The PokerStars European Poker Tour travels to many exotic locations – Monte Carlo, the Bahamas and London among others – but no leg of the tour creates quite as much excitement as Barcelona. Combining an excellent casino right on the beach with some amazing restaurants, bars and, of course, poker action, the Barca leg is the one leg of the EPT that every serious poker player looks forward to.
In August Barcelona will play host to the first leg of EPT Season 11, which will be the historic 100th EPT in the tour’s history. The festival runs from August 16-27 and feature a total of 43 events. While the EPT main event will retain its usual €5,300 buy-in there are plenty of tournaments with a lower buy-in for recreational players, including a €200 NL Turbo Deepstack ‘Win The Button’ event and a €100 Deuces Wild tournament. For those with much bigger pockets – or just fans who want to see the superstars in action – the €50,000 Super High Roller makes a welcome return too. Last year’s Super High Roller was won by Vitaly Lunkin but, as usual, it was Daniel Negreanu who created the most headlines after effectively surrendering his first buy-in by throwing a tantrum after a ruling didn’t go his way.
The EPT will rightly be the main focus in Barcelona but one of the biggest stories in 2013 was the phenomenal success of the Estrellas Poker Tour held there the week before. A world record 1,798 players entered the €1k tournament and, with space for 20 extra poker tables this year, there is potential for that incredible total to be broken.
Qualifiers for EPT Barcelona are already available on PokerStars.com and you can qualify for just a small outlay. EPT regulars such as Mickey Petersen, David Vamplew, Mike McDonald and Stephen Chidwick have already satellited in – take your shot today.
The full EPT Barcelona Season 11 schedule can be found by clicking here.
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