The European Poker Tour

The European Poker Tour, also known as EPT, began as a kind of clone of the popular World Poker Tour. This series of televised poker tournaments, similar or even in imitation of the events of the WPT, began in 2004 as part of the worldwide explosion in the popularity of Texas Hold 'em and poker in general.

The European Poker Tour is sponsored by that monster of online poker PokerStars and is taped for television broadcast across Europe, though ratings show its popularity there is nothing compared to poker's recent boom in America.

John Duthie and the European Poker Tour

The European Poker Tour was created by John Duthie, winner of the inaugural Poker Million tournament. Duthie also provides commentary for the show, alongside Colin Murray and other international poker experts.

John Duthie is a successful director of several popular primetime UK serial dramas, such as 'Silent Witness', 'As If' and the BAFTA award winning series 'Clocking Off'. He has been a high stakes poker player for years, with a presence and a small following even here in America. His crowning achievement came when he won the 2000 Poker Million live on TV, a tourney which earned him £1,000,000 and helped to popularise the game of poker in the UK, similar to how Chris Moneymaker's out-of-nowhere World Series of Poker win did for America. In 2004, John launched the televised European Poker Tour in association with PokerStars.com, and has seen his venture flourish into Europe's richest and most prestigious poker circuits. The tournament series is broadcast to over 40 countries around the world. He is an expert analyst on the EPT TV show, and made the final table of the $3,000 No Limit Hold'em event at the 2005 WSOP.

The EPT = Big Money

The European Poker Tour is Europe's most lucrative poker tour. Season 4 of the EPT attracted nearly 6,000 entrants, with more than 1,500 seats won online through their partnership with PokerStars.com.

In the first three seasons of the tour, the most significant difference between the European Poker Tour and all competing poker tours was the very low buy-in and its effect on the prize pool. Literally, the EPT featured buy-ins about half the size of the World Poker Tour. This changed in season 4 when the buy-in for most EPT events was increased to €8,000, which according to exchange rates at the time was about equal to the WSOP buy-in of 10,000 American. Another major difference in the EPT is the size of the final table -- just 8 players, as opposed to the 6 player final tables featured by the WPT and other major poker tournament series. The Upcoming 5th season features nine scheduled poker tournament events including a welcome return for the EPT to Deauville, France, in January, and the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo in April and May.

Season 4 of the European Poker Tour involved 11 tournaments across Europe, as well as one tournament in the Bahamas. New events in Prague in the Czech Republic and San Remo, Italy - both sold out tournaments with 555 and 701 players respectively -- is an indication that the event is still growing in popularity, or at least spreading east towards Asia. The season's show piece event - the €10,000 EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo - attracted a record group of participants -- a field of 840 players with a prize pool of €8.4 million, making it the richest tournament ever held outside of Las Vegas. The total prize pool for EPT Season 4 was €38.2 million with nearly 6,000 contestants participating overall.

European Poker Tour General Info

The buy-in at European Poker Tour events vary, ranging from €5,000 to €10,000 (or its equivalent in local currency). All EPT main events are freeze outs. A condition of entry into any tournament on the EPT will be the completion and signing of a TV release form. The minimum age to play in an EPT event is established by the host casino. In most casinos, the minimum age is 18.

European Poker Tour Satellites

Entry to the tournament can be made in a number of ways -- you can win your entry by playing in one of the PokerStars satellite tourneys. Satellites buy-ins start from $2.22 -- imagine the investment if you do well or win the whole thing. If you fail to qualify and would still like to play in an EPT event, you may buy directly into a tournament through any host casino -- many winners of many poker tournaments have done just this, including Joe Hachem in the WSOP, who turned a $10,000 investment into millions and millions.

Recent European Poker Tour Action

Glen Chorny, a 22-year-old business student from Ontario, Canada, won the biggest poker tournament ever held in Europe when he took down the €10,000 PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Grand Final. The player, for all purposes an amateur, took home a first prize of over €2 million, or $3 million.

After only two hands against Hungarian Denes Kalo, Chorny - who won his seat online with PokerStars - took the EPT Champion title. Chorny's triumph came only three months after he took 13th place at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventutre for $80k.

He said, "It was tough out there, like a hard day at the office. Only the rewards are a lot better."

In this way, the EPT is quite similar to what is going on in America with the World Series of Poker -- regular Joes are investing time and learning the game of poker, then going out and wiping the floor with the competition, leaving analysts and fans scratching their heads and cheering all at the same time. Just last year, Parisian Arnaud Mattern, 28, won the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Prague event - the first EPT to be held in the Czech capital - for a first prize of €708,400. This is surprising because Mattern is known for being a world-class backgammon player.

What the European Poker Tour lacks in history, when compared to events like the WSOP, it makes up for in buzz. There is an excitement brewing in Europe for poker, and wise players will pay attention to the kind of game being played there. As buy-ins stay low, and prizes grow ever higher, and as opportunities to play or buy in grow, the next EPT tournament winner could very well be the average Joe just now finishing this article.

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