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Friday, Nov. 21, 2008
French Open returns to EPT in 2009
Isabelle Mercier is just one of the PokerStars players set to play the EPT in France.
By Sarah Polson
After a two-year hiatus, the French Open will once again be added to the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour lineup.
The last time the tour dipped its toes into France was in 2006. The EPT had a stop in Deauville scheduled for 2007 as well, but it canceled the tournament series just a few weeks before the event was set to take place.
In late 2006, France was working to tighten its online gambling ban in the nation. Because the EPT is run by PokerStars, it became a difficult situation for the tour. In January 2007, the EPT released the following statement.
"The European Poker Tour (EPT) regrets to announce that the 2007 French Open poker tournament due to be held at Casino Barrière de Deauville from 20-24th February, 2007, has been cancelled. This is as a direct result of last-minute intervention by the French authorities making it impossible for the Lucien Barrière group to run a poker tournament on their premises in Deauville."
Since then, the European Union has been striving to open up the online gambling market throughout its member states, and France was one of the nations targeted for its policy of banning online gambling in order to protect its state-run gambling services.
The French government is in the process of working on gambling regulations to better comply with EU policy. During the nation's latest conference on the issue, representatives of the republic made assurances that online poker would figure into the early stages of the overhaul.
It's not quite an obvious welcome mat being thrown out for online poker, but the more friendly tone toward the industry certainly makes it easier for the EPT to add the nation back to its schedule.
The French Open will take place Jan. 20-24, 2009, at the Casino Barrier de Deauville. PokerStars is already planning to send some of its best players to the event.
Team PokerStars Pro members who are expected to be at the tables include Vanessa Rousso, Vicky Coren, Isabelle Mercier, Katja Thater, Bertrand Grospellier, Noah Boeken, Alex Kravchenko, Luca Pagano, Dario Minieri and Chad Brown.
The online poker site will also be sending some of its best online players as well. PokerStars players can win their tickets to the EPT Deauville through satellites that are already running daily at the poker site.
The prize packages up for grabs are worth $9,000 and include the buy-in for the main event plus hotel accommodations and money for expenses.
Players who don't win a prize package to take them to the event can still buy in directly for €5,300. The event is capped at 700 players, and there will be an estimated €3,360,000 prize pool.
For more information about how you can qualify for the EPT Deauville online, visit PokerStars.
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