PokerStars Caribbean Adventure

Last Updated on September 21, 2026 by Bala Kumar

If you’ve been searching for “PCA 2026 schedule” and coming up empty, you’re not doing anything wrong — you’re just running into one of the more confusing storylines in modern live poker. The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure was, for the better part of two decades, the tournament that kicked off the poker calendar every January. It was discontinued after 2019, returned for a single edition in 2023, and has not been announced again since. Here’s the full, honest picture of what PCA actually is, what it did, and where things genuinely stand right now.

Quick Answer: Is PCA Happening in 2026?

As of September 21, 2026, no new PCA edition has been officially announced, and the event has not appeared on the 2024, 2025 or 2026 PokerStars live schedule.

What Made PCA Such a Big Deal

To understand why poker players still search for PCA years after its last edition, you have to go back to 2004. PokerStars ran the first Adventure aboard the Royal Caribbean Voyager of the Seas, co-branded with the World Poker Tour. Denmark’s Gus Hansen won it, outlasting 221 entries and beating Hoyt Corkins heads-up in a final table that also featured Daniel Negreanu finishing third. It was a novelty event at the time — nobody expected it to become one of the sport’s marquee stops.

It did, though. From 2005 onward, PCA moved to dry land at the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island, where it stayed for the next fourteen years and quickly became the unofficial start of the poker year. Warm weather, a resort built for exactly this kind of event, and a buy-in that sat comfortably in “aspirational but reachable” territory for grinders who’d built a bankroll all year — it hit a sweet spot. The tournament switched partnerships over time too, moving from the WPT to the European Poker Tour in 2008, briefly becoming the launch event of the North American Poker Tour in 2010, and getting rebranded “PokerStars Championship Bahamas” for one year in 2017 before reverting to the PCA name. Through all of it, the field kept swelling — peaking at a record 1,560 entries in 2011.

Then, in September 2019, PokerStars announced PCA would be discontinued after 16 years, citing declining momentum and player feedback that it was time for a change. Chino Rheem’s 2019 title became, for a while, the final chapter.

The 2023 Comeback (and Why It Matters)

In April 2022, PokerStars announced PCA was returning — this time at Baha Mar, a newer, larger resort in Nassau, alongside the PokerStars Players Championship. The comeback delivered after a four-year gap. The 2023 PCA Main Event, still carrying its traditional $10,300 buy-in, drew 889 entries and built an $8,623,300 prize pool. Portugal’s Michel Dattani took it down after outlasting fellow Portuguese player Pedro Neves heads-up, banking $1,316,963 in what was the biggest live score of his 13-year professional career. The broader festival ran January 22 – February 3, 2023, while the Main Event itself was a six-day tournament that concluded January 29.

That 2023 return is, as things stand today, still the last time PCA has happened.

Complete PCA Main Event Winners

*Held under the temporary “PokerStars Championship Bahamas” branding.

Poorya Nazari’s 2009 payout of $3,000,000 remains the single largest first-place prize in PCA Main Event history, while Galen Hall’s 2011 win came from the largest field the tournament ever drew.

PCA vs PSPC: Don’t Mix These Up

This trips up a lot of casual poker fans, so it’s worth a clean side-by-side.

PSPC was actually the more radical idea — PokerStars gave away hundreds of Platinum Passes (full package, buy-in included) to online qualifiers, streamers, and even celebrities, turning a $25,000 tournament into one of the most democratized high-stakes events ever run. If PCA returns, PSPC is the piece most likely to headline it again.

Where the Bahamas Slot Actually Went

Here’s the part that explains a lot: the Bahamas hasn’t gone quiet, PokerStars just isn’t the one filling it right now. WSOP Paradise, the WSOP’s Bahamas winter festival, took over the December Bahamas slot starting in 2023, running its first three editions at Atlantis. Its growth has been dramatic: the 2025 Super Main Event generated a $72,275,000 prize pool from 2,891 entries, at the time the largest single-tournament guarantee in WSOP history, with Austria’s Bernhard Binder winning $10,000,000.

For 2026, with just over ten weeks to go, WSOP Paradise runs December 2–17 — and for the first time, it’s relocating to Baha Mar, the exact resort that hosted PCA and PSPC back in 2023. The 2026 edition spans 20 bracelet events carrying a combined $120 million in guarantees, headlined by Event #12, the $26,000 WSOP Paradise Super Main Event, guaranteeing a historic $50,000,000 across four starting flights beginning December 10. The $10,000 GGMillion$ Championship (Event #4) also returns with its guarantee doubled to $20,000,000.

So the honest way to frame it for players: the Bahamas is busier than ever in poker terms, it’s just wearing a different logo this decade — and now sitting in the same building PCA once called home.

2026 WSOP Paradise Full Schedule (Baha Mar)

For players planning a Bahamas trip this December, here’s the complete 2026 WSOP Paradise lineup — all 20 bracelet events, running December 2–17 at Baha Mar.

PCA vs Other Major Tours

How Players Used to Qualify

Historically, PCA ran heavily on PokerStars’ own online satellite ecosystem — Spin & Go tickets, step satellites, and full travel packages that bundled the buy-in with flights and hotel. One well-documented route for the 2023 PCA was a $15 Spin & Go leading to a $16,000 total package. If PokerStars brings PCA back, expect a similar structure to reappear, though none of the old terms should be treated as current until officially reconfirmed.

The Bottom Line

PCA has not returned since 2023, and PokerStars has given no official word on when — or whether — it will. The brand has come back from a longer gap before, so nothing here is permanent. For now, treat 2023 as the most recent chapter, keep an eye on PokerStars’ Live calendar for any announcement, and if a Bahamas poker trip is calling you this December, WSOP Paradise at Baha Mar — starting in just over ten weeks — is where the real action is happening in 2026.

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