The European Poker Tour (EPT) is a series of poker tournaments created by John Duthie, winner of the inaugural Poker Million tournament. It began in 2004 as part of the worldwide explosion in Texas Hold 'em popularity. Since 2011 the EPT has been sponsored and wholly owned and controlled by PokerStars the online casino and taped by Sunset + Vine for television broadcast across Europe. By season 4 the buy-in for most EPT events was increased to €8,000 (due to increased popularity and lack of space in participating casinos[1]). At 2007 exchange rates, this is approximately equal to the US$10,000 which is the buy-in for most major poker events.
 | |
| Sport | Texas Hold 'em |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2004 |
| CEO | 2004-2012 John Duthie (founder) 2012- Edgar Stuchly (PokerStars employee) |
| Continent | Europe |
| Most titles |  Victoria Coren (2) Mikalai Pobal (2)  Mike Watson (2) |
| TV partner(s) | Sunset + Vine |
| Official website | europeanpokertour.com
The Rational Group www |
This single move made the EPT the largest poker tour in the world, eclipsing its nearest rivals significantly. The WSOP was larger, but was only run in Las Vegas.
The final table like most other major poker events is made up of 8 players.
For the first couple of seasons, John Duthie commentated for the show alongside Colin Murray. Since the middle of Season 3, James Hartigan has been the lead commentator, with professional players Greg Raymer, Daniel Negreanu and Victoria Coren Mitchell providing analysis. Hartigan also presents the live webcast[2] from each event. The TV show was first hosted by Caroline Flack, then joined by Natalie Pinkham. Seasons 4 and 5 were hosted by Kara Scott, while Seasons 6 and 7 were fronted by Michelle Orpe. Since Season 8, there have been four different presenters with Kristy Arnett, Sarah Grant, Laura Cornelius and Lynn Gilmartin, with commentators James Hartigan and Joe Stapleton presenting the TV shows.
2010 EPT Berlin robbery edit
On 6 March 2010 four masked men, armed with knives and at least one hand gun robbed the EPT event in Berlin. According to the police, the robbers got away with €242,000. No one was seriously injured, only one guard got a minor cut while trying to detain one of the robbers. The panic which gripped the crowd was briefly captured on the live webcast before the camera cut away. The attackers were caught several days after the robbery and later convicted and sentenced to three years in prison.[3]
2017 rebranding edit
In 2017, the series was discontinued and rebranded as the PokerStars Championship. However, this only lasted one year and the EPT returned in 2018.[4]
2020 EPT Online edit
In 2020, three scheduled stops on the EPT (in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Prague) were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic – a fourth event (in Sochi) continued as planned.
An inaugural EPT Online series took place on sponsor site PokerStars instead, running from 8–18 November 2020. The series comprised 20 tournaments, including a $5,200 Main Event, four $10,300 High Roller events, and a $25,000 Super High Roller. The Main Event, which had a $5 million guaranteed prize pool, attracted 1,304 entries. The final prize pool came to $6.52 million, of which $1,019,082 went to the eventual winner "WhatIfGod", with Timothy Adams finishing as runner-up.[5]
