This December, the World Series of Poker will wrap up the year once again with the WSOP Paradise series, moving to a new home base at the Baha Mar Resort in The Bahamas.
Last year’s $25K Super Main Event drew 2,891 total entrants, and this winter could bring a bigger prize pool than last year’s $72,275,000, with $10,000,000 going to winner Bernhard Binder.
The 2026 Paradise event promises 20 chances to take home a coveted gold bracelet, including expanded opportunities for mid-stakes grinders, a packed schedule of side events, and satellites that offer ways to qualify for tournaments that might otherwise be out of reach.
PokerOrg caught up with WSOP's Jeff Platt to find out what's new and exciting and why Paradise is becoming much more than just another stop on the WSOP’s expanding calendar.
Big changes are afoot
Let's start with the big change. WSOP Paradise has a new home at Baha Mar. What should players expect this December?
We have a new host, a new venue, and that is the Bahamas resort Baha Mar. It’s our new home and a long-term commitment for the WSOP Paradise series' end-of-year celebration.
The series is not just about the Super Main Event or the high roller events. It’s also about the end of a year-long WSOP Player of the Year race. This series will celebrate an amazing year. It’s going to be awesome.
The Super Main Event has become one of the year's biggest tournaments. How important is Paradise to the WSOP's long-term plans?
Well, it's not a profitable venture for the WSOP; at least it's not right now.
And this is something that has not really been talked about that much, but we have a Paradise parlay where we just gave away $4,000,000 last year in prize money.
If you made a final table during a WSOP event this year, you get money just for registering for the Super Main Event. You receive money for making a Paradise final table or winning a bracelet. And all that gets doubled if you've already won a bracelet. From a promotional aspect, I think that’s just fantastic.
Mid-stakes events are highlighted this year
The Paradise series has a reputation as a high-roller destination. What about the mid-stakes grinders who want to make the trip?
I'm glad you brought that up because I get it. I’m talking to you from the Pompano Beach WSOP Circuit series. I want there to be smaller buy-ins throughout a premier World Series of Poker schedule. And there will be.
And not only the $2,700 WSOP Circuit championship, which has a $5,000,000 guarantee, which is one of the best mid-stakes events of the entire year, no question about it.
Are there any smaller side events happening?
Of course. There will be many side events at a $400, $600, $1,000, and $1,500 price point. So if you're coming and you're a circuit grinder and you're playing the $2,750s of the world, but you don't want to play the $25Ks, we have you covered every single day, if you want.
Where can players find that schedule?
They can check out the WSOP app and the WSOP website for the schedule. The high roller series events are for bracelets for sure. But we still have some premiere bracelet events at lower price points. That was really important for us for the Paradise series.
That's a significant change from last year. What about satellites for hopeful players to take a shot at the Super Main Event?
We have a ton of satellites for those circuit grinders who come in to play the championship. They're going to have the opportunity to play satellites, some of which will have a guaranteed overlay because they're progressive satellites.
You can just keep playing satellites as the guarantee will get higher until it overlays. There will also be opportunities for people to get into the Super Main.
There's also an interesting opportunity for players to sell action and potentially move up into the GGMillion$. How does that work?
Poker Stake has that deal. Players should reach out to Poker Stake and Josh Arieh for more info. Josh will be able to better explain this opportunity than I can.
With that deal, you can work your way into the GGMillion$, which is another massive tournament. It's one of the biggest $10Ks of the year.
One issue that’s getting plenty of attention is slide dealing versus traditional pitching. Will that be part of the conversation at Paradise?
I do know that a lot of our dealers at Paradise and the international stops are slide dealers anyway. Eventually, if it's a thing in Europe, it's gonna be a thing in Paradise. I do know that we have the very best dealers in the world at the Paradise series.
We bring our top dealers around the world to the event. We bring five to eight dealers from America and the rest are international. They’re fantastic and many of them do slide dealing.
Better coverage of superstars making bracelet runs
What can fans expect from the WSOP YouTube broadcasts this year? Will you be covering more than just the Super Main Event?
From the production aspect of it, I think you'll see a lot. We're going to start with coverage of the $250K World Series of Poker Pro-Am. This event is another unique tournament that I'm looking forward to.
Will there be a mixed-game schedule for those players biting at the bit to play more of these events?
You and I talked about mixed games in our previous conversation about this past summer’s events. We'll have some pot-limit Omaha coverage and some mixed-game coverage, with cameras all over the place.
We don’t want to miss a fan favorite making a deep run like we did this past summer. Can you promise us that?
Yes. We'll be ready if a Negreanu or a Helmuth or a Mizrachi is going deep for a bracelet. We'll be there. We’ll also have full-on coverage of the Super Main.
Last year you brought influencers and celebrities into the mix. Are there plans to do that again?
Yes. WSOP talent manager Wayne Chiang has the potential list. He's in the process of working all of that out.
I'm also hoping the Celebrity Poker Tour will be part of WSOP Paradise again. I really enjoy this partnership that we've created with them. I do think we'll have some pretty big names come down to Paradise.
Follow the WSOP YouTube channel and Jeff Platt on X for more info.
