EPT Awards Announcement

Largest poker room Pokerstars announced that there would be an annual award - EPT Awards... The first award ceremony will take place on the eve of the opening in Barcelona The fifth season of the European Poker Tour.

The ceremony will honor the best players of all EPT IV. The party will be hosted by Daniel Negreanu and Gloria Balding.

The European Poker Tour will open at the Grand Casino Barcelona from September 10-14, 2008. The EPT Awards will take place on September 9th in Barcelona at the trendy Opium Bar. The EPT Awards build on the success of the Scandinavian Poker Awards held annually in Copenhagen.

The EPT Awards have 7 nominations, including two where voting is open to the general public or all media accredited for the European Poker Tour. An expert team of judges will decide the outcome of the case in the remaining 5 nominations. And all seven winners will be announced at the September 9th ceremony.

Voting for the General Audience Choice and Media Choice Awards will take place on the European Poker Tour website from August 18-29, 2008. “Wide Audience Choice” will be open to everyone. Chief Producer of the European Poker Tour, John Duffy, said of him, “This is a chance for the public to celebrate any player who won during Season Four.” The Media's Choice Awards invites all accredited journalists to vote for the player most fun to write about or most fun to interview during Season Four. Voting in both of these nominations will be open until August 29, 2008.

The remaining 5 nominations are: Best Newcomer, Best Game, Best Foreign Player, Best Player to Qualify through PokerStars Qualifiers, Player of the Year.

Each category has five nominees. An expert team of four judges will make their decision based on the games played during Season Four. The nominees include Norwegian Erik Eidswig, who won three final tables in his first EPT season, Brighton Julian Few, who won the EPT in Baden, Team PokerStars Pro Frenchman Betran “Elky” Grospeyet, who won the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, and Hungarian Denes Kahlo, who became second in two EPT events, including the Grand Final in Monte Carlo.

The judging team consists of the following: John Duffy (EPT Chief Producer), Lee Jones (Former PokerStars Manager), Victoria Coren (Writer, TV Host and Team PokerStars Pro), John Caldwell (PokerNews Editor-in-Chief).