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The Jamul Casino in Jamul, California, will host the 2026 San Diego Poker Classic (SDPC) from July 30 through August 9, offering a packed schedule of low-stakes tournaments aimed at drawing large fields throughout the festival.
The series opens with the $200 buy-in First Wave No-Limit Hold’em event, guaranteeing $10,000, followed by the $300 SDPC Weekend Opener with a $50,000 guarantee. Last year’s Weekend Opener drew 412 entries, surpassing its guarantee with a $98,880 prize pool, and was won by Robert Fortuno for $20,313.
The festival’s centerpiece remains the $600 buy-in Main Event, carrying a $100,000 guarantee. The 2025 edition of the event drew 375 entrants and paid out $195,000, suggesting this year’s prize pool could again exceed its guarantee.
The 2026 Main Event will run across four starting flights on August 7-8, with players receiving a 30,000-chip starting stack. Blinds begin at 100/200 with a 200 big blind ante, and late registration remains open through Level 9, allowing unlimited re-entries during that period.
Each flight will play down to the top 12.5% of the field before pausing for Day 2, where all survivors return with blinds reset to the lowest Day 1 level. Players may enter multiple flights, though only their largest surviving stack carries over to Day 2.
PokerNews will provide live reporting throughout the Main Event. Last year’s winner, Gregorio Sebastian Gonzalez, a Jamul Casino regular, topped a three-way deal to claim $33,216, defeating runner-up James Kozono ($28,865) and third-place finisher David Fernandez Sanchez ($26,431).
