By Alex Drummond, Editor-in-Chief · June 5, 2026 · Fact-checked by Maya Chen
VERONA, NY - The World Series of Poker schedule for the second half of 2026 has produced its first piece of cross-border calendar news for Ontario players. Turning Stone Resort Casino, the Oneida Indian Nation property in the upstate New York town of Verona, has confirmed its second 2026 WSOP Circuit stop for October 15 through October 26, the fifth year the property has hosted the tournament and the first year in which it has run the WSOP-branded event twice within a single calendar year. The announcement, which the operator published on Wednesday and on which syracuse.com ran a same-day report, sets out a twelve-day schedule with eighteen gold rings, US$1.3-million in guaranteed prize pools and a US$1-million guaranteed Main Event spread across three Day 1 flights.
For Ontario poker readers, the practical significance of the Turning Stone announcement sits in the geography. Verona is approximately a four-hour drive east of Toronto along Highway 401 and Interstate 90, the closest live WSOP-branded poker tournament to the province. The march 2026 Turning Stone event, by the operator's published participation report, drew 15,276 entries and US$5.8-million in prize money, with nearly 3,000 guests from 39 American states and three Canadian provinces, an unusual cross-border participation mix for any WSOP-branded event outside Las Vegas. The fall stop is, on the operator's own announcement, expected to draw a similar geographic mix.
The Twelve-Day Schedule
The Turning Stone fall WSOP Circuit will run across twelve consecutive days from Thursday, October 15, through Monday, October 26. The full event list, as published by the operator and aggregated by the Syracuse Media Group's reporting team, runs to seventeen separate rings across the centrepiece Main Event, mini-main events, deepstack flights, mixed-game events, a Seniors stop and a Big Stack closer. The Main Event itself plays three starting flights on October 22 and October 23 with a US$1-million guarantee, the largest single-event guarantee in the Turning Stone Circuit schedule and one that, on the March 2026 event's prize-pool reading, will likely run well above the published guarantee on the strength of the field draw.
| Date | Time | Event | Guarantee (US$) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 15 | 10:00 a.m. | $400 40/40 Hold'em (40-and-over) | $100,000 |
| Oct 15 to 17 | 4:00 p.m. / 10:00 a.m. / 4:00 p.m. | $400 Mini Main NLH (Flights A to E) | $600,000 |
| Oct 18 | 10:00 a.m. | $400 Seniors NLH | $100,000 |
| Oct 18 | 2:00 p.m. | $400 Chip Bounty NLH | $100,000 |
| Oct 18 | 6:00 p.m. | $400 Pot-Limit Omaha | $50,000 |
| Oct 19 to 20 | 10:00 a.m. / 4:00 p.m. | $400 Stack NLH (Flights A to D) | $400,000 |
| Oct 21 | various | $400 Limit Hold'em + $400 Omaha 8 or Better | $50,000 each |
| Oct 22 | various | $1,700 Main Event NLH (Flight A) + $400 Mixed Hold'em/PLO | $1,000,000 + $50,000 |
| Oct 23 | various | $1,700 Main Event NLH (Flights B, C) + $400 NLH | $25,000 + $50,000 |
| Oct 24 | 2:00 p.m. | $400 NLH + $400 Double Stack NLH | $50,000 each |
| Oct 25 | 10:00 a.m. / 6:00 p.m. | $400 Seniors NLH + $1,100 High Roller NLH | $100,000 each |
| Oct 26 | 11:00 a.m. | $400 Double Closer NLH | $50,000 |
The Main Event buy-in, by the operator's published schedule, will sit at US$1,700, which makes it accessible to a wider cross-section of recreational players than the Las Vegas summer Main Event's US$10,000 buy-in. The three Day 1 flights, on Thursday and Friday of the second week, give players two paths into Day 2 of the same Main Event and one further chance to fire on Day 1c if both earlier attempts misfire. The Saturday Day 1c is the last chance to enter the Main Event, with the resulting Day 2 starting field expected, on prior-event base rates, to run between 700 and 1,000 players.
