The opening weeks of January feature big events on the live poker calendar. With some of PokerStake’s finest flying into the action in the early part of 2025, they’ll be even busier this January, with the PokerGO Tour’s Last Chance series, the 2026 Lucky Hearts Poker Open and the Borgata Winter Poker Open all taking place in the opening fortnight of the year.

Stars Line Up for Big Kick Off

The PokerGO Tour leaderboard is almost locked for the 2025 season, but one more series will give players the opportunity to make it into the top 40 places and thereby guarantee themselves a seat at the tables in Las Vegas for the $1m Freeroll Championship. Only open to qualifying players and free to enter, last year’s Freeroll Championship was won by PokerStake seller Jeremy Ausmus for $500,000.

The PGT Last Chance series will see players such as PokerStake’s Jonathan Little enter the fray. Little is selling at spot, i.e. no markup to Events #1, #2, #3, #4, #5 and #6, with $60,000 in buy-ins added to by a second bullet in Events #1, #2 and #5. Little is terrific value inside the PokerGO Studio and was the PokerGO Cup champion as recently as 2024, where he cashed for $730,000 across the series.

Others to feature in the series include the EPT Barcelona Main Event winner Stephen Song, who is selling at between 1.07 and 1.15 markup. Brock Wilson is looking to start the year strong too, selling to all of the six events on offer except Event #4. David ‘ODB’ Baker has action on sale at no markup to Events #1 through #3 and if he’s focused on just a couple of events, could be one of your best investments.

Erik Seidel, who late last year hinted at a lower frequency of tournament buy-ins this year is selling only to the opening event at present, while Victoria Livschitz selling to all events except #4 and #5. Heads-up hero David Chen is selling one bullet to each of the six events, as is the red-hot Terrance Reid who will hope to follow his $3m Super Main Event heroics with results in Las Vegas to match by selling at no markup too. Finally, one of PokerStake’s most consistent crushers Aram Zobian is selling action to the first four events at a low markup of 1.07 and has absolutely slayed at the PokerGO Studio in the past – we can’t recommend buying a part of his action highly enough.

Follow Your Lucky Heart

Two of PokerStake’s most successful ever players take to the felt between January 6^th and 20^th at the Lucky Hearts Poker Open at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Hollywood. Both players have won huge amounts in the past few years and risen to prominence in the poker world both at the felt and off it, being recognised for their contributions to the game away from the poker table.

Cherish Andrews is the reigning Global Poker Index Female Poker Player of the Year and for good reason, winning hundreds of thousands of dollars in the past year alone. Cherish is selling to both the $25,500-entry High Roller events (Events #34 and #52) that take place during the festival and at between 1.04 and 1.08 markup, is excellent value to provide a return on your stake.

Another champion to sweat in Florida is David Chen. He’s switching Las Vegas for the East Coast when he plays in the two High Rollers that Cherish is playing in, along with two $10,000-entry events in Event #46 and Event #56. Both of those events are available at 1.04 and 1.05 respectively, while David is selling to the High Roller events at 1.02. Given his prowess in Heads-Up events, David is huge value should he run deep to turn cashes into an outright win.

Buy into the Borgata

Finally, the 2026 Borgata Winter Poker Open is sure to be a roaring success as fire and ice collide courtesy of two PokerStake players running hot in the freezing cold climate of Atlantic City in January. Jackie Liu is one of those players and has a terrific record in Atlantic City, with the Borgata the scene of her greatest ever result in poker.

Back in 2023, Jackie won $237,699 when she beat the World Poker Tour Main Event titan Bin Weng heads-up after outlasting 415 other entries in the 8-Max $2,500-entry Championship. It was a highly impressive victory and returning to the scene of her best result, and Jackie has every chance of victory again in this year’s $3,500 Winter Championship and Progressive Knockout events, both of which she is selling to at 1.30.

Last, but by no means least, Allen ‘Chainsaw’ Kessler is great value in a whole raft of mixed games events across the series, where he is selling at just 1.15 markup. With entries in T.O.R.S.E., Triple Omaha, Big O, Triple Mix PLO and B.E.A.S.T., Allen is going to be a real threat in all the tournaments he plays. Get involved now by heading to the Borgata Winter Poker Open page specifically.

As 2026 kicks off, don’t miss out on the PokerStake poker legends selling action. Register today and you can be a chapter in their success story over the next 12 months.

Photography by PokerGO, Alicia Skillman and Regina Cortina.