Updated on 22 Feb 26 by
Barry carter
Poker Expert

More poker events adjust to the coronavirus

PokerStars, the World Poker Tour and TwitchCon are all among the operators who have been forced to change their schedules.





PSPC
Hamburg PSPC event has been cancelled

As the coronavirus continues to disrupt the world and markets, more poker events have been forced to adapt. 

The biggest adjustment so far is that PokerStars have announced they are postponing a number of European events up until April 10. 

The three 'Road to PSPC' events in Hamburg, La Grand Motte and Madrid Gran Via have all been cancelled for now. Speaking on the PokerStars blog, Severin Rasset commented:

The situation is highly dynamic and live tournaments are a big part of what we do. So we are endeavouring to strike a balance of catering to our players’ wants while also protecting attendees, and ensuring we act responsibly.

We are reviewing every event on a case by case basis, and keeping up to speed on the latest developments alongside our casino partners.

We want players to have full flexibility in deciding what they want to do, so if any player feels uncomfortable about attending our events, they can contact us at live@starsgroup.com.

PokerStars have confirmed that the upcoming EPT Sochi, BSOP Sao Paulo and Okada Manila Millions tournaments will go ahead as planned. Each event will have plenty of hand sanitiser stocked, the card decks will be changed regularly and all the poker equipment will be sanitised daily. 

More disruptions in the poker world

In a slightly confusing move, WPT Barcelona, which starts on March 22, is currently slated to go ahead but will no longer be honouring the previously published guarantees for the festival:

Elsewhere partypoker are monitoring their live events with a view to possibly postponing them. partypoker LIVE Boss Rob Yong announced last week that they would allow players who have already won packages to their events to use them in future events if they didn't want to travel at a particular time.

Fans of poker on Twitch will likely be seeing more of their favourite streamers in May, as the Amsterdam leg of TwitchCon has been cancelled because of COVID-19:

With all these recent changes to the poker calendar, all eyes are once again on the WSOP. They have said there will be no changes to their festival, but with large events being cancelled all over the globe and the unique vulnerability the World Series of Poker has (thousands of international players handing chips to each other), this will be a constant conversation between now and the start of the series.

Mike McDonald of PokerShares has finally opened a betting market on whether the WSOP Main Event will take place as planned, despite plenty of pushback from some in the poker community over the ethics of such a wager.

In the UK the Cheltenham horse racing festival is going ahead this week, which was one of the only other gambling events which had a betting market on whether it would take place or not. As expected, poker players are betting on how COVID-19 will affect daily life in unique and troubling ways.  

At the time of writing the coronavirus has 110,312 confirmed cases and 3,831 confirmed deaths. 

How are your poker plans changing because of the coronavirus? Let us know in the comments:


Barry carter
Poker Expert

Barry Carter is the editor of PokerStrategy.com and the co-author of The Mental Game of Poker 1 & 2, Poker Satellite Strategy, PKO Poker Strategy, Endgame Poker Strategy, GTO Poker Simplified, Mystery Bounty Poker Strategy and Beyond GTO. In 2025, he won the Global Poker Awards for Best Book and Twitter Personality of the Year.