Your Guide to Every Event at the 2026 European Mixed Poker Champions (EMPC) Tallinn (Oct. 26-31)

The European Mixed Poker Championship arrives in Tallinn for its fourth edition, and this one is different. OlyBet’s flagship home, Olympic Park Casino, in the majestic Estonian capital of Tallinn, hosts the festival from October 26 through October 31, 2026, and Tobias Leknes and Frode Fagerli, the founders who brought EMPC to life and have driven it from a small debut in Bratislava to one of Europe’s most anticipated mixed-game festivals, have put together the most ambitious schedule yet. Twelve championship events. Buy-ins from €200 to €1,500. Six days of games that go far beyond Hold’em. This is the guide to every event on the card.

The EMPC launched in March 2023 at Card Casino in Bratislava, returned to Bratislava in 2024, moved to JP Poker in Dublin in 2025, and now lands at Olympic Park Casino in 2026, its first time in Estonia. Each edition has brought bigger prize pools, a bigger schedule, and a broader diversity of games. The 2026 card adds four events that have never appeared before: the Nordic Blood Mix, the T.O.E. Turbo, Senkel’s Paradise Pick’em, and the Omaha Dealer’s Choice. Several returning events bring defending champions looking to repeat. A Player of the Series leaderboard runs all week, with every cash earning points toward that overall title.

Throughout the week, updates will appear on empc.live, OlybetEvents.com, and poker.pro, plus on their social media channels. Follow along for photos, stories, daily recaps, interviews, and more.

• Read more: EMPC 2026 Heads to Tallinn With 12 Mixed-Game Events and a Growing Legacy
• Read more: Your Guide to the 2026 Kings of Vilnius Schedule and Events

EMPC 2026 Full Schedule

Date	Time	Event
Monday, October 26	16:00	Welcome Dinner (open to all)
	18:30	Event 1: €200 Welcomer Big Bet Mix (re-buy)
Tuesday, October 27	12:00	Event 2: €555 Lowball Draw Mix
	18:00	Event 3: €300 Nordic Blood Mix — Day 1
Wednesday, October 28	11:30	Event 3: Nordic Blood Mix — Day 2 (final)
	12:00	Event 4: €700 Dealer’s Choice — Day 1
	16:00	Event 5: €200 S.O.R.B.E.T.
	20:30	Event 6: €800 T.O.E. Turbo
Thursday, October 29	12:00	Community Lunch (open to all)
	13:30	Event 4: Dealer’s Choice — Day 2 (final)
	14:00	Event 7: €1,500 S.O.R.B.E.T. High Roller — Day 1
	14:00	€185 H.E.T.R.O.S. Main Event Satellite 1
	18:00	Event 8: €300 Senkel’s Paradise Pick’em — Day 1
Friday, October 30	11:30	Event 7: S.O.R.B.E.T. High Roller — Day 2 (final)
	11:30	Event 8: Senkel’s Paradise Pick’em — Day 2 (final)
	11:30	Event 9: €800 8-Game Main Event — Flight 1A
	13:00	€185 H.E.T.R.O.S. Main Event Satellite 2
	18:30	Event 9: €800 8-Game Main Event — Flight 1B
Saturday, October 31	11:30	Event 9: 8-Game Main Event — Day 2 (final)
	12:00	Event 10: €300 6-Game Mystery Bounty
	16:30	Event 11: €1,500 6-Game High Roller
	18:00	Event 12: €200 Omaha Dealer’s Choice (re-buy)

Event 1: €200 Welcomer Big Bet Mix, Monday, October 26 at 18:30

The EMPC opens with the Welcomer Big Bet Mix, a six-game No Limit and Pot Limit rotation that sets the tone for the week. Buy-in is €200 with unlimited re-buys throughout the event, 20/15-minute levels (longer early, shorter late), and a 20,000 starting stack at six-handed tables. Late registration stays open for 10 levels. Norway’s Tobias Leknes is the defending champion from Dublin 2025. Norway’s Simon Solberg won the event at EMPC 2024 in Bratislava.

