The European Poker Tour (EPT) is breaking out the new decks of cards, dusting off the tables and setting the stage for its annual poker tournament in Barcelona. The series kicks off on August 21 and runs through September 2 and will be held at Casino Barcelona, where it has previously been held.
There will be a total of 24 tournaments in the series, starting with a €1,100 NLHE Turbo event on August 21. This tournament will also serve as a qualifier for the EPT’s fifth event, the €10,000 NLHE Single Re-entry tournament. As usual, no-limit games dominate the series, but there will also be several Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) games to mix things up. On August 29, a €10,300 PLO game gets started, lasting two days. There will also be a €1,100 PLO event on August 31.
The €1,100 EPT National event will be held from August 22-27, overlapped by the €50,000 EPT Super High Roller tournament running from August 25-27. The Main Event, with a buy-in of €5,300, kicks off on August 27 and should find a winner by September 2. It will run parallel to the €10,300 EPT High Roller, scheduled for August 31 to September 2.
Last year’s Main Event was won by Swedish player Sebastian Sorensson. He overcame a field of 1,682 players to capture the victory and win the top prize of €987,043 (US$1.176 million). He was awarded the win after making a three-way deal with the remaining two players, Lachezar Petkov and Raffaele Sorrentino.
While Sorensson was officially credited with the win, the three players had agreed to play only for the title and €100,000 (US$116,132) after they split the pot. Sorrentino took €850,110 (US$987,264), Sorensson took €887,043 (US$1.03 million) plus the €100,000 (after winning the final hand) and Petkov pocketed €917,347 (US$1.06 million.
All games will be held at Casino Barcelona. Both PokerStars and the casino are offering a number of satellite events for a chance at making it to the Main Event. Additionally, PokerStars will put up one Platinum Pass worth $30,000, which will give the winner at a seat for next year’s PokerStars Players Championship game to be held in the Bahamas in January.
The entire schedule for this year’s series can be found on the PokerStars website here.
