For the first time ever in its five year history, the European Poker Tour (EPT) is entering into Budapest, Hungary, for a slate of tournaments starting on Tuesday.
The EPT has become one of the most desirable tournament poker circuits for several reasons. First, EPT tournaments have shown continuous and tremendous growth over its four-year history and the exotic locales on the EPT schedule make it truly unique. With the current stop in Budapest, the organization looks to continue on its path to success.
After two highly-attended and hotly-contested tournaments in Barcelona and London, the EPT visits the Las Vegas Casino in Budapest’s Sofitel Hotel, a stop on the fifth season of the poker tour. There, the increasing strength of Hungarian players will take center stage. Denes Kalo has carried the Hungarian flag proudly during the tour’s history, finishing as runner up twice at the EPT Baden and the EPT Grand Final and now sits in the top ten in EPT history for tournament earnings. He is joined by Valdemar Kwaysser, a Hungarian newcomer who exploded on the scene earlier this year when he captured the first Latin American Poker Tour event in Costa Rica.
Their task will not be an easy one, however. The field is capped at 500 players, but the EPT has shown that it will relax that cap if there is demand. 145 players have already earned their way in online or through their affiliations with PokerStars, the sponsor of the EPT. These players include Germany’s Katja Thater, England’s Vicky Coren, the Netherlands Noah “Exclusive” Boeken, and Italy’s Luca Pagano and Dario Minieri.
Most eyes will be on one gentleman who may make poker history, however. France’s Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, who in January was the champion of the EPT’s PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and was the victor of the recently-completed World Poker Tour Festa al Lago championship in Las Vegas, comes to Budapest on a tremendous hot streak and with several opportunities at hand.
By making the final table or winning the EPT Budapest, Grospellier can move into first place on many of the Player of the Year races that are compiled. More importantly, however, a strong finish will potentially move “ElkY” into the top slot on the EPT’s all-time money list; he currently is around €300,000 behind defending EPT Grand Final champion Glen Chorny, a Canadian, for that honor. Grospellier is one of just three poker players who have taken down both EPT and WPT titles (Gavin Griffin and Roland de Wolfe are the other two).
The €4,000 EPT Championship Event isn’t the only tournament on the schedule. For those players who bust out from one of the two first days, there are tournaments ranging from €500 to €2,000 from October 30th to November 1st and there should be plenty of cash game action as well. If poker isn’t in the cards for some after their dismissals from the Championship Event, there is always sightseeing in Budapest, one of the most attractive and historic cities in Europe.
Will Grospellier add to what has already been a successful 2008 or will another top pro or online wunderkind capture the title? You can get more details on the current stop in Budapest and live updates as the action happens at the EPT’s website. Poker News Daily will also provide recaps of the action as another champion is crowned on the European Poker Tour.
