Poker Destinations in Central Europe

Back in the old days, which in poker terms means 25 years ago, there were only a few places in Europe that you could visit, to be sure to get a good game of poker. London (The Vic), Paris (The Aviation Club) and Vienna (Concorde Card Casino) were the key places that held regular festivals, with a few others such as Amsterdam and Helsinki occasionally getting a look in. Dublin has also been a part of the tradition of European poker, with the Irish Open having had 46 editions since it first began, in 1980.

As poker became more popular, more and more European destinations have become known as good places to visit for a poker holiday. The rise of poker tours put a lot of places on the poker map of Europe, including seasonal and once-per year destinations, plus several that operate all-year round.  

What Defines a Good Poker Holiday?

A good poker holiday is determined by a number of things and not just the time spent at the poker table, although that is usually top of the agenda. While the provision of a well-run event is still the main reason to visit somewhere to play poker, other factors are also important.

1. Accessibility
2. Affordability
3. Accommodation
4. Gastronomy
5. Non-poker things to See and Do (maybe)

The region that we are examining in this article ticks all of these boxes, offering a genuine mix of cultural activities, dining and of course poker playing. It’s perhaps the busiest region of Europe when it comes to provision of live poker festivals.

Back in 1980, when live poker events in Europe first began, the locations that we will look at in this article were all part of Czechoslovakia. Two of these destinations, Prague and Bratislava are now capitals of separate countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. 

Poker in the Czech Republic

The story of poker in the region begins in the small village of Rozvadov in the Czech Republic, just a few miles away from the border with Germany.

Kings Casino Rozvadov 

 

It was here that art dealer Leon Tsoukernik opened King’s Casino in 2003. Poker was first spread in 2006 and within a few years, what was once a small casino in a village that nobody had ever heard of before, became the largest poker venue in Europe.

For its first few years its poker footprint was minimal, but in 2009, the casino began to invent itself as an all-year-round poker destination. Every weekend, for almost two years, a €50,000 guaranteed tournament, with a €365 buy-in was held. Rozvadov is a tiny village nowhere near any centres of population and with no local player base to speak of, it missed the guarantee for over a year. 

King’s Casino began as the smaller of the two in the village, second to the Admiral Casino across the road. Before poker, the village’s two casinos relied upon visiting traffic, mostly from nearby Germany. There were less than a dozen rooms in the small hotel above the casino and players had to find lodgings in B&B’s and small hotels up to 50km away. 

But news of this new poker mecca in the middle of Europe soon spread and interest grew. By 2013, international operators like PokerStars Live were hosting events at King’s Casino. In the years that followed, brands like 888, Party Poker and the World Series of Poker began hosting events in Rozvadov.

Expansion and Growth

In 2017, it expanded, adding a 5-star hotel, a new casino floor and a private salon decorated with impressionist paintings. A huge Andy Warhol piece adorned the wall of the new reception. The property had transformed from King’s Casino into King’s Resort and in the same year, hosted the World Series of Poker Europe for the first time, becoming the event’s annual home for the next nine years.

After the 2017 expansion, the business model of being an all-year-round poker venue was taken to the next level. With more rooms on site, events grew and almost every week, a festival with several hundred thousand euros guaranteed was staged. With over 200 tables and the capacity to host more than 300 if required, it firmly established itself as Europe’s biggest poker casino and has held the accolade for well over a decade. 

Poker Festivals at King’s Resort

Most of the events that take place at King’s Resort are low buy-in festivals, centred around multi-flight Main Events with huge guarantees. A few times per year, more extensive festivals such as WSOP Circuit events take place. The biggest event of the year had been the World Series of Poker Europe in autumn, but in 2026 it switched to King’s other location in Prague, where it is currently underway. 

The hole in the calendar that the WSOPE has left is being filled with an ambitious new event, the King’s Million devised by King’s Resort CEO Federico Brunato. It’s a €1,150 buy-in event with a €5m guarantee and takes place in September.

Poker Holidaying in Rozvadov

If you’re looking for a serious poker holiday, where playing cards is the main thing you’re going to be doing, King’s Casino is a great option. With an adjoining five star hotel and spa, an almost 24-hour buffet and fine dining options also available on site, the only things you really need to plan are how to get there and what to play when you arrive.

It’s about a two hour drive from Prague and slightly further to Munich, although the closest airport is in Nuremberg, which takes an hour and half to get to. From an accessibility point of view, getting to King’s Resort isn’t the quickest, but free shuttles are laid on from all nearby airports, although they’re not free when you need to depart.