The Cross-Border Math
Ontario players who have made the Turning Stone trip in prior years will recognise the geography. The driving route from Toronto runs east on Highway 401 to the Thousand Islands Bridge crossing at Hill Island, Ontario, transitions to Interstate 81 on the New York side, runs south to Syracuse, then east on Interstate 90 to the Turning Stone exit at Verona. The total distance is approximately 470 kilometres and, with a Thousand Islands border crossing, runs to roughly four hours of driving time. Ontario residents driving to the Turning Stone schedule will need a valid Canadian passport or Nexus card and, for the duration of the trip, the standard CBP entry conditions. Cash declarations above C$10,000 are required at the crossing in both directions, a relevant detail for any Ontario-resident player carrying their tournament bankroll across the border.
The flying alternative is a Pearson-to-Syracuse routing of approximately ninety minutes total in the air, with the Hancock International Airport sitting roughly forty minutes from Turning Stone by ground. Several Toronto-resident high-volume players in the Hendon Mob record have used the flying routing for prior Turning Stone events. The driving routing remains the dominant Ontario-resident travel path, particularly for players bringing companions and for the longer Main Event commitment.
What the Fall Stop Represents
The Turning Stone fall Circuit stop is, on the broader 2026 WSOP calendar, one of only three properties nationwide scheduled to host two WSOP Circuit events within the same year. The other two, by the operator's own statement, are not named in the published Syracuse reporting but are consistent with the WSOP Circuit's standard re-tour strategy that places the Series of Poker brand in higher-traffic regional venues twice annually rather than once.
For Ontario players, the doubled annual cadence at Turning Stone is the more important read than the absolute prize-pool numbers. The March 2026 stop drew 15,276 entries and produced 18 ring winners alongside a path-to-Bahamas qualifier for the WSOP Circuit Championship at Atlantis Paradise Island in December. The fall stop will produce another eighteen ring winners and another set of paths-to-Bahamas qualifiers. The Ontario cross-border participation, which the operator's March event report measured at three Canadian provinces, on the early-event projections, will likely include a larger Ontario count this fall as the regulated provincial online poker market continues to expand and as more recreational players take their first live tournament trips outside the province.
The Channel into the Live Trip
The published Hendon Mob record of Canadian players at the March 2026 Turning Stone Circuit, while not yet complete in the public database, is consistent with the established pattern of cross-border live tournament travel from southern Ontario into upstate New York. The total Canadian-flagged player count at the March stop, by the regulator's own pattern of monitoring high-volume online players, is likely to have included a meaningful share of regulated Ontario online players using the live trip as a competitive complement to their provincial online tournament schedule rather than as a replacement.
For Ontario players who play their poker on the regulated provincial sites, the practical pathway into the Turning Stone Circuit runs through standard live-event qualification rather than through any official online satellite. GGPoker Ontario does not run satellites into Turning Stone Circuit events, although the AGCO-registered operator does run official WSOP and WSOPC satellites into the Las Vegas summer schedule. PokerStars on FanDuel, which launched on the regulated Ontario market on Wednesday, has not announced satellite paths into the Turning Stone fall stop. The Turning Stone trip is, on the practical reading, a self-funded trip for any Ontario player choosing to make it.
The Wider Read
The Turning Stone fall Circuit stop, on the broader pattern this newsroom has been tracking across the regulated Ontario market, is one further data point in the continued geographic widening of the Ontario poker player base's tournament options. The provincial regulated online market remains, by some distance, the largest source of player volume for Ontario poker. The cross-border live trip, of which Turning Stone is the closest example, has been a recurring annual choice for higher-volume Ontario players for at least the past four summers. The doubling of the Turning Stone annual cadence in 2026 fits the broader pattern in which regional WSOP Circuit venues, faced with rising recreational-circuit demand, have moved to twice-yearly scheduling.
The Las Vegas summer Series, of which Wednesday produced its tenth bracelet to Naseem Salem in the US$1,089,964 Event #11 GGMillion$ High Roller, will continue to be the dominant draw for Ontario-resident high-volume players through the back half of June and into July. The October Turning Stone stop will be the closest substitute for those Ontario players who have not made the Las Vegas trip and who are looking for a regional WSOP-branded experience at a lower buy-in than the Las Vegas Main Event. The next monthly iGaming Ontario market report, which the regulator will publish in late June, will provide the first indication of how the regulated provincial online tables are absorbing the simultaneous summer live-tournament off-ramp.