EPT Prague Canceled

Live poker may have rebounded during 2021 and the World Series of Poker went on with many issues, but the unpredictable nature of the COVID-19 pandemic has always left open the possibility of continued disruptions in players traveling to tournaments or even the tournament happening at all.

The latest casualty is the Prague stop on the European Poker Tour, which had been scheduled to run from December 8th to December 19th. PokerStars and the EPT announced last week that the tournament had been postponed due to new COVID restrictions put into place in the Czech Republic after a state of emergency was declared.

The tournament will now be rescheduled for a later date in 2022.

A brief statement released by the European Poker Tour can be read in full:

Following the recent government restrictions put in place in the Czech Republic we have had to make the unfortunate decision to postpone EPT Prague.

We understand that this will be disappointing news to our players, but we must follow the government guidance given to us.

The health and safety of our staff and players is a top priority and we will look to run EPT Prague at a later date when we are safe and able to do so.

For information regarding qualifier seat/package refunds please contact [email protected] for more details.

The news comes on the heels of a significant rise of cases of COVID-19 in the Czech Republic. The same outbreak lead to the World Series of Poker Europe — which is also being hosted by the King’s Casino in the Czech Republic— to restrict attendance to players that have been fully vaccinated or have contracted COVID and recovered.

As recently as a week prior, King’s Resort had confirmed that EPT Prague would continue. However, after consideration event organizers determined it wouldn’t be feasible.

The 2021 World Series of Poker Europe, which is in its final week, will continue as planned, albeit with some schedule changes.