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 The interest for poker is constantly growing all over the world. The number of both poker players and tournaments is also increasing. The television plays now a huge role in promoting poker worldwide with televised poker shows and live tournaments. The number of major poker tournaments increased in the last few years and now there are several international competitions that attract a large number of players from all over the world. The most important poker tournaments at this moment are World Series of Poker, World Poker Tour, World Series of Poker Europe, European Poker Tour, Asia Pacific Poker Tour, Australian Poker Championship and Latin American Poker Tour.
The first World Series of Poker (WSOP) tournament took place in 1970, and gathered only about 30 poker players. Now, forty years later, more than 7,300 entrants played for a share of the $68 million prizepool. The 2010 WSOP champion, the Canadian player Jonathan Duhamel won $8,944,310 besides the most wanted bracelet in the world. The World Poker Tour (WPT) is a televised worldwide tournament that consists in smaller events that take place all over the world. WPT started in 2002. The Season VIII player of the year was Faraz Jaka, which won $1,421,290. World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) is the European version of the WSOP. The first WSOPE was held in 2007 in London. The winner of the 2010 WSOPE bracelet was James Bord, cashing more than £830,000. The European Poker Tour (EPT), Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT), and Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT) are TV series similar to the WPT that were launched in the last few years. Each series consists in several poker tournaments that take place in different locations. All tournaments are sponsored by Poker Stars. The Australian Poker Championship (Aussie Millions) is the oldest and most important poker competition in the Southern Hemisphere. The first Aussie Millions was held in 1998 and had a prizepool of only $74,000. The 2010 Aussie Millions had a staggering prizepol of $7,460,000 and a first prize of $2,000,000 won by Australian Tyron Krost. |
