For most poker players, taking a seat in an event like the World Series of Poker, an EPT or the Irish Open may be the pinnacle of their ambition at the table. But such prestigious tournaments don’t happen very often and they cost an arm and sometimes even a leg to take part in.

Getting into the prize money isn’t easy and the hotels at premiere events are not cheap. This might not bother you too much if you’ve won an online package that includes some expenses, but quite often, the overriding feeling for someone playing a big ticket event for the first time, is being out-of-one’s depth.

Play a few more of them and you’ll settle in nicely, but with high buy-ins, that’s easier said than done. There are however lots of poker tournaments which might be more practical for gaining experience in big-field events.

Across Europe there are several lower buy-in poker tournaments, which are perfect for gaining experience before stepping up to play in something bigger. They are also rather good for poker holidays in their own right. 

The format of most low buy-in, big field poker events usually consists of multiple starting flights, which take place over the course of several days, with each heat playing down to 10-15% of the field. There are then typically one or two further days for the tournament to reach its conclusion.

This scheduling makes it ideal for those who only have two or three days to spare for a poker trip, as it’s often possible to play a starting flight even on the penultimate day of the festival.

We’ve sussed out the biggest low-buy in poker events in Europe to attend, but before we get into that, here’s a few words of advice on how to plan a poker holiday.

Planning Your Poker Holiday

The first thing you need to consider when planning a poker holiday is who you are going with. This is quite important as it will dictate how much time you spend playing poker versus doing other holiday type activities. 

If you’re lucky enough to have a significant other that also likes to play, you can fully focus on the poker for as long as you both still have the energy. If your partner isn’t so keen on playing poker, but just fancies a holiday, it might sound good on paper, but in reality it can be boring for them. 

No matter how excited you are about telling a non-playing partner on the rail about how you just made a hero fold, there’s a big part of them that wishes you called, just to get out of the casino and do something different instead. And when you declare that you’re entering the side event just after busting main, the look of dismay on their face is often hard to hide.

 While traveling with a non-playing poker partner can work out well for some, it’s risky and a trip with a group of fellow players might be a better idea than going with a loved one.

Getting the Crew Together

Starting a What’s App group is a good way to get the discussion going for a poker holiday. If you already have a regular home game or group of poker friends, chat groups are useful to fine tune plans and recruit others to join your adventure. Once you’ve chosen a few possible events to visit, you can set up a poll to find out everyone’s preferred options. 

Plan in Advance

Whether you’re going solo, in a small group or a larger one, the key is to plan far enough in advance, or there’s a chance it might not happen. By their very nature, large-field poker events have a lot of people attending them. Flights and hotel rooms will therefore be in high demand and if you don’t get your act together quickly, you might be faced with low availability and higher air fares.

Choosing a Poker Event to Attend

As well as poker festivals, casinos and poker clubs usually have their own weekly schedules, so there’s a lot of low-buy in action to choose from and often it’s right on your doorstep. But if you want the really big fields, with huge guarantees and big prize money, you may have to look a little further afield. 

There are lots of poker events where the main event buy-in is in the €500-€600 range, but for the purposes of this article, low buy-in is defined as €300 and under. 

Online Resources

There are a few online resources that can be useful to help find out what’s on and where.

The HendonMob – the best known live poker database has been operating for over twenty years and is still one of the most comprehensive, with most live events in Europe and America listed. The HendonMob’s greatest strength is as a results database, with ITM payouts and tournament data such as entries and total prize pool also listed.

PokerAtlas – PokerAtlas is very good for coverage of poker events and venues in North America, but is less useful in Europe, where it has more patchy coverage. For venues that are listed, it’s a great resource with cash game info, weekly tournament schedules and upcoming festival details.

MTTDB – MTTDB is a new site which brings together live and online tournament schedules. For full disclosure, it’s my site and when I’m not writing for LPU, I spend most of my time maintaining and updating it. Focused on clearly presented, fully filterable tournament schedules, users can also search by game type and buy-in range.

Biggest Low Buy-In Events in Europe

So where do the biggest events take place and what’s coming up in 2026 that would be worth including on a short-list of places to go on a poker holiday to?

My last article for LPU was an extensive guide to the big poker destinations in central Europe including King’s Casino (Rozvadov, Cz) and Banco (Bratislava, Slovakia). Unsurprisingly these are two of the biggest producers of low buy-in, big field poker tournaments, each hosting several per year.

