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 EPT3 GRAND FINAL
EUROPEAN POKER TOUR MONTE CARLO GRAND FINAL SET TO BREAK ALL RECORDS
Date: Friday March 23, 2007
Venue: Monte Carlo
Event: EPT3 Grand Final - sponsored by PokerStars.com
Buy-in: €10,000
The European Poker Tour Grand Final in Monte Carlo (March 28-April 2) is set to smash all records for a European poker tournament - with double last year's numbers and a total prize pool of nearly €6 million.
Over 600 players have registered to play making the EPT Season Three Grand Final - sponsored by PokerStars.com - the richest poker tournament ever held outside of the USA.
The six-day Texas Hold'em No Limit Grand Final event is the climax to a phenomenally successful series of EPT tournaments. There have been seven tournaments since last September, including Germany and Poland for the first time. Many of the events have been sell-outs with player numbers from Season Three vastly higher than last year - approaching 3,500 entrants and a total prize pool of over €19 million (including Monte Carlo).
The tournament begins Wednesday, March 28 2007, in the Salles des Etoiles room of the Monte Carlo Sporting complex at the exclusive Monte Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort. Thanks to the high numbers wishing to play, the Grand Final has been extended by an extra day with the final table now taking place on Monday, April 2.
At last year's Grand Final, 19-year-old American student Jeff Williams, from Atlanta, Georgia became a dollar millionaire, walking away with €900,000 for his first place cash prize. This year the winner is likely to take home nearly €1.8 million.
More than 250 poker players have won their seats to this year's Grand Final by qualifying online with PokerStars.com. They will be playing against some of poker's top professionals, including World Champions Joe Hachem (2005), Greg Raymer (2004), and Chris Moneymaker (2003), as well as other Team PokerStars members Isabelle Mercier, Luca Pagano, Bill Chen, Noah Boeken, Katja Thater, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Humberto Brenes, Lee Nelson and Vanessa Rousso. All this year's EPT winners automatically qualify for a seat - and the chance to be crowned the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Champion.
John Duthie, executive producer of the PokerStars.com EPT and holder of the Poker Million title, said: "The EPT has firmly established itself as the most prestigious poker tour in Europe. Many of Europe's top players have always seen the potential for major events here and thanks to their support and enthusiasm - and the involvement of PokerStars.com - we've been able to make that happen. The tour now attracts top players from all over the world and this year's Grand Final looks set to be the biggest poker event ever to take place in Europe."
The EPT is televised by BAFTA award winning production company Sunset+Vine. Season Three is currently being shown on satellite channel EuroSport on Fridays and starting from May 4, 2007 on Challenge TV at 23:00 weekdays. For more information visit http://www.europeanpokertour.com/tvshows.html
Poker fans can also follow the event on the PokerStars blog as well as a new internet broadcast service EPTLive. Following the highly successful inaugural broadcast at the EPT German Open, PokerStars is offering live coverage of the last three days of the Grand Final. Visit www.EPTlive.com to watch the Grand Final action live from Monte Carlo. The service is free and coverage begins Saturday 31st March at approximately 1400 local time (0900 ET).
For further information, please visit http://www.ept.com or contact Sara Dark at
Jackie Cooper Public Relations, Sara_Dark@jcpr.com; +44 7779 149 888.
PokerStars Facts:
PokerStars (www.pokerstars.com) is the world's most innovative online poker site. PokerStars was the first site to introduce features that became industry standard such as sophisticated multi-table tournaments, integrated game statistics, players' notes, personalized images, time bank for tournaments and big bet ring games, satellite tournaments, multi-table sit and go tournaments, and much more.
To date, PokerStars has dealt out over five-billion hands and run more than 25 million poker tournaments, awarding well over $5 billion in prize money. PokerStars is the world's largest poker tournament room, with over 5 million registered player accounts. PokerStars' support team is truly unique, as help and assistance are available around the clock from people who know and understand the game of poker and the importance of impeccable customer service.
The PokerStars.com site is also one of the most secure. PokerStars uses industry-leading security software to ensure the integrity of the system, including encryption, card shuffle randomness and preventative measures against cheating and collusion. Money covering player's balances is held in segregated accounts managed by a major European bank, ensuring that PokerStars can fulfill its obligations to players at all times.
In February 2006, PokerStars.com became the first poker website ever to reach the 100,000 simultaneous player mark. That watershed achievement marked the largest poker event in history. Every week, the PokerStars.com "Sunday Million" is played, which the largest weekly tournament on the planet with a $1 million guaranteed tournament prize pool.
PokerStars is an official member of the World Poker Tour, and the title sponsor of the European Poker Tour (EPT) and the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. In the fall, PokerStars hosts the world's largest online tournament, the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP). PokerStars also sponsors major events around the globe, such as the World Cup of Poker and other exciting tournaments.
During the last three years, PokerStars.com sent more players to the World Series of Poker (WSOP) than any other source or website. A whopping 1,623 entrants (more than 20 percent of the field) qualified to play in the 2006 WSOP via PokerStars satellites. PokerStars is the site where the 2003 and 2004 World Series of Poker champions won their entries into the WSOP. The 2005 world poker champion, Joe Hachem, has also been an active player at PokerStars since 2001. He joined Moneymaker and Raymer as official representatives of PokerStars.com, thus fortifying the company trademark, "Where Poker Players Become World Champions." For more information go to: wwaw.pokerstars.com
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