EPT Prague First Event Set to be “Biggest Ever”

Thousands of poker players have descended on Prague this month for two large poker festivals running concurrently in the Czech capital.

EPT Prague got underway Sunday with its first event, the Main Event of PokerStars’ Eastern European poker tour Eureka!. The €1100-buyin NL tournament saw 366 players register on Day 1A Sunday, and an unprecedented 880 are expected to turn up today.

With late registration still open, organizers expect it to be the biggest ever live tournament hosted in Prague: More than 80 tables are in action to accommodate the numbers right now, and tables are being added “as fast as possible” to accommodate the influx.

The Eureka main is just the start of ten days of poker action at the Hilton Prague Hotel. Other key events include the EPT10 – PLO Championship with a €5300 buyin, the €2200 Eureka Highroller, and the €5300 EPT Main Event.

For those with more modest bankrolls, there are midstakes tournaments kicking off every day and, for the first time at EPT Prague, there are cash games running 24/7 throughout the festival (assuming the tables haven’t been recommissioned to cope with the flood of tournament players).

And if that wasn’t enough poker action for poker tourists, the EPT is not the only poker festival going on in the city. The Prague Poker Festival, hosted in the Card Casino on the other side of the city, is already in full swing. It got underway late last week and the series runs through to December 20. Events are hosted by the likes of Everest Poker, 888 and bwin’s WPT Prague, along with daily tournaments put on by Living it Loving It, Grand Live and World SNG Masters.

The key event to look out for is the 5-day bwin WPT Prague Main Event, a €3300-buyin tournament that commences on Sunday.