There’s a poker festival almost every week, with Main Event buy-ins usually between €150-€500 and well supported with satellites and side events. Main Events have multiple starting flights and are usually huge fields, with headline prize pools. For most events at King’s Resort, tournaments are advertised as the total buy-in amount, with 15 or16% deducted from the prize pool to cover fees and staff costs.

The casino has a permanent TV table, which means that if you make the final, all your friends and family can tune in and watch you attempt to take down the title. Mind you, so could your boss, so you’d better have an excuse well prepared by the time you return to the office. Fintan Gavin has spent a fair few hours in the commentary booth there, which for big events, runs English and German language live streams.

While Rozvadov is great for those looking for non-stop poker action and having all amenities close by, there are some other things to do in the region, such as a visit to the spa town of Mariánské Lázně (Marienbad) or a local brewhouse. But it lacks the shopping or a range of activities and things to do that one finds in urban destinations. If you need time away from the casino doing something other than playing cards, or perhaps hanging out in the spa, you might prefer somewhere more populated, such as Prague.

 

King’s Casino Prague

Kings Casino Prague is situated within the Hilton Hotel, a venue that has had a long association with poker. It’s a huge hotel, with an impressive atrium and a vast amount of conference space. It’s been the home of EPT Prague in early December, since as far back as 2007. The venue was formerly known as the Atrium Casino, but was bought by Leon Tsoukernik in late 2019, becoming King’s Prague.

The World Series of Poker, which had been held in Rozvadov in autumn for almost a decade, has now switched location to Kings Prague and moved to an Easter slot. This might not have been the most popular move for Irish players, as it resulted in a clash with the Irish Open, but it’s not the only time of year to travel to Prague for poker.

Poker Holidaying in Prague

Prague is a historic city with many sights to see. It’s also a very affordable capital, with hotels, restaurants and shopping all being great value compared with many European capitals. The local beer, Pilsner Urquell, is excellent and a pint is less than €4 in most city centre pubs. 

Art, history and architecture are some of the highlights of a trip to Prague, making it a perfect destination for those looking to combine poker playing with a city break. However, for lower buy-in events, players might find more action in Rozvadov. The casino itself is quite small and occasionally hosts small poker festivals and remote Day 1s for some of the festivals that take place in Rozvadov. The two big events of the year that are held here are the World Series of Poker Europe (April) and the European Poker Tour (November-December), which has always been one of my personal favourites. 

Prague is well connected with the rest of Europe by air and rail and is one of the cheapest capital cities in Europe. Having said that, the Prague Hilton is uncharacteristically expensive and although it’s not located directly in the centre, it’s just a short walk away from streets with many well-priced restaurants. There are also many more reasonably priced hotels to stay in close by, so don’t be put off by the high prices for rooms at the Hilton itself. 

Food wise, Prague is known for some quite delicious traditional dishes, such as goulash. The city also has a large Vietnamese population and cheap bowls of pho are easy to find. Just two streets away from the Hilton is a road with several cheap asian restaurants, where a meal will cost about 200-250Kr (€8-€10), less than the cost of a sandwich at the Hilton. You’ll often find dealers and floor staff eating here on their breaks.

Other Poker Locations in Czech Republic

While Rozvadov and Prague are the two main locations that come to mind when considering a poker holiday in the Czech Republic, there are other places that are worth considering also. The most significant other destination in the country is Aš, about 80k north of Rozvadov, also located close to the border with Germany. 

Grand Casino Aš has become another significant poker venue in recent years, having increased its scheduling of festivals since re-opening after Covid. It now hosts at least two, sometimes three festivals per month and most are in the lower buy-in range. This spring it will host APAT’s European Championship of Amateur Poker and also has a specialist Omaha series on its 2026 calendar.

There is also the Rebuy Stars Casino chain, which operates small poker rooms in Brno, Pilsen and Kladno, but if poker is central to your trip, it’s better to stick to one of the more specialised venues.

Poker in Slovakia

The other half of what was Czechoslovakia is also a live poker hotspot, with most of the action centred in or near Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. 

Bratislava’s Rise as a Poker Destination

Like Prague, Bratislava is one of Europe’s cheapest cities, with very affordable hotels and restaurants. It’s also quite a compact city and easy to walk around, perfect for a short inexpensive city break.

The first poker club in Slovakia opened in 2008 was called Golden Vegas and was situated on the outskirts of town in a basement below a Tesco supermarket. This unlikely location hosted a WPT event in 2009 plus the PokerStars sponsored Czech-Slovak Poker Tour and was the main place to play in the city for quite a few years. By 2010, the city had several casinos with small poker rooms and more clubs began to open. In 2011, Concorde Casino, which originated in Vienna opened a poker room in Bratislava, but that closed a few years later.

