The 2026 WSOPC UK festival is almost here. From November 6 to 15, the WSOP Circuit returns to Dusk Till Dawn in Nottingham with 13 ring events, at least £2 million in combined guarantees and a £1,500 Main Event that carries a £1 million guarantee. For British and European players who like their live poker deep, structured and tied to a bigger prize ladder, it is one of the most important dates left on the 2026 calendar.
What makes this year's series stand out is not just the size of the guarantees. Every ring winner is being offered a seat into the next stage of the WSOP ecosystem, which turns a regional Circuit stop into a stepping stone toward the season-ending WSOP Paradise series in the Bahamas. Below is a breakdown of the schedule, the money, last year's benchmark and what players should think about before they travel.
The Key Numbers for WSOPC UK 2026
According to PokerNews' preview of the series, the festival runs November 6-15 at Dusk Till Dawn and includes 13 ring-awarding events with a combined guarantee of at least £2 million. The headline event is the £1,500 Main Event, which is guaranteed at £1 million and plays out across five starting flights before finishing on November 15.
The Main Event flights run as follows: Day 1a on November 8, Day 1b on November 11, Day 1c on November 12, Day 1d on November 13, and a Last Chance flight on the morning of November 14. Day 2 is played on November 14 and the final day, the one that crowns the champion and awards the ring, is November 15.
Other guarantees worth noting include:
- £300 Mini Main (November 6-8): £250,000 guaranteed, with 15 seats to the £1,500 Main Event added to the prize structure.
- £560 WSOPC Paradise Mystery Bounty (November 9-11): £250,000 guaranteed, again with 15 Main Event seats included.
- £2,200 High Roller (Day 1 on November 14, Day 2 on November 15): £200,000 guaranteed.
- £300 Colossus (November 14-15): £100,000 guaranteed.
- £1,500 6-Max High Roller (November 15): £100,000 guaranteed.
- £1,500 PLO High Roller (November 7): £50,000 guaranteed.
- A run of £300 side events, including Seniors, PLO, 7-Max, Monster Stack, 6-Max and Bounty, each with £25,000 guaranteed.
That spread of buy-ins is the real strength of the schedule. A recreational player can build a trip around £300 events, while a more serious grinder can combine the Mini Main, the Main Event and the £2,200 High Roller in a single stay.
Last Year's Benchmark: 845 Entries and £1.095 Million
To judge whether this year's £1 million guarantee is realistic, it helps to look at the 2025 edition. The WSOPC UK Main Event drew 845 entrants and created a prize pool of £1,095,120, which paid 129 places. Francis Obadun won the title, beating Jack O'Neill heads-up for £189,030 and his first WSOP Circuit ring. O'Neill collected £126,005 for second.
Those numbers matter for two reasons. First, the guarantee sits slightly below last year's actual pool, which means the organisers are protecting themselves against a weaker turnout but still expect a field in the same range. Second, a field of around 845 players with 129 paid places implies roughly 15% of the field cashing, a standard payout curve for a Circuit event. If this year's field matches last year's, the winner's cheque would again land in the high £100,000s, though that is simply arithmetic on last year's structure and not a prediction.
The reigning champion's profile is a good reminder of how Circuit events tend to play out. Obadun's win was his first ring, and results from the 2025 series show a wide spread of winners rather than a handful of pros dominating. Adam Sandercock, for example, took down two events in the same series, the £300 6-Max for £9,654 and the £560 Bounty for £7,410. Smaller side events are where regulars can quietly build a series profit.
The Paradise Pipeline: Why the Prizes Go Beyond the Ring
The most interesting detail in this year's announcement is the way the festival is wired into WSOP Paradise. Each of the 13 ring winners receives a $5,000 WSOP Paradise package. It covers a $2,750 entry into Day 1a of the Circuit Championship Mystery Bounty, a four-night stay and complimentary buffet access.
