European Poker Tour - EPT

The European Poker Tour (EPT) is Europe's richest and most popular poker tour. The EPT was created in 2004 by PokerStars. Over the course of its history, it has seen stops held in some of the most spectacular European destinations, such as Monte Carlo, London, Berlin, Barcelona and more.

Now into its 20th year, the tour continues to attract some of the best poker players from around the world.

Creation of the European Poker Tour

The poker boom in the early 2000s saw immense growth in televised poker such as the Late Night Poker, the Poker Million and the World Poker Tour. The European Poker Tour (EPT) was created by John Duthie, winner of the inaugural Poker Million.

EPT Season 1 (2004-05)

The very first EPT was held in Barcelona and was won by Alexander Stevic for €80,000. Stevic would go on to finish third in the inaugural season's Grand Final held at the Monte Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort for €178,000.

The Grand Final was won by the Netherlands' Rob Hollink for €635,000.

There were seven events in the inaugural season with two British and two Dutch players grabbing titles.

EPT Season 2 (2005-06)

The second season of the EPT also had seven events, with the only change being a switch from Baden to Vienna. Patrik Antonius won the new EPT Baden only two months after winning the Scandinavian Poker Championships.

Meanwhile, there were wins for both Mark Teltscher and Mads Andersen in their "home" EPTs in London and Copenhagen respectively.

EPT Season 3 (2006-07)

The first ever EPT live-reported by PokerNews took place in March 2007 in Dortmund, as Andreas Hoivold won €672,000 after defeating a field of 493 players.

EPT Dortmund was one of eight stops in Season 3 with other notables grabbing titles including Roland de Wolfe (pictured) and Gavin Griffin, both of whom would go onto achieve poker's Triple Crown (winning EPT, WPT and WSOP titles).

EPT Season 4 (2007-08)

The big names were out in force on Season 4 of the European Poker Tour, with Mike McDonald (pictured), Jason Mercier and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier bagging titles. Grospellier won his EPT title at the inaugural PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) for a cool $2,000,000.

This season was book-ended by two other seven-figure first prizes with Sander Lylloff winning the season-opening EPT Barcelona (denying Mark Teltscher a second EPT title heads-up), and Glen Chorny winning over €2m in the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo.

EPT Season 5 (2008-09)

There was no let-up from the EPT with another 11-event schedule for the fifth season. The EPT record of 1,136 set at the PCA in Season 4 was broken not just by the same event in Season 5, but also by EPT Sanremo.

Stories from Season 5 include Will Fry winning his first major tournament at EPT Budapest, Sandra Naujoks becoming the second female EPT champion and the first champions from Portugal and Italy.

Read More: Looking Back at the European Poker Tour - The Early Years

EPT Season 6 (2009-10)

By Season 6, the EPT had grown to include 13 destinations, the most stops in its history. Many players who would go on to become EPT regulars won titles in Season 6, including Jake Cody and Liv Boeree who would enjoy successful spells as PokerStars Team Pros.

In March 2010, future WSOPE Main Event winner Kevin MacPhee won the EPT Berlin Main Event. However, the festival is notable for the tournament venue being robbed by a group of armed men in the middle of the tournament. Play was suspended for several hours and two weeks later, a suspect surrendered to German authorities.

Read More: Armed Robbery Suspends Play at EPT Berlin (2010)

EPT Season 7 (2010-11)

Season 7 of the EPT would start just like previous seasons, but by the end of the season, the poker world would be rocked by the events of Black Friday in April 2011.

Galen Hall would win the largest PCA Main Event ever for $2.3 million, defeating 1,560 players in the process. Future Triple Crown winner Robert Romanello won his EPT title in Season 7 at EPT Prague, while there were three other British champions in the shape of Toby Lewis, David Vamplew and Rupert Elder.

EPT Season 8 (2011-12)

Season 8 was the final season with 13 stops on the calendar. It was also the only time the series visited Greece for EPT Loutraki, and that Campione held an EPT festival.

Three Danes picked up EPT honours in as many festivals as Mickey Petersen, Frederik Jensen and Jannick Wrang all won EPT Main Events. This was followed by Davidi Kitai's victory at EPT Berlin, the first by a Belgian on the European Poker Tour. This also marked the only occasion that a player has completed poker's Triple Crown by winning an EPT title. He became the fifth winner of poker's triple crown.

Read More: Looking Back at the European Poker Tour Part Two - Berlin Robbery and Black Friday

EPT Season 9 (2012-13)

By 2012, the EPT was beginning to focus on several core stops as part of the tour. This included Barcelona as the season-opener, Prague and the PCA straddling the turn of the year, and the Grand Final in Monte Carlo rounding out the year.

Mikalai Pobal and Dimitar Danchev won the first EPT titles for Belarus and Bulgaria respectively, while Steve O'Dwyer won the EPT Grand Final Main Event for €1.2m. This victory, along with several other major scores, puts him at the top of the EPT all-time money list with almost $12.5 million in earnings.

EPT Season 10 (2013-14)

Season 10 of the European Poker tour was a historic one, with Victoria Coren-Mitchell sensationally clinching victory at EPT Sanremo to become the first two-time EPT champion. Coren-Mitchell followed up her victory at EPT London in Season 3 with another victory, defeating Giacomo Fundaro heads-up to win €376,100.

Like in previous seasons, several EPT regulars finally got their hands on Main Event glory including Robin Ylitalo and Dominik Panka, with Sotirios Koutoupas becoming the first Greek EPT winner.

EPT Season 11 (2014-15)

Up until 2015, Spain had yet to win an EPT Main Event. That all changed with the EPT Grand Final as Adrian Mateos secured victory just two years after winning the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) Main Event at just 19 years old.

