos, Multi Table Tournaments, Mystery Knockouts, Freerolls, and more (new players – check out our Welcome Bonus).
New Influencers Bring a Different Vibe to Poker
Many fans know about the content created by the big poker YouTubers like Daniel Negreanu and Doug Polk, but 2026 will probably see more “middle-class” creators growing their followings. These poker players aren’t massive celebrities, but they will continue to draw in a significant number of fans. Poker creators like Gil Jack and Global Kenny or Josh Kasen, for example, will help round out the offerings available to poker fans online. When you want something a little more relatable than ESPN WSOP reruns, you can check out a poker session recorded by creators like these and experience the all too real highs and lows of the game of poker.
