EPT – European Poker Tour

The European Poker Tour (EPT) is a series of live poker tournaments that take place, as the name suggests, across Europe.  The EPT is hosted by PokerStars.com and has been televised since 2004, when the internet poker boom exploded.

John Duthie came up with the idea for the EPT and commentated on the show for the first few seasons with Colin Murray. Half way through the 3rd season James Hartigan took charge of the commentary along side professional players Victoria Coren, Daniel Negreanu and Greg Raymer.

The presenter of the show Caroline Flack gave way for the gorgeous Kara Scott in seasons 4 & 5 and since then the just as stunning Michelle Orpe who is still hostess today.

It was a shock to the poker world when on 6th march 2010 the German EPT in Berlin was held up by 4 masked men armed with a gun and knives.  They got away with a small amount of the prize money totalling €242,000 and fortunately no one got hurt.  Just a few days after one of the men went to police and handed himself and the three others in.  All four men were sentenced to 3 years in prison.

In the 6th season 2,000 players out of all the competitors won there seats through playing on Pokerstars. Being one of the best places to play online poker it’s probably no surprise that out of these 2,000 the winnings went over the million mark with one of the biggest coming from the EPT Grand Final winner Nicolas ‘niccc’ Chouity who was only 23.

He also qualified for the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo with another successful win in a $22 PokerStars re-buy tourney. Heading there for a good time and just hopes of a decent profit he returned to his home in Beirut €1.7 million better off. Not many people can say they earned that in a few days.

Live broadcasts can always be seen on PokerStars TV but also on local stations around the globe so you can always see where the next poker star is coming from.