
Once again the EPT will begin with Barcelona in August.
This time EPT Malta will take place in October in an effort to avoid the monsoon-type weather that dominated the inaugural tournament when it was held in March.
The PCA will return to the Bahamas in January to be the first EPT event held in 2016 while a return to Dublin is scheduled for February.
It's the first time since 2007 that EPT has held a Dublin Event.
According to a source with the EPT, the Dublin festival is not an effort to replace the traditional Irish Open and it will instead take place at a different venue altogether.
“The DoubleTree Hotel is nice, but too small”, said the source. “The EPT is going to take place in a larger conference center.”
The re-inclusion also means that, as many pundits expected, London is not in the schedule anymore, and that’s a first in the entire history of the EPT.
Starting next season Barcelona is then going to be the only city that has been part of the European Poker Tour every year since its inception.
Potential Stop in Vienna/Berlin/Amsterdam Still TBA
The EPT season 12 will conclude, as tradition has it, in Monaco. However, there might be one more slot to fill on European soil and that’s going to be the “Germanic” stop, so to speak.
There are three cities in the mix: Vienna, Berlin and Amsterdam.
All of them come with their own set of issues. In Germany, authorities make it extremely difficult for an online-based poker event to happen.
In Austria, there have been issues with long-term contracts and Amsterdam might have difficulties providing an appropriate venue.
However, there is a two-month gap between the final in Dublin and the first event in Monaco and it will be filled by one of the three.
The finalized Season 12 schedule will be released shortly. You can see an initial draft of the schedule on PokerStars.
Season 11 has been the first season where more than €100 million was paid out to players. Next year it will undoubtedly break more records:
The 2015/16 schedule so far:
Visit www.pokerlistings.com