EPT Main Event winners edit
| PokerStars Championship (PSC) Main Event winner (2017). | |
| PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event winner. | |
| Winner of poker's Triple Crown. |
| Season | Date | Event and location | Main Event winner | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 18–19 September 2004 |  EPT Barcelona Open
|
 Alexander Stevic
|
€80,000 |
| 9–10 October 2004 | EPT London
|
John Shipley
|
£200,000 | |
| 23–24 October 2004 |  EPT Dublin
|
Ram Vaswani
|
€93,000 | |
| 29–30 January 2005 |  EPT Scandinavian Open, Copenhagen
|
 Noah Boeken
|
DKr1,098,340 | |
| 15–19 February 2005 |  EPT French Open, Deauville
|
 Brandon Schaefer
|
€144,000 | |
| 10–11 March 2005 |  EPT Vienna
|
Pascal Perrault
|
€184,500 | |
| 15–19 March 2005 |  EPT Grand Final, Monte Carlo
|
Rob Hollink
|
€635,000 | |
| 2 | 16–17 September 2005 | EPT Barcelona Open
|
Jan Boubli
|
€426,000 |
| 30 September–2 October 2005 | EPT London
|
Mark Teltscher
|
€280,000 | |
| 4–6 October 2005 | EPT Baden Classic
|
 Patrik Antonius
|
€288,180 | |
| 29–30 October 2005 | EPT Dublin
|
Mats Gavatin
|
€317,000 | |
| 19–22 January 2006 | EPT Scandinavian Open, Copenhagen
|
Mads Andersen
|
DKr2,548,040 | |
| 8–11 February 2006 | EPT French Open, Deauville
|
Mats Iremark
|
€480,000 | |
| 7–11 March 2006 | EPT Grand Final, Monte Carlo
|
Jeff Williams
|
€900,000 | |
| 3 | 13–16 September 2006 | EPT Barcelona Open
|
 Bjørn-Erik Glenne
|
€691,000 |
| 21–24 September 2006 | EPT London
|
Victoria Coren
|
£500,000 | |
| 7–10 October 2006 | EPT Baden Classic
|
 Duc Thang Nguyen
|
€487,397 | |
| 16–29 October 2006 | EPT Dublin
|
Roland De Wolfe
|
€554,300 | |
| 17–20 January 2007 | EPT Scandinavian Open, Copenhagen
|
Magnus Petersson
|
DKr4,078,080 | |
| 8–11 March 2007 | EPT German Open, Dortmund
|
Andreas Høivold
|
€672,000 | |
| 14–17 March 2007 |  EPT Warsaw Open
|
Peter Jepsen
|
zł1,226,711 | |
| 28 March–2 April 2007 | EPT Grand Final, Monte Carlo
|
Gavin Griffin
|
€1,825,010 | |
| 4 | 28 August–1 September 2007 | EPT Barcelona Open
|
Sander Lylloff
|
€1,170,700 |
| 25–29 September 2007 | EPT London
|
 Joseph Mouawad
|
£611,520 | |
| 7–10 October 2007 | EPT Baden Classic
|
Julian Thew
|
€670,800 | |
| 30 October–3 November 2007 | EPT Dublin
|
Reuben Peters
|
€532,620 | |
| 10–14 December 2007 |  EPT Prague
|
Arnaud Mattern
|
€708,400 | |
| 5–10 January 2008 |  PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, Paradise Island
|
Bertrand Grospellier
|
$2,000,000 | |
| 29 January–2 February 2008 | EPT German Open, Dortmund
|
Mike McDonald
|
€933,600 | |
| 19–23 February 2008 | EPT Scandinavian Open, Copenhagen
|
Tim Vance
|
DKr6,220,488 | |
| 11–15 March 2008 | EPT Warsaw Open
|
Michael Schulze
|
zł2,153,999 | |
| 1–5 April 2008 |  EPT Sanremo
|
Jason Mercier
|
€869,000 | |
| 12–17 April 2008 | EPT Grand Final, Monte Carlo
|
Glen Chorny
|
€2,020,000 | |
| 5 | 10–14 September 2008 | EPT Barcelona Open
|
Sebastian Ruthenberg
|
