Casino News

EPT 'could overtake WPT'

2009-06-01 16:21:04

A poker expert has suggested that the European Poker Tour (EPT) could soon take over from the World Poker Tour (WPT) as the premier poker event outside the World Series of Poker.

In his Card Player magazine blog, Ryan Luchessi noted that attendance at eight out of 12 WPT events declined last year, while the turnout for every EPT tournament except Warsaw increased.

Two of the events during season five of the EPT attracted fields of more than 1,000 people, the Caribbean Adventure and the San Remo competition.

Poorya Nazari was the winner of the $3 million (£1.83 million) first prize at the Caribbean Adventure, taking the title from Bertrand Grospellier who won it the year before.

There were also two tournaments in which the winners picked up prizes in excess of $3 million and the average attendance at events increased from 537 players to 706.

Meanwhile, the WPT suffered with the overall players dropping from 7,390 in season six to 5,286 gamers in season seven.

The total prize pools in the series last season were $61 million in the WPT and $67 million in the EPT.