Last Updated on August 18, 2026 by Bala Kumar

888poker doesn’t chase the biggest guarantees in the industry, and it isn’t trying to. What it’s built instead is a calendar that actually makes sense for a recreational player — accessible buy-ins, a livestreamed atmosphere, and enough online satellite paths that you don’t need a five-figure bankroll to show up to a Main Event. With the back half of 2026 well underway, here’s exactly what’s still left on the schedule, both live and online, and how to get into each one without overpaying.

The live tour: what’s left in 2026

888poker’s flagship LIVE tour runs four stops a year, and the 2026 season opened in Madrid back in January before moving through Glasgow in March and Barcelona in May. That leaves two big dates still ahead for anyone planning their travel calendar.

UKPL Manchester — September 15-20, 2026

The UK Poker League’s next leg lands at Grosvenor Casino Bury New Road, with a £560 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Main Event carrying a £100,000 guarantee as the headline. Around it sits the usual UKPL spread: a £250 NLHE “Opening Voyage” for a softer entry point, a £1,100 high roller for the bigger bankrolls, and a £330 KO Rumble bounty event for players who like getting paid mid-tournament rather than waiting for a final table.

If you’re UK-based and want in for free, 888poker is running a pre-event challenge from August 10 through September 5: play at least 40 tournaments with a $5 or higher buy-in (BLAST games count) in that window, and you’ll earn a freeroll ticket. Thirty seats to the £100,000 guaranteed Main Event are being given away this way, which is about as low-friction as satellite qualification gets.

888poker LIVE London — October 8-18, 2026

The season closer, and arguably the marquee stop of the year, happens at the newly refurbished Grosvenor Victoria Casino — “The Vic” — one of Europe’s most storied poker rooms. The centerpiece is a £1,250 Main Event, and last year’s edition here blew past its original £250,000 guarantee, pulling 367 entries and paying the winner £86,600. Given the venue’s reputation and the season-finale timing, expect this one to draw a bigger field than any other stop on the 2026 calendar. 888poker is also running a dedicated qualifying challenge from September 5-26 for players chasing a free seat into the London Live Event freeroll pathway.

Full satellite details are still being finalized closer to the date, but if London is the one stop you want to make this year, this is the event to build your online volume around through September.

Noche de Poker El Festival: the newest addition

New for 2026, 888poker launched a dedicated Spanish circuit called Noche de Poker El Festival, running alongside the main LIVE tour with four stops across the country. It’s aimed squarely at giving Spanish players — who already turn out in strong numbers for the Barcelona and Madrid legs of the main tour — a more regional, holiday-friendly series of their own. If you’re based in Spain and the main tour’s travel schedule doesn’t line up with yours, this is worth watching for dates closer to home.

UKPL: the rest of the year

Beyond Manchester, the UKPL runs on a five-stop annual schedule across England, opening in February and closing in November. Each leg follows a consistent format — an Opening Voyage low buy-in event, the Main Event, a high roller running two to three times the Main Event’s buy-in, and a KO-format bounty tournament — so once you’ve played one stop, the rest of the circuit feels immediately familiar. Coventry has historically closed out the UKPL calendar, and past seasons suggest a similar late-year finale is likely again in 2026, though 888poker typically confirms exact dates a few months out.

Online series and features worth knowing about

Away from the live felt, 888poker has made a couple of software changes this year worth factoring into your online play. The site rolled out a “Run It Twice” feature for cash games, letting players run the remaining board twice on big all-in pots to reduce variance — a feature poker regulars have wanted from 888poker for years and one that’s now live across supported tables. The XL Spring Series earlier in 2026 delivered over $1.5 million in guarantees, headlined by a rakeless $500,000 guaranteed Main Event, and 888poker has a track record of running similar XL-branded series later in the year, so keep an eye on the promotions tab if you’re a tournament-focused online grinder.

How to build a bankroll toward these events

The single biggest advantage 888poker offers a recreational player isn’t guarantee size — it’s accessibility. Every live Main Event on this calendar has an online satellite path attached to it through 888poker.com, meaning the £1,250 London buy-in or the £560 Manchester entry can realistically be won for a few dollars if you’re willing to grind qualifiers over a few weeks rather than paying full price. Combine that with the freeroll-ticket challenges tied to specific stops, and it’s genuinely possible to build a full live-tournament trip out of low-stakes online volume alone.

The bottom line

Two stops remain on 888poker’s 2026 live calendar — UKPL Manchester in September and the London season finale at The Vic in October — plus an ongoing Noche de Poker El Festival series in Spain and a steady stream of online promotions supporting all of it. If you’re planning your poker travel or bankroll goals for the rest of the year, London in October is the one to circle first; everything else on this list is a reasonable stepping stone toward it.

FAQs

Bala Kumar

Founder of PokerClubGames.com and a Poker Researcher with 10+ years of experience in SEO, WordPress development, and gaming content strategy. Specializes in researching online poker sites, poker apps, tournaments, bonuses, and poker strategies. Experienced in poker platform reviews, affiliate marketing, and creating SEO-focused poker content for global audiences.

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