The fall poker schedule added a big piece on Wednesday with the World Poker Tour's announcement of the WPT Venetian Las Vegas Fall Festival.
The series will run from October 28 to November 15 at the Strip casino, where the WPT previously planted its flag with a popular spring championship that drew 488 entries at $5K apiece in February.
This version will feature a $2M championship event from Nov. 5-10, a big piece of almost $4M in total guarantees across the series.
2026 WPT US Championship Schedule
- Sept 4 - WPT bestbet
- Oct. 23 - WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star
- Nov. 5 - WPT Venetian Las Vegas
The rest of the festival promises several bounty events, the regular seniors' event, and lots of satellites into the championship. “The success of the spring championship reaffirmed what makes The Venetian Resort a premier destination for tournament poker,” said Tommy LaRosa, director of poker operations at The Venetian Resort Las Vegas.
The fall championship will make use of Venetian's poker studio for its final table. What about the WPT World Championship?
The WPT press release also states that players will fight for a spot on the Mike Sexton Champions Cup in "one of the final championship events of the season." It's a line that teases the question that is now on everyone's mind: what about the year-end WPT Championship? When will it happen? Where will it be?
The season finale has taken place at Wynn Las Vegas over the last few years, but competition with WSOP Paradise is fierce. Nothing has been announced yet, but players have been locking in a seat with victories in WPT championships throughout the year, so it's going to happen. Will WPT scale down the event and return to Vegas in December, or move to a less crowded spot in January?
No matter what happens with the season finale, it's clear that WPT is intent on establishing a greater presence in Las Vegas, especially during the times of year when WSOP isn't around. The first two weeks of December may not have enough players for two giant festivals at the same time, but there's still plenty of interest to go around if they all learn to share.
Images courtesy of World Poker Tour.