But the scene has changed since those days and the operators dominating the market today are newer ones. In 2015, Banco Casino opened, with a business model not unlike that of Rozvadov, to run poker festivals almost non-stop throughout the year. Over the last decade, it has grown from being a late entrant to the Bratislava poker scene, becoming the market leader, hosting over 25 festivals per year, most of them low buy-in events.

In 2025, the continuation of Bratislava as a major poker destination was put in doubt. The city had become fed up with the proliferation of casinos in the centre and passed a law banning games of chance. The result was that most of the casinos closed down. However, Banco Casino opted to stay open and become a poker only venue. It is now one of just two poker locations in and around the city. 

The other is the Card Casino, which is located in Samorin, 15km outside the centre and was therefore not forced to close its table games. Like Banco, Card Casino has a busy poker calendar that has helped distinguish Bratislava as the front-runner for the imaginary title of the European City of Poker. 

Although neither venue quite has an all-year-round calendar of events to rival King’s Casino Rozvadov, between the two of them, there is almost always a poker event running. Often, both venues will have festivals running at the same time, which is great for travelling players, expanding the range of playing options within the same trip.

Banco Casino

When Banco Casino opened in 2015, it set out to be a poker casino right from the start. Situated on the edge of the old town and right next to one of the main shopping streets in the city, it’s perfectly placed for combining poker with a bit of tourism. Restaurants are good and inexpensive and for pho hunters like me, there are numerous Vietnamese restaurant options within easy walking distance of the casino. As of March this year, there is also an excellent smash burger van parked just outside the casino, which gets quite busy during breaks in tournaments.

With casino games and slot machines banished, there’s now a lot more room for poker tables and it can easily hold over 150 tables, spread out across two floors, with further conference space enabling the capacity to increase further, to close to 200 tables, if required. 

From a poker perspective, Banco’s offering is quite similar to that of King’s Casino. Lots of low-buy-in festivals, which generate huge fields and big prize pools. Main Events tend to have multiple starting days and allow the best stack to carry forward and there are often up to ten tournaments per day on festival schedules. Tournament rake is similar to King’s, usually listing the full amount of the buy-in, deducting 16%, 10% as a fee and 6% for staff. 

The connected Crowne Hotel is a good place to stay, reasonably priced and has a great breakfast buffet, with a live cooking station. It lacks a swimming pool and may be slightly more expensive than other nearby options, but it’s perfect for anyone looking to stay as close to the action as possible.

Cash games run 24 hours, including bomb pot tables and limits are fairly low, but it’s the tournaments that Banco has become renowned for. The recent Polish Winter Cup had over 3,800 entrants in the Main Event, which had a €150 buy-in and a Mystery Bounty format. 

All-in all, Banco is a great place to visit for a poker holiday, with the city right on your doorstep. Most likely you’ll spend all your time in the casino playing cards, as I did, but it’s nice to have the culture/shopping option just a few minutes away, just in case you get the urge to do something different.

Card Casino

Located in Samorin, 15km outside the city centre, Card Casino is the busiest casino in Slovakia and has table games and slots as well as poker. Previously a Rebuy Stars branded venue, it became Card Casino in 2022 and also has the same sort of business model as the other venues discussed. It runs a fully loaded poker schedule throughout the year, with lots of festivals and several one-day events, mostly low-mid stakes events.

PartyPoker, the Vamos Poker Tour and the WPT have all held events at Card Casino in the last few years and in 2026 the venue will host a WSOP Circuit event and the Beer Poker Tour. 

Tournament rake is similar to that of Banco, with an all encompassing 15% being deducted from tournaments that advertise a single buy-in amount. However, some of the events use the more typical approach of displaying entry and fee separately, but in such cases 5% is also deducted from the prize pool for staff costs.

 

Which One is Best to Visit?

If you’ve never been to the Czech Republic or Slovakia, they’re both lovely places to visit and it won’t cost an arm or a leg to do so. If you’ve never played poker there, you’re missing out, there’s a great selection of events throughout the year, mostly with affordable buy-ins and attractive guarantees. 

All the key venues are slick, well-run operations, committed to providing a high standard of service. From a poker perspective, apart from Prague, they have quite similar offerings, aimed at low-to-mid stakes recreational players. 

There’s almost nothing to choose between them in terms of rake, all taking a 15-16% deduction and most of the festivals follow the same modern day live poker tournament formula of having main events with multiple starting days, with big guarantees and extensive side event schedules. 

If you want a pure poker holiday with no other distractions, King’s Resort is a good choice, but if strolls through historic old towns, or an abundance of restaurants and nightlife are your priorities, a poker trip to Bratislava or Prague might be a more balanced option. But why choose just one? Book a three week trip, take them all in, and bring home a trophy or two while you’re at it.