- Malta is the venue for a series of firsts in the poker world this week.
- The first poker world cup—the Global Poker Masters—starts tomorrow to be followed on March 25 by the European Poker Conference and European Poker Awards. The events are all produced by Global Poker Index (GPI) boss, Alex Dreyfus.
- They are surrounded by the events of the first visit by the PokerStars owned European Poker Tour (EPT) to Malta. The live tournament extravaganza includes a total of 69 events including the Main Event of the Italian Poker Tour.
Malta is the center of the poker universe this week. The first poker “World Cup“—the Global Poker Masters—starts tomorrow to be followed on March 25 by the European Poker Conference and European Poker Awards. The events are all produced by Global Poker Index (GPI) boss, Alex Dreyfus.
The events are surrounded by the live tournaments of the PokerStars owned European Poker Tour (EPT)—the first of their kind in Malta. The live tournament extravaganza features a total of 69 events including the Main Event of the Italian Poker Tour.
EPT Malta’s schedule of events reflects a determination to make the occasion a big success. The program leads up to a €5,300 Main Event and includes €25k and €10k buy-in High Roller events.
The EPT runs from March 17 to March 28 at the Portomaso Casino with the official PokerStars hotel, the Hilton Malta close by.
European Poker Awards
The Hilton Malta also provides the venue for the European Poker Awards. The format is the same one used by GPI for the American Poker Awards last month.
Because two of the awards are determined by GPI’s tournament ranking formula, PokerStars Team Pro Liv Boeree will automatically become the Female Player of the Year and Ole Schemion will win the European Player of the Year award.
This year there will be no awards for online players, but after complaints to Alex Dreyfus, the policy will change in 2016.
Global Poker Masters
Eight national teams will take part in the inaugural Global Poker Masters, with 40 top players representing their countries in “World Cup” style tournament format.
Events will be live streamed on PokerStars.tv as well as on Twitch. French, German, Russian, Italian and English language commentaries will be provided on Twitch.
Bet365.com has opened the betting on the competition putting Team Canada as the favorite, with the USA in second place.
