Is Rebranding the European Poker Tour a Mistake?

PokerStars announced a large transition for its live events, consolidating the EPT and LAPT, and instead using two distinct categories: PokerStars Championships and PokerStars Festivals.

Is this the best move for PokerStars’ live events? We look at both sides of the argument.

If It Ain’t Broke…Keep It the Way It Is

It’s hard to argue against the idea of taking the very successful European Poker Tour model to other stops around the globe where it hasn’t been before. The EPT works so well; it’s impossible to imagine this well-oiled machine won’t continue to function spectacularly in places like Panama and Macau.

I just can’t figure out why PokerStars wants to throw the baby out with the bath water and get rid of the EPT altogether.

Over 12 seasons, the EPT has helped grow poker all over Europe immensely, and with it, PokerStars’ market share across the board. John Duthie’s baby may have started out small, but she’s full grown these days. So much so that the EPT, alongside the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour, has developed into one of poker’s three “majors.” Glory and riches await the winner of each EPT Main Event. Capture one of each of poker’s major titles and alongside that, you’ll join the very exclusive Triple Crown winner’s club. As a result, winning an EPT has always been the kind of thing poker players from Europe and beyond have dreamed about, and statistical records collected over the tour’s 12 seasons were the kind of thing they boasted about.

In fact, it was only a few short years ago where the battle to become the EPT’s first two-time winner gripped the entire poker world in the WSOP’s off season. Canadian Mike “Timex” McDonald knocked at the door of history several times before British writer, television presenter and then Team PokerStars Pro Victoria Coren Mitchell turned the trick, following up on her 2006 EPT London win with a victory at San Remo in 2014. Now, thanks to this rebranding, with only two more stops to go before the EPT closes its doors, it’s likely no one will ever accomplish that feat again.

The collection and analysis of statistics like these are a big part of sports and an even bigger part of what makes poker akin to one. Sure, statistics will be collected for the new PokerStars Championship events as well, but it’s …

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