EPT London Preview: The EPT - a Portrait
2004 was an exciting year for poker. September 18 was a key date, with the first "shuffle up and deal“ in Barcelona marking the birth of the European Poker Tour. A brief look back on how things have gone since then.
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| The face of the EPT: John Duthie |
The first season of the European Poker Tour, today the largest tournament series outside the US, kicked off with 229 players in all. Nowadays EPT events are marked in red even on the tournament calendars of the world's best players, including Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu and Tom Dwan.
A retrospective is in order to identify the point where the EPT managed to break through. England's John Duthie was the one with the dogged idea of establishing a major tournament series in Europe outside the WSOP and the WPT.
Duthie had already carved out his spot in poker lore in 2000 by becoming the first player in history to take home over $1 million in one single tournament, the Poker Millions. He worked hard to bring a well-financed sponsor on board for the EPT: Together with Pokerstars.com he organized the first EPT tournament on September 18-19, 2004 in Barcelona.
Sweden's Alexander Stevic was one of the 229 players to come up with the €1,000 buy-in; He ended up earning €80,000 in victory. Mere peanuts compared with today's prize money, as the EPT and its pots have been growing constantly.
Faster, further, higher
Just two years later the roster of players had more than doubled. While 1468 players were on hand for the first EPT season, by 2006/2007 that figure stood at 3481. The prize pool also exploded: The initial €5 million or so grew within 2 years to almost €20 million.
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| Who wouldn't want to play here? The Atlantis Resort & Casino (Bahamas) |
In 2007/2008 the buy-ins from John Duthie and Co were adapted to World Poker Tour levels. That was just what the stars from overseas were waiting for from the EPT. And why not – the Caribbean Adventure in early 2008 became the EPT's first tournament outside Europe – and the Bahamas are known as a place to enjoy the high life.
The European Poker Tour reached another new apex in its seventh season. 8,906 players battled for a prize pool of over €50 million. That benchmark might well become a historical footnote when season 8 reaches its conclusion on February 6 in Deauville, France.
The top player to date has been France's Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier, with 13 cashes, four final tables, three victories and prize monies totaling almost $3.8 million under his belt. The top German in the list is Johannes Strassmann in third place, with EPT winnings totaling $979,000.
The EPT is now being broadcast in 40 countries around the world. The most recent event in Barcelona actually set a new record: With 811 players on hand, the Main Event became the largest tournament ever held in Spain.
Roland de Wolfe and Tobias Reinkemeier playing an exciting hand in Barcelona back in 2009:
