PokerStars announces seventh season of EPT

(PRESS RELEASE) -- PokerStars.com, the world's largest poker room, today confirmed most dates and destinations for Season 7 of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour (EPT).

The new season launches with a €4,250 debut event in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, from August 11-16. Tallinn has already proved a hit with poker players; more than 300 took part in the first PokerStars Baltic Festival last October. The advent of an EPT event at the luxurious Swissotel will delight players across the Baltic and Nordic regions, as well as the rest of Europe and beyond. A summer-time visit to this stunning city is likely to have widespread appeal.

As well as this new destination, Season 7 will also see the EPT make return visits to the golf haven of Vilamoura in Portugal (August 28-September 2), 'EPT Snowfest' in the stunning ski resort of Saalbach-Hinterglemm in Austria (March 20-25) and Germany's capital city of Berlin (April 5-10). All these events debuted in Season 6 and proved very popular.

The new season is set to include many events which are now considered 'staples' of the tour, such as Barcelona, Prague, Deauville, San Remo and Copenhagen, not to mention the flagship 'Festival of Poker' events in London and the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.

John Duthie, CEO and EPT Founder, said: "The EPT just gets bigger and better every season and it shows the passion and enthusiasm players feel for our events. Season 6 had a thousand more players than in Season 5 and we expect the numbers to keep on growing. The prize pool last season was well over €56 million - a €4 million increase on the previous year. Side events also proved a major attraction in Season 6 and we expect participation in these to increase even more next season."

EPT, sponsored by PokerStars.com, is now the world's richest poker tour in terms of both players and prize pools. PokerStars.com is the world's largest online poker site, with over 35 million registered players worldwide.

Online satellites for EPT Tallinn, the first event of Season 7, are set to launch on PokerStars.com in mid-June with buy-ins from just a few dollars.