Since day one, LetsPoker has supported UPF Varna as its operational platform — and as the app where players follow schedules, tournaments, cash games and live updates. In 2025 the festival added targeted promotion; by 2026, Romanian buy-ins stood at 11× their 2024 level. The recap, number by number.
LetsPoker has supported UPF since the 2023 debut — the platform UPF's staff runs the floor on, and the app players use for schedules, cash games and live updates. In 2025, the festival added targeted LetsPoker promotion — and the trajectory changed.
Smart Poker Tour and the Israeli Poker Tour launch UPF Varna, with tournament operations on LetsPoker from day one. The launch comes with plenty of fanfare, and the novelty fills the room: 1,249 Main Event entries. Promotion itself is brief and untargeted.
The smallest edition yet: 813 entries. No targeted promotion — the Romanian community nearly disappears, and the Main Event runs into a sizeable overlay.
UPF asks LetsPoker for a serious promotional effort: heavy, targeted campaigns for Romania — plus Israel, added as a perk — in the app and on LetsPoker's social channels. Romanian buy-ins jump ~9×; the field hits a record 1,505 entries.
Building on 2025, promotion focuses on Romania alone. Romania becomes the festival's second-largest national group; Israel — no longer promoted — drops back.
UPF reached out because LetsPoker has huge reach in the Romanian poker community — the app is where Romanian players follow live events and plan their next trip. Israel, another market where LetsPoker's reach runs deep, was added as a perk in 2025. That's why this recap tracks Romanian buy-ins: it's the audience UPF hired LetsPoker to move.
Fun fact Did you know one of poker's most famous players is Romanian? A Hall of Famer, born in Canada to Romanian parents — and he says so himself:“Romanian by blood. 🇷🇴Daniel Negreanu @RealKidPoker View on
Canadian by birth. 🇨🇦
Finally, thankful to America for taking me in. 🇺🇸”
The €250,000 guarantee hasn't moved since day one. In 2024 the field fell short and the organizer ate the overlay. With promotion on, the prizepool cleared the guarantee by six figures — twice.
Entries eased 4% in 2026 — yet unique players hit a record 457. The growth was entirely Romanian: the slice UPF hired LetsPoker to grow kept growing: +43% players, +20% buy-ins, while the segments without LetsPoker's targeted reach eased.
Source: UPF official Main Event results, 2023–2026.
Varna sits on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast, so the home crowd anchors UPF. Watch what happens to Romania the moment targeted promotion starts.
Source: UPF nationality breakdowns by Main Event registration data, 2023–2026.
Two communities, two years, one variable. Growth followed the campaigns — exactly.
Heavy promotion for Romania, with Israel added as a perk — both markets where LetsPoker's reach runs deep. Both communities surge.
Romania only. Israel — out of the targeted campaign — records a drop. Romania keeps climbing.
Operations were identical all four years — the only variable was targeted promotion. The same mechanism works for any community connected to LetsPoker: point it at your player base, and it moves.
No ads. No paid reach. Thousands of Romanian poker fans checking blinds, stacks and late-reg deadlines in real time.
Every viewer is an active poker player checking blind levels, prize pools or late-registration deadlines — not a passive social media follower.
Push notifications and live updates reach people already in “I might play this” mode — a level of intent generic marketing never touches.
Every player in a LetsPoker community carries real engagement data and insights — not just a follower count.
A week of always-on attention — and a record Friday with three starting flights.
Source: LetsPoker analytics, June 2026.
LetsPoker has supported UPF's floor since the 2023 debut. By 2026: up to five events live at once, run end-to-end on the platform by UPF's own staff of three — on schedule, all week, with players playing instead of waiting.
Seat openings, table balancing and eliminations are handled directly from the felt — no paper, no waiting.
During breaks, dealers enter counts from their tablets and the numbers appear in the app instantly.
No crowding around a printed sheet: every player checks their stack, standing and table moves from their phone.
Staggered across 42 tables from noon to deep night — and the floor never fell behind. This is the ratio that did it:
Floor men get pulled off the job that matters — chasing seats instead of looking after players.
Floor men stay on the floor. Players spent the week playing, not waiting — and the festival ran to schedule every day.
All figures come directly from LetsPoker's live analytics — the same dashboards available to every LetsPoker client. Source: LetsPoker analytics, June 2026.
From the rail to the final table — moments from a record-breaking week.
The International is a hotel, casino and spa in one — and 130 unique Romanian players played festival events there across the week. Many booked rooms for the duration and filled their breaks at the casino floor and leisure facilities — value that lands with the venue, not just the tournament.
Everything on LetsPoker’s side was perfect — and I tell every operator I know, it’s the best software out there.
Promotion, tournament management, real-time player engagement — the same mechanics that filled Varna work for any room connected to LetsPoker. Tell us about yours below.
