Pros versus Joe’s is coming to the 2026 WSOP Paradise series in December.
More specifically, a $250,000 buy-in WSOP Pro-Am, pitting professional poker players against amateurs, a unique event that should spice things up in the Bahamas. The tournament will last three days and will award the winner a gold bracelet.
What’s This All About?
A pros against recreational players poker game has been done in the past. Poker Central (now PokerGO) hosted a shootout style competition in 2015 with a table of celebrities playing down to one player and a table of pros facing off. The winners — actor Kevin Pollak and poker legend Vanessa Selbst — then faced off in a best-of-three match, won by Selbst for $1 million.
Triton Poker has also done something similar, including last year at WSOP Paradise with the $250,000 Triton Invitational, an invite-only multi-table tournament won by Kayhan Mokri for $7,725,000.
But the format for the WSOP Pro-Am is different. Unlike the Triton Invitational, pros don’t have to be invited by an amateur. They can instead just register independently without invitation. As for the amateurs, they must apply for registration and get approved by the WSOP. A WSOP Pro-Am committee will review the application and make individual decisions as to the worthiness of each applicant.
The tournament will begin with amateurs and pros separated. Once the tournament has reached the money, the fields will be combined and it will play out in normal fashion right down to a bracelet winner.
WSOP Paradise runs from Dec. 2-17 at the Baha Mar Hotel & Resort. The schedule now includes 21 bracelet events, including the $50 million guaranteed Super Main Event.
View Full WSOP Paradise Schedule
