Wednesday, May 27 to Sunday, July 12, 2026: forty-seven days of poker at the Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. The Aria Poker Classic, this year running under a deepened partnership with BetMGM, has released a schedule of striking density. A closer look at a program that, on paper, reads like a declaration of war on the rest of the American live poker calendar.
A $4,000,000 BetMGM Championship to Crown the Series
The centerpiece of the schedule is unambiguous. The $3,500 BetMGM Championship gets underway on Wednesday, July 1 (Day 1A) with 50-minute levels and a posted guarantee of $4,000,000. Day 1B follows on Thursday, July 2, Day 2 runs on Friday, July 3, and the Day 3 & Final Table is set for Saturday, July 4 — right in the middle of America's Independence Day weekend. The timing is no accident: targeting the Fourth of July means capturing peak attendance from players already flocking to Vegas for the celebrations.
The second major financial pillar of the series is the $2,200 Mystery Bounty on June 18, a two-day event carrying a $1,000,000 guarantee. The Mystery Bounty format has proven over recent seasons that it can swell fields well beyond expectations. A seven-figure guarantee signals that the Aria is fully committed to the concept.
Also worth watching: the $2,200 PLO Championship (July 5, Day 1), guaranteed at $1,000,000. With Pot-Limit Omaha's growing footprint in the live community, attaching a seven-figure guarantee to a PLO event is a clear strategic play. The Aria is looking to tap into the cash game crowd that has been gradually making its way to the tournament felt.
A Format Lineup That Covers the Full Spectrum
What sets the Aria Poker Classic apart from competing series is the breadth of variants on offer. Across forty-seven days, the schedule includes:
- Classic NLH (the dominant format, available at every buy-in level from $300 to $1,600)
- Pot-Limit Omaha and Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo (8 or Better)
- H.O.R.S.E. and T.O.R.S.E. — for the mixed game faithful
- No-Limit 2-7 Single Draw — a genuine rarity on series schedules
- Badugi starting May 28
- Stud 8 or Better and Razz
- 5-Card Pot-Limit Omaha
- Mystery Bounty in multiple formats
- Seniors and Ladies events
That kind of comprehensive coverage echoes the original spirit of the WSOP, where every variant had its place on the calendar. In a market where many series have narrowed their focus to NLH in pursuit of bigger fields, the Aria is betting on inclusivity to attract a broader — and more loyal — player base.
BetMGM as Headline Sponsor: A Partnership That Shapes the Series
BetMGM's branding runs throughout the schedule. Several events carry the partner's name explicitly: BetMGM NLH, BetMGM PLO, BetMGM Mystery Bounty, BetMGM Pot-Limit Omaha. The concentration of these events intensifies in the second half of the series, from mid-June through early July — a deliberate build designed to sustain media attention all the way to the Championship.
This kind of co-branding strategy has become standard practice across major American live series. BetMGM, a licensed online operator in numerous states, leverages live visibility to fuel digital customer acquisition. The Aria, in turn, gains marketing muscle and an added financial backstop for its flagship events. A genuine win-win — provided the fields show up.
A Schedule Built to Coexist With the WSOP — Not Run From It
The central question every observer asks: how does the 2026 Aria Poker Classic position itself against the World Series of Poker, which traditionally dominates the Vegas summer? The overlap is entirely intentional. The series begins in late May, right as the WSOP gets going, and runs through July 12.
The philosophy here is complement rather than direct confrontation. Players in Vegas for the WSOP need action every day. The Aria, with its $300 evening events and regular $160–$240 satellites, offers a real alternative on nights when no matching WSOP event is on the schedule. The $160 BetMGM NLH Turbo satellites — offered multiple times per week with 20K starting stacks and 15-minute levels — are clearly calibrated for a transient audience: the player who busted their WSOP event early and still wants to play.
The $300 Milestone Satellite slot (10 seats guaranteed, scheduled July 4) further illustrates this philosophy: multiply the accessible entry points into the bigger events. The ecosystem is designed vertically, from the $160 satellite all the way up to the $3,500 Championship.
What the Guarantee Numbers Actually Tell Us
Adding up the headline guarantees — $4,000,000 for the Championship, $1,000,000 for the NLH Mystery Bounty, $1,000,000 for the PLO Championship, $500,000 across several $1,600 NLH events — you quickly approach $10 million in total guarantees across the series. That is a significant financial commitment, one that places the Aria Poker Classic firmly among North America's elite series.
The real unknown remains: will the fields deliver? Las Vegas in June and July is a permanent battle for attention. But with a schedule this diverse, a solid financial structure, and BetMGM's marketing weight behind it, the Aria is heading into the 2026 edition from a position of genuine strength.
