World Poker Tour to Return to Cyprus Twice By the End of the Year

The World Poker Tour (WPT) is returning to the Chamada Prestige Hotel & Casino not once but twice before the end of the year. The news will be welcomed by those affected by the WPT Prime Cyprus Championship cancellation earlier this year.

WPT Cyprus runs August 12-24, with a $3,500 buy-in WPT Cyprus Championship scheduled for August 19-24. This event boasts a $2 million guaranteed prize pool.

When the WPT last ran a $3,500 buy-in Main Event in Cyprus, it attracted 775 entrants and paid out $2,402,500. Georgia’s Ilia Kitsbabashvili was the last man standing. He took home a career-best $401,100 less than a week after taking down a $1,100 No-Limit Hold’em Freezeout and a $1,100 Pot-Limit Omaha Bounty event at the same festival for a combined $49,680.

The rescheduled $1,100 WPT Prime Cyprus Championship event will now take place between October 15-19, featuring a $1 million guaranteed prize pool. It is the showpiece of the WPT Prime Cyprus festival, which runs October 7-19.

WPT CEO Adam Pliska is looking forward to returning to Cyprus.

“Cyprus has become an increasingly popular destination for international poker players, and we are thrilled to return with not just one but two major festivals during Season 24. The team at Chamada Prestige Hotel & Casino continues to provide an outstanding player experience, and we look forward to crowning new WPT and WPT Prime champions later this year.”

March 2025 was the last time the Chamada Prestige Hotel & Casino hosted a $1,100 WPT Prime event. On that occasion, 1,391 players created a $1,349,270 prize pool. Algerian Omar Lakhdari came out on top and took home $200,830 after defeating Turkey’s Atilla Saracoglu ($125,000) heads-up.

WPT postponed the $1,100 WPT Prime Cyprus Championship due to the war in Iran. The event was scheduled to run March 5-9, but the escalating conflict in the Middle East resulted in WPT pulling the plug on the event. A statement at the time, posted on the social media platform X, read:

“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 event 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 a $1,100 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em event as part of the festival.”

The $1,100 buy-in event that replaced the postponed WPT Prime Cyprus Championship went ahead as promised. The Chamada Prestige Main Event attracted a 1,114-strong field who help build a $1,080,580 prize pool.

Germany’s Frank Kooopman took home $178,580 after leaving all those entrants in his wake, including runner-up Szymon Politowski and Miroslav Rizov, who received $129,000 and $100,000, respectively.

Matthew Pitt hails from Leeds, West Yorkshire, in the United Kingdom, and has worked in the poker industry since 2008, and worked for PokerNews since 2010. In September 2010, he became the editor of PokerNews. Matthew stepped away from live reporting duties in 2015, and now concentrates on his role of Senior Editor for the PokerNews.