PokerStars Brings Back EPT Barcelona, PCA and Platinum Passes
EPT Prague was a resounding success this March after its pandemic absence in 2020 and 2021. PokerStars has now announced two more live events for this season: Barcelona in August and the return to Prague this December. In addition, the operator will add more regional events to the schedule and has announced details for the second PokerStars Players Championship (PSPC) and the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA).
EPT Barcelona 2022
EPT Barcelona was by far the most successful and biggest tournament of the European Poker Tour in the years leading up to Corona. From August 8-21, the EPT Barcelona will now return to the Casino Barcelona. The event will feature dozens of tournaments, including the ESPT event with a buy-in of 1,100 euros and the Main Event with a buy-in of 5,300 euros. Details for the event will be announced in the weeks leading up to the tournament.
Those tournaments are already set:
- ESPT Main Event: August 10-14 - €1,100
- EPT Main Event: August 15-21 - €5,300
- EPT Super High Roller: August 14-16 - €100,000
- EPT High Roller: August 19-21 - €10,300
The first-ever EPT event was held in Barcelona in 2004 and since then Barcelona has always been one of the tour's key stops. The event was last held in 2019. At that time, Simon Brandstrom from Sweden prevailed in a field of 1,988 entries. That tournament saw €9.6 million in prize money distributed among the players and it seems likely that that total will be breached this August.
EPT Prague 2022
EPT Prague will take place again this season on the usual date just before Christmas from 7 to 18 December in the King's Casino Prague. Once again, the Main Event buy-in will be €5,300, and over 1,000 players are expected to play the Main Event.
The dates for the EPT Prague have already been set:
- Eureka Main Event: December 8-12 - €1,100
- EPT Main Event: December 12-18 - €5,300
- Eureka High Roller: December 11-12 - €2,200
- EPT Super High Roller: December 11-13 - €50,000
- EPT High Roller: December 16-18 - €10,300
Regional Poker Tours: Ireland and Malta
PokerStars has also announced details of several more regional tours to be held this year. After six years, there will be a UKIPT in Dublin again. This event will be held at the Bonnington Hotel from May 16-22. The Main Event costs €1,100 and there will be numerous side events.
PokerStars will also offer a Summer Poker Festival for the first time. This will take place from June 18-26 at Casino Malta. The Main Event is a joint UKIPT and ESPT event. Again, the Main Event will cost €1,100. The full schedule will be announced soon on pokerstarslive.com.
PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and PokerStars Players Championship
PokerStars was unable to make it this year due to the pandemic, but the operator is finally returning to the Bahamas in January 2023. The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA), PokerStars' biggest live tournament for many years, will be held there from 22 January to 3 February.
As part of the PCA, the PokerStars Players Championship (PSPC) will be held for the second time. It has a buy-in of 25,000 dollars and PokerStars is awarding Platinum Passes for the tournament throughout the year as part of various promotions and satellites, as it did for the first edition. Such a pass entitles the holder to play the tournament and it includes flight and accommodation. The event is a pure freeze-out with no re-entries and is likely to be the biggest tournament in this prize category all year. In the first edition in 2019, 1,039 competitors took part and a total of $26.5 million prize money was awarded.
These are the dates for the PCA 2023:
- PCA ME: January 24-29, buy-in $10,300
- PSPC ME: January 30 - February 3, buy-in $25,000
The next big date for the EPT is April 28. That's when the EPT Monte Carlo kicks off.
