Back in the mid-2000’s, the popularity of poker, and Texas Hold ‘Em in particular, was at an all-time high, and in the midst of that success, the European Poker Tour was born. The year was 2004, and the first EPT consisted of 7 separate tournaments, with Dutch player Rob Hollink winning the Grand Final and pocketing the 635,000 Euro prize. The second season of the tournament saw the same set-up, with a little jump in prize money, but by season 3, two additional tournaments had been added, and the prize for winning at the Grand Final table had jumped to 1.8 million Euros.
Seasons 4 and 5 saw the European Poker Tour continue to grow, and by the end of that 5th season, the number of tournaments had risen to 12, each in a different major European city, and the top prize topped out at 2.3 million. That was where the tour seemed to peak, and after that season, the prize pools dropped somewhat, and this season, which is number 8, has seen the number of tournaments drop back down to 8.
Although tour founder John Duthie had modelled the EPT after the wildly successful World Poker Tour, there were a few differences in the European version, most notably the cheaper buy-in (although that is now sitting around $10,000, the same as the WPT), as well as having 8 players at the final table, rather than 6.
Not all the drama during the EPT has taken place at the tables, and last year at an even in Berlin, masked robbers got away with 242,000 Euros, an event that was seen by many who had tuned into the live webcast of the tournament. Fortunately, the bandits were captured a few days later.
As it stands right now, the United Kingdom has 13 individual winners, with US players nipping at their heels with 12 overall wins, and with 4 tournaments still to play this season and it will be interesting to see if the Brits can maintain that lead. Of course, we can still maintain our poker domination by playing the tables here at our own version of Llanbikefest.