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Looking Back at the European Poker Tour Part Three: The Final Chapter

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European Poker Tour

After 13 seasons, the European Poker Tour will complete its chapter in poker history with its last festival, EPT 13 Prague. The poker tour will be replaced by the recently established PokerStars Championship and PokerStars Festival events.

EPT Prague is already underway, starting off Dec. 8 and running through Dec. 19. The poker festival's final schedule features many exciting events, highlighted by the �5,300 Main Event Dec. 13 through Dec. 19. EPT Prague runs side by side with the Eureka Poker Tour Prague, which is also the last in its history. Here's a look at the remaining major events on the schedule:

DatesEvent
Dec. 9-13�1,100 Eureka Main Event
Dec. 11-13�50,000 Super High Roller
Dec. 12-13�2,200 Eureka High Roller
Dec. 13-19�5,300 EPT Main Event
Dec. 14�25,500 Single-Day High Roller
Dec. 17-19�10,300 High Roller

With EPT Prague coming to an end, there is no time better to look back on its 13 seasons. Part One of the retrospective focused on the early years in Seasons 1 through 5, Part Two focused on the Berlin robbery, the effects of Black Friday and the "mega-schedule" and this final part of the series will focus on the later years in Seasons 9 through 13 when the number of venues was reduced with each offering more events, along with some general stats about the venues and EPT winners.

Here is a look at Seasons 9-13 and some general statistics about the festival:

Season 9 (2012-2013): Less Stops, More Events

Season 9 was the start of a new era. The EPT reduced the number of stops to eight, but the number of events per stop ballooned, offering tournaments with a wider variety of games and poker variants. While many of the most popular stops remained, those eliminated from the prior season included Tallinn, Loutraki, Copenhagen, Madrid and Campione.

Looking Back at the European Poker Tour Part Three: The Final Chapter 101
Dimitar Danchev


Dimitar Danchev became the first and only EPT Main Event winner from Bulgaria. He traveled outside of Europe for the win, shipping the 2013 PCA Main Event for $1,859,000.

Steve O'Dwyer made it two straight years as the American won the EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final for �1,224,000 ($1,604,972).

Also winning EPT events in Season 9 were Ludovic Lacay (Sanremo - �744,910/$961,807) and Ruben Visser (London - ��595,000/$895,370).

EPT Season 9 Main Event Winners

DateEventEntrantsMain Event WinnerCountryPrize
Aug 15-25, 2012EPT Barcelona1,082Mikalai PobalBelarus�1,007,550
Oct. 5-11, 2012EPT Sanremo797Ludovic LacayFrance�744,910
Dec. 9-15, 2012EPT Prague864Ramzi JelassiSweden�835,000
Jan. 7-13, 2013PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, Paradise Island987Dimitar DanchevBulgaria$1,859,000
Feb. 3-9, 2013EPT Deauville782Remi CastaignonFrance�770,000
March 10-16, 2013EPT London647Ruben VisserNetherlands��595,000
April 21-27, 2013EPT Berlin912Daniel PidunGermany�880,000
May 6-12, 2013EPT Grand Final, Monte Carlo531Steve O'DwyerUnited States�1,224,000

Season 10 (2013-2014): Victoria Coren Strikes Again

Season 10 featured most of the same stops as the previous season with the only exception being that Vienna was placed back on the tour, replacing Berlin.

Looking Back at the European Poker Tour Part Three: The Final Chapter 102
Victoria Coren

The biggest news of the season was perhaps Victoria Coren becoming the only person in EPT history to win multiple EPT Main Events after she shipped the EPT 10 Sanremo Main Event for �476,100 ($660,947).

This also marked the first time in EPT Main Event history when no players from the United States shipped an event. This was repeated again in Season 12 and remains the case thus far in Season 13.

Among the players to win EPT Main Events in Season 10 included Tom Middleton (Barcelona - �942,000/$1,260,100), Dominik Panka (PCA - $1,423,096) and Antonio Buonanno (Monte Carlo - �1,240,000/$1,715,526).

