Pub crawl poker tournament

This exciting new style of poker tournament could well be entering the big league as prizes increase. Winners may even get a shot at the participation in WSOP.

Pub poker tournaments are catching on, says Glenn McCrory, co-founder, owner, and president of the Eastern Poker Tournament. It is a tournament with a difference, the atmosphere is relaxed but still provides serious play for poker lovers. And who knows the next poker professional might also emerge from this tournament. Entry to the tournament is free except for the price of your drinks at the bar. One might think that because it is free, players will not take the results seriously but this is hardly true.

With tournaments just almost nightly in Rhode Island, Worchester Massuchusetts, Greater Lowell Massachusetts and Central Massachussets it is a poker lover's dream come true. There is even a Tournament of Champions which will be broadcast on Comcast Sports New England. The first tournament has already earned a Nielsen rating of 1.2 to 1.5 which is considered outstanding for a local television show.

Winners of the EPT events are paid out on a sliding scale. The number of players determines the size of the pot, 20 players at a location means that there is $115 prize money of which $75 goes to the winner. Should there be 100 players at the tournament, the prize money goes up to $850 with $400 for the winner. The EPT records the players stats and freerolls are held for those players on the leader boards of their area. The EPT season lasts 6 months at the end of which there is a freeroll with a pot of $5,000. But wait, there is even more, every month the 50 top players play in a freeroll with a pot of $1,200. Not bad for a pub poker tournament. At the end of the 6 month long tournament there is a grand event, the WSOP qualifier where about 250 winners from the season’s various events get to compete for a chance to enter the WSOP and a pot of $13,000. Besides all these tournaments there is also weekly charity poker tournaments hosted by the EPT. McCrory said that the EPT is looking to bring this style of poker tournaments to other markets and want to look into franchising their idea. By the looks of things this is going to be big and we will certainly watch as this infant poker tournament grows into a giant.