Live poker tournaments in the Netherlands: the three Holland Casino festivals

The Netherlands has one casino operator, and for years we described that as meaning one festival that matters. That was wrong. Holland Casino's own poker agenda runs three distinct festivals in the autumn of 2026, at three price tiers — the Small Ball Event across Venlo and Valkenburg at EUR 250 a flight, the Breda Poker Series in October with a EUR 790 Main Event, and the Master Classics of Poker in Amsterdam in November with a EUR 3,000 one. All three schedules below are read from Holland Casino's own pages.

Master Classics of Poker — Amsterdam, 13 to 21 November 2026

The 34th edition of the Netherlands' oldest festival, running since 1992, at Holland Casino Amsterdam City Centre. The Main Event costs EUR 2,750 plus a EUR 250 service fee, with Day 1 flights at 15:00 on 17 and 18 November and the final day on Saturday 21 November at 14:00.

Two high rollers bookend the week: a EUR 4,700 PLO 6-Max on the opening Friday and a EUR 5,700 NLH 8-Max on the closing one. Holland Casino waives the EUR 300 service fee on both for anyone reserving before 6 November 2026. A EUR 400 plus EUR 40 "Win Your Seat" satellite runs into the Main Event five times across the festival. Below the headline events sit two-day Hold'em and Omaha tournaments from EUR 550 upwards, mystery and progressive bounties, EUR 300 hyper turbos most evenings, and a EUR 550 team event to close. Cash games run daily from 13:00 in both no-limit Hold'em and pot-limit Omaha from 2-2 stakes.

Breda Poker Series — Breda, 28 October to 1 November 2026

Five days in de Kapel, the chapel room inside Holland Casino Breda on the Kloosterplein, and an all-no-limit-Hold'em programme. The Main Event is EUR 700 plus a EUR 90 service fee with three Day 1 flights — 29 October at 12:30, 30 October at 12:30, and a turbo on the Friday evening at 20:00 that carries a lower EUR 70 fee — finishing on Sunday 1 November at 15:00.

The Breda Cup, which Holland Casino describes as its most popular event, is EUR 530 plus EUR 70 over the closing weekend. The week opens with a EUR 500 Starter Event on the Wednesday and closes with a EUR 500 Mystery Bounty and a EUR 250 Last Chance on the Sunday, with EUR 350 re-entries and EUR 250 hyper turbos through the middle. The schedule's one oddity is a EUR 300 dealers choice event over five games on the Saturday night — the only mixed game on an otherwise all-Hold'em bill. A EUR 170 satellite opens proceedings on Tuesday 27 October.

Small Ball Event — Venlo and Valkenburg, 8 to 17 October 2026

The third edition of a combined festival split between two southern venues, and the cheapest live poker trophy in the country. Six start days, all at the same EUR 220 plus EUR 30, all feeding one final at Holland Casino Venlo on Saturday 17 October at 18:00.

Five flights are at Venlo; Day 1E, on Thursday 15 October, is at Holland Casino Valkenburg. The structure is a 20,000 starting stack with unlimited re-entry through the first six levels, 20-minute levels on start days and 25 on the final day. Each flight plays down to the last 12.5 per cent of its field rather than to a fixed bag-up point, so between one and eight players cash from every start day.

A correction this page used to carry

Until early October 2026 this page said two things that were not true. It carried the Master Classics 2026 dates as an explicit estimate, because Holland Casino's festival page under /agenda/ was still advertising the November 2025 edition. And it answered "are there other major poker festivals in the Netherlands?" with "no".

Both were artefacts of reading the wrong page. The current schedules live under hc.nl/spelen/poker/, not hc.nl/agenda/, and that part of the site carries the confirmed 34th-edition dates and dedicated pages for the Breda Poker Series and the Small Ball Event. The dates here are now quoted from the operator, not inferred, and the festival count is three rather than one.

The general lesson is worth keeping: an operator leaving last year's edition up on one page while publishing this year's on another is common, and a date found on a casino festival page is not necessarily current. Check the year, and check whether a second path on the same site says something different.

Reserving, and what else there is

All three festivals require a reservation rather than registration on the day, made online or at the venue. Tournaments can be cancelled up to an hour before the start, with the buy-in and service fee refunded less EUR 0.99 in cancellation costs. Entry is 18+.

Outside the festivals, Dutch live poker is Holland Casino's regular cash and tournament schedule across its venues — Amsterdam Centrum, Breda, Utrecht, Valkenburg and Venlo all appear on the poker agenda with player-versus-player no-limit Hold'em, and the larger rooms add pot-limit Omaha. Most Dutch tournament volume, though, is online in the licensed market regulated by the Kansspelautoriteit; the Netherlands market page covers that position and the Dutch players page shows the results.

Buy-ins on this page are stated the way Holland Casino prints them: an entry fee plus a separate service fee. This page is general information, not travel or financial advice — confirm structures and registration windows with the venue before booking anything around an event.