Debuting in 2005, EPT Deauville was a €2,000 event won by Brandon Schaefer with Brits Boob Coombes and Jeremy Tuckmann also finaling. The following year, the event maintained its spot on the roster and returned to see Mats Iremark defeat a tough final table that including the likes of Ram Vaswani, Kirill Gerasmiov, Theo Jorgensen and poker veteran Stuart Nash. With the buy-in doubled, and a packed house lured to the French coast, Deauville was thus considered to be a seemingly immovable fixture on the European Poker Tour.
However, the wonderful game can be an unpredictable kettle of fish at times, and with French legislation targeting the poker industry the following year, the Deauville EPT soon became a thing of the past. As such, few ever believed that they'd be returning to the lavish Casino Barriere in this quaint, little town, but as the schedule was released for the fifth season of the Tour, Deauville was a surprise, but much celebrated inclusion.
Now, with four festivals already in the bag, the dates for its return have finally been confirmed by Tour sponsors PokerStars.com. Just this week, John Duthie, chief executive of the European Poker Tour (EPT) announced the Deauville EPT would take place on January 20-24, 2009.
The luxurious town of Deauville will once again attract hundreds of poker players who will sit down to play in the charming Casino Barriere Deauville including all four of the Team PokerStars Pro ladies; Vanessa Rousso, Vicky Coren, Isabelle Mercier and Katja Thater. As well as the ever successful ElkY, Noah Boeken, Alex Kravchenko, Luca Pagano, Dario Minieri and Chad Brown.
Players can win their tickets to EPT Deauville on PokerStars.com. Satellites are running daily and they can win a package worth more than $9,000 which includes buy-in to the tournament, hotel accommodation and expenses. Players can buy directly into the main event for €5,300 and there is a cap of 700 players with an estimated prize pool of €3,360,000.
Deauville, a commune in the Calvados département in the Basse-Normandie region of France, is known as the 'queen of Norman beaches' and famed for its harbour, racecourse and international film festival. With the EPT finally making its return to France, it can now be once again recognised for its poker.