The European Poker Tour is the major tournament series across Europe. Each season features a series of main events and side events held at various European locations. In normal years, there are a dozen or so events from London to San Remo and Barcelona to Sochi.
The tour was briefly shelved in 2016, with that year advertised as its last. However, just over a year after shutting the tour down, PokerStars announced that it would bringing it back for 2018.
The European Poker Tour only had one full season (2018/2019) to find its feet before COVID hit. Since then, the virus and its attendant lockdowns have made hosting the events an impossibility in many countries.
With COVID hitting the continent hard, and some governments opting for a more interventionist approach, PokerStars has struggled to find venues that could plan ahead for the European Poker Tour events with any certainty.
As a result, this year's schedule began with just a few events and became increasingly minimalist as the majority of events were canceled.
Sochi rescues the 2021 European Poker Tour
Only Russia has opted for the kind of reopening that allowed the European Poker Tour to plan ahead. The result is that the schedule—which originally contained five events—has been stripped down to two events, both hosted by Casino Sochi in the Russian resort city.
In normal years the European Poker Tour is the third most prestigious series after the World Poker Tour and World Series of Poker. In fact, the standard poker triple crown is any player who wins a WSOP bracelet, EPT main event, and a WPT championship.
With GGPoker backing the WSOP, partypoker backing the WPT, and PokerStars backing the European Poker Tour, the event organizers represent the three biggest players in the online scene.
The upcoming EPT Open Sochi will feature 30 events ranging from ₽15,050 (~$204) buy-in satellites to a ₽257,600 (~$3,518) High Roller event.
The Main Event will run from October 7 to October 11. The buy-in is ₽133,000 (~$1,816). There will be three Day 1 flights. The winner will be crowned on the tournament's Day 3.
European Poker Tour 2021 full schedule
| Event | Country | Dates | Status |
| EPT Sochi | Russia | March 19-26, 2021 | Completed |
| EPT Monte Carlo | Monaco | N/A | Canceled |
| EPT Barcelona | Spain | N/A | Canceled |
| EPT Open Sochi | Russia | October 2-11, 2021 | Coming soon |
| EPT Prague | Czech Republic | N/A | Canceled |
The above schedule includes all the EPT tournaments in 2021.
European Poker Tour Sochi Schedule, October 2021
See the EPT Sochi schedule of events below.
[ninja_tables id="19541"]Featured image source: Twitter
