Which city deserves the airfare when a trip is planned around a tournament? For most players the answer depends on the month. The largest live fields follow a fixed annual calendar, with Dublin around Easter, Prague and Melbourne in the spring, Las Vegas in June and July, and Barcelona in August. Dublin and Prague both set attendance records within the last 18 months, with 4,562 entries in April 2025 and 2,617 in April 2026.
Dublin, Ireland
The Irish Open is the longest-running no-limit hold’em tournament in Europe. Terry Rogers, a Dublin bookmaker, organized the first edition in 1980 after he watched a high-stakes game during a trip to Las Vegas the previous year. The event is traditionally held over the Easter weekend.
The 2025 festival was the 45th edition. Its Main Event had a €2.5 million guarantee for the first time and passed it comfortably, drawing a record 4,562 entries and a prize pool of more than €4.4 million at the Royal Dublin Society in Ballsbridge, on the south side of the city. The festival ran for 12 days, from April 10 to April 21, and the 2026 edition returned to the same grounds from March 26 to April 6. Ballsbridge is a residential district of embassies and Georgian streets, and a player who finishes a Day 1 flight in the afternoon can reach the city center in time for dinner.
Prague, Czech Republic
Prague took over the European leg of the World Series in 2026. King’s Resort in Rozvadov, a village on the main road from Prague into Bavaria, hosted the series from 2017 until 2025, and the organizers then moved it to King’s Casino inside the Hilton Prague.
The first year in the capital set entry and prize pool records for the event. The 2026 Main Event cost €5,300 to enter and drew 2,617 entries, against a prior record of 817 set in 2023, and the prize pool reached €13,085,000, well above the €10 million guarantee. Marius Kudzmanas of Lithuania won €2,000,000 and his third bracelet. The new location also gives a player more to do after an early exit. Trams from the Hilton reach Prague Castle and the Old Town, and the city’s airport has direct flights to most European capitals, which removes the long drive from Prague to the border.
Melbourne, Australia
The Aussie Millions came back in May 2026 after a 6-year absence. The previous edition finished in January 2020, and the 2021 series was put on hold during the pandemic. The 2026 Main Event at Crown Melbourne was an A$10,600 freezeout, so every player had a single entry with no option to buy back in after elimination. It drew 770 entries, the fifth-largest field in the event’s history and 52 short of the 2019 record of 822, and the winner collected A$1,667,050.
Crown is on the south bank of the Yarra River, opposite the central business district, so guests can walk from the tournament room across the river to most of the city’s restaurants. Outside the series, Crown’s poker room offers no-limit hold’em, pot-limit Omaha and several mixed poker games, and it stays open around the clock on weekends. The venue also hosts the Victorian Poker Championship each October, a second date for players who cannot travel in May. May is late autumn in Melbourne, so the days are mild and the evenings cool, while earlier editions were played in the heat of the January summer.
Las Vegas, United States
Las Vegas still hosts the world’s largest $10,000 tournament. The 2026 World Series ran from May 26 to July 15 at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, 2 neighboring resorts in the center of the Strip, with 100 bracelet events on the schedule. Its Main Event drew 9,208 entries, the fourth-largest field in its history, and a prize pool of $85,634,400. Lucas Jumalon, a 22-year-old American, won the $10 million first prize after a final table that was held back until August.
The 2025 Main Event was larger still, with 9,735 entries and a prize pool of $90,535,500, and 1,461 players finished in the money with at least $15,000 each. Most of the 100 events have buy-ins well below $10,000, so a player with a smaller bankroll can stay for the whole summer and play a full schedule without entering the Main Event at all.
The city was also less crowded in 2025. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority counted about 38.5 million visitors for the year, 7.5% fewer than in 2024 and the sharpest annual decline in Las Vegas tourism outside the pandemic. Hotel occupancy averaged 80.3%, which left nearly 1 room in 5 empty on an average night. For a player who plans to stay through June and July, that slack makes it easier to find a room close to the tournament floor.
Barcelona, Spain
Barcelona is the last major stop of the European summer. Casino Barcelona, on the waterfront at the Port Olimpic, hosts a 2-week festival every August. In 2025 its €5,300 Main Event drew 2,045 entries for a prize pool of €9,918,250 and a first prize of €1,436,000. The field fell about 250 short of the record of 2,294, set at the same casino in 2022. A €1,650 side event in the same fortnight drew 5,035 entries and a €7.2 million prize pool, a record for that tournament. The 2026 festival ran from August 16 to 29.
The casino is next to the beach and the Olympic Village, a short metro ride from the Gothic Quarter and the old city. A player with a free afternoon can take a walking tour of the quarter’s narrow medieval lanes, which starts beside the cathedral and takes 2 to 3 hours, and still return to the tournament room for an evening flight.
Barcelona in August is at its hottest and busiest, and some local restaurants and shops close for part of the month while their owners are on holiday. Players who want a long lunch away from the waterfront should check opening hours a day ahead and plan sightseeing for the morning, before the afternoon heat.
Booking Order for a 2027 Trip
A tournament trip is best planned from the festival date outward. Organizers publish each schedule months in advance, and a single festival brings several thousand players into the same few streets around a single venue, so the rooms nearest the tournament are the first to go. Choose 1 festival from the 2027 calendar, book a room within walking distance of its venue in the week the dates are announced, and arrange flights after the room is confirmed. The buy-in itself can wait. Most festivals keep registration open well into the opening levels of Day 1, so there is no need to pay the entry fee months ahead, and that money is better kept for the room and the flights until the trip is settled.
