Four years ago, it was inconceivable that the European Poker Tour (EPT) would ever be larger than the World Poker Tour (WPT). At that time, the EPT was in its infancy while the WPT was the marque tournament tour in the world. The WPT was the top-rated show on the Travel Channel where fans watched a new millionaire crowned each week. Field-sizes were huge on the WPT while players from all backgrounds took a shot at televised fame. Meanwhile, the EPT usually failed to attract more than 300 players in any of their €4,000 buy-in events throughout Europe.
Times have changed.
This week, the WPT Championship, a $25,000 buy-in event that used to be (and maybe still is) considered the second most prestigious tournament in the world next to the WSOP Main Event has attracted just 337 players. In the glory days of this event, over 600 players participated. So where did everyone go? The answer to that question is San Remo, Italy.
In just its second year on the EPT schedule, the event in San Remo lured an astounding 1,178 players to a venue not exactly on the beaten path (relative to Vegas, anyway).
How can this be explained?
There are probably a few reasons why EPT San Remo has drawn overwhelmingly larger interest than the WPT Championship. First, the world’s economy is in a deep recession. Many players probably find the $6,600 San Remo buy-in to be a much more practical option than the $25,000 buy-in WPT event. Second, and perhaps more importantly, the San Remo event was promoted heavily through online poker satellites. Players could either win a seat or buy-in directly through PokerStars, the poker room that sponsors the EPT.
Most U.S.-based cardrooms no longer accept direct registrations from online poker rooms due to legal issues. In Italy, however, this is not a problem. Players who won a seat to EPT San Remo were able to be registered for the event by PokerStars. And of course, even if sites could have directly registered players for the WPT tournament, it’s a lot easier for people to win a seat to a $6,600 tournament than a $25,000 one.
This domination of the WPT by the EPT is a symbolic nail in the coffin of the WPT’s glory days. Despite having a buy-in of almost one-fourth the size, the San Remo top-prize nearly eclipsed the WPT Championship’s top prize ($1.9M vs. $2.1M).
I believe the EPT has already surpassed the WPT in terms of significance as a poker tournament tour. Within a year, this line of thinking will likely be commonplace in the poker world.