The Covid bad beat is back

On this Friday, November 26th, the Dutch and Belgian governments announced new Covid measures that effectively render impossible the organisation of Poker festivals (mandatory distancing even with masks, early curfews...). This will stop ounce again the Holland Casino activities and, most importantly for my plans, the Belgian Poker Challenge Namur got in danger. No official announcement coming from the Grand Casino de Namur until today but we knew what was coming ...

To BPC or not to BPC? I answered that question for myself last week by deciding to stay in Vegas for a substantial part of the rest of the year. Going to Namur was all about having fun with old friends and playing the profitable late night cash games. None of it seems to be likely to happen. There were rumours about the casino management trying to find a way to adapt the schedules but the event is simply postponed with no further details.

Earlier these days, as announced on PokerFirma, all the Casino Austria houses had closed, Banco Bratislava (Slovakia) closed, Grand Casino As (Czech Republic) also and EPT Prague was postponed. One of the last places where big-field live Poker survives is King's Rozvadov where WSOP Europe tournament schedules have indeed been adapted to fit the legal obligation to close at night. As a consequence, some events start as early as 10am apparently according to one of the staff members I talked to very recently.

Hard to believe but this is for real :/