The Ambassador’s View: Hallaert on the "New-Look" PokerStars Live League
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After an intense end to 2025, which saw Kenny Hallaert narrowly miss out on the PokerStars Live League Medium title, the Belgian PokerStars Ambassador is back in action as the 2026 PokerStars Live season gets underway.
Hallaert spoke with PokerNews about the restructuring of the Live League, the highly anticipated return of EPT Paris and his personal plans for the year ahead.
A Much-Needed Reset
For Hallaert, the end of 2025 was more about recovery than winning trophies. After a grueling chase on the Live League leaderboard that even saw him multi-tabling live events in Prague, the Belgian pro was glad for a rest.
"I realized during Prague that I wasn't going to win [the Live League] and I just wanted to be home," he explained. "So I've spent the last two months sleeping in my own bed. I calculated that I spent less than a third of 2026 sleeping at home because I was constantly on the road.
"It was good to take a bit of a break after quite an intense year."
As he turns 45 this year, Hallaert is trading the "every tournament, every day" mentality for a more balanced approach. While he’s excited for the return of PokerStars live events in general, he's also getting ready for the return of EPT Paris after last year's last-minute cancellation.
"That's the one I'm looking forward to the most," he said. "Because we weren't able to organise it last year because of the local regulations."
2026 PokerStars Live Events Calendar
| Dates | Event |
|---|---|
| 18 - 23 February | EPT Paris |
| 18 - 22 March | PokerStars Open Philadelphia |
| 26 March - April 6 | Irish Open |
| 4 - 10 May | EPT-Monte Carlo |
| 27 May - 7 June | PokerStars Open Namur |
| June 22 - 28 | PokerStars Open Malaga |
| August 16 - 29 | EPT Barcelona |
Improving the Live League: Quality Over Quantity
The biggest news for 2026 is the overhaul of the PokerStars Live League. Hallaert, utilizing his role as live events advisor, spent the off-season running simulations in Excel to ensure the leaderboard actually rewards the best players, as opposed to those who min-cash the most.
Key Changes for 2026:
- The "Winner’s Bonus": In previous years, the points gap between a min-cash and a win was too narrow. Hallaert and the team have tweaked the formula so deep runs and titles carry significantly more weight.
- Main Event Inclusion: One major point of feedback from 2025 was that $1,100 Main Events weren't counting toward certain tiers. In 2026, there is now a "small overlap" to ensure players aren't forced to choose between playing a prestigious Main Event and chasing leaderboard points.
- The Three-Tier System: The league retains its tiered structure to accommodate low, medium, and high-stakes regulars, ensuring a $300 buy-in grinder isn't competing against a $50k High Roller reg.
"In any sport, like football, the team that always plays to a draw and never loses shouldn't be on top of the league," Hallaert explained. "It should be the team that wins. We wanted to make sure the reward for winning is actually there."
The 2026 Outlook
While Hallaert isn't planning to "chase" the leaderboard from Day 1, he knows how the poker mind works. "Nobody really sets their goal on it to start. You have a few results in the first few festivals, and all of a sudden you start chasing it."
Whether he's at the top of the standings or simply enjoying a more relaxed schedule, Hallaert’s influence is woven into the fabric of this year's tour. From the spreadsheet-simulated rankings to the logistical planning of the events, the 2026 PokerStars season is designed to be more "win-centric" than ever before.
