Understanding Financial Considerations

Posted on: 23 January 2017

If you're a recreational poker player and you want to head over to Europe to play in one (or several) of the large tournaments, then you need to prepare ahead of time. You should not expect to just fly over and sit down in the casino and start playing. You need to organize entry fees, currency exchanges (very important for side (cash) games), and hotel rooms. Here's a quick guide to get your started.

Find Out Where You Would Like To Go

There are many destinations in Europe for big poker tournaments. Some of the cities that have large casinos with poker tournaments include London, Barcelona, Prague, Rozvadov, Monte Carlo, and Cannes. You can check out a listing of upcoming tournaments on a site like Cardplayer and see where a tournament might be going on. You should note that some of the smaller buy-in tournaments might not be listed on the big poker sites, so you should check the the websites of individual casinos to see what they offer. For instance, you can find daily tournaments at some of the large London casinos, as well as the big poker rooms in Paris and Barcelona. So, you might want to schedule a trip to each city and play in three small tournaments, instead of one really tournament with one large entry fee. It will let you see more of Europe, and be less of a hit to your bankroll (some of the large tournaments might be several thousand dollars to enter).

Find A Currency Exchange Service Ahead Of Time

You don't want to use an emergency currency exchange service outside of the casino in whatever country you are visiting. They are able to charge a higher fee because they are providing a service to people who did not play ahead. Also, some casinos might take your U.S. dollars, but their exchange fee might be a bit high as well.  You might bust out of the tournament early and want to sit down and play a cash game. In order to do that you will have to buy chips from the cage (or you might be able to sit with bills, but only euros (or pounds in London). The casino is probably not going to have a really great exchange rate since they know people really want that money, so they can charge a big fee. You could leave the casino, wander around the city and look for a better rate, but that's a lot of time wasted.

Instead of running around the city and trying to find a place that won't rip you off, you should handle it all before you leave. You can do it all from the comfort of your home by ordering the currency you want (and the amount you want). When you return home from your trip you can then sell back the pounds or euros that you didn't spend. You could try these out to learn more about currency exchange services.