Late Tuesday night, the World Poker Tour (WPT) announced it was postponing WPT Prime Cyprus. This is directly due to the conflict in the Middle East, as the Chamada Prestige Hotel & Casino in Northern Cyprus is less than 1,000 miles from the Iranian border.
The $1,100 WPT Prime Cyprus Championship, a $1,000,000 guaranteed tournament, was set to take place from March 5th to the 9th. The WPT-sanctioned event will take place at a later date.
However, Chamada will host the rest of their current schedule as planned. The remainder of the series, which started on February 25th, includes a $3,800 Super High Roller, an $880 Mystery Bounty, and a $2,200 two-day High Roller.
In addition, the official WPT Prime Cyprus Championship event will be replaced by an $1,100 multi-day Main Event, though it won’t include a $1,000,000 guarantee or the prestigious WPT title.
Official WPT statement
Though nothing has been updated on the World Poker Tour website, WPT released a statement on social media.
“The World Poker Tour is closely following the evolving situation in the Eastern Mediterranean region and surrounding areas.
“Due to ongoing flight cancellations and travel uncertainties, WPT team members are unable to attend the event. As a result, the $1,100 WPT Prime Cyprus Championship will be postponed and rescheduled at a later date.
“The current remaining festival of events will proceed as planned with the full support of the experienced on-site team at Chamada Prestige Hotel & Spa. The revised schedule will continue to include an $1,100 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event as part of the schedule.
“As this situation continues to develop, we encourage all players planning to travel to Cyprus to remain in contact with their respective airlines, follow updates from official sources, and stay informed so they can make the best decisions based on the most current information available.”
Upcoming World Poker Tour events
The World Poker Tour will now put all of its focus into the upcoming $3,500 WPT Rolling Thunder Championship, which will go down from March 29 to April 1 at Thunder Valley Casino Resort in Lincoln, California.
After that, it’s the much-anticipated WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship, a $3,500 championship event that will take place from April 24-29 at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. This is the last event scheduled before the beginning of the 2026 World Series of Poker.
Nick Seward won the most recent World Poker Tour championship event, taking down the WPT Venetian Spring Poker Championship. Seward topped the 488-entry field to win the $418,700 top prize, along with a $10,000 ticket to the WPT World Championship.
More poker cancellations
In addition, Cardplayer Lifestyle’s Robbie Strazynski announced earlier in the week that he has cancelled his Mixed Games Festival XIII, which was set to take place at Resorts World in Las Vegas from March 8-12 and March 15-19.
“For those who don’t know, I live in Israel,” Strazynski wrote on Cardplayer Lifestyle.
“As of this writing, our skies are closed ‘indefinitely’ due to the ongoing situation in this part of the world. British Airways cancelled my ticket almost immediately. Even our national carrier, El Al, which always flies (even during wartime), is not currently allowing people to purchase new tickets as it focuses its operations and resources on bringing citizens stranded abroad home to their families.”
In the meantime, expected attendees vowed to show up to Resorts World to play small-stakes mixed games on their own. They can expect to do so once again for the Mixed Games Festival XIV, which will take place from May 31-June 11 at Bellagio Las Vegas.
