2022 was a great year for poker lovers, following the outstanding success of several poker tournaments that took place in different locations across the globe all year round. As the popularity of poker grows, so does the ability of poker players and the strength of their poker strategies.
2023 has commenced, lots of live poker tournaments have been scheduled to take place in prominent places around the world. These tournaments have been advertised on television as well as on online poker sites. Be it for the satellite tournaments or the main event, the excitement for these events is through the roof.
These tournaments encourage poker lovers from different parts of the poker circuit around the world to come together, make new friends, travel together, discover new poker rooms, have fun, and participate in live tournaments at different casinos around the world. Those who won’t be able to participate in the tournaments or travel for the live events will be able to watch them play poker on television or use a poker live stream.
Bearing that in mind, we will share with you the scheduled live poker tournaments that will take place in the first half of the year in this article.
List of Major live poker tournaments
World Poker Tour World Championship
The WPT World Championship in Wynn was a resounding success. And guess what? 2023 can even be more intriguing as the World Poker Tour ( WPT) has announced its first half schedule for the year. These scheduled pokers for season 21 promises to be more exciting.
The CEO Adam Pliska had initially stated during the 20th season of WPT for a push and had even promised to get more partnerships in the next season.
According to Angelica Hael, the VP of Global Tour Management, she asserted that WPT prided itself in offering a broad range of tournament festivals whenever it had to do with locations and buy-ins.
The next WPT Main Tour event begins on April 1 at Thunder Valley Casino in California with a $3,500 buy-in. Since 2020, Thunder Valley hasn’t played home to a WPT live poker tournament until now. On April 28, the tour will resume at Seminole Hard Rock in Florida.
The $3,500 championship tournament produced a prize pool of approximately $8 million the last time the WPT visited in 2021. The Main Tournament will wrap off the first half of the year at Gardens Casino in California on May 21 and Choctaw in Oklahoma on May 5 respectively.
The first half of 2023 scheduled poker events for WPT are as follows:
| WPT Live Poker Tournaments | Location | Date |
| Prime Paris | Club Circus Paris – Paris, France | January 31 – February 5 |
| Prime Gold Coast | The Star Gold Coast – Gold Coast Australia | March 2 – March 6 |
| Prime Cambodia | Naga World Integrated Resort – Phnom Penh Cambodia | March 16 – March 20 |
| Prime Amsterdam | Holland Casino – Amsterdam Netherlands | March 29 – April 1 |
| Prime Rolling Thunder | Thunder Valley Casino – Lincoln, California | April 1 – April 4 |
| Prime India | Deltin Royale Casino – Goa, India | April 13 – April 17 |
| Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown | Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino – Hollywood, Florida | April 28 – May 2 |
| Choctaw | Choctaw Casino Resort – Durant, Oklahoma | May 5 – May 8 |
| Prime Slovakia | Card Casino Bratislava – Bratislava, Slovakia | May 11 – May 15 |
| Gardens Poker Championship | The Gardens Casino – Hawaiian Gardens, California | May 21 – May 25 |
| Prime Vietnam | Crown Poker Club – Hanoi, Vietnam | May 25 – May 29 |
| Prime Sanremo | Casinò di Sanremo – Sanremo, Italy | June 7 – June 11 |
888poker LIVE Tournament
888poker is one of the recognizable faces of online poker known for being the number one place for online poker games.
888LIVE is another popular tournament for poker game lovers that is set to commence at Madrid this January before making its way to London and then Barcelona.
In addition to the thrilling Main Events planned for each trip, 888poker has pledged to prominently incorporate the new Mystery Bounty format due to the overwhelming demand from players. The 888poker LIVE tour in 2023 will feature a lot more action in addition to these highlights.
Below are the planned stops and anticipated dates.
| 888poker LIVE Tournaments | Location | Date |
| LIVE Madrid | Casino Gran Via – Spain | January 13 – January 23 |
| LIVE London | Victoria Casino – London, United Kingdom | April 14 – April 24 |
| LIVE Barcelona | Fira Gran Via – Barcelona, Spain | May 10 – May 22 |
World Series Of Poker ( WSOP)
One of the biggest live tournaments, The World Series Of Poker is set to run from the 31st of May to the 18th of July 2023 following its successful feat in 2022 .
Espen Jorstad of Norway won the 2022 WSOPMain Event by defeating Adrian Attenborough of Australia at the final table. In doing so, Jorstad defeated 8,662 other competitors to win the $10 million top prize.
