European Poker Masters Players

At the inaugural event in London, the European Poker Masters managed to entice several of the top international poker pros to contest the maiden event, mainly due to the fact that they were affiliated to the sponsor of the tournament, Full Tilt Poker.

Respected and celebrated poker gurus Gus Hansen, Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson and Mike Matusow, to name just a few, all made their way to the felt tables of one of the most elite gaming clubs in London to add their considerable weight and influence behind the fledgling poker tour. All went according to plan with Hansen walking away with the prize, and Phil Ivey and Willie Tann amongst the final table contestants.

As the tour progressed through Europe the big time boys opted to stay away, leaving the spoils to a handful of up and coming stars. This had an immediate effect on the sustainability of the event as many of the more serious players also chose to stay away.

There are a number of reasons for the perceived boycott of the EPM, but the key stumbling block is that there is simply far too much professional poker going on around the world, and the bigger and richer tours will obviously get the lion's share of the top ranked players. It is worth remembering that many of the leading pros not only contest casino-based, live events, but also take part in televised poker shows and online tournaments.

It is an accepted fact that very few American sportsmen, be they golfers, tennis players or poker players, are willing to make the trip across the Atlantic to compete, and if they do, it has to be a tournament of repute and value. Any newly conceived poker tours will have the unenviable task of competing directly with the heavyweights of the poker circuit - the WSOP (World Series of Poker), the WPT (World Poker tour) and the EPT (European Poker Tour).

The events in Vienna and Paris only attracted players from the immediate vicinity and young up and coming stars like Richard Toth, Denes Kalo and Brice Cournut made their names and filled their pockets at the final tables. The big names were noticeable in their absence.

The Dublin event, however, attracted the top guns of the Full Tilt Poker room, again through sponsorship of the event, but they all fell by the wayside early on in the tournament and it was left to the local boys, Dave Colclough, Adrian Walshe and Alan Smurfit to battle it out.

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