Tournament pulled from March schedule as regional instability disrupts poker calendar
The World Poker Tour has postponed its $1,100 buy-in WPT Prime Cyprus Championship, a $1 million guaranteed event, after escalating military conflict in the Middle East made staffing and travel to the island untenable.
The Prime event was scheduled to run March 5-9 at the Chamada Prestige Hotel & Spa. The WPT announced Tuesday on X that it will be postponed and rescheduled at a later date. Cyprus sits less than 800 miles from the Iranian border, and with most WPT staff based in the United States, sending a crew overseas carries genuine safety concerns following coordinated U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran on Feb. 28 that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Replacement event added; rest of festival goes ahead
The broader festival will continue as planned. A separate $1,100 buy-in tournament has been added to the schedule to replace the postponed Prime Championship.
The WPT also issued a travel advisory, urging players registered for Cyprus to stay in close contact with their airlines and monitor updates from official sources.
"As this situation continues to develop, we encourage all players planning to travel to Cyprus to remain in contact with their respective airlines, follow updates from official sources, and stay informed so they can make the best decisions based on the most current information available," the tour said.
Second poker event lost to the conflict
The Cyprus postponement is the second tournament casualty of the Iran conflict. The Mixed Game Festival at Resorts World Las Vegas, set to begin next week, was cancelled after its host, Israeli national Robbie Strazynski, was unable to travel to the United States.
Cyprus has long been one of the international poker circuit's premier destinations, regularly drawing high-profile series including WPT and Triton Poker.
Rolling Thunder up next for WPT
With Cyprus off the calendar, the WPT's next confirmed major stop is the $3,500 buy-in WPT Rolling Thunder Championship, scheduled for March 29 in Northern California. No rescheduled date for the Cyprus event has been announced.