EPT Season 10 Main Event Winners

DateEventEntrantsMain Event WinnerCountryPrize
Aug. 26 - Sept. 7, 2013EPT Barcelona1,234Tom MiddletonUnited Kingdom�924,000
Oct. 2-12, 2013EPT London604Robin YlitaloSweden��560,980
Dec. 12-18, 2013EPT Prague1,037Julian TrackGermany�725,700
Jan. 7-13, 2014PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, Paradise Island1,001Dominik PankaPoland$1,423,096
Jan. 26 - Feb. 1, 2014EPT Deauville671Sotirios KoutoupasGreece�614,000
March 23-29, 2014EPT Vienna910Oleksii KhorosheninUkraine�578,392
April 14-20, 2014EPT Sanremo556Victoria CorenUnited Kingdom�476,100
April 26 - May 2, 2014EPT Grand Final, Monte Carlo650Antonio BuonannoItaly�1,240,000

Season 11 (2014-2015): Mateos Brings a Title to Spain, Urbanovich Wins Player of the Year

Season 11 stops dropped from eight to seven. For the first time, the poker festival hit the island of Malta. The popular stops of Sanremo and Vienna were ousted.

Looking Back at the European Poker Tour Part Three: The Final Chapter 103
Adrian Mateos

During the first 10 seasons, winners from 24 different countries claimed EPT Main Event titles. Up until the EPT 11 Monte Carlo Grand Final, not once did a player from Spain ever claim victory. This is despite the fact that each year the tour held at least one stop in Spain.

At 20 years old, Spain's Adrian Mateos changed this by shipping the Grand Finale for �1,082,000 ($1,214,161). While this was the Spaniard's biggest victory in terms of euros, it isn't in terms of U.S. dollars due to exchange rate fluctuations. His biggest win in U.S. dollars came a couple of years earlier when he shipped the 2013 WSOP Europe Main Event for �1,000,000 ($1,351,661) becoming one of the youngest champions in WSOP history at 19 years of age.

While Spain ended its drought, Season 11 marked the first time in EPT history that not a single player from the United Kingdom won an EPT Main Event.

Meanwhile, Kevin Schulz brought the PCA title back home to the United States and won the season's top prize of $1,491,580 after shipping the event.

Outside of the Main Event, Dzmitry Urbanovich made waves by winning four separate EPT side events during its inaugural stop in Malta and making 15 total final tables throughout Season 11, which propelled him into the EPT Player of the Year slot.

EPT Season 11 Main Event Winners

DateEventEntrantsMain Event WinnerCountryPrize
Aug. 16-27, 2014EPT Barcelona1,496Andre LettauGermany�794,058
Oct. 8-18, 2014EPT London675Sebastian PauliGermany��499,700
Dec. 7-14, 2014EPT Prague1,107Stephen GranerUnited States�969,000
Jan. 8-14, 2015PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, Paradise Island816Kevin SchulzUnited States$1,491,580
Jan. 27 - Feb. 7, 2015EPT Deauville592Ognyan DimovBulgaria�543,700
March 17-28, 2015EPT Malta, Portomaso895Jean MonturyFrance�687,400
April 28 - May 8, 2015EPT Grand Final, Monte Carlo564Adrian MateosSpain�1,082,000

Season 12 (2015-2016): The Last Full Season

Season 12 dropped from seven stops to six, however, each stop was packed with events. A stop in Dublin was made for the first time since Season 4, while the poker festival said goodbye to London and Deauville permanently.

Looking Back at the European Poker Tour Part Three: The Final Chapter 104
John Juanda


John Juanda made history by bringing the first EPT Main Event title to Asia afterwinning the season-opening EPT Main Event in Barcelona. He banked �1,022,593 ($1,164,034).

While many think of Juanda as an American, he was born in Indonesia and didn't move to the United States until 1990, when he enrolled at Oklahoma State University. Shortly after winning the title, Juanda was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame (alongside Jen Harman) in no small part due to him earning almost $19 million in live tournament cashes.

The EPT Dublin Main Event also made history as the largest field size in an EPT Main Event by attracting 1,694 entrants.

Shortly afterwards, Asia snagged its second EPT Main Event title when Iran's Hossein Ensan won the EPT 12 Prague Main Event for �754,510 ($825,151).

Dzmitry Urbanovich was at it again, but this time instead of sticking to winning side events, he took advantage of the tour's return to Dublin to win the EPT 12 Dublin Main Event for �561,900 ($632,279).

Meanwhile, Niall "Firaldo" Farrell brought some pride back to Scotland by winning the Main Event in Malta for �534,330 ($588,592), Mike Watson won the last PCA Main Event of the EPT for $728,325 and Jan Bendik became the first Slovakian EPT Main Event champion by winning the "final" EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final for �961,800 ($1,096,568).

