European Poker Tour

The European Poker Tour (more commonly referred to as the EPT) began in 2004 as part of the worldwide explosion in Texas Hold 'em poker popularity. The EPT is a series of televised poker tournaments and is very similar to the World Poker Tour (WPT). It is branded and partially owned by Poker Stars.

In seasons 1-3 of the European Poker Tour, the most significant difference between itself and the World Poker Tour was the buy-in and its effect on the prize pool. The EPT featured buy-ins about half the size of the WPT and therefore the prize pool was somewhat smaller. This changed in season 4 when the buy-in for most of the EPT events was increased to €8,000. The increase was made due to its high popularity and lack of space in participating casinos. At the time (2007) after exchange rates, the buy-in was close to equal to US$10,000 which is the buy-in for most WPT events.

The final table of the European Poker Tour is made up of 8 players. This is again different to the 6 player final tables popularized by the World Poker Tour.The EPT is taped by Sunset + Vine for television broadcast across Europe.

The European Poker Tour was created by John Duthie, winner of the inaugural Poker Million tournament. John Duthie commentates for the show, alongside Colin Murray and James Hartigan. The show was first hosted by Caroline Flack, then joined by Natalie Pinkham. Season 4 of the show is hosted by Kara Scott.

There to date have been 6 seasons of the EPT. Although the location of the EPT changes frequently major locations such as London, Copenhagen and Monte Carlo remain the same each year; usually with Monte Carlo being the season finale location. The following locations are where the European Poker Tour have been held to date:

· Barcelona (Barcelona Open 2004)

· London (European Poker Classics)

· Dublin (The Irish Winter Tournament 2004)

· Copenhagen (Scandinavian Open 2005)

· Deauville (The French Open 2005)

· Vienna (11th Vienna Spring Poker Festival)

· Monte Carlo (European Poker Tour Grand Final)

· Baden (The Big Double 2006)

· Dortmund (EPT Dortmund)

· Warsaw (EPT Warsaw)

· Prague (EPT Prague)

· PokerStars Caribbean Adventure

· Sanremo (EPT Sanremo)

· Budapest (EPT Hungarian Open)

· Kyiv

· Vilamoura

· Salzburg

As the European Poker Tour has many events a Talley has been kept alike the Olympic Games showing each countries win score and Talley. This has no real meaning but may in years to come. Until now The United States is in the lead with a total score of 9 wins. Here is a chart showing countries who have taken down an EPT event:

1st United States 9

2nd England 7

3rd Germany 5; France 5

5th Netherlands 4; Sweden 4

7th Denmark 3; Canada 3

9th Finland 2; Norway 2; Portugal 2

12th Lebanon 1; Italy 1; Russia 1

The European Poker Tour Seasons 1 to 6 can be found on youtube and pokertube in bits and pieces with the final table of each event the easiest to find. This is brilliant viewing for all poker players across the globe.