EPT Dublin

The Irish Masters, the fourth event of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour (EPT), is set to attract a record field for the €5,000 buy-in poker tournament.

“We had 480 players at the Barcelona EPT last month, and it looks like the Dublin EPT starting on Thursday could well exceed that figure,” said EPT chief executive John Duthie.

“Interest in EPT tournaments is soaring and we are already way past last year’s Dublin total of 260 players.”

The four day Irish Masters, takes place at the Regency Hotel in Dublin, 26-29 October, 2006 and the prize pool is expect to exceed €2m.

American superstar Jamie Gold, the man who won $12m at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in August, is among a strong international field. He will be joined by 2003 and 2004 WSOP Champions Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer.

Top Irish players entered for the Dublin EPT include Noel Furlong (1999 WSOP winner), Andy Black, Padraig Parkinson and footballer-turned-poker-pro Tony Cascarino.

Due to strong late demand, John Duthie is advising poker players not to travel to the EPT unless they already have a seat secured. The tournament is capped at 500 players.

The London EPT sold out at 400 players in late September, with local girl Victoria Coren winning the £500,000 first prize.

The three remaining events of EPT Season 3 are the EPT Scandinavian Open in Copenhagen (17-20 January 2007), EPT French Open in Deauville, France (21-24 February 2007), and the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo (28 March-1 April 2007). Players can qualify for these events on PokerStars.com for as little as $5.50.

The EPT Irish Masters will be filmed as part of the The European Poker Tour Season 3 TV show, which is televised by BAFTA® award winning production company Sunset+Vine, and broadcast on Challenge TV (UK), TV Norge (Norway), TV3+ (Denmark), Z TV (Sweden), TNS (Canada) and across 54 territories on Eurosport. Full details available at www.ept.com.