The European Poker Tour(EPT) was started up in 2004 by John Duthie who was the winner at the Inaugural edition of the Poker Million Tournament. The growth in the popularity of Texas Hold’em Poker fueled public interest in the EPT which was billed as a rival tournament for the WPT with a more global footprint as it had its events all over Europe unlike the WSOP which hardly had any events outside of the United States. The EPT conducts all events in Euros with the top prize being a cool 1.35 Million Euros in the 2012 season.
In its first season, the tournament had six events around Europe and a Grand final held at Monte Carlo. Ever since, the tour has expanded its horizons hosting more than Eleven events at different venues all over Europe such as Germany, Spain, Italy, Greece, Czech republic, Denmark and the United Kingdom before the Grand Final which is usually held at Monte Carlo. Sunrise & Vine Broadcast the EPT Live and has had Duthie himself playing commentator along with Colin Murray during the initial seasons.
In the initial seasons, the Buy-in was quite low for the EPT and this resulted in a large number of players looking to get a piece of the action. Later however, Buy in for EPT was raised to 8000 Euros as there was immense popularity for the sport and a distinct lack of space at casinos for a large number of players. The Increase in ‘Buy in’ prices and the still increasing number of entries has meant that the stakes have risen slowly making this one of the most popular tournaments in the world.
Another unique feature of the EPT is that in the final table, it allows for eight players unlike other tournaments which have only six.The EPT has grown to not only have events across Europe but also even have special events such as the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas. This has only made it an even more far reaching tourney that easily rivals and beats the WPT for popularity and reach.
The EPT 2013-14 is featuring Season X with 8 stops across the best gaming locations of Europe. The biggest feature of EPT is the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure which is hugely followed and attended by the poker community.