Recently, the inaugural PokerStars Czech-Slovak Poker Tour (CSPT) kicked off with a CZK 13,000 buy-in event at the Card Casino Prague. A total of 122 players turned out, generating a prize pool of more than CZK 1.4 million.
Leading the pack in the historic European city was Lukas Horak, who held the chip lead heading into the final table and ultimately emerged as the event’s champion. Horak became the first CSPT event winner ever and pocketed CZK 340,000 for his efforts. Heads-up, he defeated Martin Pecha in an event that also saw Czech actor Martin Trnavsky take to the field. The tournament was held between June 25th and 28th and featured a cap of 198 runners. Now, the roving series will head to Casino Kartáč Ostrava in September for leg two of the PokerStars-backed CSPT. Here’s a look at the schedule for CSPT Season 1:
CSPT Ostrava: September 24th to 27th
Host: Casino Kartáč Ostrava
Buy-in: CZK 12,222 + 778
Cap: 153 players
CSPT Brno: October 29th to November 1st
Host: Poker Herna Vegas
Buy-in: CZK 12,222 + 778
Cap: 153 players
CSPT Bratislava: December 10th to 13th
Host: Ceasars Poker Club – Golden Vegas Bratislava
Buy-in: CZK 12,222 + 778
Cap: 225 players
On January 9th, 2010, a live leaderboard final will conclude the first season of the CSPT. The tournament pits the top 32 players on the leaderboard after all four events against each other with a whopping CZK 500,000 up for grabs. Side events and super satellites will make their home in each CSPT tournament, which run from Thursday to Sunday. Here’s the typical schedule of events (all times CET):
Thursday at 18:00: Super Satellite
CZK 500 rebuy, 10 entries guaranteed
Friday at 15:00: Main Event Day 1
CZK 12,222 + 778 buy-in, CZK 1,222,222 guaranteed
Saturday at 15:00: Main Event Day 2
Sunday at 16:00: Double Chance Side Event
CZK 4,700 + 300 buy-in
Sunday at 16:00: Freezeout Side Event
CZK 2,800 + 200 buy-in
Sunday at 18:00: Main Event Final Table
The CSPT is PokerStars’ latest venture into live poker tournaments outside of the United States. The world’s largest online poker site also manages the European Poker Tour (EPT), Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT), Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT), Russian Poker Tour (RPT), Italian Poker Tour (IPT), and Australia New Zealand Poker Tour (ANZPT). Its marquee event, the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, is the only Western Hemisphere stop on the EPT circuit and was formerly a World Poker Tour (WPT) staple.
PokerStars is doling out $1,000 prize packages for CSPT events that cover the Main Event buy-in, hotel accommodations, and extra cash for expenses. Every Monday, an $88 freezeout is held to award players prize packages to CSPT events. Freerolls on Wednesday and Friday qualify players into $3.30 rebuys and $9.90 freezeouts that guarantee at least two seats into the $88 event. In addition, a $2.20 rebuy on Tuesday offers up at least one seat into the final qualifier.
PokerStars is fresh off announcing the details of its 2009 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP). A total of 45 events will be held, totaling $40 million in guaranteed prize money. The action gets underway on September 3rd with a $215 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Six-Max tournament and $215 buy-in Razz event. Together, the two kickoff events will offer up nearly $1.5 million in guaranteed prize money. The festivities conclude on September 20th with the $5,250 buy-in WCOOP Main Event, which features a $10 million guaranteed prize pool. Also on that day, a $10,300 buy-in HORSE High Roller event will commence, with at least $1 million on the line. The WCOOP enters its eighth year after debuting in 2002.