€1,361,000 |
| 1–5 October 2008 | EPT London
|
Michael Martin
|
£1,000,000 | |
| 28 October–1 November 2008 |  EPT Hungarian Open, Budapest
|
Will Fry
|
€595,840 | |
| 15–19 November 2008 | EPT Warsaw Open
|
 João Barbosa
|
€367,140 | |
| 9–13 December 2008 | EPT Prague
|
Salvatore Bonavena
|
€774,000 | |
| 5–10 January 2009 | PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, Paradise Island
|
Poorya Nazari
|
$3,000,000 | |
| 20–24 January 2009 | EPT French Open, Deauville
|
Moritz Kranich
|
€851,400 | |
| 17–21 February 2009 | EPT Scandinavian Open, Copenhagen
|
Jens Kyllönen
|
DKr6,542,208 | |
| 10–14 March 2009 | EPT German Open, Dortmund
|
Sandra Naujoks
|
€917,000 | |
| 18–23 April 2009 | EPT Sanremo
|
Constant Rijkenberg
|
€1,508,000 | |
| 28 April–3 May 2009 | EPT Grand Final, Monte Carlo
|
Pieter de Korver
|
€2,300,000 | |
| 6 | 18–23 August 2009 |  EPT Kiev
|
 Maxim Lykov
|
€330,000 |
| 4–9 September 2009 | EPT Barcelona
|
Carter Phillips
|
€850,000 | |
| 2–7 October 2009 | EPT London
|
Aaron Gustavson
|
£850,000 | |
| 20–25 October 2009 | EPT Warsaw
|
Christophe Benzimra
|
zł1,493,170 | |
| 17–22 November 2009 | EPT Vilamoura
|
António Matias
|
€404,793 | |
| 1–6 December 2009 | EPT Prague
|
Jan Skampa
|
€682,000 | |
| 5–11 January 2010 | PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, Paradise Island
|
Harrison Gimbel
|
$2,200,000 | |
| 20–25 January 2010 | EPT Deauville
|
Jake Cody
|
€847,000 | |
| 16–21 February 2010 | EPT Copenhagen
|
Anton Wigg
|
DKr3,675,000 | |
| 2–7 March 2010 | EPT Berlin
|
Kevin MacPhee
|
€1,000,000 | |
| 21–26 March 2010 | EPT Snowfest, Salzburg
|
Allan Bække
|
€445,000 | |
| 15–21 April 2010 | EPT Sanremo
|
Liv Boeree
|
€1,250,000 | |
| 25–30 April 2010 | EPT Grand Final, Monte Carlo
|
Nicolas Chouity
|
€1,700,000 | |
| 7 | 11–16 August 2010 |  EPT Tallinn
|
Kevin Stani
|
€400,000 |
| 28 August–2 September 2010 | EPT Vilamoura
|
Toby Lewis
|
€467,836 | |
| 29 September–4 October 2010 | EPT London
|
David Vamplew
|
£900,000 | |
| 26–31 October 2010 | EPT Vienna
|
Michael Eiler
|
€700,000 | |
| 22–27 November 2010 | EPT Barcelona
|
Kent Lundmark
|
€825,000 | |
| 13–18 December 2010 | EPT Prague
|
Roberto Romanello
|
€640,000 | |
| 8–15 January 2011 | PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, Paradise Island
|
Galen Hall
|
$2,300,000 | |
| 25–31 January 2011 | EPT Deauville
|
Lucien Cohen
|
€880,000 | |
| 21–26 February 2011 | EPT Copenhagen
|
Michael Tureniec
|
DKr3,700,000 | |
| 20–25 March 2011 | EPT Snowfest, Salzburg
|
Vladimir Geshkenbein
|
€390,000 | |
| 5–10 April 2011 | EPT Berlin
|
Ben Wilinofsky
|
€825,000 | |
| 27 April–3 May 2011 | EPT Sanremo
|
Rupert Elder
|
€930,000 | |
| 7–12 May 2011 | EPT Grand Final, Madrid
|
 Ivan Freitez
|
€1,500,000 | |
| 8 | 2–7 August 2011 | EPT Tallinn
|
 Ronny Kaiser
|
€275,000 |
| 27 August–1 September 2011 | EPT Barcelona
|
Martin Schleich
|
€850,000 | |
| 20 September–6 October 2011 | EPT London
|
Benny Spindler
|
£750,000 | |
| 21–27 October 2011 | EPT Sanremo
|
Andrey Pateychuk
|
€680,000 | |
| 15–20 November 2011 |  EPT Loutraki
|
Zimnan Ziyard
|
€347,000 | |
| 5–10 December 2011 | EPT Prague
|
Martin Finger
|
