The WPT has added a whole new tour to its live tournament offer this year with the launch of WPT Prime. WPT Prime made its debut with festivals in Vietnam and Australia and its most recent event in Cambodia – a 12-day event in the spectacular Nagaworld resort casino in Phnom Penh – was a resounding success featuring more than 20 different tournaments.
Now it’s Europe’s turn to enjoy this great new addition to the global poker calendar. Next month WPT Prime heads to Spain for WPT Prime Madrid. This is the first WPT Prime outside of Asia and is the first event of any kind that the WPT has held in Spain since WPT Barcelona in 2019.
The festival runs from September 10-19 at the beautiful Casino Gran Via in the heart of the capital. The three-day €1,100 Main Event starts on Thursday, September 15 with four start flights in total – including a Day 1d Turbo on September 17.
In addition to the Main Event, there are 23 other tournaments on the schedule including a €220 Ladies Event on the first day of the festival, a €400 Seniors Event, a €5,250 High Roller and the €1,650 NLH Confidential Bounty tournament.
Casino Gran Vía is a stunning location for a poker tournament – an architectural treasure which dates back to 1924 and has spectacular views down Gran Via.
Let MainEventTravel find you the perfect place to stay for WPT Prime Madrid next month. You can also book your flight to Madrid’s Barajas Airport at the same time.
All WPT Prime Madrid players are eligible to win the prestigious Player of the Festival trophy along with a $1,100 WPT Prime Passport.
Among the well-known faces who will be at the event are WPT Executive Tour Director Matt Savage and Royal Flush Crew’s Raysa Peres.
Matt Savage is familiar to poker players all over the world after officiating at a record 400+ episodes of televised poker including the WSOP. It was also Savage on the microphone during one of the most pivotal moments in live poker when accountant Chris Moneymaker won the 2003 WSOP Main Event for $2.5 million after winning his seat online for just $86. Moneymaker’s victory is often credited with fuelling the modern-day poker boom.
Raysa Peres from the WPT’s Royal Flush Crew will also be at the Madrid festival. Raysa is a model, actress and TV host and, prior to that, was a professional pianist. Raysa’s modelling career has also propelled her into film and TV with several co-star credits to her name. Raysa, who has degrees in Business and Administration and International Economics, will be attending WPT Prime to welcome players and may also play some of the events.
The last WPT event in Spain was WPT Barcelona back in 2019. The event was one of the largest poker festivals Europe had ever seen, with a total prize pool guarantee of over €5.5 million. Latvia's Vitalijs Zavorotnijs outlasted the giant field of 1,227 entries to win the €3,300 Main Event for a lifetime best cash of €600,000.
The inaugural WPT Prime event in Vietnam attracted a huge number of players to the Crown Poker Club in Hanoi with 777 entries for the Main Event creating a prize pool of nearly $750,000. Indian player Zarvan Tumboli, a former runner-up in the India Poker Championship, took it down for the equivalent of $136,000.
The WPT’s Tournament Director Europe Andy Tillman said: “We are incredibly excited to be heading to Spain for the European launch of the new WPT Prime tour. The tour has already proved a big hit in the Asian market and we’re expecting players on this side of the globe to be equally enthusiastic about this new tour. The WPT Prime is ideally suited to both professional and recreational players with a packed schedule of tournaments featuring a wide range of buy-ins.”
WPT Prime Taiwan
The next WPT Prime festival after Madrid will be WPT Prime Taiwan. The event runs November 11 – 21 at the Chinese Texas Holdem Poker Club in Taipei’s Songshan District. The WPT held its first event in Taiwan in December 2020 and even though it was only open to players in Taiwan due to Covid, players came out in force to create a 526-strong Main Event field. WPT Live Events Specialist Danny McDonagh highly recommends players combine poker with seeing some of the magnificent sights of Taiwan.
£ GBP
$ USD
€ EUR