King’s Resort Rozvadov Events

King’s Resort in the Czech Republic is the largest poker casino in Europe and it is built around low buy-in, big field events. There’s one almost every week with buy-ins often as low as €150 and big guarantees. The biggest have €1m guarantees and cost less than €300 to enter and there are several still set to take place in 2026.

King’s Resort Events	Dates	Main Event Buy-in	Guarantee
European Poker Festival	27th April-4th May	€299	€1,000,000
King’s Million 23rd Birthday	22nd-29th June	€230	€1,000,000
France Poker Festival (FPF)	18th-25th May	€290	€1,000,000

 

In addition to these €1m spectaculars, there are also a few with even lower buy-ins that also have significant six-figure guarantees, such as the Deutsche Poker Tour & Benelux Classic, each costing €175 to play, with €300,000 guarantees. They all produce huge first prizes for a relatively low buy-in, which is their main attraction. 

King’s Resort Events	Dates	Main Event Buy-in	Guarantee
Deutsche Poker Tour	11th-17th May	€175	€300,000
Benelux Classics	15th-22nd June	€175	€300,000

 

Getting to Rozvadov isn’t straightforward. It’s about 2 hours from Prague Airport and a little longer from Munich. Take what you need with you, as there is only minimal shopping nearby. For those focused fully on poker, Rozvadov is perfect, but you will need to book your accommodation well in advance, to ensure you can stay at the on-site hotel.

Banco Casino Events

Also in central Europe, Slovakia is another hotbed of poker activity, especially in and around Bratislava. Situated in the centre of the city is Banco Casino, which since last year has been a poker only venue, after a local law was passed forbidding casinos games within the city limits. 

Being situated right on the edge of the historic old town makes Banco a perfect location for combining poker with a city break and can even be suitable for those with non-poker playing travel companions.

Banco hosts many low buy-in festivals throughout the year with at least one festival every month, most with very affordable buy-ins. Like King’s Resort, Banco live streams its final tables, so if you do go deep, those who couldn’t make it can at least watch in envy when you claim one of the big payouts.

The key event brand is the Banco Masters, which runs a few times per year, with a €170 buy-in and a €250,000 guarantee. Last year’s April edition had 2,098 entries and generated a first prize of over €40,000.

The Polish Poker Series also holds four events per year at Banco Casino, also with €250,000 guaranteed and even cheaper €150 buy-ins. The most recent edition had over 3,000 entries.

Card Casino Samorin

Another venue close to Bratislava is the Card Casino in Samorin which tends to have events with slightly bigger buy-ins, with most still coming in at under €500. One such festival, which lends itself very well to a poker holiday is the Beer Poker Tour, which has a €250 buy-in main event with €250,000 guaranteed. 

Bratislava Events	Dates	Main Event Buy-in	Guarantee
Spring Polish Poker Cup	18th-25th May	€170	€250,000
Banco Casino Masters	15th-22nd June	€170	€250,000
Beer Poker Tour	23rd-28th June	€250	€250,000

The Goliath

So far we’ve only looked at events in central Europe, which to be fair is where most of them take place, but there are other big poker events a little closer to home. The biggest of them all is the Goliath, which is now in its 16th year and keeps getting bigger every time. 

In 2025 a record 12,961 entries were made in the £200 buy-in event, producing a prize pool of just under £2m. Paul Worsley, who was on the brink of giving up poker at the time, took down the event and its £316,000 first prize.

The Goliath takes place again this year at Grosvenor Coventry from July 23rd to August 3rd,

The Monster

But to play in big field, low buy-in poker events, you don’t even have to leave Ireland. The Irish Poker Tour’s Monster, which takes place at the Green Isle Hotel in Dublin fits the bill perfectly. With a €200 buy-in and a €300,000 guarantee, it runs from April 30th until May 4th, with a full schedule of side events. Last year over 2,100 entries were made.

Summer in Dublin

That’s not the only big field event on the IPT, the €300 Summer in Dublin Main Event has a €200,000 guarantee and participation is likely to be in excess of four figures. Last year’s edition saw 1,087 players take their seats.

   

Irish Poker Tour Events	Dates	Main Event Buy-in	Guarantee
The Monster	30th April-4th May	€200	€300,000
Summer in Dublin	23rd-26th July	€300	€200,000