The six games rotate by orbit: No Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8, No Limit 5-Card Draw, Pot Limit Omaha, No Limit 2-7 Single Draw, No Limit Hold’em, and Pot Limit Sviten Special.

What makes this event unusual is that it applies big-bet betting to games almost never run this way elsewhere. Tournaments almost universally play Omaha Hi-Lo as Fixed Limit or No Limit. This creates new dynamics: a player with the nut low and the nut high on any street, or with any hand even preflop, in NL Omaha Hi-Lo can go all-in for their entire stack. The math changes completely.

NL 2-7 Single Draw: two betting rounds, one draw. Aces are bad. Straights and flushes count against you.

NL 5-Card Draw and NL 2-7 Single Draw: Betting Rounds

Five private cards, one draw round, two betting rounds. Players post blinds. Betting before the draw: fold, call, or raise (No Limit). Each player draws zero to five cards. Betting after the draw. Best high hand wins. No community cards. The only public information is how many cards an opponent draws: standing pat (drawing zero) signals a strong made hand or a bluff. In NL, a player who stands pat and then bets their entire stack puts you in a tough spot.

The same applies to NL 2-7 Single Draw, where the best low hand wins and aces count as high.

PL Sviten Special: Betting Rounds

Five hole cards, five community cards, one draw round inserted after the flop betting. Four betting rounds total. Pre-flop betting, then the flop (three community cards) and a betting round. Then the draw: players discard and replace one to five hole cards.

The draw happens after the flop, so you know which hole cards to keep. The turn follows, then a betting round, then the river and a final betting round. The high hand wins. It is not a split-pot game. The catch: the hand has two sides. The Omaha half requires exactly two hole cards and three board cards. The draw half uses any combination of hole and board cards, no two-card rule. Planning both paths before the draw is the core skill.

Event 2: €555 Lowball Draw Mix, Tuesday, October 27 at 12:00

The Lowball Draw Mix is a five-game Fixed Limit rotation covering the full spectrum of draw-lowball formats. The buy-in is €555, with unlimited re-entries during late registration, 20/30-minute levels, a 55,500 starting stack, and late registration open for 10 levels. Six-handed tables. Greece’s Andreas Paliogiannis is the defending champion from EMPC 2024 in Bratislava.

The five games rotate on a fixed schedule: Fixed Limit Badacey, Fixed Limit A-5 Triple Draw, Fixed Limit Badugi, Fixed Limit Badeucey, Fixed Limit 2-7 Triple Draw.

2-7 Triple Draw: 8 steps, 4 betting rounds, 3 draws. Big bet kicks in at round 3.

A-5 Triple Draw

Same structure: five private cards, three draws, four betting rounds, big bet on rounds three and four. The hand rankings flip. Aces are the lowest and best card; straights and flushes don’t count, and the best hand is A-2-3-4-5 (a wheel). This is the Razz of draw poker: your goal is the lowest unpaired five cards. The critical adjustment from 2-7: aces are your friends here, not your enemies.

Badugi

Four private cards, three draws, four betting rounds. The goal is a “badugi”: four cards of different ranks and different suits. Any hand with a pair or two cards of the same suit isn’t a true badugi and loses to any true four-card badugi. Three-card badugis beat two-card badugis, and so on. The best badugi is A-2-3-4 with four different suits. The discipline here is reading how many card problems (suit or rank conflicts) your opponent has, based on how many they draw.

Badacey and Badeucey: Split Pots

Both are split-pot games combining Badugi with a triple-draw lowball half. Four cards dealt. Three draws. Four betting rounds. Big bet on rounds three and four. The pot splits between the best Badugi hand and the best lowball hand, evaluated from any three of your four cards.

