GGPoker Ontario, the AGCO-registered dominant peer-to-peer operator in the four-year-old regulated Ontario online poker market and the only Ontario platform licensed to award WSOP-branded gold bracelets, opens its 5th Annual WSOP Online Ontario bracelet series tonight at 6:00 p.m. Eastern with the CA$500 Kick-Off carrying a CA$250,000 guarantee. Over the next twenty-four days, the operator will run eight Ontario-only bracelet events with CA$2.95 million in combined guarantees, capped by a CA$1-million-guarantee Main Event on Sunday, October 5. The Main Event guarantee is double the 2025 edition and is the largest single online tournament guarantee ever offered to Ontario players in the regulated market's history.
The series is the fifth annual edition of Ontario's exclusive WSOP online bracelet festival, a product that has run every year since GGPoker launched on the AGCO-regulated market when iGaming Ontario opened the province to competitive private operators on April 4, 2022. Tonight's CA$500 Kick-Off is billed on the operator's schedule as the 5th Annual WSOP Ontario Kick-Off, per Pokerfuse's schedule announcement. Ontario grinders who qualified for last night's PokerStars on FanDuel September Dynasty Series opening events can now camp both platforms simultaneously through the end of September, a scheduling coincidence unique in the four-year history of the ring-fenced Ontario online poker market.
The Full Eight-Event Bracelet Schedule
| Event | Name | Date | Buy-In | Guarantee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | 5th Annual WSOP Ontario Kick-Off | Sep 13 | CA$500 | CA$250,000 |
| #2 | Gladiators of Poker Ontario (Bounty, Flighted) | Final Sep 14 | CA$300 | CA$300,000 |
| #3 | Monster Stack NLH (2-Day) | Sep 20 | CA$1,500 | CA$300,000 |
| #4 | Colossus (Flighted) | Sep 21 | CA$400 | CA$400,000 |
| #5 | Ultra Stack NLH | Sep 27 | CA$600 | CA$300,000 |
| #6 | PLOSSUS (Flighted) | Late Sep | CA$400 | CA$200,000 |
| #7 | The Closer NLH Bounty Turbo | Oct 4 | CA$525 | CA$200,000 |
| #8 | Main Event (Flighted) | Oct 5 (final) | CA$1,000 | CA$1,000,000 |
| Total | CA$2,950,000 | |||
Source: Pokerfuse announcement (Anuj Arora, September 4, 2026); GGPoker Ontario schedule. Side-event schedule and non-bracelet guarantees not yet published; Pokerfuse projects total series prize pools including side events at between CA$7 million and CA$8 million.
Why the CA$1-Million Main Event Guarantee Matters
The CA$1-million guarantee on the October 5 Main Event doubles the 2025 series Main Event guarantee, per Pokerfuse. It is the largest single online tournament guarantee ever offered in the AGCO-regulated Ontario peer-to-peer poker market, on any operator. That distinction is possible because Ontario players remain segregated from GGPoker's international network under current AGCO rules and because no other Ontario-registered operator holds a licence to run WSOP-branded tournaments in the province. The CA$1-million guarantee is a bet by GGPoker Ontario on the depth of the province's regulated liquidity in the fourth quarter of 2026, and on the willingness of Ontario grinders to play a CA$1,000 buy-in against a small, ring-fenced field.
For context, this is the same weekend that ended with Toronto cybersecurity engineer Mayukh Chakraborty winning CA$1,500,000 in the WSOP Super Circuit Canada Main Event at Playground Poker Club in Kahnawake, a live tournament with 2,844 entries. GGPoker Ontario ran the AGCO-approved satellite qualifier path into that live event over the summer. The Main Event field size for the online CA$1-million-guarantee event on October 5 will not approach 2,844, but the guaranteed prize pool sits within touching distance of the live version's total payout, in one fifth the days and without leaving the province.
What every bracelet winner also gets. Beyond the WSOP Circuit ring and the cash first-place prize, each of the eight bracelet-event champions in the WSOP Online Ontario 2026 series receives a WSOP Paradise package for the December 2026 WSOP Paradise festival in the Bahamas. Per Pokerfuse, the Main Event champion collects a CA$42,000 WSOP Paradise Super Main package, which includes a seat in the USD$26,000 Super Main Event (which itself carries a USD$50-million guarantee), a thirteen-night stay at Baha Mar from December 5 to 18, and additional exclusive benefits from GGPoker. Each of the other seven bracelet-event winners collects a CA$7,000 WSOP Paradise Circuit package that includes entry to the USD$2,750 Circuit Championship Mystery Bounty and four nights at Baha Mar from December 1 to 5.
