GBP 1 MILLION PRIZE POOL FOR EUROPEAN POKER MASTERS TOUR

(399) (7-September-2006)

Inaugural event being publicised as the biggest European tour yet

There are now only days left before the start of the inaugural European Poker Masters poker tour, which is set to launch September 9 and is being marketed as the largest pan-European poker tour yet. The organisers, All In Sport promise that the tour will feature some of poker's top pros battling for a GBP 1 million prize pool.

Existing high profile events will be combined with new poker tournaments debuting on the global poker circuit this year. The 2006 tour will be directed by former World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Mel Judah and will take place in London, Paris and Dublin, among other places.

The first tournament of the European Poker Masters, the London Poker Masters , will be played at the 178-year-old London gambling club Fifty Casino . Sponsored by Full Tilt Poker , the tournament will boast an estimated GBP 250 000 prize pool, a GBP 2 000 + GBP 50 buy-in and several top players, including Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Jennifer Harman, Phil Ivey and Howard Lederer. The event will run from Sept. 9-11, 2006.

Subsequent events include the Paris Hold'em Trophy at the Aviation Club de France Oct. 21-22, 2006; the Dublin All-Star Challenge which will be hosted at the Sporting Emporium in Dublin from November 18-19, 2006; and the Austrian Classics which will take place in Vienna from October 3-4, 2006.

"The European Poker Masters is the most exciting addition to the global poker calendar for many years," said James Hopkins , tour creator and head of programming at All In Sport. "Never before has Europe hosted so much U.S. talent. This is the strongest line up we could have hoped for."