POKER SHARK 2.0
North American Poker Tour
Recently, Pokerstars announced the start of their North American Poker Tour. The North American Poker Tour was introduced on January 5th, 2010, at the Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas. Consisting of multiple locations and stops, the North American Poker Tour is Pokerstars’ poker player funded, driven, and reasonably buy-in-able answer to their increasing popularity of American poker card players.
The North American Poker Tour next headed over to Las Vegas, where it set up shop in Nevada from February 20th to 24th. While in Nevada, the event, dubbed the North American Poker Tour Venetian event, drew an immense group of avid poker players and gamblers alike. With a buy-in of $5,000, the North American Poker Tour’s second event ever shined quite well against the classy Venetian’s background.
Next, the North American Poker Tour set up in Uncasville, Connecticut, from April 7th to 11th. While at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, the North American Poker Tour made quite the impression, attracting names like Daniel Negreanu. Negreanu commented in a very positive manner for the North American Poker Tour, saying that it’s about time such an event took place in his hometown of Las Vegas.
Currently, the buy-in for the main events of the North American Poker Tour has been set at $5,000. In comparison to other events, the North American Poker Tour’s buy-in is quite low, thus allowing flourishing and upcoming players to try their hand at professional level games in the various events.
At the Venetian, several prominent players made their way to the top, with Harrison Gimbel leading the board at $2,200,000. Following Gimbel was Tyler Reiman, who hit second place with $1,750,000. In third, at the Venetian’s main event, was Barry Shulman, who obtained $1,350,000.
Barry Shulman is the current CEO of CardPlayer Magazine, and has played in many American poker tournaments over the course of his career. A truly avid poker player, Shulman beat Negreanu at the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event. This heads up win garnered Shulman an incredible $1,305,542 total for his first prize.
The North American Poker Tour’s host none other than model Joanna Krupa, who has been with the PokerStars family since the PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge. Krupa appeared on the ninth season of Dancing With The Stars and even beat out Mike Kosowski in the Million Dollar Challenge.
While the first time the North American Poker Tour appeared was technically at the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, the satellite games that pull players into the North American Poker Tour will undoubtedly bring individuals from all walks of life. While many of PokerStars’ tournaments are overseas and in foreign countries, the North American Poker Tour hopes to bring foreign players into the United States, as well as giving domestic players their own tour to attend.
Many Americas-based players find it difficult to travel overseas to attend the various PokerStars tours. Partly in response to this, PokerStars had the North American Poker Tour based towards this concept. There are many players that find that there are opportunities to attend the North American Poker Tour full time and will continue to do so in the future.