Poker Events Throughout Europe Cancelled as Covid-19 Strikes Back
Hopes of a return to normality amongst the poker playing community have evaporated as the Covid-19 infection rate is raging across the European Union once again. A so-called fourth wave and fears of a new Omicron Covid variant have seen governments take evasive action. Travel restrictions and curfews have led poker tournament organizers to pull the plug on scheduled events across Europe in recent days.
Despite tight restrictions in the Czech Republic and events across Europe being canceled, the World Series of Poker Europe continues this week. ©King’sCasino
Irish Eyes Are Not Smiling
A fortnight ago, Ireland introduced a midnight curfew for the hospitality industry. It has severely damaged local poker rooms and the country’s traditionally buoyant pub-poker scene.
New rules that came into place on Friday state that all travelers arriving into Ireland must have a negative antigen or PCR test to gain entry into the country. The tests will have to be privately paid for and cannot be home antigen tests.
The news signaled the death knell for the PartyPoker LIVE Grand Prix Dublin Festival originally scheduled for January. Another multi-player Irish tournament, the €150 entry €100,000 guaranteed Mammoth sponsored by PokerStars, had already fallen by the wayside.
World Series of Poker Europe Continues but EPT Bites the Dust
PokerStars’ European Poker Tour (EPT) Prague event due to begin on December 8th has also been cancelled. Its demise was confirmed after a 30-day state of emergency came into effect across Czechia last Friday.
Under the new rules, Christmas markets across the country have been banned and people are not permitted to drink alcohol in public places. Additionally, bars, restaurants, nightclubs, discotheques and casinos now close at 10 pm.
A clause allowing culture and sporting events with a limited 1,000 vaccinated attendance to go ahead has allowed the ongoing World Series of Poker Europe to continue. Start times at the King’s Casino hosted event have been adjusted, level periods reduced, and tournament fields capped.
Seemingly the Bounty Poker Days Festival that was scheduled to take place at the Grand Casino Asch also in Czechia, could not make similar adjustments. It too has been cancelled.
The Belgians’ Lose the Challenge
Belgium is another country to have introduced new Covid restrictions that have led to the cancellation of a live poker event.
With bars, restaurants and shops instructed to close at 11 pm, and the number of people seated at a single table inside a restaurant limited to six, Grand Casino de Namur had no option other than to cull the Belgian Poker Challenge.
The festival, with a €500,000 guaranteed main event and 19 additional satellites and side events, was due to start on December 9th.
The Liechtenstein Poker Festival is another mid-December event that has been cancelled because of tightened Covid restrictions.
Deferred, Cancelled and Washed Out
Only one of the recently canceled events has been rescheduled. The government-run Casinos Austria has announced the opening leg of the 2022 Casinos Austria Poker Tour – staged in the stunning Seefeld ski resort – will be put back from its original mid-January slot and will now begin at the end of February.
Only the Casinos Austria Poker Tour leg in Seefeld has been rescheduled. ©CAPT
Remarkably, two other events were scratched during the past week without Covid playing a part. Firstly, a TexaPoker Series event in Sanremo was lost due to casino employees strike action.
The second was a satellite event offering 50 tickets to next summer’s Battle of Malta Festival at Casino Malta. It fell victim to flooding, a severe damage was caused to much of the island when a month’s rainfall fell within a few hours last Wednesday.
The 2022 Battle of Malta is currently set to go ahead as scheduled. The 2020 edition attracted a whopping 4,657 entries over five starting flights. Many of the players in the €555 buy-in event had qualified online.
The best online poker sites are expected to begin their 2022 Battle of Malta online satellites in January.