The EPT also visited Malta for the very first time, with Jean Montury securing victory. This was also the last time the EPT visited London and Deauville, which between them held 20 EPT festivals.

EPT Season 12 (2015-16)

The European Poker Tour returned to Dublin for the first time since Season 5, with young Polish phenom Dzmitry Urbanovich (pictured) clinching victory.

Future WSOP Main Event winner Hossein Ensan won EPT Prague, while former John Juanda became the second former WSOP Europe Main Event winner to taste EPT Main Event glory.

EPT Season 13 (2016)

There were just three EPT festivals held in 2016. Sebastian Malec won EPT Barcelona in sensational fashion, becoming the second Polish player to win an EPT Main Event.

Read More: Looking Back at the European Poker Tour Part Three

PokerStars Championship

In 2017, PokerStars announced it was to overhaul its live tournament schedule. As a result, the European Poker Tour was rebranded as the PokerStars Championship.

There were seven PokerStars Championship festivals:

• Bahamas
• Panama
• Macau
• Monte Carlo
• Sochi
• Barcelona
• Prague

The PokerStars Championship was discontinued after one season, with the EPT brand returning once more.

2018 EPT Season

The EPT returned in 2018 with five stops including the first trip to Russia, with a visit to Casino Sochi. Arsenii Karmatckii became only the fourth Russian to win an EPT title, before the tour returned to stops in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Prague.

2019 EPT Season

In 2019, the European Poker Tour was unusual, in that it held the same five stops as the previous year. This is the first time the tour had done this, and as a result it saw increased Main Event numbers in three of the five festivals.

That included the 2019 EPT Barcelona Main Event with a staggering 1,988 entries - almost as many entries as the inaugural EPT season attracted. The event was won by Sweden's Simon Brandstrom for almost €1.3 million.

Then, at EPT Prague, Mikalai Pobal became the second two-time winner on the EPT after defeating 1,154 players to win the EPT Prague Main Event.

2020 EPT Season

In 2020, there was only one live European Poker Tour festival held as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Ruslan Bogdanov took down the EPT Sochi Main Event title for $175,743 after a heads-up deal with Viktor Tkachenko.

Additionally, there were 20 tournaments held online at PokerStars as part of the inaugural EPT Online. Sweden's "WhatIfGod" won the $5,200 EPT Online Main Event for $1,019,082 after defeating Timothy Adams heads-up.

Read Full Live Updates from the EPT Online

2021 EPT Season

The only EPT held in 2021 was again in Russia. The 2021 EPT Sochi Main Event was won by Artur Martirosian for $325,316.

2022 EPT Season

Following the coronavirus pandemic's end, the EPT returned to normality, with five stops occurring throughout 2022. There were two stops in Prague, Czech Republic, and the tour returned to London, England, for the first time in eight years. The EPT also visited regular destinations, such as Monte Carlo and Barcelona.

The EPT returned with a bang, with several events breaking attendance and prize pool records throughout the year. The 2022 EPT Barcelona Main Event became the biggest of all time, with 2,294 entries recorded. Italy's Guiliano Bendinelli was the victor in that tournament and pocketed the €1,491,133 allocated for first place.

2023 EPT Season

Two brand new stops were announced as part of the 2023 EPT season, with Paris becoming the 13th different European capital to host a stop on the European Poker Tour, and popular poker destination Cyprus getting in on the action. Additionally the first PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in four years was held, with Michel Dattani emerging victorious.

There were stories aplenty as PokerStars qualifier Razvan Belea dominated in Paris and Canada's Mike Watson became only the third two-time EPT champion in history with victory in Monte Carlo, seven years after previously taking down the 2016 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event.

Another monster EPT Barcelona Main Event saw Simon Wiciak crowned champion, before PokerStars 'Dare to Stream' winner Gilles Simon became the inaugural winner of EPT Cyprus. The year was rounded out in stunning style with a memorable comeback for popular Irish player Padraig O'Neill who overcame Jon Kyte heads-up after the Norwegian had held a near unassailable chip lead.

2024 EPT Season

If the 2024 EPT season looks familiar, it's because it is. For the first time since 2019, all five stops have been retained for 2024 with the EPT returning to 2023 newbies Paris and Cyprus, while old stalwarts such as Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Prague remain on the schedule.

EPT All-Time Money List

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Top 10 Largest EPT Main Events

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Top 10 EPT First Place Payouts

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European Poker Tour Destinations

The European Poker Tour has visited 23 destinations in 18 countries across Europe, not including the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure held in the Bahamas from 2008-19.

The destination that has hosted the most EPT festivals is Barcelona, closely followed by Monte Carlo who hosted the EPT Grand Final in every year from 2004-16 (apart from 2011 where it was held in Madrid).

• 17: Barcelona, Spain
• 15: Monte Carlo, Monaco; Prague, Czech Republic
• 12: London, United Kingdom; The Bahamas
• 9: Deauville, France
• 8: Copenhagen, Denmark
• 7: Sanremo, Italy
• 5: Dublin, Ireland
• 4: Berlin, Germany; Sochi, Russia; Warsaw, Poland
• 3: Baden, Switzerland; Dortmund, Germany; Malta; Vienna, Austria
• 2: Madrid, Spain; Salzburg, Austria; Tallinn, Estonia; Vilamoura, Portugal

Only six destinations have held just one EPT festival: Budapest, Hungary (2008); Kiev, Ukraine (2009); Loutraki, Greece (2011), Campione, Italy (2012), Cyprus (2023) and Paris, France (2023). This will of course change once Cyprus and Paris hold their second events, schedule for 2024.

_{Stats correct as of January 1, 2024)}

European Poker Tour (EPT) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)