The European Poker Tour is Europe’s equivalent to the WPT. It is the continent’s leading televised poker series and probably the world’s third biggest poker tour, behind only the WSOP circuit and the WPT itself.
The EPT is the brainchild of television director and professional poker player John Duthie. As a television director Duthie was responsible for such UK prime time hits as Clocking Off, Silent Witness and As If, but, if possible, his success as a poker player is even greater.
Duthie shot to fame when he won £1 million in the Poker Million tournament in 2000, as his subsequent three appearances on Late Night Poker did his image no harm either, particularly as he won his heat and made the final table in 2002.
With such experience in both poker and television it is not surprising that Duthie emerged as the driving force behind an attempt to replicate the WPT in Europe. Using his TV background to get backing for the show, he teamed up with top online poker room PokerStars.com who helped bankroll the tour in the early stages.
Initially the EPT was slow to grow, and the tournaments were fairly modest, with much smaller prize pools than its American cousin. But Duthie was a natural, and the high production values and stylish looks he brought to the show helped it to gather momentum.
The EPT then began to grow at a faster pace, expanding to become the world’s third biggest poker tour. And it continues to grow – indeed the recent EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo (March 2006) featured a €2,110,000 prize pool and a €900,000 ($1,075,000) first prize, the first million dollar prize in the tour’s history.
Format
Although the EPT is in many ways very similar to the WPT, there are some crucial differences. The main divergence is the size of the buy-in, with EPT main-event buy-ins typically between €2000 and €4000, which is significantly less than the $10,000 to $25,000 buy-ins that are the standard on the WPT. This makes for much smaller prize pools, which de-glamorises the tour somewhat, making for less star-studded fields.
Nevertheless, this is all changing, as the recent (most definitely star-studded) EPT Grand Final proved. As the EPT continues to grow the prize pools are also getting bigger, and many of the buy-ins are increasing as well. It seems unlikely to be long before $1 million first prize payouts become a regular feature of the EPT.
The other major difference between the EPT and the WPT is that EPT final tables have eight players instead of six. It is to the EPT’s credit that they have gone for a bigger final table, as it means more poker for viewers.
Present Day
Since its inception the EPT has grown steadily and confidently into one of the world’s strongest poker circuits. Main-event prize pools are expanding seemingly exponentially, and the show is now broadcast on television in over 40 countries.
Season 3 of the EPT kicks off this September with the Barcelona Open.