Million Dollar Cash Game to Be Held During 2026 WSOP

Hustler Casino Live has announced that its popular Million Dollar Game will be returning and will run at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) this year. It's scheduled for June 12, and it will be streamed live on the Hustler Casino Live YouTube channel.

What Is the Million Dollar Game?

The Million Dollar Game (MDG) is a cash game with a mandatory minimum buyin of $1 million. It first took place in 2023 and has hitherto been held at Hustler Casino in Gardena, California. This year's Million Dollar Game was initially announced for May 20 – 22 at Hustler Casino's location just south of Los Angeles.

However, on April 22, 2026, Hustler Casino announced that it will instead hold something called Mega Cash Mania on those dates in May. “An announcement on the 2026 MDG will be made very soon,” was the only clue left for fans about the fate of the Million Dollar Game. This fueled speculation that the MDG might be canceled entirely although optimists felt that it would merely be postponed with new dates to be revealed shortly.

On April 24, the optimists were proven correct as Hustler Casino Live posted the following on X:

This post revealed that the Million Dollar Game will take place June 12 at the Horseshoe Casino, which, along with the Paris Casino, is a host of the World Series of Poker. Besides the MDG, other WSOP High Stakes Live streams will occur at the WSOP on June 5, 6, 13, 19, and 20.

More Details

In March 2025, NSUS Group, the parent company of GGPoker and owner of the WSOP brand, announced an investment in High Stakes Poker Productions (HSPP). HSPP is the firm behind Hustler Casino Live. The investment last year paved the way for the upcoming collaboration between WSOP and Hustler Casino Live.

For the WSOP High Stakes Live events on dates other than June 12, the buyins will be lower than $1 million but still substantial enough to qualify as high stakes. The numbers $50,000 and $100,000 have been thrown around, but this aspect of the games hasn't been finalized yet.

The reasoning behind holding the Million Dollar Game in Las Vegas for the first time ever is that only the most daring and accomplished poker players are able to participate in an event like the MDG, and almost all of these individuals will be in Las Vegas during the WSOP. Should all go well this summer, there could be many more high-stakes cash games broadcast from locales around the world going forward.

Hustler Casino Live producer Ryan Feldman explained:

For a while now, we've been thinking about how to expand and do things beyond Hustler Casino Live. And what we landed on was the idea of streaming cash games at different events…It's like our test run. This is the first time that we can transition our overall product from just being this show Hustler Casino Live to a network concept.

The participants in the 2026 Million Dollar Game have not yet been finalized. However, it's likely that they will include Alan Keating, Santhosh Suvarna, and Phong “Turbo” Nguyen.

Past Million Dollar Games

The first Million Dollar Game took place at Hustler Casino in May 2023 over the course of four days. Among the players were such luminaries as Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Doug Polk, Alan Keating, Jean-Robert Bellande, Nik Airball, and Antanas “Tony G” Guoga. The live streams were a success with each of the five recordings attracting 500k+ views and one day's stream gathering no fewer than 1 million. YouTube statistics show a peak of 60,000 watching at once.

It was during this first MDG that Tom Dwan and Wesley Fei played out the then-largest pot in poker broadcast history although that record has since been eclipsed. The $3.1 million pot came on Day 4 of the action, and you can watch it here.

Tom “durrrr” Dwan Won the Largest Pot in Million Dollar Game History

The MDG was back a year later, featuring the return of some familiar faces, like Tom Dwan, Alan Keating, and Doug Polk. A few new players joined in too, though, like Santhosh Suvarna. Peak viewership topped out around 37,000, but again, hundreds of thousands of viewers saw the videos afterward.

The 2025 Million Dollar Game was moved forward to the end of April/beginning of May so as not to conflict with the WSOP. It's here that we started to see a few cracks in the foundation of the format with the schedule reduced to three days due to an insufficient number of players willing to commit to a full four-day event. The fact that the 2026 game will take only one day to play and will be held in the mecca of poker, Las Vegas, should alleviate these concerns.

About the Horseshoe Casino

The lot currently occupied by the Horseshoe Casino on the Las Vegas Strip originally opened as the MGM Grand in 1973. However, it was purchased by Bally Manufacturing in 1986 and renamed Bally's Las Vegas. Following the sale of the Bally company to Hilton in 1996, the property went through a variety of corporate hands before becoming part of Caesars Entertainment in 2003, and it has remained a part of the Caesars empire since then.

In Summer 2022, the World Series of Poker moved to Bally's and sister casino Paris from the Rio. Later that year, Caesars rebranded Bally's to the Horseshoe. The Horseshoe remains one of the hosts of the WSOP, and this is why the Million Dollar Game and other WSOP High Stakes Live events will be held there.

The Horseshoe Casino in Las Vegas

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April 26, 2026 – by Max Golden, Editor-in-Chief