In Badacey, the lowball half uses A-5 rankings: aces are low, straights and flushes ignored. Best three-card low hand from your four cards is A-2-3. In Badeucey, the lowball half uses 2-7 rankings: aces are high and bad, straights and flushes count against you. Best three-card low hand is 2-3-4. Scooping both halves is the objective. A hand that only wins one half is worth roughly half as much as a scooping hand.

Event 3: €300 Nordic Blood Mix, Tuesday, October 27 at 18:00 (Day 2: Wednesday, October 28 at 11:30)

The Nordic Blood Mix is a two-day event and a new addition to the 2026 schedule: four Fixed Limit games, all played under the Nordic Big Bet rule. The buy-in is €300, with unlimited re-entries during late registration, 24-minute levels, a 30,000 starting stack on Day 1, and late registration open for 10 levels. No defending champion; this is a new event.

The four games: Nordic Fixed Limit Ostfold Razz, Nordic Fixed Limit Sviten Special, Nordic Fixed Limit Seven Card Stud, Nordic Fixed Limit 2-7 Triple Draw.

The Nordic Big Bet Rule

All four games in this rotation play under the Nordic Big Bet rule: on the final betting street of every game, the big bet doubles. In a standard Fixed Limit game, the big bet is twice the small bet. Under the Nordic rule, the final-street big bet becomes four times the small bet. River decisions are significantly more expensive, value bets are more powerful, and bluffing the last street costs considerably more than normal.

Ostfold Razz: The Club-Counting Mechanic

Ostfold Razz is a Seven Card Stud Razz game (seven cards, antes, bring-in, lowest five-card hand wins, aces low) with one difference applied only at showdown: count the total number of clubs in your seven-card hand. Each club shifts each card value down by one pip. An ace wraps around to become a king, a 2 becomes an ace, a 3 becomes a 2. If you hold two clubs, every card in your hand drops two ranks. Clubs can be your best friend and your worst enemy in Ostfold Razz: they lower your card values, and lower values win, but a club in the wrong place can flip an already-low card into an even lower one and scramble your whole read. Watching up-card clubs on opponents’ boards is as important as watching their face-up ranks.

Seven Card Stud: Betting Rounds

Each player receives two down cards and one up card (third street). The player with the lowest up-card posts the bring-in. Betting round one. Fourth street: one up-card each; the player with the highest visible board acts first. Betting round two (small bet). Fifth street: one up-card each; big bet begins here. Betting round three. Sixth street: one up-card each. Betting round four. Seventh street: one down-card each. Betting round five (in this event, the Nordic rule doubles the big bet on this final street). Best five-card high hand wins.

Event 4: €700 Dealer’s Choice, Wednesday, October 28 at 12:00 (Day 2: Thursday, October 29 at 13:30)

Dealer’s Choice is a centerpiece of the EMPC calendar and the most technically demanding event on the schedule. The buy-in is €700, with unlimited re-entries during late registration, 20/30-minute levels, a 70,000 starting stack, and 10 late-registration levels. Finland’s Kim Kallman is the defending champion from Dublin 2025. The event runs for 16 levels or until the Day 1 money runs out, whichever comes first.

The button picks the game for each orbit from a menu of 20 options: NLH, FLH, PLO, 5-Card PLO, FL Sviten Special, PL Sviten Special, FL Omaha Hi-Lo, PLO Hi-Lo, 5-Card PLO Hi-Lo (Big O), NL Omaha Hi-Lo, Stud, Stud Hi-Lo, Razz, 5-Card Draw, NL 2-7 Single Draw, A-5 Triple Draw, 2-7 Triple Draw, Badugi, Badacey, Badeucey.

The button sees the table, picks its strongest game (or its opponents’ weakest), and the whole table plays one orbit of that format.

