PokerStars Women’s Summer Festival Returns to London This August

The Schedule at a Glance

The six-day schedule features a mix of buy-ins, formats, and qualifiers. Here are the key highlights:

• £400 Main Event (Aug 14–17): Three starting flights — including a turbo — feed into Day 2 and the Final Day. The prize pool comes with a £100,000 guarantee.
• £1,100 High Roller (Aug 13): Many of last year’s top performers are expected to return for this one.
• £220 50/50 Freezeout (Aug 16): A returning team event that requires one female and one male player. It was one of the surprise hits of last year’s Winter Festival.
• Free-entry Closer (Aug 17): The final event awards a package to EPT Prague, exclusively for women.

Live satellites are scheduled throughout the festival, including last-minute qualifiers for both the High Roller and Main Event. Players can also win seats online through PokerStars, with weekly satellites offering five seats per week from June onward, and a Mega Satellite on July 20 awarding full seat-and-expense packages.

What Else Is Happening?

While poker is the focus, the festival also includes bootcamps, tutorials, and community events designed to make the space more welcoming for newer players. The idea is to build momentum and give more women a route into the live tournament scene — without the usual pressure that can come with it.

Kerryjane Craigie, the event’s founder and Hippodrome Director of Poker, said the response has shown just how popular these festivals have become:

The festival is part of PokerStars’ broader push to increase women’s participation in live poker events—something that’s become more visible in recent months, especially with Leo Margets making the WSOP Main Event final table this year.