22 Oct 11

EPT Director: We Don't Want to Punish Players Who Buy-in in Advance

Recently appointed Director of the European Poker Tour Edgar Stuchly spoke to PokerStrategy.com about the issues surrounding late registrations, his position at PokerStars, his goals with the EPT, and more.

Edgar Stuchly
Photo Source: PokerStars

The PokerStars European Poker Tour Season 8 continues this week with the €4,900 EPT San Remo Main Event which began on October 21st. The EPT continuously makes strides towards improving all of the stops on their tour, and for Season 8 one of those changes was acquiring a new president- Edgar Stuchly.

Over the past 20 years, Stuchly has managed poker rooms at 12 casinos in Europe. His most recent position was as Head of Poker for Casinos Austria, where he founded the Casinos Austria Poker Tour.

Stuchly was kind enough to lend some of his time to PokerStrategy.com for the following interview:

PokerStrategy.com: How have you liked working with PokerStars and the EPT over the last few months?

Edgar Stuchly: I joined PokerStars six weeks ago and I've really enjoyed my time. It's a great company with highly motivated people acting in a very professional manner. They are doing an excellent job and over the last 10 years they have built PokerStars into a company that customers love. I am happy and proud to be a part of PokerStars.

PokerStrategy.com: When you first became President of the EPT, what were your goals? Have you accomplished them, and if not, how are you currently working towards them?

Edgar Stuchly: My goal is to take the EPT to the next level in terms of improving the players' experience and making the events even bigger and better. That's a big challenge and all adjustments have to be considered very carefully. At the moment the whole team is working on a long-term strategy to accomplish these targets.

"Europe's richest, most prestigious and most popular poker tour."

PokerStrategy.com: What do you think differentiates the EPT from competing poker tours?

Edgar Stuchly: The EPT is Europe's richest, most prestigious and most popular poker tour. Many EPT events are filmed for television and the show is broadcast throughout the world. The EPT stands for big fields, huge prize pools and tournaments of the highest standards.

PokerStrategy.com: The tour seems to make a priority of expanding to interesting locations. Are there any specific locations you anticipate being added for future seasons?

Edgar Stuchly: We're looking into possibilities for Season 9, but I don't have anything specific for you yet.

"We will take another serious look at all rules."

PokerStrategy.com: Daniel Negreanu has recently publicly expressed his belief that the EPT's policy on late registration (specifically that late registrants do not begin with a full starting stack) is, in his own words, "absurdly wrong." Why does the EPT choose to conduct late registration the way that they do, and have you considered changing that policy? Has player input been taken into account?

Edgar Stuchly: I accept Daniel's position and take his comments seriously. The reason why we choose to conduct the late registration the way that we do is that we don't want to punish players who buy-in in advance and come late for any reason. We have taken players' input into account and we will take another serious look at all rules in the near future.

PokerStrategy.com: What should we look forward to from the EPT in the future?

Edgar Stuchly: We will take great efforts to improve the player experience even more and continue to run the biggest and best poker festivals at the greatest venues.

PokerStrategy.com: Thank you for your time, we look forward to seeing your impact on the tour!