The second half of the 2022/2023 WSOP season is set to begin and the WSOP schedule for this year is as follows:
successful feat in 2022. WSOP’s schedule for this year is as follows:
| WSOP Tournaments | Date |
| Mystery Millions | May 31st |
| Gladiators of Poker | June 7th |
| Monster Stack | June 16th |
| Senior Championship | June 21st |
| Millionaire Maker | June 23rd |
| Ladies Championship | June 29th |
| Colossus | June 30th |
| Mini Main Event | July 2nd |
| WSOP Main Event | July 3rd |
| Lucky 7s | July 7th |
| Ultra Stack | July 11th |
| The Closer | July 14th |
The Festival Series First Half of 2023
The Festival Series is another popular live poker tournament that most poker lovers always look out for.
In February, The Festival will make its first stop in Britain. The Dusk till Dawn poker room will be host to this event which will be the Festival Series’ first trip to the United Kingdom. The Festival Series Poker tour is coming to the biggest poker room in the UK.
Here are the scheduled poker events of the Festival Series for the first half of 2023:
| The Festival Series Events | Location | Date |
| Festival in Nottingham | Dusk Till Dawn Poker Club – Nottingham, United Kingdom | February 13 – February 19 |
| Festival in Malta | Portomaso Casino – St. Julians, Malta | May 15 – May 21 |
Battle Of Malta
After a big win for Toivo Rinne in the 2022 Autumn Edition of the Battle of Malta Tournament, another major festival is set to follow suit in Northern Europe for poker lovers this year.
The festival is termed as one of the biggest regional events in Northern Europe.
Below is the Battle of Malta schedule for the first half of 2023:
| Events | Location | Date |
| Kings of Tallinn 2023 | Olympic Park Casino and Hilton Tallinn Park Hotel – Tallinn, Estonia | From February 24th |
| Battle of Malta Festival 2023 | Valletta, Malta in Europe | October 4 – October 12 |
PokerStars European Poker Tour 2023
The popular PokerStars is pleased to announce their schedule for the 2023 European Poker Tour and poker enthusiasts from all around the world are encouraged to participate.
According to Cedric Billot, PokerStars Head of Global Live Event Operations, the EPT schedule blends player favorites with intriguing new additions with five events, including two brand-new locations in Paris and Cyprus.
“Without a doubt, having two new, iconic locations will help us realize players’ goals in 2023. First time in the opulent French city, and Cyprus is a brand-new stop on the itinerary.
“We are excited to bring the best of an EPT to this new site because it is the ideal place to add to our program.
Their lineup of Poker tournaments are as follows:
| Events | Location | Date |
| EPT Paris | Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile – Paris | February 15 – February 26 |
| EPT Monte – Carlo | Monte Carlo Casino – Monaco | April 26 – May 6 |
| EPT Barcelona | Casino Barcelona – Carrer de la Marina | August 21 – September 3 |
| EPT Cyprus | Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino and Spa – Kyrenia | October 11 – October 22 |
| EPT Prague | Kings Casino Prague in Hilton Prague Hotel – Pobrenzni, Czech Republic | December 6 – December 17 |
U-Series Of Poker Taiwan 2023
Many thanks to UPoker, as it will be hosting the U Series Of Poker Taiwan 2023 in the famous city of Taipei between February 15th to February 19th.
The last man standing will walk away with the grand prize of 10 000 000 TWD and a beautiful trophy.
Voyager Poker Club 2M GTD
The beautiful city of Cebu will be host to the Voyager Poker Club poker tournament where fans will witness exciting play January 8 to January 14, 2023. The winner of the Voyager Poker Club 2M GTD will get a handsome prize of 2 million GTD.
Poker Dream Malaysia 2023
Poker Dream will be hosting a poker tournament in the Resorts World Genting Casino, located on the Gentings Highlands that is scheduled to take place between the 9th to 15th of January, 2023.
Minh Anh Nguyen defeated Brandon Koh in heads-up to claim the biggest slice of the VND 17,940,150,000 (~ $722,083) prize pool in last year’s main event which was held in Vietnam.
Asian Poker Tour 2023
A new stop announced for the live tournament is Hanoi, Vietnam which is replacing the Manila APT that was supposed to be the first destination in 2023.
Nevertheless, APT Hanoi, which runs from February 3–12 in collaboration with the Vietnam Series of Poker (VSOP), will bring Asia’s most renowned poker tour back to the VSOP Club in Hanoi, Vietnam, for the third time in its history.
APT Hanoi, however, which takes place from February 3–12 in conjunction with the Vietnam Series of Poker (VSOP), will bring Asia’s most prestigious poker tour back to the VSOP Club in Hanoi, Vietnam, for the third time in its history.
South Korea’s Doo Sik Nam was crowned APT Da Nang Main Event Champion, winning ₫2,59BN in a dominant table performance which saw him beat eight other finalists with brilliant poker strategy in the last event.
