Italy's premier poker circuit – the Italian Series of Poker (ISOP) – has partnered with PokerStars to give players the opportunity to qualify online for the ISOP's live poker tournaments.
The ISOP was founded in 2009 and has grown into Italy's first-choice live poker circuit, attracting the best and brightest professionals from the country. PokerStars, now a household name for any poker enthusiasts, will provide exclusive online qualifiers on its site for events on the ISOP 2025/26 Season schedule.
The partnership
The PokerStars and ISOP partnership comes on the heels of huge turnouts at both the PokerStars Italian Challenge in July and the first-ever PokerStars Open Campione event in March. With a field of 2,419 entries, the Campione Main Event became the largest-ever PokerStars Main Event – Romania's Adrian Slate rose above the field to claim the €363,000 top prize.
From September 7 onwards, PokerStars players can begin to battle for qualification. Stage 1 of the 2025/26 ISOP Season runs from October 21-27 at PokerStars' Casino di Campione with a 16-event schedule and an expected prize pool of €500K.
The key events for Stage 1 include:
- ISOP Stage 1 Main Event: October 22-27 – €500
- ISOP Stage 1 PLO: October 24-25 – €300
- ISOP Stage 1 All Stars: October 26-27 – €1,000
ISOP 2025/26 Season
The 2025/26 ISOP Season consists of a total of four stages taking place in October, December, February, and April – plus the 16th edition of the Italian Poker Championship in June. Throughout the season, ten guaranteed packages to Las Vegas will be up for grabs. The Las Vegas packages will be distributed to the winners of the four leaderboard categories.
- Player of The Year: 3 GTD packages
- Omaha Player of The Year: 2 GTD packages.
- Side Player of The Year: 2 GTD packages.
- Italian Team Championship: 3 GTD packages.
ISOP founder Giangia Marelli stated: “It is necessary to study history in order to understand the steps required to make what you have created truly great. By learning the stories of figures such as John Duthie and Jack Binion, and the major brands that made them famous, I realized that a natural step in the growth and establishment of the Italian Series of Poker in history would be a partnership with one of the world’s leading online poker brands, PokerStars.”
Additional image courtesy of Manuel Kovsca/Rational Holdings Limited/PokerStars
