New Poker Tour Coming To Europe

PokerStars has announced a new 6-stop series, the PokerStars Open, set to debut in Europe in 2025. Positioned as a step below the prestigious European Poker Tour, the PokerStars Open aims to provide a more accessible entry point for players.

Here’s Why It’s Happening: PokerStars operated several localized tournament series under individual brand names to cater to specific regions and player bases - Estrellas in Spain, Eureka in Central Europe, FPS in France, and UKIPT in, you guessed it, the United Kingdom. 

Now, they’re rolling them into the new PokerStars Open brand. It’s a move to simplify their operations whilst still retaining a strong product for the mid-stakes tournament grinders.

Here’s What’s Happening: PokerStars Open will debut with 6 stops in 2025:

• Campione, Italy; 

• Dublin, Ireland; 

• Namur, Belgium; 

• Malaga, Spain; 

• Manchester, UK;

• Cannes, France. 

PokerNews reports that each Main Event is expected to feature a €1/£1 million guarantee, likely maintaining the previous buy-in level of approximately €1,000/£1,000. Meanwhile, the Open events are designed to cater to a lower buy-in market compared to the EPTs, creating a natural pathway for players to progress through the PokerStars tournament ecosystem

However, the decision to eliminate regional tournament circuits has sparked some concerns. Does consolidation always make sense? And what will happen to the local series?

Headlines

• Matusow. A documentary about Mike Matusow’s life and poker career is now available to stream on Amazon Prime. "The Mouth" takes you behind the scenes of his personal life and dives into the ups and downs of his later poker years. If you’ve been following The Mouth, his book “Check-Raising The Devil” is a must-read.

• WSOP. World Series of Poker have announced the dates for the annual poker series.In 2025, thousands of poker players are expected to flock to Las Vegas from May 27 to July 16. The Main Event is set to kick off on July 2, with the rest of the schedule yet to be revealed.

• 8-handed.Wynn Poker Room announced a change to  their $2/$5 games - from now on, they will be played 8-handed while the $1/$3 game will remain 9-handed. That comes after another welcome change that saw elimination of straddles in $5/$10 and $10/$20 games.

Bluff Goes Wrong But Schulman Takes The Crown

The man, the myth, the legend Nick Schulman has already secured his first title of the year at the PokerGO Tour Last Chance Series. 

Foot On The Gas. The PGT is the ultimate kickoff for the high-stakes tournament circuit. It’s got everything: a killer venue, top-tier production, and the chance to battle for six-figure payouts.

And Schulman? He’s coming in hot.

In the very first event of the series, a $10k NLH, he took home $283,050. But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. At one point, he nearly busted after a bold no-equity bluff against Joao Simao where he check jammed K♠️3♣️ on J♠️3♦️T♣️8♠️A♦️against Simao’s K♥️Q♦️. Left with just around 10 big blinds and 6 players still in the hunt, Schulman didn’t flinch.

Fast forward: Schulman battled through the final table to reach heads-up play where he faced a 5:1 chip deficit against none other than Simao himself. 

After exchanging blows on the felt, the players were down to a few big blinds each where one successful flip would likely determine the winner. In the ultimate hand, Simao shoved J-2 but ran into Schulman’s J-7. All the glory goes to Schulman.

45. The win has pushed Schulman’s career live tournament earnings to $21,9M which places him 45th on the all-time money list. 

Schorr dominates. Meanwhile, another high-stakes crusher, Shannon Shorr, made waves in the PGT series by winning two events. Shorr took home $290,000 and $297,500 for his wins, securing a spot in the 2024 PGT Championship, where the top 40 players on the PGT Leaderboard will compete in a $1M freeroll.

Did you know?

In June 2013, PokerStars made history and clinched a Guinness World Record by hosting the largest online poker tournament of all time, attracting a record-breaking 225,000 players who all paid the $1 buy-in.