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PokerStars had planned to host a European Poker Tour event in the capital of Russia this August but plans had to change when the country made changes in their poker law. The tour stop has now been moved from Moscow to Kiev, Ukraine and is now to be called the Kiev Sports Poker Championship.

Officials of Russia recently made a change in the poker law which removed the game of poker from the list of sports games. The country also moved all gambling from the capital which was where the event was supposed to be held. Gambling can now be found in four regions of the country that is less populated and far away from the capital city.

The dates for the new stop are August 18th through the 23rd. the Kiev stop was authorized by the Ministry of Youth, Family and Sport in the Ukraine and will have a buy-in of €5,000 (€4,700+300). This event will kick off the sixth season of the European Poker Tour with only the first half of the schedule released.

Players who qualified at PokerStars Russia for the Moscow event will have their arrangements changed to Kiev and be able to compete in the Ukraine. PokerStars also made it possible for players who had won packages to take a future EPT seat or cash equivalent instead of going to the Kiev event if they so choose.

Players can also continue to qualify for seats to the Kiev event. Those who are interested can find current qualifiers at PokerStars website. Players can also participate in qualifiers for upcoming EPT events.

After leaving the Ukraine the EPT sixth season will move on to Spain, UK, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic and the Bahamas.

PokerStars Summer Macau Poker Cup has concluded in Macau while many were competing in the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. Even though the large tournament was taking place at the Rio, the Macau Poker Cup still had good turnouts and even managed to set a few records.

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The Macau Poker Cup summer edition featured five events. Included in those events were a charity tournament and a HK $1 million guaranteed Red Dragon Main Event. The Main Event set new records in Macau with a 168 player field and a prize pool of almost HK$1.6 million.

The charity event took place on July 9th with a buy-in of $1000, half of which went to charity. Eighty three players competed in the tournament and with two $1000 re-buys available 82 players took advantage. The prize pool created was $50,000 and it was Bryan Huang from Singapore who walked away the winner with $28,890 in prize money plus a seat at the Red Dragon event.

Event 2 was a Deep Stack $80K guaranteed tournament with a $1,500 buy-in. 135 players entered this tournament which created a prize pool of $182,250. The winner of this tournament was “Anson” Yan Shing Tsang from Hong Kong who earned $45,560 for his efforts.

Event 3 was a No Limit Hold’em 200k guaranteed tournament which took place over two days. This event had a $3000 buy-in and 126 players competed creating a prize pool of $336,800. Ted Wang of China earned the first place prize of $85,050 while Chen An Lin of China won $57,830 for second place.

Event 4 was the Red Dragon Main Event which took place over two days as well. The tournament had a buy-in of $10,000 and 168 players entered. The prize pool was $1,579,200 and the players would be fighting hard for the first place prize. The eventual winner would be Celina Lin of China who earned $394,800 for first place.

Event 5, the last event was a $500 Re-buy 50K guaranteed tournament. This event had a buy-in of $500 plus $500 Re-buys/Add-ons and 78 players competed. 192 re-buys/add-ons where purchased during the tournament to create a prize pool of $121,500. Ricky Yong Cheong Foo of Singapore won the first place prize of $32,805.

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PokerStars and Bluff Magazine recently made it possible for a cancer fighter to compete in the World Series of Poker Main Event. The poker giant paid the way for Kent Senter, who is fighting blood cancer, to compete in the Main Event as well as his travel, hotel and food expenses.

Senter is a fifty five year old from Pittsburgh who got to meet top poker pros and even made it to the second day of play. Senter is a novice when it comes to playing the game as he only starting playing online one year ago.

He began playing online when he became debilitated from his disease. He has trouble walking around due to the tumors in his spine so sitting down to play poker was a good distraction for him. Senter tried to win a trip to the WSOP but did not manage to win, though he came close.

Senter’s wife went online and discussed the situation on a forum at Bluff Magazine. The family was then contacted by Bluff who arranged the connection with PokerStars. This is how Senter earned his trip to the WSOP Main Event.

Senter commented that competing was a ‘dream come true’ and ‘It’s been unbelievable’. Senter has been given six months to maybe three years to live so he is just taking things day by day. He also commented that competing in the tournament was hard as it takes a lot out of him. He is currently undergoing chemo treatments to fight the blood cancer disease.

The family has had a nice trip as Senter competed in the WSOP. PokerStars offered to fly the family out to Las Vegas but Senter wanted to ride in a car so he could see the West. He had never been out west and really enjoyed the trip. Senter’s wife did the driving and she will drive back home to Pittsburgh.

The largest online poker room, PokerStars, should have one of the largest online poker teams. Team PokerStars Pro has thirty eight members who represent the online poker room and now the list has grown with the addition of two more professional poker players just this past week.

Young pro, Jason “Treysfull21” Mercier and distinguished pro Marcel “The Flying Dutchman” Luske have joined Team PokerStars NL Pro and will sit alongside the many poker pros who are already members of the team. Those include Daniel Negreanu, Bertrand Grospellier, Chris Moneymaker, and many more. The list could go on and on.

Luske has had a long successful career in poker especially in Europe. Luske was named top player in Europe in 2001 and 2003 and he also won the Lifetime Achievement Award last year at the European Poker Awards.

Luske is known for his stylish dress at the poker table as well as his calm exterior as he plays the game. Luske has never won a WSOP, WPT or EPT event but he has amassed over $3.7 million in live tournament earnings throughout his career. He also is the founder of the FIDPA, the Federation Internationale de Poker Association. This association is an independent, international, governing body for the poker industry and a recognized leader in promotion and developing poker.

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Like Luske, Mercier has earned over $3 million in live tournament earnings but he has only been playing poker for a short time. The twenty two year old has been on a roll since winning the 2008 EPT San Remo event for just over $1 million. He also won last year’s PokerStars EPT Million One Dollar Showdown High Roller tournament in London. He also won his first WSOP bracelet in the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha competition for just over $230,000.

Mercier commented on joining the team stating: “Becoming a member of Team PokerStars Pro means a lot to me. I’m so excited to be playing for the sit I first started playing on. I feel like this solidifies my standing as one of the top poker players around.”

PokerStars recently released the schedule for the World Championship of Online Poker allowing players to get ready to compete in the many available tournaments of the event. Now the online poker giant has released the schedule for the first half of Season Six of the European Poker Tour.

The European Poker Tour usually kicks off in Barcelona, Spain but this year PokerStars will be taking advantage of the growth of poker in Russia and kick things off in Moscow. The PokerStars Russia Open will begin the Tour on August 17th at the Radisson SAS in the Capital of Russia, Moscow.

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The Tour will then move on to Spain, the UK, Poland, new stop in Portugal and the Czech Republic before hitting the Bahamas for the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. John Duthie announced the schedule for the first half of the season and stated that the second half of the season will feature more new destinations. Players will not have to wait very long before the second half of the season is revealed.

This season of the European Poker Tour, players will find larger prize pools and more tournaments in more countries. The new schedule will also have more festival-style stops like the one in London. This stop will have a High Roller event as well as Omaha and 8-Game tournaments along with the main event. Season Six is shaping up to be a very enjoyable tournament series and players are sure to have a great time!

European Poker Tour Season Six

Date Event Location

8/17-23 EPT Russia Open Moscow, Russia

9/4-9 EPT Barcelona Open Barcelona, Spain

10/1-7 EPT London Open London, UK

10/20-25 EPT Warsaw Open Warsaw, Poland

11/17-22 EPT Villamoura Villamoura, Portugal

12/1-6 EPT Prague Open Prague, Czech Republic

1/4-14 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Paradise Island, Bahamas