The £560 WSOPC Paradise Mystery Bounty goes a step further. One of its bounty envelopes holds a $15,000 WSOP Paradise package that includes a $10,400 GGMillion$ entry, 13 nights of accommodation and buffet access. In other words, the winner of that single envelope is effectively sent to the Bahamas with a high-stakes online tournament entry thrown in. For context on the Bahamas series itself, our coverage of the WSOP Paradise schedule explains how the 20-bracelet series is laid out and why it matters for the Player of the Year race.
This structure reflects a broader trend in live poker: festivals are no longer standalone events. They are feeder systems. A player who binks a ring in Nottingham gets a free pass into a later, bigger stage, which keeps stars and recreational players engaged across multiple stops. If you track the broader tournaments landscape, you will notice how often operators now attach packages, satellites and bounty envelopes to otherwise ordinary events.
Satellite Routes Into the Main Event
Players who do not want to fire the full £1,500 have several routes. The festival's own structure adds 15 seats through the Mini Main and 15 through the Paradise Mystery Bounty. Dusk Till Dawn also runs Main Event satellites at £60, £90 and £120 throughout the series. Online, GGPoker is running a £165 satellite that starts at 7:05 p.m. GMT on November 2 and guarantees 20 seats worth £1,500 each, a combined £30,000. Feeder satellites start from as little as £0.01.
Because seats are won rather than bought, the effective price of your Main Event entry can be a fraction of the sticker price. We cover the tactics for this style of play in a separate guide, but the key principle is simple: in a satellite you are not trying to accumulate chips, you are trying to survive until the seats are gone. Understanding ICM matters far more here than in a standard tournament.
What This Means for Players
If you are weighing up a trip to Nottingham, a few practical points stand out.
Pick your entry point deliberately. The £300 Mini Main is the cheapest way to chase both a ring and a Main Event seat. Fifteen seats out of a £250,000 guaranteed event is a meaningful percentage of the prize pool, so deep stacks get real value from simply surviving to the late stages.
Plan around the flights. With Day 1a on November 8 and Last Chance on November 14, you can choose between playing early and then running a side-event schedule, or arriving late and taking a single shot at the Last Chance flight. Fewer flights remaining means more information about the field size, but also less flexibility if you bust.
Manage your bankroll for a ten-day series. Entering several events in one festival multiplies variance. Our bankroll management guide explains why a series budget should be set before you travel, not decided at the cashier's desk. A common-sense rule is to cap your total spend for the series and treat satellites as a cheaper alternative rather than an additional cost.
Remember the format differences. The Circuit's mix of freezeouts, bounty events and a Colossus-style field rewards different skills. Mystery bounty events inflate variance dramatically, while the High Roller structures lean towards technical, deep-stacked play. If you want to brush up before travelling, our poker strategy hub covers tournament fundamentals.
Why the UK Stop Matters in the 2026 Calendar
The WSOP Circuit has been expanding its global footprint through 2026, with stops across several countries, and Nottingham is one of its established European venues. In a year that has seen record-breaking fields at WSOP Europe in Prague and a heavy online push from GGPoker, a £1 million guaranteed Main Event with a modest £1,500 buy-in is a useful middle tier: affordable enough for amateurs, large enough to attract professionals who want ring count and Player of the Year-style bragging rights.
It also gives British players a domestic route to the same prize ecosystem that was previously reserved for those who could afford to fly to Las Vegas or the Bahamas. With ring winners earning a Paradise package, a deep run in Nottingham can effectively subsidise a winter trip.
Bottom Line
WSOPC UK 2026 combines a solid £1 million guarantee, a wide ladder of £300 to £2,200 buy-ins, and unusually generous add-ons in the form of WSOP Paradise packages. Last year's 845-entry field and £1,095,120 prize pool give a realistic benchmark, and the multiple satellite routes mean you can enter for far less than the headline buy-in. Whether you are chasing a ring or just a cheap seat into the biggest event of the week, the key is to plan your entries, protect your bankroll and know the schedule before you arrive. For a wider look at how live and online events compare, see our guide to online poker vs live poker.
Schedule, guarantees and results are drawn from PokerNews' preview of the 2026 WSOPC UK. Always confirm final dates, buy-ins and structures with the venue before travelling.