These are ranked Easiest to Hardest:
EPT San Remo
This event has only been held for a couple of years, but in its most recent running, it drew a very healthy field size of 1,178. It is held in the days leading up the Grand Final costs just half as much to enter, €5,000. The large number of Italians in this event make it a juicy one. All things considered, Italian players are generally do not make very tough poker competition.
EPT Grand Final
Despite having the largest buy-in of any EPT event, €10,000, the season finale in Monte Carlo is about the softest event on the schedule. First, it attracts a very large field. You can expect more than 800 players to participate in this tournament. When it comes to spotting soft tournament fields, the more players the better. This is one of the two most prestigious annual poker tournaments in Europe, so there’s an increased number of casual players hoping to make a big splash into the poker world.
EPT German Open
One of the most popular events on the EPT schedule is the German Open. This event typically draws 600-700 players and has a buy-in of €5,000. It is a fairly easy EPT event because it attracts a lot of fairly inexperienced German players many of whom are participating in their first live tournament.
EPT Prague
While not a particularly popular EPT event, the tournament in Prague is still pretty juicy because of the local fish. Poker is still new to most Czechs, so you’re likely to bump into some homegrown fish in this event. It’s not the best tournament though because the prize pool is fairly small compared to other events.
EPT London
This can be a pretty tough tournament. It has a buy-in of £5,000 and doesn’t attract as many players as you might think given that it is held in one of Europe’s largest areas. Plus, since London is a desirable destination to a lot of people, many sharky poker players who are too lazy to travel to a place like San Remo, Italy might decide to go to London since it seems more conventional.
Scandinavian Open
With a 50,000 Danish Kroner buy-in, this tournament, held in Copenhagen, is pretty tough. The field size is smaller than most EPT events and a lot of the Scandinavian players are really good. There is a stereotype in the poker world that Scandinavian players are really aggressive and make for tough opponents. This poker tournament on their home turf is no cakewalk.
Barcelona Open
The EPT season traditionally commences with a €8,000 buy-in event in Barcelona. This larger buy-in means less fishy players in the field. Additionally, since it is the first event of the season, many players show up to this event with a lot of focus hoping to get off on the right foot and potentially make a run at winning EPT Player of the Year. This event is very popular among American players. Any European poker tournament that attracts a lot of Americans is bound to be pretty tough.
PokerStars Caribbean Adventure
This $10,000 buy-in event is held in the Bahamas and is the only EPT event held outside of continental Europe. It is a very tough event filled almost entirely with internet qualifiers. In general, internet players are tougher than live players since they have so much more practice. Since this event takes place in the Bahamas, where there is literally zero organic poker traffic (Bahamians aren’t allowed to gamble), the only people in this tournament are players who traveled to the Bahamas to participate. Anyone who takes poker seriously enough to travel all the way to a remote island is guaranteed to be a pretty decent player. Don’t let the large field size fool you; the PCA is a very tough poker tournament.