Following a successful June event at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas, the PokerNews Cup is back, this time a $550 buy-in series opener August 29 at the Luxon Pay Mediterranean Poker Party.
The tournament, hosted at the Merit Royal Diamond hotel in Cyprus, features a $250,000 guaranteed prize pool and runs until only one player has all the chips on September 1. There will be three Day 1 starting flights, the first on August 29 at noon, the second on August 30 at noon, and the third, a turbo flight, on August 30 at 8 p.m.
Players will start with 30,000 chips and play 40-minute blind levels. Day 2 is scheduled for August 31 at noon, the same time the final day will begin.
PokerNews is excited to be a part of the upcoming Mediterranean Poker Party, which includes 16 events starting with the PokerNews Cup. The series is highlighted by the Main Event, a $5,300 buy-in Main Event, a $5 million guaranteed tournament, starting September 3.
Various hotel and tournament packages for the Mediterranean Poker Party can be purchased using Luxon Pay, a multi-currency e-wallet. There are six Luxon Pay packages available (view here), all offering discounts when buying tournament entries and hotel rooms together.
History of the PokerNews Cup
In June, Gary Gelman won the largest PokerNews Cup in history for $202,725, beating out 1,245 entrants at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas. The $1 million guarantee was easily surpassed as the prize pool cracked the $1.2 million mark, largest ever in PokerNews Cup history.
The first ever PokerNews Cup was held in 2007 in Australia, an A$2,800 buy-in tournament that attracted an impressive 428 entries. Dory Zayner came out victorious, claiming $266,959 (USD) of the $1,066,410 (USD) prize pool.
The upcoming tournament will be the first ever at a Merit Resort hotel. Below is a list of the PokerNews Cup winners to date.
PokerNews Cup Historical Results
| YEAR | EVENT | ENTRIES | PRIZE POOL (IN USD) | WINNER | PRIZE (IN USD) | |
| 2007 | A$2,800 PokerNews Cup Australia | 428 | $1,066,410 | Dory Zayner | $266,959 | |
| 2008 | A$2,000 PokerNews Cup Australia | 410 | $563,079 | Nali Kaselias | $171,670 | |
| 2008 | $3,353 PokerNews Cup South African Poker Open | 175 | $502,233 | Darren Kramer | $140,575 | |
| 2009 | A$2,000 PokerNews Cup Australia | 381 | $661,045 | Con Tsapkounis | $140,537 | |
| 2009 | €1,500 PokerNews Cup Alpine (Austria) | 129 | $233,585 | Marc Naalden | $63,094 | |
| 2015 | €250 PokerNews Cup King’s Casino Rozvadov | 689 | $213,004 | Daniel Can | $17,898 | |
| 2016 | €270 PokerNews Cup King’s Casino Rozvadov | 1,082 | $364,833 | Timur Caglan | $67,541 | |
| 2016 | $2,000 PokerNews Cup Borgata | 120 | $222,324 | Ryan Van Sanford | $68,676 | |
| 2017 | €225 PokerNews Cup King’s Casino Rozvadov | 617 | $234,684 | Holger Bansner | $28,277 | |
| 2019 | €550 PokerNews Cup Kulata Spring | 141 | $102,136 | Panagiotis Panagiotidis | $20,708 | |
| 2021 | $1,1000 PokerNews Cup Golden Nugget Las Vegas | 1,245 | $1,207,650 | Gary Gelman | $202,725 |
Lead image courtesy Luxon Pay