European Poker Tour

There are several reasons for the European Poker Tour’s popularity. Similar to other televised card games, the European Poker Tour includes seasons of game play of Texas Hold Em’, with the final table coming down to eight individuals, rather than the more accustomed six.

In order to deal with the increasing popularity of the European Poker Tour, the buy-in, which used to be fairly low as far as tournaments goes, was increased to a more substantial amount in order to combat the vast amount of tournament entrees. Having too much business might seem like a strange issue to have by any standards, but with the European Poker Tour being hosted at various casinos throughout Europe, there had to be limits set into place to prevent overcrowding.

A noticeable trend in televised poker has been the amount of popularity that the poker game genre has amassed. Various poker tournaments have opted to start televising or having themselves televised in order to create a comfortable atmosphere for the viewer. While most poker enthusiasts would rather actually sit at the table themselves or spectate from the same room, it is unfortunately not as easily setup as being able to watch the game from the comfort of one’s living room.

Luckily, with many seasons currently behind the European Poker Tour, the televised events will continue to run strong. The appeal to Texas Hold Em’ is easy to surmise. The game takes no time to learn, but a lifetime to master, as is evident by some of the top veterans from around the world. Many players have made a career out of card playing and will continue to do so for as long as they can.

Fortunately for upcoming new players, there is the potential to get into tournaments such as the European Poker Tour via satellite tournaments. A satellite tournament is a smaller tournament held apart from the main tournament that it would later become a part of. These smaller tournaments are used to bring the winning players into the spotlight, enabling them to enter the European Poker Tour or other similar poker tours with their winnings.

Many poker aficionados praise the popularity of the European Poker Tour, but do not understand the amount of risks that the casino hosts have with having such a large influx of players show up. For instance, in early March, 2010, a group of individuals robbed the European Poker Tour event in Berlin, making off with a trifle amount of money. Let no one say that the European Poker Tour has not had its fair share of trouble.

To elaborate on the issue of the robbery at the European Poker Tour, it seems that four armed men were involved in the robbery which targeted the tournament registration desk outside the tournament area. However, no shots were fired and the suspects made their escape after a security guard caught them in the act. The suspects did not enter the tournament area and the tournament resumed after a few hours and a police investigation is currently underway to gather evidence.

While this caused quite a stir at the European Poker Tour, it certainly did not hinder the festivities in any way. The tour successfully continued on a few hours later, with many players not even being aware of what ordeal had taken place at the tournament desk. Players should not feel alarmed or unsafe at the tours, as the security detail on location would have prevented any unwanted intruders from being able to head into the gaming ground itself.

The drive and start behind the European Poker Tour comes from John Duthie, the winner of the televised Poker Million tournament, where he won a little over $1,500,000. Duthie is the founder and CEO of the European Poker Tour and regularly plays on the circuit itself, as well as performing commentary for many of the televised episodes.

John Duthie is part of Pokerstars’ Team Pokerstars, and his lifetime winnings add up to over $2,200,000. Duthie personally negotiated the production bills and broadcasting deals with various television partners he has accrued over the years. The European Poker Tour has maintained a steady following thanks the to drive of Mr. Duthie, and will hopefully stay the course for many seasons to come.