Continuing in its expansion and promotion of poker around the globe, it was announced yesterday that the World Poker Tour has joined forces with the Slovak Poker Sport Federation to create the WPT Slovakia, a tournament that will be held in August in the nation’s capital of Bratislava.
The first ever WPT tournament to be held in Central Europe, the WPT Slovakia will be a €4,000+€400 Deep Stack Main Event and will be played out from August 31st through September 4th at the Herna Golden VEGAS Casino in Bratislava. The tournament will be a part of the Central European Summer Poker Championship, which begins on August 26th and will play through the WPT Slovakia. Buy ins for the Central European Summer Poker Championship will range from €50 to €1500 and Steve Frezer – a well-known and respected Tournament Director from the United States – will bring his top notch team of dealers from around the world to provide a quality tournament staff.
“The Slovak Poker Sport Federation is delighted to be associated with a top brand like the World Poker Tour in the creation of this unique and attractive event in the territory of Central and Eastern Europe. With the creation of WPT Slovakia we intend to emphasize Bratislava’s attributes as a highly desirable destination for all poker players”, Dag Palovic, the President of the Slovak Poker Sport Federation, stated during the announcement. “The casino partner was also important to us, and Golden VEGAS is truly a location worthy of the players, the poker media and the WPT event.”
“WPT Slovakia is a unique and exciting addition to the World Poker Tour‘s expanding international tournament offering”, added Steve Lipscomb, the WPT Founder and CEO. “We have found a great partner in Slovak Poker Sport Federation, who are truly dedicated to growing the sport of poker in the Central and Eastern European territory.”
The Slovak Poker Sport Federation is an organization that supervises poker as a sport throughout the nation. The organization joins together the interests of poker players, poker clubs and poker fans in the Slovak Republic to promote the game in much the same way as other sports, such as soccer and chess, have organized federations. The Slovak Poker Sport Federation is also a founding member of the International Federation of Poker, which was formed on April 29th of this year as a global governing body for the sport and features noted poker writer Anthony Holden as its president.
The WPT has been very active in establishing national poker tournaments around the world. With the addition of the WPT Slovakia, five foreign locales now play host to tournaments under the WPT banner. The original tournament, the WPT Spain, was first played in 2008 and will once again feature a tournament on the International WPT schedule that starts tomorrow at the Casino Barcelona. Back in May, the WPT Venice played out at the Casino Di Venezia, with Sweden’s Ragnar Astrom taking the championship over a 397 player field. Other international events, along with the WPT Slovakia, include the WPT Cyprus (scheduled for play from September 6th through the 12th) at the Merit Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino and the WPT Marrakech (October 12th through 19th) at the Casino De Marrakech.
