EUROPEAN POKER TOUR ANNOUNCES DATES FOR EPT SEASON 11

The European Poker Tour (EPT) has recently announced some dates for the forthcoming Season 11 – kicking off with Europe’s largest-ever poker festival in Barcelona in August to celebrate the 100th EPT.

Five European destinations have been confirmed at this stage and all will run in conjunction with PokerStars’ national and regional tours in Europe. The EPT Barcelona Poker Festival will join the Estrellas Poker Tour for a festival running August 16-27. The EPT London Poker Festival will again include the UKIPT and take place from October 8-18. The EPT Prague Poker Festival – which attracted a record-breaking 1,007-strong field for the Main Event this season – will again team up with the Eureka Poker Tour and run from December 7-17 while in Deauville, the EPT and France Poker Series (FPS) will join forces for a 11-day festival from January 28 to February 7, 2015. The Season 11 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino EPT Grand Final will incorporate the FPS and take place April 29 – May 8, 2015.  Further stops will be confirmed at a later date.

• EPT Barcelona August 16 - 27, 2014; EPT Main Event August 21-27
• EPT London October 8-18, 2014; EPT Main Event October 12-18
• EPT Prague December 7-17, 2014; EPT Main Event December 11-17
• EPT Deauville January 27 – February 7, 2015, EPT Main Event February 1-7
• EPT Grand Final April 29 - May 8, 2015 EPT Main Event May 2-5

With more than 9,000 entries, last season’s Barcelona Poker Festival was a staggering success, the debut event of a season that has broken numerous records and attracted more players than ever before. Season 10’s festivals around Europe have already pulled in more than 40,000 entries and the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino EPT Grand Final is set to add at least 4,000 or more. The EPT Barcelona festival in August is expected to set new European prize pool and attendance records when it returns to Casino Barcelona.

Several enhancements to tournament schedules are already in the pipeline for Season 11 designed to give as many players as possible the chance to participate. They include dedicated €200 Seniors Events (for ages 50+) at most stops, a reduction in buy-in (from €300 to €200) for all our Women’s Events plus the opportunity to qualify online for a wide range of events including new “Championship Events” being held at most stops featuring variants such as HORSE, Stud and Omaha events. The tour will also continue offering “fun” events  - which have proved a big hit in Season 10 - such as Deuces Wild and Crazy Pineapple. There will be more satellites than ever before online on the various PokerStars platforms giving as many players as possible the chance to complete.

The only change to Main Event buy-ins will be EPT London (October 12-18) which is being reduced to £4,000 + £250 (approximately €5,100) to bring it in line with Main Event buy-ins at the other EPT tour stops.

Vicky Coren - The 1st ever two-time EPT main event champion!

EPT President Edgar Stuchly said: “Season 10 has been a tremendous success and we’ve had some great feedback from players who welcome the even greater variety of events at the festivals and the wide range of buy-ins. Partnering the local tours means our events are more accessible than ever before and we pride ourselves on providing the most professional playing environment available anywhere in the world. We will be building on this formula in Season 11 and, as always, constantly striving to enhance the player experience.”

About the European Poker Tour

The European Poker Tour (EPT) is Europe’s richest and most popular poker tour. Since 2004, the EPT has paid out over €535 million in tournament prize pools, and hosted successful festivals across Europe. The EPT also operates the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA), which takes place every January in the Bahamas and is the largest poker festival outside of Las Vegas.   Further information on the EPT is available online at http://www.europeanpokertour.com/

Story via PokerStars Press