Poker News

Paul McGuire

Have you grown tired of Las Vegas or Atlantic City and want a chance to play poker in exotic places like Barcelona or the Philippines? Then perhaps you should check out the European Poker Tour (EPT) and the newly organized Asian Pacific Poker Tour (APPT).

The EPT is the brain child of former television director turned professional poker player, John Duthie, who built up one of the most respected poker circuits in the world in a short time. The third season of the EPT was their most successful to date with sold out events in five cities. The EPT Grand Finale attracted a record-setting 706 players. The overall prize pool for the third season was over 26.6 million Euros with over 3,400 contestants.

The EPT announced its new schedule for the fourth season that features ten tournaments scattered across Europe including a special stop in the Bahamas. The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, which had previously been an event on the World Poker Tour, has now become a stop on the EPT. Season four will also feature tournaments in several historic and majestic casinos across Europe such as the Casino Barcelona, Victoria Casino, Grand Casino Baden, Casino Hohensyburg, Casino Copenhagen, and the Monte Carlo Bay Resort and Casino.

The fourth season of the EPT kicks off on August 28 at the Casino Barcelona. PokerStars is currently running online satellites over a span of eight weeks to the Barcelona Open and the EPT London. You have almost two months for a shot at winning a seat to a specific tournament overseas. If you want to win bonus points with your wife, girlfriend, or spouse, then try to win a seat to an EPT event and take your significant other along for a fun European or Caribbean getaway.

For the last couple of years, Americans did not have the benefit of watching EPT events on television. Starting in July, ESPN Classic will be airing episodes of the first season. Here’s your chance to become familiar with some of the top European pros.

Due to the success and high popularity of the EPT, PokerStars jumped at the chance to sponsor the Asian Pacific Poker Tour (APPT). The APPT is headed up by Danny McDonagh, who gained his experience running major events at the Crown Casino in Australia including the Aussie Millions. The full line up for the initial season of the APPT is not complete, but stops in the Philippines, Korea, and Australia have been announced. While cities such as Manila, Seoul, and Sydney are included in the tour, action begins in Manila on August 24. You can win your seat to any APPT event via online satellites at PokerStars. With the exception of buying in directly, that’s your easiest way to win a seat. Satellites start as low as $2. Prize packages are worth $5,000 and include the $2,500 buy-in to the Manila event along with four nights of hotel accommodations and $1,500 in cash for travel expenses.

In addition to seeing various members of Team PokerStars in the mix, the EPT and the APPT showcases plenty of teenaged pros, many of whom you probably haven’t seen before, because they can’t play in Las Vegas until they turn 21. The minimum age requirement for EPT and APPT events is 18, which means that the fields often feature some of the best online poker pros aged 18-21 who do not have the opportunity to play in WSOP and various WPT events. Over the next few months, I’ll be playing as many satellites as I can in an attempt to win a seat to different events on the EPT or on the APPT. Who knows, perhaps I’ll get lucky and will be sitting across from you at a tournament in Korea or Germany sometime in the future.

Rad more from Dr. Pauly at his poker blog.

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