Posts Tagged ‘Elky’

Negreanu leads star pack to EPT Vilamoura

by Mad Harper

Some of the best poker players in the world are heading for Portugal’s stunning Algarve coast this week to compete in EPT Vilamoura, the second stop of EPT Season 7.

Among the players is poker legend and Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu, a super-keen golfer who has been lured to Europe partly by the prospect of competing in the special EPT Vilamoura Fairways and Felts Challenge. KidPoker is one of four PokerStars players already signed up to play this unique event, a €1,100 golf-and-poker contest which tees off on Vilamoura’s celebrated Pinhal Golf Course on September 1.

Also planning to swing into action at Pinhal are Friend of PokerStars and England football legend Teddy Sheringham, EPT founder John Duthie, and event host JP Kelly, as well as WSOP bracelet winner James Dempsey. The tournament is a brand new format where players buy-in or win a €1,100 golf/poker prize package (€770 + €70 for the poker, €260 for the golf) and battle it out over two days of action on the fairways and then at the poker tables. Players’ golf scores determines how many chips they get on Day 2 at Vilamoura Casino.

Playing the Main Event (August 28-September 2) are a wealth of stars from around the world including American David Williams, playing his first EPT as a member of Team PokerStars Pro, Arnaud Mattern, who came third at EPT Tallinn last week, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Sebastian Ruthenberg, Pieter de Korver, Lex Veldhuis, Luca Pagano, Dario Minieri, Ruben Visser, Vicky Coren, Matthias De Meulder, Marcin Horecki and Friend of PokerStars Pierre Neuville. Also competing are Team PokerStars SportStar Fatima Moreira de Melo, last year’s Vilamoura champion Antonio Matias and EPT Award winners Kevin MacPhee, Allan Baekke and William Thorson.

Team PokerStars Portugal will also be out in force: Henrique Pinho, Nuno Coelho and Joao Nunes will be joined by Andre Coimbra from Team PokerStars Online.

More than 130 players have already won their seats to EPT Vilamoura online with PokerStars.

EPT Snowfest

Last night in Hinterglemm, Austria, the dastardly organisers of the European Poker Tour answered a long-standing question. If we put a PokerStars welcome party on top of a mountain, will people still come in their droves?

The answer is: of course they will. It was a foolish question. PokerStars welcome parties have long been among the hottest tickets in town, but this one was even more special. This week, the European Poker Tour is breaking new ground – and possibly a few limbs – as we hit the Alps for the inaugural Snowfest, a jamboree of poker, skiing, snowboarding, apres ski … and goats.

Yes, goats. The party last night was held at the infamous Goasstall, a bar renowned for free-flowing booze, its wonderful location literally one step from a ski-slope, and its pens of pet goats. The billies and nannies were as impressed as all of us other well-oiled folk as people took to the tables to dance and disrobe long into the Alpine night.

Today, clothes are back on, as are game faces, as we begin day 1A of a poker tournament. The official cap for the event is 600 and there is every indication that we’ll get very close to that number. Play begins at 2pm, and the usual EPT rules apply.

That means one-hour levels for the starting flights, following the established EPT structure, and then 75-minute levels on day two. Our final table, under the watchful eye of EPT Live takes place on Friday.

<!–
–>

The stars are out in force. From Team PokerStars Pro playing today, we have the likes of Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Daniel Negreanu, Chad Brown, Arnaud Mattern, Marcin Horecki, Thomas Bichon, Vadim Markushevski, Mattias and Christophe De Meulder, Johannes Strassman and Sandra Naujoks.

The PokerStars SportStars Boris Becker and Fatima de Melo are also in town. The EPT London champion Aaron Gustavsson is a PokerStars qualifier here, as is Kyiv champion Max Lykov. We have a World Cup winner in Malte Strothman, an LAPT champion in Dominik Nitsche, online sensations Joe “ender555″ Ebanks and Stephen “stevie444″ Chidwick. Jesper Hougaard has a World Series bracelet and Jeff Sarwer will probably have a major title soon.