PokerNews to Bring You Coverage of the World Poker Tour Grand Prix de Paris & WPT Malta
Season XI of the World Poker Tour, a series of international poker tournaments founded in 2002, features a record number of international stops, and PokerNews is proud to inform you that it will be on hand to live-report two upcoming events: the WPT Grand Prix de Paris and WPT Malta.
The Grand Prix de Paris has been on the WPT on and off since Season II and was most recently won by American Matt Waxman, who defeated a field of 312 players in September last year to capture a €500,000 first-place prize. That allowed him to join a prestigious list of former champions including David Benyamine (Season II), Surinder Sunar (Season III), Roland de Wolfe (Season IV), Christian Grundtvig (Season V), and Theo Jorgensen (Season IX).
This year the WPT Grand Prix de Paris will host a €7,500 reentry Main Event from Sept. 10 through 15 at the Aviation Club de France. In addition, there will be a three-day-long €15,000 High Roller event from Sept. 15 through 17. The event is already generating excitement as evidenced by Poker Hall of Famer and WPT icon Mike Sexton’s recent tweet:
Happy Labor Day! Good luck to all players in Partouche. Hope to see you all in Paris next week for WPT's Grand Prix de Paris - gonna be good
— Mike Sexton (@MikeSexton_WPT)
WPT Malta appeared on the schedule for the first time in Season X. Held at the Casino at Portomaso, 240 players attended the inaugural event and created a prize pool of €698,400. The final table included two Frenchmen (Fabien Sartoris, sixth and Tristan Celmencon, fifth), two Italians (Filippo Bianchini, third and Cecilia Pescaglini, second) and an Englishman (Simon Trumper, fourth), but was ultimately won by American Matt Giannetti, who took home €200,000 for his effort.
“Portomaso in Malta is normally the home of super yachts but for four days in late September it will be home to WPT Malta,” said WPT President Adam Pliska when Malta was added to the schedule last year. “This Mediterranean hotspot already has poker in its veins so we hope that by introducing a World Poker Tour stop we will satisfy the desires of locals and the international contingent looking for some late summer sun.”
This year, the WPT Malta will feature a €3,300 reentry from Sept. 16 through 20, including two starting flights capped at 300 players apiece. One player who will be in action is Andras Fekete, who recently asked Tony G to help him out with the buy-in. Surprisingly, the G buckled and took to the PartyPoker Blog to announce that he was going to get PartyPoker to buy-in the Hungarian, who is a ex-basketball pro living in Malta.
As Tony G said in the blog: “Let me introduce to you Andras Fekete — he’s a Hungarian who lives in Malta but don’t hold that against him. He sent me this video of him testing out his water shooters on Phil Hellmuth, and I think he really is doing something good for the world and you know I have heart. Being involved in the poker media myself we normally have these slick videos, but I was impressed that this guy just recorded this and sent it to me anyway. I like his story, too. He is an ex basketball pro and best of all he tilted the hell out of Hellmuth at WPT Malta last year…and then busted him…what is not too like? . . . I am talking to PartyPoker and we are going to buy this guy in.”
Here’s a look at Fekete’s video that caught the G’s eye:
Needless to say, both the Grand Prix de Paris and WPT Malta are going to be fun stops full of great poker action, so be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews as we bring you all the latest in World Poker Tour action. You can find WPT news, photos, videos, schedules, and results on PokerNews.com in the coming weeks, while also following the action in our Live Reporting Section.
For more information on the tournaments, head on over to WorldPokerTour.com and don't forget to follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
*Picture courtesy of World Poker Tour.
