The seventh season of the PokerStars European Poker Tour kicked off this week, with the first tournament of the series being held in Estonia’s capital city, Tallinn.
Back in June, the PokerStars Baltic Festival was held at the luxurious Swissotel, the same venue as EPT Tallinn, which proved a success and really set the standard for poker tournaments in the area. Although not normally considered a location for top class poker tournaments, things are changing and Estonia and the Baltic region are definitely up and coming venues.
EPT Tallinn has attracted some high profile names from the poker world, such as Annette Obrestad and Vanessa Selbst. The latter, who recently won the Mohegan Sun leg of the North American Poker Tour, was making her debut on the PokerStars, but neither she nor Obrestad, a former World Series of Poker Europe champion, were fortunate enough to survive the day’s poker.
Other star names included Allan Baekke, winner of EPT Snowfest in March, EPT Barcelona winner Carter Phillips, Alex Kravchenko, Arnaud Mattern and recent WSOP bracelet winner Praz Bansi. 182 players from 41 different countries stumped up the €4,000 + €250 entry fee on Day 1A, with a further 238 on Day 1B, making for a field of 420 and a total prize pool of €1,596,000. The winner of EPT Tallinn will collect the princely sum of €400,000.
Ali Tekintamgac found himself in possession of the chip lead at the conclusion of Day 1A’s play. The recent winner of the World Poker Tour Spanish Championship was closely followed by Luca Pagano, the Italian PokerStars Pro who already boasts an impressive EPT CV, with 14 cashes on the tour and a record six EPT final table appearances.
Other big stacks to make it through to Day 2 include Dutch professional player Steven van Zadelhoff and Russian youngster Matvey Linov. Martin Muursepp, a former professional basketball player who is now a PokerStars sponsored pro, was the most notable Estonian player in the field and he also survived through to Day 2, ensuring that local poker fans have somebody to cheer.
The European Poker Tour paid out a whopping €56,672,284 last season, with over 9,000 participants. Season seven will feature 13 different locations, including the season’s opener in Tallinn. Next on the agenda will be EPT Vilamoura, in Portugal, which begins on August 28th.
Stay tuned for more European Poker Tour updates.
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