The Master Classics of Poker is one of the longest-standing

poker Poker is a family of Card game#Comparing games, comparing card games in which Card player, players betting (poker), wager over which poker hand, hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, with varying rules i ...

festivals not only in Europe but around the world. The festival began with humble beginnings in 1992 with a small

Seven-card stud Seven-card stud, also known as Seven-Toed Pete or Down-The-River, is a variant of stud poker. Before the 2000s surge of popularity of Texas hold 'em, seven-card stud was one of the most widely played poker variants in home games across the Unite ...

event won by a local poker player Eng Angh for ƒ18,600 (€8,749).

History

The year was 1991, at that time poker was not so well known in

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or almost all of Europe, that was when Ron Pool working for the Headquarter asked Jan Rodrigo, at the time of

Holland Casino Holland Casino is a Dutch state-owned company and has the legal monopoly on gambling in the Netherlands, and has thirteen casinos located throughout the country. Profits from Holland Casino go directly to the Dutch treasury. In 2007, profit was ar ...

, Amsterdam City centre, and Peter Voolstra, Duty Manager at

and who later he would become

Tournament Director A tournament director (TD) is an official at a competitive sporting or gaming event, who typically perform a number of key functions. The extent of the tournament director's duties varies depending on the size of the tournament, the nature of the ...

of the Master Classics of Poker (MCOP), he wanted to know more about what this game was that they talked about so much. In the same year they went to

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(US) and got in touch with Doug Dalton, who at the time worked at The Mirage casino, to understand a little more about

tournaments. Doug agreed to show what the tournaments were like and even traveled to

with his wife Edna to train the dealers. In a short time,

became well known in

due to the

Holland casino Holland Casino is a Dutch state-owned company and has the legal monopoly on gambling in the Netherlands, and has thirteen casinos located throughout the country. Profits from Holland Casino go directly to the Dutch treasury. In 2007, profit was ar ...

, which for a long time was the only place where poker could be played legally in Europe.CardPlayer – The first Master Classics of Poker (MCOP) took place in November 1992, as Edna and Doug Dalton were in

and could help with the event, from then on the event always takes place in the first week of November. In 1992 it was a

event whose champion was the Dutchman Eng Angh, winning a prize of ƒ18,600 (~$10,449). In 1993, they had several tournaments in different modalities, such as

No Limit Hold'em Texas hold 'em (also known as Texas holdem, hold 'em, and holdem) is the most popular variant of the card game of poker. Two cards, known as hole cards, are dealt face down to each player, and then five community cards are dealt face up in t ...

, No Limit Seven-card stud, Limit Hold'em and Limit Seven-card stud and had registration between ƒ200 (~$105) and ƒ2,000 (~$1,050).

Between 1993 and 1998 there was no ''main event'', it was only in 1999 that a tournament was created in the event schedule that would crown the Master Classics of Poker (MCOP) champion, the same as what happens nowadays in all world series, having a main tournament, the most prestigious and several parallel tournaments. As there was no main event, there was confusion as to who was the MCOP champion each year at the beginning, as the

event was not always the one that attracted the most players, which is why in 1994 the tournament that attracted the most players was

, won by the Dutchman Gerard Dreskens, who by many was considered the first great MCOP champion, but later, seeing the records, the players, together with the organization decided on the champion of the Limit Hold'em tournament as the champion of each year, making Englishman Surinder Sunar crowned the Master Classics of Poker (MCOP) champion in 1993.

Between 1992 and 2000, the official currency of MCOP was the Florin (ƒ), and from 2001 onwards the official currency changed to the Euro (€).

Since 1992, MCOP takes place annually in November and only in 2020 due to

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was there no MCOPTwitter – .

In 2021, Pieter Boers ''(Director of Gaming & Services at

)'' announced the return of MCOP.PokerNews –

MCOP Main Event winners

MCOP High Roller winners

Terms and Conditions

MCOP and

applies the so-called TDA (Tournament Directors Association)br>Poker Tournament Directors Association
rules for tournament poke
Holland Casino

External links

Official site

MCOP on Twitter

Holland Casino Poker on Facebook

on The Hendon Mob

References

{{Major Poker Tournaments Poker tournaments