The PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) is back for a 9^th season and it all kicks off on August 15^th in Barcelona. The EPT is probably the most successful poker tour in the world, with the exception of the WSOP Circuit in the US, but for European players there’s no doubt that it’s the pinnacle of tournament poker.

The European Poker Tour Season 9 has stops at Barcelona, San Remo, Prague, The Bahamas, Deauville, London, Berlin, and Monte Carlo on the calendar, all destinations which will be familiar to EPT regulars. The only difference from last season is that Tallinn has been dropped in favour of Berlin. All of the continental European main events come with a €5,000 + €300 buy-in with the exception of the Grand Final inMonte Carlo which comes with a €10,000 + €600 price tag and brings the curtain down on the EPT season in mid-May. The London stop has a buy-in of £5,000 + £300 which is a shade more than the Euro equivalent and the prestigious PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas will cost $10,000 + $300 for a seat.

EPT main events usually draw fields in excess of 500 and the winner can generally expect to walk away with well over €500,000 in prize money. The Caribbean Adventure generally draws in excess of 1,500 players and first prize money typically exceeds $1.5M, making it the richest stop on the tour.

All events will be streamed live on pokerstars.tv and edited highlights packages will be shown on Channel 4 in the UK. As usual, all stops on the tour will be heavily satellited on PokerStars, though despite the number of satellite qualifiers EPT events are generally regarded as some of the toughest fields in poker, with the Caribbean Adventure in particular having a reputation for being the toughest tournament on the poker calendar.

Most of the main events will see players receive a 30,000 chip starting stack with the blinds beginning at 50/100 and levels lasting 75 minutes and antes being brought into play on level 4. From level 14 onwards, the blinds will go up every 90 minutes until a winner is determined. All stops on the tour will have a full side event calendar that will include high roller and super high roller events on each stop, while the EPT Barcelona will host this year’s EPT Heads Up Championship which has a €10,000 + €300 buy-in and a 64 player cap.

Last year’s EPT Player of the Year title was claimed by Ondrej Vinklarek of the CzechRepublic, having final tabled no less than 9 events across all of the EPT schedule including 2 victories in €1,000 events in Barcelona and Prague, and 2 main event cashes. Roberto Romanello came 2^nd in the race after a very strong season.

In the all-time rankings, Luca Pagano of Italy still leads the way, though an EPT main event victory continues to elude him. He holds a commanding lead over Bertrand ‘Elky’ Grospellier in 2^nd who has a 1^st and 2^nd in main events among his credentials, as well as a string of victories in side events.