The Global Poker Awards are coming back after skipping a year, and they are leaving Las Vegas to do it. The Global Poker Index and The Hendon Mob confirmed on October 29, 2026, that the seventh annual ceremony will take place on December 4 at the Baha Mar resort in Nassau, the Bahamas, timed to run alongside WSOP Paradise. It is the first time since 2019 that poker’s answer to the Oscars will not be held inside the PokerGO Studio at ARIA Las Vegas, and the show is returning with a noticeably different focus: fewer trophies for industry insiders, more for the players themselves.
A Ceremony That Almost Didn’t Come Back
The Global Poker Awards trace back to 2001, when the ceremony first ran in Europe before eventually relocating to Los Angeles in 2014 and then settling into its long Las Vegas residency from 2019 onward. The sixth annual edition was held in February 2025, with winners that night including Adrian Mateos for Toughest Opponent in the Players Choice vote, Abby Merk for Rising Star in Content, Nikki Limo for Best Media Content in the Short-Form Video category, and Argentinian rapper-turned-poker-personality Alejandro Lococo for Most Entertaining Player.
Then, in November 2025, organizers announced there would be no 2026 ceremony at all. The stated reason centered on the sheer amount of time it takes to prepare and produce an event of that scale every single year, rather than any single controversy or financial collapse. The GPI Player of the Year award was still handed out that cycle, but without the usual red-carpet show built around it. For an event that had become a fixture of the poker calendar for the better part of a decade, the cancellation left a real gap, and plenty of players and media members wondered whether it would ever return in its old form.
Back for a Seventh Edition, This Time in the Bahamas
The comeback announcement settled that question, even if it changed the venue. Moving the Awards to Baha Mar slots the ceremony into the WSOP Paradise calendar, the Caribbean festival that has itself shifted in recent years, having been held for several editions at Atlantis Paradise Island before this year’s move to Baha Mar. Running the Awards alongside one of the biggest live series on the calendar gives organizers a built-in audience of traveling pros, journalists, and fans who are already in the Bahamas for the tournaments, solving part of the logistical headache that reportedly contributed to the 2026 cancellation in the first place.
Fewer Suits, More Players: The New Categories
The structure of the Awards has clearly been reworked. The seventh edition will hand out trophies across 11 categories, down from previous editions, and the list skews heavily toward recognizing players rather than industry figures. Confirmed categories include Most Feared Live Tournament Player, Most Feared Live Tournament Mixed Games Player, Most Feared Cash Game Player, Best Table Mate, Best Villain, Breakout Player, the Fans Choice: Most Entertaining Player award, Best Live Streamer, Best Vlogger, Best Final Table Performance, and the GPI Poker ICON honor.
Notably absent from this year’s list are several categories that had been Global Poker Awards staples: Best Podcast, Best Poker Book, Best Industry Person, and Best Media Content have all been dropped. Content creators are not entirely left out, since Best Live Streamer and Best Vlogger remain on the ballot, but the overall tilt is unmistakable. In a press release announcing the changes, organizers said the renewed focus on player awards reflects the outstanding performances across the international poker circuit, framing the shift as a way to spotlight the results players put up over the preceding 12 months rather than the media apparatus that covers them.
What the Shift Signals for the Industry
Dropping categories like Best Industry Person and Best Podcast is a meaningful signal about where the Global Poker Awards see their value going forward. Industry-facing honors tend to matter most to insiders, operators, and media outlets, while player-focused categories like Most Feared Cash Game Player or Best Villain are the kind of thing that travels well on social media and resonates with fans who follow specific pros rather than the business side of poker. That is likely no accident at a moment when poker’s biggest growth engine is personality-driven content, from high-stakes cash game livestreams to tournament vlogs, all built around player storylines rather than boardroom decisions.
For poker fans trying to follow the build-up to WSOP Paradise and the Awards show itself, it is a reminder of just how packed the Bahamas calendar has become every December. Newer fans wanting context on the tournaments running alongside the ceremony can start with our WSOP guide for an overview of how the Series and its satellite festivals, including WSOP Paradise, actually work.
Looking Ahead to December 4
Nominees for most of the 11 categories had not been fully released at the time organizers confirmed the new date and venue, though fan voting for the Fans Choice: Most Entertaining Player award was already open with a deadline in early November. Expect the final nominee lists, along with details on streaming or broadcast coverage, to firm up as WSOP Paradise itself gets underway on December 2. Whatever the final ballot looks like, the symbolism of the move is already clear: after a year away, the Global Poker Awards are coming back leaner, more player-centric, and transplanted to one of the sport’s newest marquee destinations.
