888poker has officially announced the XL Winter Series 2026, its first major online tournament festival of the year, featuring $1.5 million in guaranteed prize money and a schedule heavily centered around Mystery Bounty formats.
The series runs from January 18 to January 27 and includes 59 core XL events, with a total of 89 tournaments when side events are included. Buy-ins range from $5.50 to $1,050, with an average buy-in just under $71, keeping the festival accessible to players at all bankroll levels.
The Main Event headlines the schedule with a $500,000 guarantee, representing roughly one-third of the total prize pool. It is played as a $250 Mystery Bounty tournament and features multiple Day 1 flights, some of which begin ahead of the official start of the series.
Mystery Bounty tournaments dominate the lineup, accounting for 54 of the 89 events. The schedule also includes 18 Progressive Knockout (PKO) tournaments, a small number of Super Knockout events, and 15 non-bounty tournaments. While no four-card Omaha events are scheduled, the series features two Omaha variants: a $16.50 PLO 5-Card event and a $22 PLO 6-Card tournament, both with $2,000 guarantees.
The opening day sets a busy pace with 11 tournaments, including seven Opening Events combining Mystery Bounty and PKO formats, with guarantees ranging from $2,200 to $100,000.
The series also includes the return of RakeLESS tournaments, meaning no rake is deducted from the prize pool. Two events are designated as RakeLESS: the $109 Mystery Bounty Opening Event with a $100,000 guarantee, and the $500,000 guaranteed Main Event.
888poker is once again running the Daily Gems promotion during the series. Selected tournaments marked as Daily Gems allow players to earn free tournament tickets worth up to $55 by participating in nine similarly priced events, with buy-ins ranging from $11 to $109.
To ensure accessibility for all players, 888poker is hosting daily no-ticket XL Winter Series freerolls, distributing $90,000 in Main Event tickets. Additional tickets will be awarded through StreamTeam giveaways and across platforms including Twitch, Discord, Reddit, and X. Online satellites are also available, starting from just $0.01.
The XL Winter Series will also be available to Italian players, where €250,000 in guaranteed prize money will be spread across 47 tournaments.
Alongside the series, 888poker is running its Happy Hour promotion, offering an extra 30% rakeback from January 6 to January 12, with daily Happy Hours held between 5 PM and 7 PM GMT.
The XL Winter Series 2026 runs from January 18 to January 27 on the 888poker dot-com platform.
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