The European Poker Tour has run a thirteen year season course and has been one of the best options for live tournament game play in the industry. Created by PokerStars, the EPT has long been a way for poker players to get in on the action alongside top pros as well as take part in fun parties and additional entertainment. Players are now stating that the EPT has issues, many since the new owners took over the circuit and players are voicing their opinions on the matter.
At the end of August, the Main Event of the Barcelona Spain stop on the tour started the beginning of the grievances of players. The event was the beginning to the 13th season schedule and offered several side events for players to enjoy. Over a twelve day time frame, 64 events took place with varying buy-ins. Many players liked the options the stop offered but were not happy with five events jam packed on to each day of the event, on average.
Starting the discussion about what the EPT is lacking was poker player Dara O’Kearney. Dara frequently attends EPT events and takes part in other tournament options offered by PokerStars. A blog post was created by Dara that mentions an analogy talking about his parents used to visit a local grocery store in his hometown often and the likeable owner sold the store. His parents then went to a big store that was located further away but they were unable to get the same service as before when they visited the mom and pop style store.
Dara used his analogy to discuss the EPT and how it operates currently. The poker player pointed out his experience with the recent MPN Poker Tour and how everything was cheerful and that personnel working the event were ready to provide cheer whenever possible. Dara then pointed out that the EPT used to have the same experience but that is not the case as of late.
Dara stated that PokerStars used to be very good at this and in the early days would treat live events as marketing and budgeted the events accordingly. Over time, Dara feels the brand decided that they did not want to spend the money on this type of gaming anymore and the goody bags were lacking and the parties were less impressive than before. Hotels began to get worse and cost more to book a room.
The poker pro pointed out that the 10am start times make for tired players as well as the dealers. He pointed out that those servicing the events in the past were cheerful and try to make the experience a pleasant one. Now the replacements are unsure of the rules which makes for tougher and less enjoyable game play.
Other players joined in with the discussion including Doug Polk, on Two Plus Two. Polk talked about how the European Poker Tour was going to have to pay out 20% of the players in tournaments, will reduce the amount won by the champion. He feels this is a step in the wrong direction and will decrease the skill in the events for players participating.
Polk’s feelings are a big debate among those who frequent the EPT. A split exists in regards to what players like about such payouts. One group believes that the larger payout will bring more glory to the game and will bring more players to compete. Others believe that more people that receive a payout, then more players will be happier overall.
Amaya Gaming took over the EPT when they acquired PokerStars in 2014. Amaya says there have been no changes to the quality of the product that they have put out within the EPT. They do say that there will be a change next year as the event type changes from the EPT to the PokerStars Championships. But no other changes are supposed to be made.