European Poker Tour Brand to Return in 2018
In 2016, at European Poker Tour Barcelona, PokerStars announced a complete overhaul and rebranding of their live tournament schedule, moving away from regional models to a global standard.
That meant everything would fall under distinct categories, mainly PokerStars Championships and PokerStars Festival, the former offering main events in the $5,000 range and the latter in the $1,000 range. Regional brands like the storied European Poker Tour would be casualties of the change.
As the 2017 PokerStars Live schedule played out, it became clear that the decision was unpopular with some players who had grown to love their regional brands. With the year drawing to a close at PokerStars Championship Prague, Daniel Negreanu took to the floor for a major announcement, revealing the massive promotion PokerStars has in store for 2018 and moving into 2019.
Some beloved things were lost in the move to 2017, he said. One of those things: the EPT. And it's coming back for 2018, along with other regional tours like the Asia Pacific Poker Tour and the Latin American Poker Tour.
With a rich history dating all the way back to 2004, the EPT was one of the most popular and beloved brands in poker. It ran for 13 seasons and 115 stops drawing 76,414 entries to its various main events. Over the course of visits to 18 countries, it awarded more than €432 million in prize money.
Vicky Coren-Mitchell was the EPT's only two-time champion, and Pieter de Korver won the biggest single prize at an EPT Main Event: EPT5 Monte-Carlo Grand Final (€2.3 million).
"I'm very happy to see it back," poker pro Jake Cody told PokerNews on Friday. "Personally, I was very upset. I know a lot of other people were also. The name had built up such a prestige. Plus, now I can try to be a two-time EPT champion again."
Check out these charts for some stats on the EPT, with all data below courtesy of The Hendon Mob.
Most Money Won, EPT Main Events
| Rank | Player | Total Winnings |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mike McDonald | $3,405,344 |
| 2 | Glen Chorny | $3,276,354 |
| 3 | Pieter De Korver | $3,066,850 |
| 4 | Poorya Nazari | $3,000,000 |
| 5 | Dimitar Danchev | $2,867,039 |
| 6 | Bertrand Grospellier | $2,710,260 |
| 7 | Tony Gregg | $2,676,175 |
| 8 | Steve O'Dwyer | $2,646,742 |
| 9 | Mike Martin | $2,497,270 |
| 10 | Nicolas Chouity | $2,493,097 |
Most Total Cashes, All EPT Events
| Rank | Player | Total Cashes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Konstantin Puchkov | 87 |
| 2 | Pierre Neuville | 67 |
| 3 | Jan Bendik | 63 |
| 4 | Georgios Zisimopoulos | 58 |
| 5 | Marcin Horecki | 57 |
| 6 | Mike McDonald | 56 |
| 7 | Atanas Kavrakov | 55 |
| 8 | Ole Schemion | 54 |
| 9 | Andrew Chen | 53 |
| 10 | Steve O'Dwyer | 52 |
Other Regional Brands Returning
While less heralded than the EPT, the LAPT and the APPT will likely be welcomed back with open arms by a host of players in their respective regions. The LAPT ran for nine seasons, while the APPT went for 10 before both wrapped up in 2016 as well.
While the EPT, APPT and LAPT all served their respective regions with sizable main events, PokerStars also ran a host of other, smaller regional tours. Tours like Eureka and the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour were folded into the PokerStars Festivals and were renamed the $1,100 National Championships. It's unclear at this time whether those will be back.
Reporting from Christian Zetzsche contributed to this article
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