Over the course of the last 12 months, so many huge events have shaped poker that is hard to imagine what will happen in 2026. From Michael Mizrachi’s incredible Las Vegas summer to the WSOP Paradise Super Main Event breaking attendance records outside the World Championship, 2025 was epic. So what do the next 12 months have in store?

Could Mizrachi Go Bigger?

If you’d asked Michael ‘Grinder’ Mizrachi what he hoped to achieve in the summer of 2025, then he may well have given you exactly what happened as his answer. Such is the self-belief and relentless positivity that pours from the man who changed poker in 2025. As the year ticks over into the next, it is worth looking back at the defining moment of 2025, and one that will echo on in the poker history books still to be written from that magical minute inside the Thunderdome.

Winning the WSOP Main Event and the Poker Players Championship in one year is the stuff of dreams so unrealistic as to never enter the heads of the world’s elite. One man, however, always believed, and Michael ‘Grinder’ Mizrachi became the latest Poker Hall of Fame inductee and GGPoker’s newest Global Ambassador across a stunning summer in Sin City.

Winning the Poker Players Championship is a huge achievement in any poker player’s career. Just ask Mizrachi’s fellow GGPoker Global Ambassador Daniel Negreanu. It was the one event that Kid Poker always wanted to win – and did in 2024. In 2025, Mizrachi dominated the PPC before setting his sights on an even more incredible achievement – winning the world Championship.

In a WSOP Main Event that featured its first female finalist in 30 years – Leo Margets claiming that honor – ‘Grinder’ was a dominant force at the final table. Wrapping up the win in just 79 hands, Mizrachi took home $10m. Unprecedented scenes followed, as Poker Hall of Fame members Phil Ivey and Phil Hellmuth were among those welcoming Mizrachi as the Hall of Fame’s newest inductee after a late-night emergency vote.

In 2026, could Mizrachi go even bigger? He’s bound to be firing in everything as the newest GGPoker recruit and could drive the game to greater heights in the next 12 months.

Negreanu Among High Roller Hopefuls

The WSOP aside, there are going to be a bunch of massive high roller events in 2026, and Daniel Negreanu will doubtless be one of the biggest threats in those he plays. Kid Poker rounded out 2025 with two of the biggest results in the highest of rollers, finishing in the money places in both the $250,000 Triton Invitational and the $100,000 High Roller at Atlantis resort in The Bahamas. Cashing for $629,000 in those events, the all-time greatest Canadian poker player could have a big, big 2026.

Dacid Coleman excellent in high rollers in 2025 too and after bagging his first WSOP bracelet on Paradise Island, Negreanu’s fellow PokerStake player is bound to be a busy player in the next year at the felt. One of the most popular players selling action on the site, David will be one to watch in 2026.

With legends of the felt such as Jason Koon, our own Aram Zobian and Stephen Chidwick vying for position on The Hendon Mob’s All-Time Money List, will Bryn Kenney still be top dog when 2027 kicks off? Who knows, but the high roller circuit will be a fascinating part of the poker landscape to watch closely in the coming months.

The Near Future of Poker

The WSOP Europe’s move to Spring from Autumn will mean that the year has more impetus at its start than ever before. With Las Vegas’ flagship WSOP festival taking place from the end of May to the middle of July, all eyes will be on Prague in the Spring as the Czech capital takes over as host city for the series from Rozvadov on the Czech-German border.

The good news for PokerStake sellers and buyers is that there are more opportunities to sell and buy action than ever before on the site. From selling GGPoker action online to events such as the $10,000-entry weekly GGMillion$, which is hosted on GGPoker’s YouTube channel by Jeff Gross, to smaller buy-in events across the board, changes to the bonus structure on the site mean more free money will be given out than ever before.

If you’ve never staked anyone on PokerStake, then it couldn’t be easier. Simply register on the site, head to the PokerStake staking page and invest in your favorite players. With a big year ahead for PokerStake players, you won’t want to miss out on the action and you can read about all the results via our News page and the official PokerStake X page too.