Razz: Betting Rounds

Seven Card Stud structure, but lowest A-5 hand wins, and aces are always low. The player with the highest up-card posts the bring-in (opposite of Stud). Suits break ties: spades highest, so the ace of spades brings in first. Third street: bring-in, then action left to right. Fourth through seventh street: lowest board acts first, small bet through fourth street, big bet from fifth. Aces are always low and good. Straights and flushes are ignored: 6-5-4-3-2 with two hearts is just a six-low, not a flush.

Stud Hi-Lo 8: Betting Rounds and Split Pots

Same stud structure as above, five betting rounds, big bet from fifth street. The pot splits between the best high hand and the best qualifying low. A qualifying low needs five unpaired cards, all ranked 8 or lower. Aces play both high (for the high half) and low (for the low half). If no qualifying low exists at showdown, the high hand takes the full pot. You use the best five of your seven cards for each half independently, so there is no two-card rule as in Omaha Hi-Lo. A hand like A-A-2-3-4-5-7 can hold a strong high pair and a wheel low at the same time.

Courchevel: Betting Rounds

Five hole cards, five community cards, four betting rounds. The difference from PLO: the first flop card is turned face-up before the pre-flop betting round begins. Players already know one board card when they decide whether to raise pre-flop. After pre-flop betting, the remaining two flop cards are revealed, and standard PLO-style betting continues through the turn and river. Must use exactly two hole cards and three board cards.

Event 5: €200 S.O.R.B.E.T., Wednesday, October 28 at 16:00

S.O.R.B.E.T. stands for Stud, Omaha Hi-Lo 8, Razz, Badugi, Stud Eight, Triple Draw. Six Fixed Limit games rotating by orbit. Buy-in is €200 with unlimited re-entries during late registration, 20-minute levels, a 20,000 starting stack, and 10 levels of late registration at six-handed tables. Rowan Harley is the defending champion from Dublin 2025. The S.O.R.B.E.T. is one of EMPC’s signature events and has appeared across multiple editions.

Games rotate in S.O.R.B.E.T. order each orbit. Six different hand-ranking systems in one tournament.

The six games cover every major hand-ranking system: high (Stud), split high-low (Omaha Hi-Lo and Stud Hi-Lo), pure A-5 low (Razz), rainbow-and-rank (Badugi), and 2-7 low (Triple Draw). The game-by-game explanation of Razz, Stud Hi-Lo, and 2-7 Triple Draw is covered above and under Event 7, respectively.

Event 6: €800 T.O.E. Turbo, Wednesday, October 28 at 20:30

T.O.E. stands for Triple Draw, Omaha Hi-Lo 8, Stud Eight. Three games, Fixed Limit, rotating by orbit, in turbo format. Buy-in is €800 with unlimited re-entries during late registration, 15-minute levels, an 80,000 starting stack, and late registration open for 8 levels. New event in 2026; no defending champion.

The three games: Fixed Limit 2-7 Triple Draw, Fixed Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8, Fixed Limit Stud Hi-Lo 8. With 15-minute levels, stack depth in big bets falls fast. Fixed-limit short-stack play differs from No Limit: there is no single all-in shove. A short stack plays through each betting round at fixed increments until the chips run out, and all-in situations arise organically across multiple streets rather than from a single push. In a Fixed Limit tournament, you read your position by how many big bets you hold, not your chip count.

Omaha Hi-Lo 8: pot splits between the best high hand and the best qualifying low. No low qualifier means the high hand scoops. Quartering risk: winning only one low share after splitting can be a net loss if you called big bets to get there.

Event 7: €1,500 S.O.R.B.E.T. High Roller, Thursday, October 29 at 14:00 (Day 2: Friday, October 30 at 12:00)

Same S.O.R.B.E.T. rotation as Event 5 (Stud, Omaha Hi-Lo 8, Razz, Badugi, Stud Hi-Lo 8, 2-7 Triple Draw) at the premium €1,500 buy-in, with one re-entry per player. Two-day event. 30/40-minute levels on Day 1, 150,000 starting stack. Late registration open for 10 levels. New event at this format and price point in 2026, so no defending champion. Day 1 plays to the final table or into the money, whichever comes first.

