WSOP 2026 Kicks Off May 26 in Las Vegas with 100 Bracelet Events and the Asian Hunt Begins
The world's largest poker festival, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) 2026, kicks off on May 26 in Las Vegas. Now in its 57th edition, this year's WSOP runs for 51 days through July 15 at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas casinos, featuring a total of 100 gold bracelet events. Opening day starts with two tournaments running simultaneously — the brand-new Event #1: $550 Mini Mystery Millions and Event #2: $5,000 8-Handed No-Limit Hold'em — while the $10,000 Main Event, poker's most coveted prize, begins July 2.
100 Bracelets: A Feast of Variety
This year's WSOP again features 100 bracelet events, matching last year's tally. Five events carry buy-ins under $1,000, while 54 tournaments fall in the $1,000–$5,000 range, forming the core of the summer grind. New additions include the $550 Mini Mystery Millions with a $1 million bounty guarantee, the $10,000 GGMillion$ High Roller, the $1,700 Circuit Championship (building on the success of WSOP Paradise), and the $300 Gladiators of Poker (Event #88), the lowest buy-in multi-flight event on the schedule. The series will be streamed for free on the official WSOP YouTube channel every day from May 26 through the start of the Main Event.
Main Event Begins July 2: Who Follows Mizrachi's $10 Million?
The series centerpiece, the $10,000 Main Event, gets underway July 2 across four starting flights. Last year's Main Event saw Poker Hall of Fame inductee Michael Mizrachi steamroll the final table to win the title and the $10 million first prize. This year, thousands of players from around the world are again expected to create one of the largest prize pools in tournament history. The final-table schedule and broadcast details are still to be announced.
The Asian Bracelet Hunt
While the WSOP is an American event, it is also a global stage where players from South Korea, Japan, China, Vietnam, Thailand, and beyond head to Las Vegas each year in pursuit of a bracelet. Asian players have steadily built up their WSOP results in recent years, and this edition arrives amid a strong run of Asian success on the global high roller circuit — most notably Hong Kong's Danny Tang winning the $100K Main Event at Triton Montenegro in mid-May. This year, Asia's largest regular tour, the APT (Asian Poker Tour), joins as an official WSOP livestream partner for the first time, with the APT logo featured on broadcasts and guest commentators taking part — a sign of Asian poker's rising profile on the world's biggest stage.
Overlapping with the Late-May Asian Calendar
The WSOP opening also overlaps with the Asian live poker calendar. The Triton Super High Roller Series continues in Montenegro through May 28, and the USOP Vietnam Main Event (May 28–June 1) runs at Ha Long Bay on the same dates. Asian grinders face a choice between heading to Las Vegas or staying on the Asian circuit. With 100 events spread across 51 days, however, the WSOP is likely to draw the center of gravity westward as the Asian season quiets down after early June. Through the July Main Event, one of the storylines to watch this summer will be which Asian player manages to lift a bracelet.
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