The World Series of Poker and King’s Casino Rozvadov have finalized the schedule for this fall’s 2018 WSOP Europe poker series. The series, in Rozvadov, Czech Republic, will run from October 9 to November 2, 2018, and will award 10 official WSOP gold bracelets to event winners.
The World Series of Poker returns this fall to King’s Casino Rozvadov in Rozvadov, Czech Republic, for the WSOP Europe series. The WSOP Europe’s second trip to Rozvadov will offer one of the largest prize pools for a poker series in Europe.
World Series of Poker officials released the WSOP Europe schedule during the WSOP (US) festivities in Las Vegas, Nevada. The series’ traditional start-of-June announcement of the WSOP Europe slate was slightly delayed because the event’s dates were adjusted from a tentatively announced opening day of October 11.
It’s the second consecutive year that the WSOP Europe festivities have been held in Rozvadov, a Czech tourist town just over the border from eastern Germany. The Czech Republic became WSOP Europe’s third home country since the European version of the famed poker series was launched about a decade ago, following previous efforts in England and France.
This fall’s WSOP Europe series also marks the return of the poker festival as an annual event. WSOP officials had experimented with making WSOP Europe a biennial event during the middle part of this decade, in part because of the scarcity of convention hall-sized licensed gambling spaces at the earlier English and French venues, a logistic problem largely solved by the move to the Czech casino.
€13.9 million in prize guarantees
The 2018 WSOP promises to award well over €13m (￡11.4m; $15.1m) over the course of its 10 official “bracelet” events, meaning those events that award their winners a gold champion’s bracelet in addition to the large cash payday. The €13 million figure, though, represents a bare minimum; last year’s similar series at King’s Casino Rozvadov ended up paying more than €25m (￡21.8m; $29m) to its participating players, but with 11 bracelet events, not 10.
The two highlight events of the WSOP Europe slate, each with a €5 (￡4.4; $5.8) prize pool guarantee, are a €100,000 (￡87,355; $115,905) buy-in “Super High Roller” event that begins on October 26, and the WSOP Europe series’ main event itself. The main event has a €10,350 (￡9041; $11,992) buy-in and has two separate starting days, or flights, on October 27 and 28.
Preceding circuit stop creates 47-day WSOP run
Also announced at the same time was the addition of one of the WSOP’s International Circuit stops, to be held at the same venue in the weeks before the WSOP Europe festivities begin. This circuit series, which offers a similar schedule but at lower price points, will be held September 20 to October 8, 2018.
The circuit events offer rings instead of bracelets to the events’ winners, in keeping with the WSOP’s tradition of awarding jewelry rather than trophies in addition to prize money. All told, the WSOP Circuit and WSOP Europe series combine to offer 47 consecutive days of WSOP-branded play, one of the longest stretches of themed poker tournament offerings available anywhere on the globe. Advertising on the King’s Casino website actually claims a November 5 end date to the festivities, though the last three days are a “King’s Casino Cup” poker offering unrelated to the WSOP festivities.
WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart said: “King’s Casino does everything big and first class, so we can’t wait to return to Rozvadov for the 2018 World Series of Poker Europe. With €13 million in guarantees on bracelet events, plus a phenomenal cash game scene, we highly recommend you make plans to join us this fall in Europe’s best-kept poker secret.”
King’s Casino owner Leon Tsoukernik commented: “It was a dream to host WSOP Europe and I can’t wait to do it again. We hope everyone who came last year comes back for our warm hospitality and generous offerings, and for those who missed out, please join us for Europe’s biggest poker event of the year.”