Back in the “good old days” of online poker, PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker were fierce rivals. Numbers one and two in the traffic rankings, they were in the business of trying to one-up each other. PokerStars had the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP); Full Tilt launched the Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS). PokerStars recruited World Series of Poker (WSOP) champions; Full Tilt recruited seemingly everybody else. They had the largest presences at the World Series of Poker. The list goes on and on.
One thing that PokerStars always had on Full Tilt was its live tournaments. The World Series is the World Series and the World Poker Tour is now owned by bwin.party, but PokerStars has its name on almost every other major, mid-major, semi-major, and minor event in the world. Amongst the many benefits to playing at PokerStars over the years has been the plethora of opportunities to qualify for one of these many land-based tournaments for just a few bucks online.
Now, in a move that smells like daddy telling his kid, “you’ll do this if you know what’s good for you,” Full Tilt Poker has begun running online satellites for many of the PokerStars-sponsored poker tours. Included in the roster are the UK & Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT), the Eureka Poker Tour, the Brazilian Series of Poker, and the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour (ANZPT). Here are some of the details for each:
UKIPT – The UK & Ireland Poker Tour launched in 2009 and has awarded over €16.5 million in total prize money. Interestingly, the next even on the tour is not even in the United Kingdom or Ireland. Instead, from June 12th through June 16th, the UKIPT will be in Marbella, Spain, for the PokerStars Marbella Festival.
Eureka Poker Tour – While the geography of many of the poker tours is obvious based on the name of the tour, the Eureka Poker Tour can be a head scratcher. Though it’s not obvious, this one features venues around Central and Eastern Europe. Season 3 has already had a stop in the Czech Republic and will be visiting the Golden Sun Casino in Dubrovnik, Croatia next. There are two more stops this year, first in Bulgaria in July and then in Prague in December.
Brazilian Series of Poker – there are eight “steps” scheduled on the BSOP this year, a “tour” not quite as well-known as some of the others. Tournaments have already been played in Sao Paulo, Parana, and Bahia, with the next one coming up from May 30th through June 3rd at the Royal Tulip Hotel in Rio de Janiero. The BSOP Grand Final is slated for November 27th through December 4th in a return trip to Sao Paulo.
ANZPT – The ANZPT is quickly becoming a very popular tour. With stops in Melbourne, Perth, Auckland, Sydney, and Queenstown, it visits some of the most attractive venues around. ANZPT Repechage is the next event on tour, running May 30th through June 3rd at the famous Crown Melbourne casino.
PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker are still competitor from a poker standpoint, but now that PokerStars (or more accurately, PokerStars’ parent company) owns Full Tilt, PokerStars is quite obviously calling the shots.
