EPT Expansion.

[tikay]

Incoming today, &  few wows in here. The unbelievably slick & well-run 'Stars are taking over the world - the Schedule below is just HALF of Season 6. Cost a bob or two to do all of this EPT Season. And how many players do 'Stars sponsor these days - 20, 30, 40?

As to the Venue for the London leg, that's a real stunner, to me, anyway. It was always widely rumoured that The Vic was deemed "not suitable" for the EPT, but to hold it 200 yards up the Road, at The Metropole, gets a wow rating of 9.5. Good grief.   


THE WORLD’S RICHEST POKER TOUR
ANNOUNCES BIGGEST SEASON YET

LONDON, UK, JUNE 15, 2008— John Duthie, Chief Executive of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour (EPT), today announced the first half of the schedule for EPT Season Six. The European Poker Tour is now the world’s richest poker tour in terms of both players and prize pools and is sponsored by PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker site with over 23 million registered players worldwide.

"The new EPT season includes many events which have made the past five seasons such a triumph with world record breaking fields and prize pools across Europe.” said Duthie. “We have set very high standards and we aim to improve on this still further in Season Six - with new additions to the schedule as well as a richer mix of games and buy-ins to cater for more players.”
   
Last year’s PokerStars EPT season proved a massive success and overtook the WPT in terms of amount of players and prize pools. EPT Season Five generated an overall prize pool of almost €55 million (approx $77 million USD) with 7,980 players from 97 countries of which 3,077 were PokerStars players. The four richest prize pools available in poker tournaments outside the United States last year occurred during the fifth season of the PokerStars EPT at: the PCA ($12.7M USD); Monte Carlo ($12.3M USD); San Remo ($7.5M USD); and Barcelona (7M USD).

The EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final generated the biggest ever prize pool in Europe at more than €9.3 million. The Grand Final winner, newly-signed Team PokerStars Pro Netherlands member Pieter de Korver, a 26-year-old poker pro from Leeuwarden, Holland, bested a record field of 935 players to take the first prize of €2.3 million ($3.2 million USD).

“This year’s EPT will be bigger and better than ever, kicking off in August in one of our new scheduled destinations – magnificent Moscow in Russia. Overall, the tour will visit an unprecedented thirteen countries* - an increase of four events on top of last season. As well as Russia, the tour will include new stops in Portugal this November and other destinations to be announced shortly.” said Duthie

The PokerStars EPT Season Six looks set to continue building upon the successes of the previous five seasons, attracting even more players and even larger prize pools. There will be more ‘Festival of Poker’ style stops on the tour, beginning in London this October with “The Pokerstars.com EPT London Festival at the Hilton Metropole Hotel” which will feature significant Pot-Limit Omaha and 8-Game events, as well as the return of the popular High Roller event. The EPT London Main Event will likely be the richest tournament ever in the United Kingdom.

Online satellites for the PokerStars EPT Moscow, Season Six start today, Monday, 15 June, 2009 on PokerStars with buy-ins from as little as $2.22. Players who qualify on PokerStars don’t just win their seat; they also win hotel accommodation (or cash equivalent) and spending money as part of their prize package. The EPT invites players from around the world to participate in this exciting event in Russia’s historic and storied capital.

The PokerStars European Poker Tour Season Six schedule so far (more dates announced soon)* is as follows:

VENUE   CITY/COUNTRY   TOURNAMENT   DATES   BUY-IN   CAP
Radisson SAS   MoscowRUSSIA   EPT RUSSIA OPEN   August 17-23, 2009   200K+12K RUB($6,900 USD)   600
Casino Barcelona   BarcelonaSPAIN   EPT BARCELONA OPEN   Sept 4-9, 2009   8,000+300 EUR($11,590 USD)   700
Hilton Metropole   LondonUK   EPT LONDON OPEN   Oct 1-7, 2009   5,000+250 GBP($8,370 USD)   800
Hyatt Regency   WarsawPOLAND    EPT WARSAW OPEN   Oct 20-25, 2009   20K+1K PLN($6,460 USD)   400
Casino Vilamoura   Vilamoura PORTUGAL   EPT VILAMOURA   Nov 17-22, 2009   5,000+300 EUR($7,400 USD)   600
Hilton Prague   PragueCZECH REPUBLIC   EPT PRAGUE OPEN   Dec 1-6, 2009   5,000+250 EUR($7,400 USD)   600
Atlantis   BAHAMAS   PCA   Jan 4-14, 2010   10,000+600 USD   1600

[Karabiner]

Weren't Ladbrokes going to hold the second Poker Million at The Metropole before getting cold feet at the eleventh hour due to some question as to the legality of holding an event in premises which are not  licensed by the Gaming Commission ?

