The event was preceded by Poker At Crown in the year before the Aussie Millions was founded, in June 1997, with the final event taking place a year later, in July of 1998. This time of the year was used until the year 2001, when the event was moved from the winter months to the warmer month of January. At the time, they already had 40 entrants and a $5,000 buy-in, and they were gaining popularity with the poker crowd already. Two years later, the tournament went international at last, with the prize pool reaching $1.2 million because of the 122 entrants that were part of the tournament. Most players came from overseas, but those players from New Zealand that have dominated the tournament when it first began still participated, gaining international fame as well. The game begins with nine players in each table, until there are only thirty-six players left, at which point the players play in tables of six. In the year 2009, the prize pool already reached $6.81 million, with the first prize amounting to $2 million. Today, the Aussie Millions is the biggest tournament in the Southern hemisphere, and it is the sixth largest tournament in the world.

Part of the EPT’s initial drawing power came from the fact that it is a lot more open to the public than both the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour are in terms of who can join. The WSOP is joined by the poker elites, and the WPT requires a buy-in of $2,500 to $25,000 for people to participate (most events fall at the $10,000 line though, about the same as the World Series of Poker), and additional regulations added by the government later on made it tougher for people to join. At the EPT, however, they kept the buy-in to a minimum, giving a buy-in amount half of that of the WPT. This made people flock to the EPT to participate. However, because they had limited resources and limited space, EPT officials raised the limit later on, also adopting the $10,000 buy-in that other tournaments required. Also, this tournament has has eight people at the final table instead of six, and so the competition is fiercer when it comes to the end of the tournament.

The tournament is the creation of television director John Duthie. Some of the best poker players in the world join the tournament every year to tour around major cities in Europe for a series of tournaments that are televised. The countries that are part of the tour are the following: the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Denmark, Spain and Ireland. The finals always takes place in one of the gambling meccas of the world – Monte Carlo, in the beautiful nation of Monacco. As of 2009, the EPT has had six seasons, with season 6 finishing in early 2010.

The World Poker Tour is a series of Texas Hold’em poker tournaments which occur all over the world but mainly in the United States. As a result of its growing popularity through the television shows and broadcasts of the tournament, many Americans have incorporated this wonderful table game in their homes. Also, local casino poker rooms and online gaming sites have began to multiply. The casinos and online poker sites are the major sponsors of the World Poker Tour.

The World Poker Tour first appeared in 2002 on the Travel Channel. The show, which ran for 2 hours featured 6 players battling for the ultimate prize. The show also consisted of hole cams, which allowed the viewers to see the players cards in hand. As a result of this distinct feature, the show changed the way people viewed poker and instantly attracted millions of people.

The World Series of Poker Tournament Circuit is a group of poker tournament stops at various casinos which will host the events for players who are expecting top class poker action. The tournament circuit also accommodates players based on their performance at the tournament circuit events and the World Series of Poker in order to grant them qualification for the Tournament of Champions event. The Tournament of Champions event is actually a  free flowing event that does not require the players to set up his or her own funds in order to participate. It is Harrah’s who declares the number of players from each of the tournament circuit events who will secure qualification.

Harrah’s also decided to take advantage on the popularity of poker by having 5 legs of the circuit that is open to any player who wishes to play regardless of skill level. The poker tournament events were held in Atlantic City in 2005, New Jersey during January, San Diego, California in February, Las Vegas, Nevada in March, Lake Tahoe, Nevada in April, and New Orleans, LA in May. The poker tournaments were also recorded and will be shown in ESPN. The players who have won their events were offered World Series of Poker championship gold rings and monetary prizes amounting to six figures for the main events. The poker tournaments had buy-ins ranging from a few hundred dollars to ten thousand dollars per player for the championship main event which happens at each circuit leg. Each of the main events were actually Texas No-Limit Hold’em poker.

There are two primary types of poker tournaments: the single table (also called as sit and go) and the multi-table. Single table type usually involves the winner taking all the prize. For multi-table tournaments, players begin with the same amount of chips until one player has gathered all the chips. Elimination falls under the multi-table type. Tournament types of poker are explained below:

Elimination or “Freeze out” Poker Tournaments

Perhaps, elimination is the most common type of tournament there is. This starts with all players having the same amount of chips and continuously playing until only one player has acquired the chips. Whenever players get eliminated, active players are transferred to fewer tables. While it may be true that only one player can accumulate all the chips in an elimination, the payout structure though can be rewarded to several players. Players in the final table may get prize money but less than what the overall winner gets. For instance, the 2nd placer gets more prize money than the third placer and the third placer gets more prize money than the fourth placer and so on.

Rebuy Poker Tournaments

In this particular type of tournament, players who lost all their chips are allowed to “rebuy” more chips so that they may continue playing. But this is only allowed within specific “rebuy” periods. This type often features more aggressive kind of players because they can not be eliminated easily even after losing all their chips. More often, rebuy ends up with having a larger pot because players contribute more money through the rebuy process.

Satellite Tournaments

Satellite tournament is considered the first leg in a larger poker tournament where a group of players compete against each other with the winner advancing to the main event, to an even larger poker tournaments without ever posting a major sum of cash.

Shootout Tournaments

Shootout poker tournament is a variety of elimination tournament, no wonder they are similar. In shootout, tables retain individuality even after elimination of players. Instead, each table plays until a single winner emerge, then table winners proceed to a finals portion. If for example there are 20 tables that started, then 20 table winners will be competing against each other in either a shootout round or elimination style until a winner is produced. This type of tournament usually takes longer hours than other elimination events.

The PokerStars.com European Poker Tour, true to its nature of being lived, receives coverage from the critically acclaimed Sunset + Vine, a TV production company broadcasting the tournament for the whole world to witness. It is backed by a remarkable production team which includes BAFTA award winner John Duthie (Executive Producer) who is a famous director of UK prime time dramas among other things and TK Poker Events Internation CEO Thomas Kremser (Tournament Director) who is famous for the numerous successful festivals around the world. Sponsored by PokerStars.com which is the world’s biggest name in online poker and the online gaming industry as a whole with millions upon millions of players from all over the globe and up to 200,000 players simultaneously playing poker online, it’s no wonder the EPT is such a magnificent success!