The Ontario Regulatory and Operational Setup
GGPoker Ontario is the AGCO-registered subsidiary of GGPoker running under contract to iGaming Ontario. It is the only AGCO-registered operator licensed to run WSOP-branded tournaments in the province and the only Ontario platform where players can compete for WSOP gold bracelets from home. Two conditions apply to entry in every WSOP Online Ontario bracelet event: players must be at least nineteen years of age and physically located in Ontario at the time of play, and every bracelet-event entrant must submit their legal name at registration (screen names are not permitted for bracelet events). Final-table deal-making is prohibited on all eight bracelet events, per Pokerfuse. Both conditions extend from the WSOP's global integrity requirements for bracelet-branded events.
The series runs in parallel with the September Dynasty Series on PokerStars on FanDuel Ontario, a 60-event tournament schedule that opened last night with a CA$50 Nightly Dynasty and runs through Monday, September 28. For Ontario grinders, the September 13 to October 6 window presents the first genuinely competitive two-operator online tournament calendar in the province's regulated history. There are no Ontario players missing from either platform because both are AGCO-registered and both draw from the same ring-fenced provincial pool. There are, however, two very different scheduling profiles: PokerStars on FanDuel Ontario weighs to volume at CA$30 to CA$500 buy-ins over 16 days; the WSOP Online Ontario schedule weighs to prestige and buy-in scale over 24 days, with bracelet equity attached to every win.
Kick-Off Event Tonight
Event #1, the 5th Annual WSOP Ontario Kick-Off, fires at 6:00 p.m. Eastern tonight per the GGPoker Ontario schedule. It is a CA$500 No-Limit Hold em multi-table tournament with a CA$250,000 guaranteed prize pool. Late registration typically runs through the first six levels on GGPoker Ontario's WSOP-branded events, though the operator's Kick-Off registration deadline for the 2026 edition has not been published. Bracelet award goes to the last player standing, per WSOP integrity rules; no deals permitted. Historically, the Ontario Kick-Off has drawn the largest field of any bracelet-event opener in the WSOP Online Ontario series, though 2026 registration numbers will not be known until the event closes late tonight.
The remainder of the series follows a broadly weekly rhythm. The next bracelet is the Gladiators of Poker Ontario, a CA$300 bounty tournament with a CA$300,000 guarantee, concluding tomorrow evening. Saturday, September 20 stages the CA$1,500 Monster Stack NLH (CA$300,000 guarantee), followed on Sunday by the CA$400 Colossus (CA$400,000 guarantee, second-largest of the series). Sunday, September 27 hosts the CA$600 Ultra Stack NLH (CA$300,000) and the CA$400 PLOSSUS (CA$200,000). The Closer NLH Bounty Turbo (CA$525, CA$200,000) fires Sunday, October 4. Then the Main Event on October 5.
The Bigger Ontario Online Poker Picture
Ontario's regulated peer-to-peer online poker market opened on April 4, 2022, when iGaming Ontario licensed private operators to serve real-money customers in the province, ending the OLG-only PokerStars.ca monopoly that had held from the market's grey days. GGPoker was one of the first day-one operators. Since then, the operator has run four prior WSOP Online Ontario bracelet series, tracked closely by Ontario grinders as the province's premier online tournament programme. The 2026 series is the largest of the five in guarantees, in Main Event buy-in scale, and in bracelet count.
The Attorney General of Ontario's cross-border iGaming reference at the Supreme Court of Canada, scheduled for hearing on October 7, is background context to this series. Both Ontario and Alberta will argue for the constitutionality of pooling regulated Ontario players with foreign jurisdictions, a change that could materially expand the pool feeding Ontario tournament liquidity. Any change is not expected to affect the 2026 WSOP Online Ontario schedule described here.
Reporting draws on the Pokerfuse announcement by Anuj Arora (September 4, 2026), the GGPoker Ontario public schedule for WSOP Online bracelet events, and the WSOP.com wrap-up coverage of the concurrent WSOP Super Circuit Canada festival. Side-event schedules and non-bracelet guarantees remain subject to operator confirmation. No affiliate relationship exists between OntarioPoker.com and any operator named in this report. Illustration is AI-generated for editorial purposes.