€720,000 | |
| 7–13 January 2012 | PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, Paradise Island
|
John Dibella
|
$1,775,000 | |
| 31 January–6 February 2012 | EPT Deauville
|
Vadim Kursevich
|
€875,000 | |
| 20–25 February 2012 | EPT Copenhagen
|
Mickey Petersen
|
DKr2,515,000 | |
| 12–17 March 2012 | EPT Madrid
|
Frederik Jensen
|
€495,000 | |
| 26–31 March 2012 | EPT Campione
|
Jannick Wrang
|
€640,000 | |
| 16–21 April 2012 | EPT Berlin
|
 Davidi Kitai
|
€712,000 | |
| 25–30 April 2012 | EPT Grand Final, Monte Carlo
|
Mohsin Charania
|
€1,350,000 | |
| 9 | 15–25 August 2012 | EPT Barcelona
|
Mikalai Pobal
|
€1,007,550 |
| 5–11 October 2012 | EPT Sanremo
|
Ludovic Lacay
|
€744,910 | |
| 9–15 December 2012 | EPT Prague
|
Ramzi Jelassi
|
€835,000 | |
| 7–13 January 2013 | PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, Paradise Island
|
 Dimitar Danchev
|
$1,859,000 | |
| 3–9 February 2013 | EPT Deauville
|
Remi Castaignon
|
€770,000 | |
| 10–16 March 2013 | EPT London
|
Ruben Visser
|
£595,000 | |
| 21–27 April 2013 | EPT Berlin
|
Daniel Pidun
|
€880,000 | |
| 6–12 May 2013 | EPT Grand Final, Monte Carlo
|
Steve O'Dwyer
|
€1,224,000 | |
| 10 | 26 August–7 September 2013 | EPT Barcelona
|
Tom Middleton
|
€924,000 |
| 2–12 October 2013 | EPT London
|
Robin Ylitalo
|
£560,980 | |
| 12–18 December 2013 | EPT Prague
|
Julian Track
|
€725,700 | |
| 7–13 January 2014 | PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, Paradise Island
|
Dominik Pańka
|
$1,423,096 | |
| 26 January–1 February 2014 | EPT Deauville
|
Sotirios Koutoupas
|
€614,000 | |
| 23–29 March 2014 | EPT Vienna
|
Oleksii Khoroshenin
|
€578,392 | |
| 14–20 April 2014 | EPT Sanremo
|
Victoria Coren (2)
|
€476,100 | |
| 26 April–2 May 2014 | EPT Grand Final, Monte Carlo
|
Antonio Buonanno
|
€1,240,000 | |
| 11 | 16–27 August 2014 | EPT Barcelona
|
Andre Lettau
|
€794,058 |
| 8–18 October 2014 | EPT London
|
Sebastian Pauli
|
£499,700 | |
| 7–17 December 2014 | EPT Prague
|
Stephen Graner
|
€969,000 | |
| 8–14 January 2015 | PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, Paradise Island
|
Kevin Schulz
|
$1,491,580 | |
| 27 January–7 February 2015 | EPT Deauville
|
Ognyan Dimov
|
€543,700 | |
| 17–28 March 2015 |  EPT Malta, St. Julian's, Portomaso
|
Jean Montury
|
€687,400 | |
| 28 April–8 May 2015 | EPT Grand Final, Monte Carlo
|
Adrián Mateos
|
€1,082,000 | |
| 12 | 18–30 August 2015 | EPT Barcelona
|
 John Juanda
|
€1,022,593 |
| 20–31 October 2015 | EPT Malta, Portomaso
|
Niall Farrell
|
€534,330 | |
| 5–16 December 2015 | EPT Prague
|
 Hossein Ensan
|
€754,510 | |
| 6–14 January 2016 | PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, Paradise Island
|
Mike Watson
|
$728,325 | |
| 9–20 February 2016 | EPT Dublin
|
Dzmitry Urbanovich
|
€561,900 | |
| 26 April–6 May 2016 | EPT Grand Final, Monte Carlo
|
 Jan Bendik
|
€961,800 | |
| 13 | 16–28 August 2016 | EPT Barcelona
|
Sebastian Malec
|
€1,122,800 |
| 18–29 October 2016 | EPT Malta, Portomaso
|
Aliaksei Boika
|
€355,700 | |
| 8–19 December 2016 | EPT Prague
|
Jasper Meijer van Putten
|
€699,300 | |
| PSC | 6–14 January 2017 | PSC Bahamas
|
Christian Harder
|
$429,664 |