EPT Season 12 Main Event Winners

DateEventEntrantsMain Event WinnerCountryPrize
Aug. 18-30, 2015EPT Barcelona1,694John JuandaIndonesia�1,022,593
Oct. 20-31, 2015EPT Malta, Portomaso651Niall FarrellUnited Kingdom�534,330
Dec. 5-16, 2015EPT Prague1,044Hossein EnsanIran�754,510
Jan. 6-14, 2016PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, Paradise Island928Mike WatsonCanada$728,325
Feb. 9-20, 2016EPT Dublin605Dzmitry UrbanovichPoland�561,900
April 26 - May 6, 2016EPT Grand Final, Monte Carlo1,098Jan BendikSlovakia�961,800

Season 13 (2016): A Record is Set Before the Final Chapter Ends

Season 13 is a short one thanks to PokerStars announcing that it is moving all of its tournament series under the umbrella of the PokerStars Championships or the PokerStars Festivals.

Sebastian Malec - EPT 13 Barcelona Main Event Winner
Sebastian Malec

A new field size record was set to open up Season 13 when Poland's Sebastian Malec outlasted the largest EPT Main Event field size ever, 1,785 players attending the opening event in Barcelona, to win the top prize of �1,122,800 ($1,271,041).

More recently, Aliaksei Boika won the EPT Main Event at the third and final stop in Malta when he navigated through a field of 468 players to win �355,700 ($386,962).

The last stop in EPT history has kicked off in Prague. Will we see a new record in terms of field size? Or witness a previous EPT Main Event winner join Victoria Coren as the only two-time winner? Only time will tell and the PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be on hand to cover the action as it unfolds for some of the biggest events of the festival including the EPT 13 Prague Main Event.

EPT Season 13 Main Event Winners

DateEventEntrantsMain Event WinnerCountryPrize
Aug. 16-28, 2016EPT Barcelona1,785Sebastian MalecPoland�1,122,800
Oct. 18-29, 2016EPT Malta, Portomaso468Aliaksei BoikaBelarus�355,700
Dec. 8-19, 2016EPT Prague????

A Look Behind the Numbers of the EPT Main Event

Including the upcoming stop in Prague, the EPT has made 115 separate stops during its long and storied history. Barcelona was the EPT's most visited city with a stop taking place in the Catalonian capital during each of the 13 seasons. London and Monte Carlo both were visited 11 times as stops, while Prague was not too far behind with 10 stops.

In total, the EPT appeared in 23 cities, four of which were visited one time: Budapest, Campione, Kiev and Loutraki.

Historic Breakdown of EPT Festival

CityNumber of VisitsSeason Last Visited
Barcelona13Season 13
London11Season 11
Monte Carlo11Season 12
Prague10Season 13
Deauville9Season 11
Paradise Island9Season 12
Copenhagen8Season 8
Sanremo7Season 10
Dublin5Season 12
Berlin4Season 9
Warsaw4Season 6
Baden3Season 4
Dortmund3Season 5
Portomaso3Season 13
Vienna3Season 10
Madrid2Season 8
Salzburg2Season 7
Tallinn2Season 8
Vilamoura2Season 7
Budapest1Season 5
Campione1Season 8
Kiev1Season 6
Loutraki1Season 8

Thus far, EPT Main Event winners were from 27 different countries spanning five continents. The EPT Prague Main Event may determine which country was represented most in the winner's circle by EPT Main Event winners. Both the United Kingdom and the United States are tied at 17. The United Kingdom total includes Victoria Coren winning an EPT Main Event twice.

Germany has third place locked up with 13 EPT Main Event winners, while France and Sweden both have a chance to break the double-digit barrier in Prague with currently nine EPT Main Event winners from each country.

Meanwhile, 10 different countries only have one EPT Main Event winner, seven of which are in Europe.

EPT Main Event Winners By Country

CountryEPT Main Event Winners
United Kingdom17*
United States17
Germany13
France9
Sweden9
Denmark7
Canada5
Netherlands5
Belarus3
Norway3
Poland3
Russia3
Bulgaria2
Finland2
Italy2
Lebanon2
Portugal2
Belgium1
Czech Republic1
Greece1
Indonesia1
Iran1
Slovakia1
Spain1
Switzerland1
Ukraine1
Venezuela1

*Total Includes Victoria Coren winning the EPT Main Event twice.

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