The 2024 season from 888poker LIVE is well underway with the second stop of the season kicking off on March 16. The festival features 9 days of live poker in the branded 888poker Room Bucharest.
The operator opened the new Bucharest room last August with a live series and it returned again this year for the festival which lasts until March 24. Among the highlights upcoming this week in Bucharest are four days of Main Event opening flight action, as well as a Mystery Bounty game for €220 and a High Roller for €1,100.
This series marks the fourth outing for 888 in the “Paris of the East.” In 2021, the operator using Bucharest as a tentative return to live poker after the pandemic shutdowns of 2020. The 888poker LIVE tour also managed a successful stop in June of 2022 with that year marking a slow return of global live poker.
From Madrid to Bucharest via Sevilla & Luton
Bucharest is the second stop of the year on the main 888poker LIVE tour, which sees five total stops throughout 2024. The tour started kicked off in Madrid in January and will later visit London Barcelona, Coventry later this year.
However, beyond these flagship stops, the operator has added some regional flare. A few weeks after the close of ceremonies in Madrid, the crew from 888 was back in Spain for another regional CNP Spanish tour. It opened in Seville in late Feb with tour action moving to Barcelona for the second stop starting April 8.
Across the channel in the UK, things ramped up for 2024 with the newly formed UK Poker League (UKPL). With seven series on the 2024 schedule, the inaugural season of the UKPL hit the ground running and there are already three series in the books. The most recent games were held in Luton from Mar 5-10 after successful opening stops in Coventry and Edinburgh.
The UKPL series all feature a €560 Main Event and, so far, the games have been pretty well attended. Between the three UKPL Main Events so far, nearly 1,000 entries have been recorded with combined prizes just shy of €500k.
Four Days of Main Event Flights in Bucharest
The highlight of any live poker stop is always the Main Event as it tends to attract the biggest fields with the biggest prizes to be won at the end. When players arrive in Bucharest for this year’s €560 Main they will have four starting days to fill up a bag with chips before players get down to the real business on Mar 23 for Day 2 and the money.
Main Event Details
- Dates: Mar 20-24
- Buy-In: €560
- Day 1s
- Day 1a: Mar 20, 5 pm
- Day 1b: Mar 21, 5 pm
- Day 1c” Mar 22, 3 pm
- Day 1d: Mar 22, 9 pm (Turbo)
- Day 2: Mar 23, 3 pm
- Day 3: Mar 24, 3 pm
Of course, the Main Event is not the only game on the docket in Bucharest this week. Playing out alongside Main Event Day 1 flight will be the biggest buy-in of the series, the €1,100 High Roller. That big game runs Day 1 on Mar 20 at 3 pm with Day 2 playing out on Mar 21 starting at 1 pm.
For players looking at the other end of the buy-ins, Mar 21 features the second lowest-priced non-qualifier game on the schedule, The Voyage for just €88. There are also daily live satellites to the Main Event at €88 along with The Mid Shot for €150 and several €220 games.
The Bucharest games are hosted by the impressive 888poker Room Bucharest, a branded facility that has quickly become a jewel in the 888poker crown. The new room opened in Aug of 2023 with last year’s version of this series running it through the paces.
