Skip to content
Pokerology Logo

Orleans Summer Open 2026 Drops Full Schedule With $4.7M in Guarantees

Written by: Liam Carter

•

April 7, 2026

Orleans Summer Open 2026 Drops Full Schedule With $4.7M in Guarantees

The Orleans Hotel and Casino has released its full 2026 Summer Open schedule, committing to more than $4.7 million in guarantees across a seven-week series running May 22 through July 12 in Las Vegas.

The announcement marks one of the strongest off-strip poker commitments of the summer and arrives as venues across the city race to finalize their World Series of Poker (WSOP) counter-programming lineups.

A Room That Has Turned Counter-Programming Into an Art Form

For years, The Orleans operated quietly as a locals’ room — reliable, comfortable, and easy to overlook against the spectacle of the WSOP. That changed in 2024, and again in 2025, when the room began posting numbers that turned heads across the industry. 

The 2024 Main Event drew a 2,726-entry field at a $600 buy-in, generating a prize pool north of $1.4 million. The 2025 edition scaled the buy-in up to $800 and still pulled 1,653 entries for just over $1.1 million.

And The Orleans has spent the last two summers building a format that WSOP players genuinely want, with lower stakes, free parking, a nearby food court, and a schedule that fills the gaps around bracelet events rather than competing with them directly.

The 2026 edition looks to push that formula further. A $600 Main Event with a $500k guarantee runs July 1-5, with opening flights across the Fourth of July weekend.

It’s a smart structural move and is positioned right after WSOP’s heaviest weeks and priced to attract the large share of players who’ve exhausted their Main Event bankroll but aren’t ready to leave Vegas just yet.

Super Sundays Set the Pace

The backbone of the series is the Super Sunday Special, returning across seven Sundays with a $300 buy-in, a $100 add-on, and a $100k guarantee on each. On paper, $100k sounds modest, but the room blew past it every week last summer.

The series opened May 25 with 538 entries and a $181k prize pool — a single-day in-house record at the time. That mark fell the following Sunday when 587 players showed up. 

Then came fields of 815, then 819, and finally 904 entries on June 29, producing a $305,160 prize pool that was chopped seven ways at sunrise.

Those might not be WSOP numbers, but they reflect something real: a growing appetite among traveling players for alternatives that don’t require a $1,500-$10,000 buy-in just for a seat at the table.

$1.5 Million Committed to Mixed Games

Perhaps the most ambitious element of the 2026 schedule is the $1.5 million in guarantees dedicated entirely to mixed game events — roughly a third of the total series guarantee.

Every day on the schedule features at least one mixed game event, spanning formats including Omaha Hi-Lo, TORSE, Triple Draw Mix, Triple Stud Mix, Razz, HORSE, and PL Big O. The opening week alone includes several $600 championship-level events.

New to the lineup is what the room is billing as potentially the first Dramaha event in tournament poker history. Dramaha is a hybrid format combining Draw poker and Omaha, played simultaneously — well known in cash game circles but rarely, if ever, run as a tournament. 

Whether the historical claim holds up, it’s the kind of programming decision that signals genuine investment in the mixed game community rather than token inclusion.

The Off-Strip Arms Race Is Heating Up

The Orleans isn’t alone in building its summer slate. Wynn dropped its Summer Classic schedule, and Venetian followed shortly after. Aria is still expected to announce.

At $4.7 million in total guarantees, the Orleans is staking out a strong position near the top of the off-Strip tier — before most rivals have even shown their hand.

What makes the Orleans stand out isn’t just the numbers, though; it’s the format mix. Most rooms anchor their summer series around No-Limit Hold’em, with a few Omaha events scattered in. Dedicating a third of the guarantee pool to mixed games is a deliberate move aimed at a specific, underserved player base.

That strategy is promising, too, as the WSOP’s mixed game events — particularly the $50,000 Poker Players Championship — consistently attract some of the most skilled fields of the entire series. There’s a tier of players who travel to Vegas specifically for that kind of poker, and the Orleans is now squarely courting them.

With ESPN bringing the WSOP Main Event back to primetime this August, the 2026 season is shaping up to be one of the highest-profile in recent memory. More eyeballs on the WSOP means more players in Las Vegas, and rooms like the Orleans are well-positioned to capture that overflow.

Looking Ahead

Registration for the 2026 Orleans Summer Open opens May 22. Players can find the full schedule and event structures on the Orleans Hotel & Casino’s official poker page.

The next major announcements to watch are Aria and MGM Grand, both expected before the end of April.

How aggressively those rooms price their Main Events — and whether any match the Orleans’ mixed game depth — will define the shape of this summer’s off-Strip market.

Image: @orleanscasino / Instagram