The Sydney Champs returns to The Star Sydney in March, and there are some key changes to the schedule this year that promise to add to the experience – including the largest event schedule in the series’ 15-year history.
Running from 18 to 31 March, the 2026 Sydney Champs will feature a full schedule of 27 events, up from 23 last year, including the addition of two new large-stack events in The Dominator with its 100k starting stacks and the Bondi Super Stack with 75k starting stacks.
The series will also see starting stacks for the $1,150 Opening Event increased from 40,000 to 50,000 in 2026, and also in the $2,000 Main Event from 40,000 to 50,000.
The series provides players with a range of buy-in levels from $350 for several events to the $5k High Roller Challenge, with player favourites including the Mystery Bounty and Monster Stack returning.
The Sydney Champs is the longest-running home-grown tournament series in NSW and boasts an impressive list of past champions. The event’s inaugural winner was Adelaide’s Jarred Graham, now a WSOP bracelet winner, who took down a field of 324 starters back in 2009.
Since then, high profile winners have included Daniel Laidlaw (2013), Martin Kozlov (2014), Kahle Burns (2016) and Hamish Crawshaw (2019).
Qi Xu holds the record for the biggest score in the event’s history, pocketing $382,973 after topping a massive field of 1,277, while Zheming Zhu is the current defending champion, having pocketed $289,427 last year.
“The Sydney Champs hits a major milestone this year with the 15th edition of the series, cementing its place as one of Australia’s premier poker festivals,” said Martin Coughlan, Star’s Group Poker Strategy Manager.
“We’re thrilled to welcome players from across the country to celebrate the original, the iconic and the only Sydney Champs, and I’m extremely proud of the event schedule we’ve put together, packed with great value, great moments, and an outstanding experience for players at every level.”
To view the full schedule, click here.
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