Every year since it’s inception, the European Poker Tour has concluded with a €10,000 buy-in tournament in Monte Carlo. This is one of the most prestigious tournaments, if not the most prestigious tournament, in all of Europe. The event has been held in March or April each of the last four years. Season five of the EPT will once again conclude with the Monte Carlo Grand Final on April 28th.
The history of the Grand Final tells a story of the growth and popularity of the EPT. In season one, just 211 players came together for the €10,000 buy-in finale. Dutchman Rob Hollink won that event for €635,000. Hollink’s presence on the poker scene has not been diminished since that win. Last summer, he won the $10,000 buy-in Limit Hold’em Championship at the World Series of Poker for $496,000.
The EPT Grand Final saw a boost in it’s participation in season two when 298 players came together for the championship. A streak of young champions was initiated in this tournament when online sensation Jeff “yellowsub” Williams (pictured left) won the event for €900,000 at just 19 years of age. Since then, Williams has enjoyed continued success in the poker world including a 2nd place finish in a $1,000 rebuy event at least year’s WSOP for $406,000.
Season three is when the EPT Grand Final really kicked into gear. The field size more than doubled from the year before when 706 players came together for 2007’s event. Gavin Griffin (pictured right) was just 25 when he won that event along with a cool €1,825,010. Griffin is the only poker player who can lay claim to having won a WSOP event, a World Poker Tour event, as well as an EPT event.
At last year’s Grand Final, the field size grew once again, this time to 842 players. Once again, a youngster emerged with a huge payday. Canadian Glen Chorny was just twenty-two at the time of his €2,020,000 score.
There’s no telling if the EPT Grand Final will make it four-for-four on increasing its field size from year to year. A global economic recession certainly stands poised to diminish participation this year, but at the same time, poker has managed to stay pretty recession-proof thus far.
Whoever makes it to Monte Carlo next month for this year’s Grand Final, one thing is for sure: there will be plenty of skilled young players hoping to make it four in a row for the under-30 crowd in Europe’s premier tournament!