PokerStars Announces First-Ever European Poker Tour Festival in Malta
The vacancy in the European Poker Tour (EPT) Season 11 schedule has now been filled as PokerStars announced on Thursday that Malta will get its first-ever EPT Malta Poker Festival from March 18-28, 2015.
"After discussions with players and fellow colleagues, we decided it was time to add a fresh and exciting stop to the EPT schedule," EPT President Edgar Stuchly said.
"Malta is a great destination for an EPT and we expect strong participation numbers," Stuchly continued.
The first-ever EPT Malta will be held at the Portomaso Casino, the island's most popular casino with a poker room that has already been home to important international poker series such as the World Poker Tour, the GRAND Live, the Israeli Poker Cup and PokerStars' Italian Poker Tour.
"We are delighted and proud to announce our new collaboration with PokerStars and the EPT," said Portomaso Casino General Manager Eros Ganzina.
"Malta is renowned as being a very popular poker destination and in the last five years Portomaso Casino has proved to be more than capable of hosting large-scale events."
"The EPT is a landmark event for us and we are looking forward to hosting such a prestigious tournament" Ganzina continued. "We are positive that poker players will enjoy the new destination.
"Malta is where PokerStars.eu is based, so we are very happy to bring the EPT home to what is the perfect combination of a 24/7 poker offering," commented Michael Holmberg, PokerStars General Manager in Malta.
According to Holmberg, bringing the EPT in one of the Mediterranean's most fascinating and popular spots will allow poker player to enjoy the action at the tables "as well as to escape the grind and discover everything that Malta has to offer."
EPT Malta to Host the European Poker Awards
Together with the first Maltese stop in the history of the European Poker Tour, Malta will also the host the 2015 edition of the GPI European Poker Awards.
After hitting the stage in Deauville, France this year, the ceremony will now head "home" and take place only few miles away from the GPI's office.
"Malta has been the hub for online gaming and poker for the last ten years," the GPI Chief Executive Officer Alex Dreyfus said. "[The] EPT Malta is a great platform to organize the GPI European Poker Awards and to make it really successful by connecting players and industry stakeholders in such a great place."
Image courtesy of the Telegraph
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