| 14–20 March 2017 |  PSC Panama
|
Kenneth Smaron
|
$293,860 | |
| 1–9 April 2017 |  PSC Macau
|
Elliot Smith
|
HKD2,877,500 | |
| 29 April–5 May 2017 | PSC Monte Carlo
|
Raffaele Sorrentino
|
€466,714 | |
| 25–31 May 2017 | PSC Sochi
|
Pavel Shirshikov
|
₽29,100,000 | |
| 21–27 August 2017 | PSC Barcelona
|
Sebastian Sorensson
|
€987,043 | |
| 12–18 December 2017 | PSC Prague
|
Kalidou Sow
|
€675,000 | |
| 14 | 6–14 January 2018 | PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, Paradise Island
|
 Maria Lampropulos
|
$1,081,100 |
| 23–29 March 2018 | EPT Sochi
|
Arsenii Karmatckii
|
₽27,300,000 | |
| 28 April–4 May 2018 | EPT Monte Carlo
|
Nicolas Dumont
|
€712,000 | |
| 27 August–2 September 2018 | EPT Barcelona
|
Piotr Nurzynski
|
€1,037,109 | |
| 22–29 September 2018 | EPT Open Sochi
|
 Wjatscheslaw Bondarzew
|
₽12,063,300 | |
| 11–18 December 2018 | EPT Prague
|
Paul Michaelis
|
€840,000 | |
| 15 | 5–16 January 2019 | PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, Paradise Island
|
David Rheem
|
$1,567,100 |
| 24–29 March 2019 | EPT Sochi
|
 Uri Gilboa
|
₽27,475,000 | |
| 25 April–4 May 2019 | PokerStars and Monte-Carlo Casino EPT
|
Manig Löser
|
€603,777 | |
| 26 June–2 July 2019 | EPT Open Madrid
|
Jakub Grzegorzek
|
€176,357 | |
| 20 August–1 September 2019 | EPT Barcelona
|
Simon Brändström
|
€1,290,166 | |
| 9–13 October 2019 | EPT Open Sochi
|
 Yi Ye
|
₽19,306,000 | |
| 11–17 December 2019 | EPT Prague
|
Mikalai Pobal (2)
|
€1,005,600 | |
| 16 | 6–11 October 2020 | EPT Sochi
|
Ruslan Bogdanov
|
₽15,984,500 |
| 8–15 November 2020 |  PokerStars EPT Online
|
"WhatIfGod"
|
$1,019,082 | |
| 23–30 March 2021 | EPT Sochi
|
Artur Martirosian
|
₽24,633,000 | |
| 2–11 October 2021 | EPT Open Sochi
|
Evgeniy Starinkov
|
₽16,029,300 | |
| 5–16 March 2022 | EPT Prague
|
Grzegorz Główny
|
€692,252 | |
| 28 April–7 May 2022 | EPT Monte Carlo
|
 Marcelo Simões
|
€939,840 | |
| 8–21 August 2022 | EPT Barcelona
|
Giuliano Bendinelli
|
€1,491,133 | |
| 18–28 October 2022 | EPT London
|
Ian Hamilton
|
£664,400 | |
| 7–18 December 2022 | EPT Prague
|
Jordan Saccucci
|
€913,250 | |
| 17 | 23–29 January 2023 | PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, New Providence
|
Michel Dattani
|
$1,316,963 |
| 15–26 February 2023 | EPT Paris
|
 Razvan Belea
|
€1,170,000 | |
| 26 April–6 May 2023 | EPT Monte Carlo
|
Mike Watson (2)
|
€749,425 | |
| 21 August–3 September 2023 | EPT Barcelona
|
Simon Wiciak
|
€1,134,375 | |
| 11–22 October 2023 |  EPT Cyprus
|
Gilles Simon
|
$1,042,000 | |
| 4–15 December 2023 | EPT Prague
|
Padraig O'Neill
|
€1,030,000 | |
| 18 | 14–25 February 2024 | EPT Paris
|
Barny Boatman
|
€1,287,800 |
| 24 April–4 May 2024 | EPT Monte Carlo
|
|||
| 26 August–8 September 2024 | EPT Barcelona
|
|||
| 9–20 October 2024 | EPT Cyprus
|
|||
| 4–15 December 2024 | EPT Prague
|
References edit
- ^ EPT Retro: A look back at Season 4 - PokerStars.com
- ^ "PokerStars - YouTube". www.youtube.com.
- ^ "Breaking News: Armed Robbery Suspends Play at EPT Berlin (Video Update)". www.pokernews.com.
- ^ PokerNews. European Poker Tour Brand to Return in 2018
- ^ PokerStars. PokerStars Blog. Retrieved 30 November 2020.