WSOP Paradise Sets Three-Day $250,000 Pro-Am Bracelet Event

The 2026 WSOP Paradise festival will include a tournament built around separate professional and amateur starting fields. The $250,000 buy-in event will run for three days in December, with the groups combining after the tournament reaches the money.

Once the fields merge, play will continue in a standard tournament format until one player wins the gold bracelet. The structure gives professional and amateur entrants different routes into the same championship event before they compete together for the title.

How the separate fields will work

Professional players may register for the event without an amateur invitation. Amateur players must apply for registration and receive approval from WSOP officials, with applications assessed by a WSOP Pro-Am committee.

The separation applies at the beginning of the tournament. The professional and amateur fields will play separately until the event reaches the money, at which point they will combine. The tournament will then proceed in its standard format through the bracelet conclusion.

Amateurs therefore face an approval process before taking part, while professionals have an independent registration path. Both groups ultimately compete in the same event for the same gold bracelet.

The event’s place on the 2026 schedule

The Pro-Am is part of the 2026 WSOP Paradise series, scheduled for December 2 through 17 at the Baha Mar Hotel & Resort in the Bahamas. The festival schedule contains 21 bracelet events, placing the tournament within a broader series of championship competitions.

The series will also feature a $50 million guaranteed Super Main Event. The Pro-Am adds a separate $250,000 buy-in option with a format based on professional and amateur participation rather than a conventional open field.

Pro-am competition has a wider history

Pro-am competition has appeared in other high-level poker settings. Kevin Pollak won a Poker Central pro-am-style competition in 2015, while Vanessa Selbst won the best-of-three match referenced in that event’s history. Kayhan Mokri won the Triton Invitational referenced in the same context.

Those results provide historical examples of professional and amateur competition in poker. The WSOP Paradise event will use its own tournament structure, with separate starting fields, a money-stage merger, and a bracelet awarded after the combined tournament reaches its conclusion.

Registration rules define the opening stage

The amateur approval requirement gives the WSOP Pro-Am committee a formal role before the tournament begins. Professionals do not need that amateur invitation to register, creating two different entry routes for the event’s two participant groups.

Once the fields combine, players who began in separate groups will face a shared field after the money is reached, with the remainder of the event played under the standard format.

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