With the nosebleed action drawn to a close, the focus shifts to the EPT Grand Final Main Event. The €10k buy-in attracted 217 players on Day 1A, 160 of which survived to resume the fight on Day 2. Day 1B gets underway at noon local time on Thursday.
As one EPT season winds down, the schedule for Season 9 has been posted. The number of stops has shrunk from 13 to eight (counting the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure). However, the EPT plans to partner with local tour operators – including the UK & Ireland Poker Tour and the Estrellas Poker Tour – to boost the number of individual events, expanding each stop into a cornucopia of poker plenty. In addition to lower buy-in events, the EPT is adding a €10k Championship Series consisting of heads-up, PLO and 8-game championships. The €100k Super High Rollers planned for the PCA and the Grand Final will remain, plus a €50k High Roller event will be added to the Barcelona stop. The provisional EPT Season 9 sked looks as follows: EPT Barcelona (Aug. 15-25); EPT San Remo (Oct. 3-11); EPT Prague (Dec. 5-15); PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (Jan. 6-15, 2013); EPT Deauville (Jan. 30–Feb. 9); EPT London (March 6-16); EPT Berlin (April 24 – May 4) and EPT Monte Carlo (May 6-15).