Online poker giant PokerStars is wasting no time heading into 2026, with the New Year Series set to launch on January 1 and run across a 20-day schedule to open the year.
The 2026 New Year Series comes with $18 million in guaranteed prize pools across 144 numbered events, most of which are offered in three buy-in tiers: Low, Medium, and High, following the familiar WCOOP and SCOOP structure. In total, the series features 317 individual tournaments, with buy-ins designed to suit a wide range of bankrolls, starting at $2.20 and climbing to $5,200.
This will be the fourth straight year the New Year Series has been staged on the dot-com platform, having replaced the Winter Series in the calendar. Unlike earlier editions that overlapped Christmas and the New Year, the upcoming series will be played entirely within the New Year window.
PokerStars New Year Series 2026 Overview:
- Runs from January 1 to 20, 2026
- $18 million in guarantees
- 317 individual tournaments
- Buy-ins from $2.20 to $5,200
- Three Main Events with a combined $2 million guarantee
- $300K worth tickets to be distributed via Lucky Dip promotion
- Deposit $10 or more and get a 100% bonus match up to $600
- One of the best mobile apps
- Biggest MTT guarantees
As expected from a PokerStars flagship tournament festival, the schedule offers one of the most diverse selections of formats and variants in online poker. Alongside the standard NLHE and PLO events, players can find Omaha H/L, 5 Card Omaha, Stud, Draw games, and Mixed formats such as 8-Game and HORSE.
A strong emphasis is again placed on bounty formats, led by Progressive Knockouts. PKOs account for 192 of the 317 tournaments, representing more than 60% of the schedule. Mystery bounty events also feature prominently, with 17 tournaments making up roughly 5% of the lineup, while the remaining 108 events are non-bounty formats, accounting for about 34%.
Additional variety comes through formats such as Zoom, Total KO, Last Man Standing, Adrenaline, Deepstacks, heads-up, five-handed, and 7-handed events, alongside the more traditional 8-handed and 6-handed setups. Re-entry rules also vary, with some tournaments allowing a single re-entry and others permitting three, four, or five.
Among the headline tournaments, the Sunday Million returns on January 4 in a non-bounty format, keeping its $1 million guarantee and $109 buy-in. Running alongside it is a $22 Mini Sunday Million, presented as a mystery bounty event with a $350,000 guarantee. On January 11, the regular Sunday Million steps aside, making room for a $75 Sunday Special PKO featuring $400,000 in guarantees.
The series reaches its peak on January 18 with three Main Events priced at $109, $1,050, and $5,200. The $109 Low Main Event runs as a mystery bounty tournament with a $1 million guarantee. The $1,050 Medium Main Event carries a $500,000 guarantee and is played in PKO format, while the $5,200 High Main Event also offers a $500,000 guarantee.
NYS 2026 Schedule Highlights
- January 4
- $109 buy-in Sunday Million — $1M GTD
- $22 buy-in Mystery Bounty Special — $350K GTD
- January 11
- $75 buy-in Sunday Special (PKO) — $400K GTD
- January 18
- $109 buy-in Main Event Low (Mystery Bounty) — $1M GTD
- $1,050 buy-in Main Event Medium (PKO) — $500K GTD
- $5,200 buy-in Main Event High — $500K GTD
“We’re excited to start 2026 with a series built around accessibility, big guarantees, and formats our players love,” said Steve Clarricoats, Director of Online Poker Experience at PokerStars. “From Mystery Bounties to the $1M Sunday Million and a full range of Main Events, the New Year Series is the perfect way to kick off the year with high-value tournaments and plenty of ways to qualify.”
$300K in Tickets to Be Awarded Throughout the Series
As with this year’s SCOOP and WCOOP festivals, PokerStars will support the New Year Series with a Lucky Dip promotion, handing out $300,000 worth of series tickets. The promotion functions as a daily leaderboard, where every entry into a New Year Series tournament triggers a random draw, offering players a chance to win an additional NYS ticket valued at up to $5,200 or a Gold Power Pass worth $10,300.
Each time a player registers and plays any NYS event, they are assigned a random Lucky Dip score ranging from 1 to 1,000,000. The score is generated after the player plays their first hand in the tournament.
Players can track their position via the leaderboard section, which displays current rankings and the prizes available. Entering more New Year Series tournaments increases the chances of landing a higher leaderboard spot, although results are not performance-based, meaning players do not need to cash or win events to receive a Lucky Dip score.
On January 4, 11, and 18, which fall on Sundays during the series, leaderboard prizes will include NYS tickets alongside Power Path passes and step tickets. Separate leaderboard periods running from January 16 to 17 will award Main Event tickets and satellite entries.
“The New Year Series has become one of the most fun periods on the online poker calendar,” said PokerStars ambassador Ben “Spraggy” Spragg. “Whether you’re firing a few low buy-ins during the holiday break or jumping into the deeper Main Events, it’s a great way to start the year. I can’t wait to dive in.”
In addition, players will have multiple qualification routes, with direct satellites available from as little as $1.10. Power Path will also be in play with buy-in starting at 50 cents, offering dedicated New Year Series Power Pass Packages that include Gold and Silver Passes along with New Year Series ticket bundles.
The qualification system has already produced major success stories. During last year’s series, a Power Path qualifier turned an $11 investment into $152,142 in New Year Series winnings. Power Path has since established itself as one of PokerStars’ most effective and popular routes into major online and live tournaments.
The upcoming festival marks the fourth edition of the New Year Series. The previous edition ran from December 2024 into January 2025 and was much larger, featuring 359 tournaments and paying out more than $36 million in total prize money. Since then, PokerStars’ global player pool has contracted slightly following exits from grey and unregulated markets, as the operator continues to focus on regulated and growth-oriented jurisdictions.
PokerStars has also already locked in dates for SCOOP 2026, confirming that the flagship series will return earlier in the year with a March slot, running from March 1 to 25, 2026.
