PokerStars has announced the return of its Live League in 2026, offering players another chance to climb the leaderboard for its European live events schedule and potentially win thousands of dollars worth of PokerStars buy-ins.
The PokerStars Live League – first introduced in 2025 – allows players who compete in European PokerStars live events to collect points across the High, Medium, and Low Leaderboards. All European Poker Tour (EPT) and PokerStars Open festivals, including the PokerStars-sponsored Irish Poker Open, will play host to events eligible for the leaderboards.
The PokerStars Open Campione, which kicks off today and runs through February 1, represents the first opportunity for players to pick up points.
2026 Live League details
A total of €157,500 in PokerStars live event credits will be awarded to the top three finishers in each of the leaderboards. Plus, a new addition to the 2026 Live League will see the top 30 finishers in each leaderboard tier become eligible to play in an exclusive live freeroll at the first EPT event of 2027, with a €100,000 prize pool.
- High: Tournaments with a buy-in of €/£/$4,900 and above
- 1st Place: €50,000 PokerStars LIVE credit
- 2nd Place: €25,000 PokerStars LIVE credit
- 3rd Place: €12,500 PokerStars LIVE credit
- Medium: Tournaments with a buy-in of €/£/$1,000 to €/£/$5,500
- 1st Place: €25,000 PokerStars LIVE credit
- 2nd Place: €12,500 PokerStars LIVE credit
- 3rd Place: €6,250 PokerStars LIVE credit
- Low: Tournaments with a buy-in equal or less to €/£/$1,200
- 1st Place: €15,000 PokerStars LIVE credit
- 2nd Place: €7,500 PokerStars LIVE credit
- 3rd Place: €3,750 PokerStars LIVE credit
Points for the Live League leaderboards are awarded on three criteria: buy-in amount, number of entries, and finishing position.
In 2026, the points system has been tweaked slightly to give greater value to those players who reach a final table and win the event. Additionally, the buy-in levels for the three tiers have been adjusted to allow for events that fall in the overlap to award points for more than one leaderboard at a time. For example, a €1,200 event would award points in both the Medium and Low tiers while a €5,000 event would award points in both the Medium and High tiers.
2025 Champions
The first-ever PokerStars Live League in 2025 provided a great deal of competition and rivalry throughout the year. Italy's Enrico Camosci triumped in the High Leaderboard, edging out Austria's Klemens Roiter and Latvia's Aleksejs Ponakovs in second and third place respectively. Gerard Rubiralta Cortes, of Spain, topped the Medium Leaderboard ahead of Romania's Petre Bogdan Ionescu in second place and PokerStars Ambassador Kenny Hallaert in third place.
In the Low Leaderboard race, Iceland's Steinn Thanh Du Karlsson rose to the top, leaving Switzerland's Andreas Froehli and Scotland's David Docherty to take the second and third place prizes.
“We’re excited to bring back the PokerStars Live League for its second edition and give our players another go at claiming the leaderboard titles,” said Willie Elliot, PokerStars Live Events Customer Engagement Manager. “The league adds a season-long edge to every stop on the calendar and gives the community something extra to chase from the first event of the year right through to the finale.”
