Perhaps looking to partially fill the void left by the termination of the European Poker Tour, the World Poker Tour (WPT) announced today the addition of the Season XVI WPT European Championship to the schedule, a poker festival culminating with the WPT European Championship €3,300 Main Event. The entire tour stop will run January 5th through January 15th next year at Spielbank Casino in Berlin, Germany, with the Main Event going January 10th through close.
“It is with great pleasure that the World Poker Tour announces the WPT European Championship and the return of a televised event to Europe,” said Adam Pliska, CEO of the World Poker Tour. “Much has changed since the WPT’s last televised European event in Season XII, but one thing that has remained certain is Europe’s incredible enthusiasm for poker. The continent is home to some of the world’s most talented poker players, including several WPT Champions Club members. We look forward to hosting the entire poker world in Berlin for the televised WPT European Championship.”
The World Poker Tour is also mixing its tours in a sense with the WPT European Championship, starting off the stop with a €1,500 WPTDeepStacks Event (by the way, why are there no spaces in WPTDeepStacks?).
“As poker’s premier mid-major tournament circuit, WPTDeepStacks is excited to be the opening event of the WPT European Championship festival,” said Executive Director of WPTDeepStacks Chris Torina. “Offering our €1,500 buy-in WPTDeepStacks Berlin event in combination with the WPT European Championship €3,300 Main Event, plus all of the other great events we have filled the schedule with, will create one of the best festivals not only in Europe, but around the world.”
Interestingly, with as long as the World Poker Tour has been around, this will be the first time it has made a stop in Berlin. Marcel Langner, Director of Operations for Spielbank Casino, expressed his excitement in the WPT statement:
Spielbank Casino is honored to partner with the World Poker Tour to welcome the WPT to Germany for the first time in its rich history. Poker’s popularity in Europe is no secret. We are proud to welcome players not only from across all of Europe, but the entire world, and to showcase all that this amazing region has to offer on the global stage of the World Poker Tour.
As of right now, the WPT European Championship will slot in as the caboose of the WPT schedule, coming a month after the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.
There have been just two WPT stops so far this season, WPT Beijing and WPT Amsterdam. The remaining seven – not counting the WPT European Championship – are all in North America, starting with WPT Choctaw in August. There will surely be more stops added, though, as mainstays such as WPT Bay 101 younger, popular stops such as WPT Rolling Thunder have yet to appear on the list.
