The Biggest Upcoming Poker Events to Look Forward to in 2022
3 minutes
Posted by: Ivan
After a very dry period for live poker over the past couple of years, things seem to be getting back on track. The last year finished on a strong note, with the World Series of Poker exceeding all expectations, and 2022 promises a lot of quality tournament action.
In this article, I’ll look into some of the biggest upcoming poker events in the next few months. Of course, if these are out of your budget or simply too far, the good news is there are many smaller tournaments and tournament series across the board.
That said, even if you aren’t planning to play in one of these, it’ll still be fun to keep up with the action as these events tend to attract some of the best poker players. If you’re a poker fan, it’s always interesting to see the best take their seat at the table as they chase after another big title.
On another note, although live poker is coming back in force, online poker is as popular as ever, with many countries seeing a great surge in players. For example, online poker in India is as popular as ever, and this trend is present in many European countries as well.
GUKPT London in January 2022
The first event of the popular Grosvenor Poker Tour will take place January 27 – February 6, 2022, at The Poker Room, London, UK.
There is just one €1,250 event on the schedule, but with multiple starting days, it’s safe to assume the tournament will attract quite a few players.
If you’ve been craving some live tournament action and just can’t wait any longer, the GUKPT London is a great pick to get your year started in the right way. The buy-in is more than reasonable, and you can expect the prize pool to be well-worth fighting for.
Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza I in February 2022
For those living in Las Vegas or planning their winter holiday there, the first of the 2022 Deep Stack Extravaganza events at the Venetian will kick off on January 31 and last throughout February.
While this isn’t a “major” series by the strictest definition, these events offer great structures, generous prize pools, and plenty of play for very affordable buy-ins.
Buy-ins range from $300 to $2,500, and the $2,500 Ultimate Stack event offers a guarantee of $1,000,000, so it’s hard to ask for more than that. There are several other events featuring six-figure guarantees, including the $600 Monster Stack (150K GTD).
EPT Prague in March 2022
The European Poker Tour event in Prague, Czech Republic, was supposed to take place in December last year. However, a sudden surge in Covid cases resulted in new measures, making it impossible to host the tournament.
So, PokerStars decided to postpone the event, and the new dates are March 5 – 16, 2022. Hopefully, things will go as planned this time around, and players will get to take part in one of the biggest tournaments in Europe.
There is a rich schedule of events during the period, with the €5,300 Main Event being the one that all the pros are looking forward to.
For those with smaller bankrolls, the good news is that the Eureka series will take place during the same time slot and at the same venue, King’s Casino Prague. These tournaments feature much lower buy-ins of a few hundred euros, and the Main Event is just €1,100.
World Series of Poker 2022 (June & July)
Although it’s still a few months away, it’s never too early to start planning for your World Series of Poker trip. For this year, the organizers have moved the date back to the usual time slot, which means the 2022 WSOP will kick off on May 31 and last until July 19.
The schedule for this year’s series hasn’t been announced yet, but it seems clear that it will take place at a new venue, the Bally’s / Paris Las Vegas.
For those who have become used to playing at the Rio, this will be a big change. If you’re going for the first time, though, it won’t make any difference, and moving the venue on the famous Las Vegas strip could help generate some more traffic.
Of course, with the World Series being the biggest poker event, there is still a possibility that the organizers will have to postpone the event depending on the health situation.
But, as things stand right now, this seems unlikely, so you can start planning for a summer vacation in Las Vegas.
