European Poker Tour moves to PokerStars for first-ever online festival
Following the path set by the World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour, another major live poker tour is going online for its next festival.
The European Poker Tour Online hits PokerStars Nov. 8-18, with $20 million guaranteed across 20 different events. The EPT designed the online schedule to mimic the structure of a live EPT event, with buy-ins ranging from $215 to $10,300 for a trio of High Roller events. The biggest buy-in of the series comes in a $25,000 Super High Roller tournament on Nov. 12.
The EPT Online series culminates with Event #16: $5,200 NLHE 8-Max Main Event. The EPT Online Main Event offers the biggest guaranteed prize pool of the series, as $5 million will be awarded in the centerpiece tournament of the EPT Online schedule.
The series will award real EPT trophies, as a victory in the EPT Online festival goes in the books as an official EPT win. Several events on the schedule will feature cards-up coverage streamed online.
Notable events on the EPT Online schedule
The $5 million guaranteed Main Event offers the biggest prize pool of any EPT Online event, but several of the other tournaments on the 20-event schedule also put forth seven-figure guarantees.
The series kicks off Sunday, Nov. 8 with Event #1: 8-Max Arena Championship. The tournament comes at a $1,050 buy-in and guarantees $1.5 million.
Nov. 10 brings Event #6: NLHE 8-Max High Roller, with a $10,300 buy-in and $1 million guarantee. The largest buy-in event of the series comes in Event #10 NLHE 8-Max Super High Roller, which offers $2 million guaranteed at a $25,000 entry point.
The majority of EPT Online events guarantee $500,000. Poker variants on tap outside of standard No-Limit Hold'em include Event #2: PLO 6-Max High Roller (Nov. 8, $10,300 buy-in, $500,000 guaranteed), Event #5 NLHE 8-Max Win the Button (Nov. 9, $1,050 buy-in, $200,000 guaranteed), and Event #9: 8-Game High Roller (Nov. 11, $5,200 buy-in, $250,000 guaranteed).
Other non-hold'em tournaments include Event #13: 6+ Hold'em 6-Max High Roller (Nov. 13, $10,300 buy-in, $400,000 guaranteed) and Event #17: PLO 6-Max (Nov. 15, $2,100 buy-in, $500,000 guaranteed).
Mini EPT Online low-stakes series runs concurrently
In addition to the EPT Online slate, PokerStars will also host the Mini EPT Online concurrently with the EPT Online. The Mini EPT Online also offers 20 events, but the buy-ins come at an affordable range of $5.50 to $215.
Two events in the Mini EPT Online series offer $500,000 guaranteed prize pools, the biggest across the series. Those tournaments come in Event #6: NLHE 8-Max Mini High Roller (Nov. 11, $109 buy-in) and Event #16: NLHE 8-Max Mini Main Event ($55 buy-in, $500,000 guaranteed).
Unprecedented year for online poker in 2020 continues
The EPT Online becomes the next poker brand to run an online version of a major live festival, as the live poker tour economy remains mostly halted as COVID-19 goes into the fall and winter months.
WSOP offered the WSOP Online Bracelet Events series throughout July and August, giving players the chance to win a WSOP bracelet online after the postponement of the 2020 World Series of Poker. That series ran on WSOP.com in the U.S. and GGPoker internationally.
The WPT offered the WPT World Online Championships over the summer as well, hosted by partypoker. That series drew some of poker's biggest names and offered the chance to compete for official WPT titles online.
