PokerStars has reached a lot of milestones in the online poker industry. Being the biggest online poker room, PokerStars has dealt over fifteen billion hands, run more than 75 million poker tournaments and is paying out more than $300 million in tournament prize money every month. Now it has announced in a press release the launch of Latin America’s first major poker tour, the Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT).
The LAPT will officially begin in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from May 3-5, 2008. The tournament will be a $2,500 buy-in and players will compete for a prize pool of over $600,000. This tournament will be one of the biggest held in Brazil.
A couple weeks later the tour will continue in Costa Rica from May 22-24 with the LAPT San Jose and then again August 7-9 in Uruguay for the LAPT Punta del Este.
In the press release, LAPT President Glenn Cademartori said, “Poker is exploding in Latin America and the game is more than ready for its own major poker tour. It’s one of the fastest-growing poker regions and there are thousands upon thousands of players in countries like Brazil and Argentina who will love the chance to take part in events of this kind. In every regard, the LAPT is going to put Latin America on the map as the newest hotspot to play high-stakes international poker.”
As far as the LAPT teaming with PokerStars, who is already in its fourth year as sponsor of the European Poker Tour (EPT), Cademartori added “It’s not just because PokerStars has proven success in launching major poker tours in other regions, but also because it is the world’s number one online poker destination. This means it’s uniquely positioned to give an enormous number of players from across the globe the chance to take part through online qualifying satellite tournaments. Our goal is to provide Latin American players and beyond with the best poker tournament experience in this part of the world.”
The LAPT will bring another well experience leader in as tournament director in Mike Ward. Ward commented that “As director of Foxwoods Resort Casino since 1996 and director of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas since its launch in 2004, I have had the opportunity to witness the dramatic expansion of tournament poker. I’m now really looking forward to bringing my skills and energy to the Latin American Poker Tour.”
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