The longer level structure and deeper starting stack make this the most strategically nuanced draw-and-stud event on the schedule. The single re-entry limits variance compared to unlimited events, and the player pool at this buy-in will be experienced mixed-game players who have prepared across all six formats.

Event 8: €300 Senkel’s Paradise Pick’em, Thursday, October 29 at 18:00 (Day 2: Friday, October 30 at 11:30)

Senkel’s Paradise Pick’em is the EMPC’s most original format and new to the 2026 schedule. Buy-in is €300 with unlimited re-entries during late registration, 24/30-minute levels, a 30,000 starting stack, and late registration open for 10 levels. No defending champion.

Each hand: deal 3 cards stud-style; the button picks the game. Stud hands proceed with those 3 cards. Hold’em re-deals. Omaha adds a 4th card.

At the start of each hand, deal three cards to every player, as in Seven Card Stud: two face-down and one face-up. The player on the button looks at all three cards and selects one of five games to play: Fixed Limit Hold’em, Fixed Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8, Fixed Limit 2-7 Razz, Fixed Limit Stud, or Fixed Limit Stud Hi-Lo 8.

If Stud or Stud Hi-Lo 8 is chosen, the three dealt cards become the starting hand and the hand proceeds from third street as normal. If Hold’em is chosen, discard the up-cards and re-deal as standard two-card Hold’em. If Omaha Hi-Lo 8 is chosen, each player receives one additional card (bringing them to four) while their exposed card remains visible, and the hand plays as Fixed Limit Omaha Hi-Lo with one face-up hole card. If 2-7 Razz is selected, the three stud-dealt cards become the starting hand for a Razz game using 2-7 rankings: aces are high and bad, straights and flushes count against you, best hand is 2-3-4-5-7.

Event 9: €800 8-Game Main Event, Flight 1A Friday, October 30 at 11:30 / Flight 1B Friday, October 30 at 18:30 / Day 2 Saturday, October 31 at 11:30

The Main Event is the centerpiece of EMPC 2026. Buy-in is €800 with one re-entry per flight, 30/40-minute levels, 80,000 starting stack. Two Day 1 flights on Friday combine into Day 2 on Saturday. Late registration is open for 10 levels per flight. Slovenia’s Blaz Zerjav is the defending champion from Dublin 2025. Samuel Perry won the title at EMPC 2024 in Bratislava.

The 8-Game rotation: No Limit Hold’em, Fixed Limit Seven Card Stud, Fixed Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8, Fixed Limit Razz, Pot Limit Omaha, Fixed Limit Hold’em, Fixed Limit Stud Hi-Lo 8, Fixed Limit 2-7 Triple Draw. Games rotate orbit by orbit in that sequence.

8-Game rotates through all eight disciplines orbit by orbit. No one can hide in their best game for long.

The NL Hold’em and PLO orbits are big-bet rounds where stack manipulation matters. The six Fixed Limit orbits play fixed increments where pot odds and draw equity drive decisions. The game switches every orbit. Players strong in one betting system and weak in the other give away a consistent edge whenever the rotation lands in their weaker zone.

Event 10: €300 6-Game Mystery Bounty, Saturday, October 31 at 12:00

The 6-Game Mystery Bounty combines a six-game rotation with mystery bounties in a single-day event. Buy-in is €300 (split as €160 + €100 bounty + €40 entry fee) with unlimited re-entries during late registration, 20/30-minute levels, a 30,000 starting stack, and 10 levels of late registration. Germany’s Walter Tischhauser is the defending champion from Dublin 2025, where he won after a heads-up deal with France’s Rodolphe Zagaoury. Tischhauser, part of the Keole Poker community, started playing mixed games only a few months before his EMPC title.

