Almost three full weeks of poker and more than 70 tournaments across three different poker tours (WPT, GSOP, EPT).
Prague is once again about to take over as the European capital of poker with literally dozens of highlights to look forward to.
From the start of the €120 NLHE WPT event at the Corinthian Hotel on Dec. 1 until the final table of the EPT main event at the Hilton on Dec. 17 the Czech capital will be packed with events of all sorts for any level of poker player. Here's a quick preview of what's to come.
WPT National Prague
If you’ve ever played at a WPT National event you’ll know these are very well organized tournaments with fields consisting of a good mix of pros and amateurs with a very positive atmosphere.
Bunnies, too.
After a one-year move to Andel’s Casino the event is now back at the King’s Casino in the 5-Star Corinthian Hotel.
There will be nine events beginning with the aforementioned €120 NLHE and also featuring a €220 bounty event, a €330 6-max NLHE, a €750 Big Stack NLHE and the €3,000 WPT PLO Championship.
The main event will be a €2,000 No-Limit Hold'em even running over four days from Dec 4-7. The final six will down to a winner on Sunday, Dec 7.
Satellites are available on location for both the PLO Championship and the NLHE main event for €300 and €200 buy-ina, respectively.
Tonybet OFC Poker Championship
Tonybet is Tony G.’s latest venture into the world of operators. Originally a sports betting company it’s also the only poker room dedicated to offering Open Face Chinese poker online.
Get ready for live OFC.
On Dec 8-9 Tonybet is going to host two OFC Pineapple events at the Corinthian hotel, one of them being a €1,000 Championship event and the other a €10,000 High Roller event. There is also a €120 satellite to the main event.
Both tournaments are set to play out in one day. It’s the first time OFC tournaments are being offered at the Prague Poker Festival.
Although OFC has become immensely popular in the last two years it remains to be seen if there are enough affluent players to make these two events a success story.
Redbet Live Prague
The Redbet Live Events are the rebirth of the tournament series formerly known as the Hey Poker Series or HESOP. The last stops in 2014 were at the Casino Montesino in January and the King’s Casino Rozvadov in April.
In Prague Redbet will offer 10 different events over four days. The main event (Dec 10-13) is a €225 NLHE event with growing level times from day to day – starting with 30 mins on Day 1 up to 60 mins for the final day.
Satellites will be available from as little as €35. The tournament highlight, however, is supposed to be a €10,600 PLO High Roller held on December 10.
Expect to see King’s Casino owner Leon Tsoukernik at the tables but to make it a successful event it probably has to attract some of the professional players in Prague to play in the major NLHE events of the WPT and EPT.
EPT and Eureka Poker Tour Prague
Expect Ole Schemion back for more.
The biggest fields and the largest prize pools will again be generated at the events taking place at the Hilton Hotel.
PokerStars is bringing the Eureka and the European Poker Tour back to Prague, which means there will be 45 different tournaments between December 7-17.
Since the EPT began turning events into larger-scale poker festivals Prague has definitely been one of the highlights of the year.
In 2013 the €5,300 main event drew a crowd of more than 1,000 players. Julian Track from Germany took home €725,500 after prevailing in a finale that had Stephen Chidwick, Max Silver and Ole Schemion in it.
The Eureka Poker Tour main event that year even had 1,315 players and generated a prize pool on almost €1.3m
As you would expect from PokerStars there are numerous events taking place every day and you can find the complete schedule on the EPT website.
€50,000 Super High Roller to Cap 2014
As a final, special highlight of the poker year in 2014 PokerStars will also host a €50,000 Super High Roller event.
Finn and High Roller, both!
Originally this was supposed to take place in London but it was moved to the Czech Republic, which tells you something about the status Prague has achieved these days.
We expect the European poker elite but also pros from overseas and a couple of daring amateurs ready to take them on.
Important dates to note: Dec 8-11 Eureka Main Event; Dec 11-17 EPT Main Event; Dec 9-11 EPT Super High Roller.
The Finnish Championships are also going to be part of the EPT this year. If you want to find it, just go where they raise and re-raise the most.
Click here to see the complete Eureka and EPT Prague schedule 2014.
Grand Live Series – Season 5
The Grand Live series, also known as the GSOP, has established itself as one of the regular guests in pre-Christmas Prague.
You don't want to miss this.
This year it’s the second stop of the tour and it’s going to be another big one. Prague is where the largest events in the history of the GSOP took place and being run so close to the EPT and WPT has proven to be an asset.
The star of the 10 GSOP events is the €1,100 Main Event which runs from Dec 13-16, but there are also side events for €110 and even less than €100.
The Main Event is followed by another €1,100 event: the Asian Poker Tour is paying its first-ever visit to Prague, too, and its own feature tournament will take place from Dec 16-18.
Christmas Vibe, Cheap Drinks Make Things Special
When all these are finished Christmas is just around the corner and it’s this pre-Christmas spirit along with the unique atmosphere of the Czech capital, the low prices for food and drink and the huge width of different tournament offers that make Prague one of the most popular poker stops worldwide.
If you haven’t been part of the Prague Poker Festival yet, you’ve missed out on something.
Tournaments are available from €50 to €50,000 buy-in and there are also still online satellites to some of the events.
Click here to find the complete schedule of the Prague Poker Festival excluding the EPT/Eureka.
