EPT Paris Returns As the 2026 Season Opener
Summary:
- The European Poker Tour is back in Paris after a one year break, opening the 2026 season at Le Palais des Congrès.
- The schedule runs from February 18 to March 1 and includes the PokerStars Open and the €5,300 EPT Main Event.
- The Spin & Go Championship Live will also be held in Paris, with online qualifiers with €315,000 guaranteed.
After sitting out a year, the European Poker Tour is heading back to Paris, and it will do so in a big way. EPT Paris has been confirmed as the opening stop of the 2026 season, marking a return to Le Palais des Congrès after regulatory changes forced last year’s poker event to be called off.
The City of Lights Into the Spotlight
In a short time, Paris has become one of the most popular destinations on the EPT calendar. Players like the central location, the spacious venue, and the consistently large fields at every buy in level.
With PokerStars once again working alongside Club Barrière Paris, the tour will run from February 18 through March 1, 2026, offering a packed schedule that blends PokerStars Open events with the traditional EPT highlights.
The festival begins with the PokerStars Open portion, led by the €1,650 PokerStars Open Main Event, which runs from February 18 to 23. That tournament is supported by the €825 PokerStars Open Cup and a €2,700 High Roller, giving players several options early in the series before the focus shifts to the EPT itself.
From February 23 onward, attention turns to the €5,300 EPT Main Event which Mateusz Moolhuizen won in 2024. The event anchors the second half of the festival and concludes with a final table on March 1. As usual, the high stakes crowd will have plenty to look forward to .
What to Expect
The schedule includes the €10,300 EPT High Roller and the €100,000 EPT Super High Roller, events that regularly attract some of the biggest names in the game. There is also the €3,250 EPT Mystery Bounty, a format that adds another layer of excitement with the chance to pull life changing bounty prizes deep in the tournament.
Paris will also play host to the Spin & Go Championship Live, giving online Spin & Go specialists a rare opportunity to compete for a live title. Players qualify online throughout January by earning leaderboard points in Spin & Go tournaments. The top 1,000 players advance to a freeroll on January 26, where nine Spin & Go Championship Live Spin Off packages will be awarded.
Those nine players will then head over to Paris for the Spin Off on February 22. The top nine finishers will move on to the Spin & Go Championship Live, starting the next day and carrying a €315,000 guaranteed prize pool.
Of that, €150,000 is set aside for the final table. Spin Off qualifiers also receive four nights of accommodation in Paris along with €500 in expenses.
With a full schedule, high stakes action, and a popular venue back in play, EPT Paris looks set to kick off the 2026 season on a high note.
