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Once again, the holiday season will see fierce competition between every major poker brand. While online poker continues to offer year-round action, the biggest live festivals still dominate the calendar.
PokerStars is set to run its EPT Prague stop in early December, and the World Series of Poker will host high rollers at WSOP Paradise in the Bahamas from Dec. 2-17. The WPT World Championship, of course, will take place at Wynn Las Vegas, and this year, the festival is bigger than ever.
On Monday, the World Poker Tour officially announced the WPT World Championship, releasing a schedule of more than 85 events that will run from Nov. 27 through Dec. 21 — 25 days offering more than $20 million in guaranteed prize pools.
WPT unveils expanded 25-day festival schedule
The $1,100 WPT Prime Championship, with a $5 million guarantee, returns from Dec. 5-12. An all-new $400 Super Gold Million Mystery Bounty, carrying a $3 million guarantee, will run from Dec. 10-14 with four starting flights and unlimited re-entry. Unlike last year’s Gold Million event, WPT Executive Tour Director Matt Savage confirmed on X that this one will be exclusively a live event.
The headliner, of course, remains the $10,400 WPT World Championship, set for Dec. 13-20. Some may be disappointed that this will be the third year in a row the event won’t carry its own guarantee, after a record $40 million guarantee produced an eye-watering $2.4 million overlay in 2023.
There is a notable change this year, though: ClubWPT Gold will add $1 million in cash and prizes exclusively for mystery bounties, contributed on top of — not drawn from — the standard prize pool. The event will run across three starting flights, with a single entry allowed per flight.
The 2025 WPT World Championship attracted 1,865 entries, creating a prize pool of $18,277,000. Schuyler Thornton won $2,258,856 after a heads-up deal.
Something for every bankroll and game
With stiff competition at the top end from the World Series of Poker, the WPT World Championship packs in plenty of tournaments for low- and mid-stakes players. Buy-ins across the festival range from $400 to $25,800, giving players with smaller bankrolls a real foothold alongside the high-roller crowd.
The large majority of events fall into the $400-$1,600 buy-in range, and 25 satellites at a variety of price points offer multiple paths into the marquee events. For the high rollers, there’s also a handful of tournaments at the $3,000, $10,500 and $25,800 levels.
For those not interested in no-limit hold’em, the schedule features:
- Pot-limit Omaha
- T.O.R.S.E.
- Mixed triple draw
- Omaha/8
- and Big O
There’s also the world-famous $1,100, two-day Ladies Championship, which carries a $250,000 guarantee.
“With our partnership with Wynn Las Vegas, the WPT World Championship has become the gold standard for player experience, venue and fun,” WPT CEO Adam Pliska said in the official announcement. “We look forward to continuing our celebration of players at all levels in our efforts to give them an unparalleled experience.”
What poker players can expect this winter
Fans who can’t make it to Las Vegas will be able to follow along via livestream from Dec. 6-21, and the World Championship final table will be filmed for television as the last six players compete for the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup.
The WPT World Championship begins with a $600 no-limit hold’em multi-flight event carrying a $400,000 guarantee on Nov. 27. The festival closes on Dec. 21 with a $600 no-limit hold’em turbo event and a $50,000 guarantee.