Has anything changed since then ?

[blonde17]

Just to avoid any confusion Tikay.
I believe the Ept London will be run at the Metroploe and Vic together, as it is being run using the Grosvenor/Vics licence as far as I know, so the Vic is still very much involved, in fact I think it is safe to say that the Grosvenor and Poker Stars alliance is set to grow some more in the near future, but I will leave that to Jon Raab to enlighten you as and when.

[tikay]

Just to avoid any confusion Tikay.
I believe the Ept London will be run at the Metroploe and Vic together, as it is being run using the Grosvenor/Vics licence as far as I know, so the Vic is still very much involved, in fact I think it is safe to say that the Grosvenor and Poker Stars alliance is set to grow some more in the near future, but I will leave that to Jon Raab to enlighten you as and when.

Ahh, I see. That would all make sense then.

[easypickings]

Great to see that London has expanded, as it's sold out very easily the last couple of years. The Portugese addition should be a great one (shame to lose Budapest though?)

However, I think they need to give serious thought to Barcelona, after the muggings which always seem to happen right outside the casino at the time of poker tournaments became a real spate last year. I think something like eleven of the players were mugged, and the casino were not too interested to advertise that fact. Is it worth keeping  one of the prime venues on the tour with this problem, when there are a number of venues that could possibly take its place? (Dublin and Nottingham spring to mind).

[810ofclubs]

looks like a kl first half of the year with russia and portugal being as soft if not more as the others i expect!
guna try to play as many of these as possible this year, cant wait!

[Dingdell]

Bearing in mind some of the guys from Poker Stars Isle of Man are regular attenders at DTD I'm surprised this still isn't included as a venue. I know this was being discussed when the club was opening, if it was a choice of The Vic or DTD the only thing for the Vic is the fact that everyone knows where London is.

[CRIPPIN]

Bearing in mind some of the guys from Poker Stars Isle of Man are regular attenders at DTD I'm surprised this still isn't included as a venue. I know this was being discussed when the club was opening, if it was a choice of The Vic or DTD the only thing for the Vic is the fact that everyone knows where London is.

Played an EPT at the Vic - thought it was a horrendous venue! Been to a very good do at DTD and whilst a good place it's location on a truly awful trading estate should rule it out as an EPT venue forever!

[mondatoo]

Bearing in mind some of the guys from Poker Stars Isle of Man are regular attenders at DTD I'm surprised this still isn't included as a venue. I know this was being discussed when the club was opening, if it was a choice of The Vic or DTD the only thing for the Vic is the fact that everyone knows where London is.

Played an EPT at the Vic - thought it was a horrendous venue! Been to a very good do at DTD and whilst a good place it's location on a truly awful trading estate should rule it out as an EPT venue forever!

JJJuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnnnneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee are you insane:nando's,strippers,dtd what more do you want

Plus a cinema if your into that kinda thing

[pokerfan]

Spot the difference.

Click to see full-size image.

Obv Duthies just being a snob really.

[Colchester Kev]

Difference is obv ... people are queueing to get into DTD !

[810ofclubs]

i like these photos, dtd for ept one time!

[mondatoo]

Guess it's kinda like real life,appearance is everything.Doesn't matter that dtd is blatantly the best run poker venue in the world FACT [  ] coz it doesn't look as good without all the lights

[boldie]

Guess it's kinda like real life,appearance is everything.Doesn't matter that dtd is blatantly the best run poker venue in the world FACT [  ] coz it doesn't look as good without all the lights

Rob was a bit silly spending all that money on making the place look nice on the inside...he could at least have sprung for some lantarns or something to make the outside look appealing enough for a pokerstars promo shot

[Rod Paradise]

“This year’s EPT will be bigger and better than ever, kicking off in August in one of our new scheduled destinations – magnificent Moscow in Russia. Overall, the tour will visit an unprecedented thirteen countries* - an increase of four events on top of last season. As well as Russia, the tour will include new stops in Portugal this November and other destinations to be announced shortly.” said Duthie

VENUE   CITY/COUNTRY   TOURNAMENT   DATES   BUY-IN   CAP
Radisson SAS   MoscowRUSSIA   EPT RUSSIA OPEN   August 17-23, 2009   200K+12K RUB($6,900 USD)   600

Is that not in a bit of danger now? I'm sure I read that the Russian Government was banning gambling anywhere but in 4 dedicated areas where there hasn't been a hotel or casino built yet - effective July. Their idea is to better control the gambling and make their own 'vegas'.

edit: http://www.robertamsterdam.com/2009/06/russia_unprepared_for_gambling_ban.htm