The six games: Stud Hi-Lo 8, PLO Hi-Lo 8, Razz, No Limit Hold’em, Badugi, and No Limit 2-7 Single Draw. The mystery bounty mechanic means every player’s chips carry a hidden bounty value. When you eliminate a player, you reveal their bounty and collect it. The value is unknown until the knockout. Bounty pools activate when roughly a quarter of the field remains.

Event 11: €1,500 6-Game High Roller, Saturday, October 31 at 16:30

The 6-Game High Roller runs the same rotation as Event 10 (Stud Hi-Lo 8, PLO Hi-Lo 8, Razz, NL Hold’em, Badugi, NL 2-7 Single Draw) without the bounty mechanic. Single re-entry. 20/30-minute levels. 150,000 starting stack. Norway’s Alexander Aaneland is the defending champion from Dublin 2025, where he took his first live tournament title.

The EMPC created the 6-Game mix, and it has since appeared on the EPT circuit. Same competition, higher buy-in, deeper structure, one re-entry cap.

PLO Hi-Lo: four betting rounds at Pot Limit, split pot at showdown. Quartering (sharing a half) at Pot Limit stakes hurts.

Event 12: €200 Omaha Dealer’s Choice, Saturday, October 31 at 18:00

The Omaha Dealer’s Choice closes the festival with an all-Omaha rebuy rotation. Buy-in is €200 with unlimited re-buys during late registration, 20-minute levels, a 20,000 starting stack, and 10 levels of late registration. Brand new event in 2026, no defending champion.

The six Omaha variants available: PLO, PLO Hi-Lo 8, 5-Card PLO, 5-Card PLO Hi-Lo 8 (Big O), PL Courchevel, PL Sviten Special. All six use Pot Limit betting. The Omaha two-card rule applies to every variant: you must use exactly two hole cards and three board cards for the Omaha half. In Sviten Special, which is dealt five hole cards, the draw half uses any combination of hole and board cards with no two-card restriction.

5-Card PLO and Big O

Five hole cards, five community cards, four betting rounds, Pot Limit throughout. You must still use exactly two hole cards and three board cards. The extra card dramatically increases the chance of holding strong combinations, so nut-level hands are far more common than in standard four-card PLO. Betting anything less than the nuts is significantly riskier. Big O adds the Hi-Lo 8 qualifier on the low half: same five-card dealing, same two-card rule for each half.

H.E.T.R.O.S. Satellites: How to Qualify for the Main Event

Two H.E.T.R.O.S. satellites run directly into the €800 Main Event: Satellite 1 on Thursday, October 29 at 14:00, and Satellite 2 on Friday, October 30 at 13:00. Buy-in is €185 with unlimited re-entries during late registration and 6 levels of late registration. The starting stack is 20,000 with 20-minute levels, and the target stack is 100,000 (a 1/5 ratio from start to target).

The satellite features Hold’em, Omaha, Triple Draw, Razz, Omaha Hi-Lo, and Stud, the H.E.T.R.O.S. mix, rotating orbit by orbit in Fixed Limit format. The number of Main Event seats awarded is determined by the total prize pool divided by the €800 buy-in. Players who win a seat in Satellite 1 cannot win a second seat in Satellite 2.

At €185 per entry, the satellite is the most economical path into the €800 Main Event for any player who has been sharpening their rotation game across the week’s earlier events.

Player of the Series

Every cash in any title event contributes to the Player of the Series leaderboard. The formula rewards cashing in more events and cashing deeper. At the close of Event 12 on October 31, the player atop the leaderboard takes the overall EMPC 2026 Player of the Series title. Sweden’s Eva “Chic” Jiretorn won the leaderboard in Bratislava in 2024. More Information

The EMPC 2026 takes place at OlyBet’s flagship home, Olympic Park Casino, in the majestic Estonian capital of Tallinn, October 26 through October 31, 2026. The results, photos, videos, and more will be posted throughout the week at empc.live, OlybetEvents.com, and poker.pro and across all social media channels.

EMPC 2026: FAQ

• Article originally produced at poker.pro.