LAPT, APPT and EPT Set for Comeback in 2018

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Saturday, December 30th, 2017 | Written by Lucy Brown

In addition to being the world’s biggest online poker room, PokerStars is also a major player in the international live tournament scene. As the brand consolidates its position at the forefront of the industry, The Stars Group, which owns PokerStars, continues to adapt and make changes to its live poker and online poker offerings, not all of which have proved successful.

Regional Tours Dropped

This year, PokerStars made a surprising announcement at the 2016 European Poker Tour (EPT) when it told gathered players about the cancellation of its regional poker tours, including the European Poker Tour (EPT), Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT), and the Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT). The news was not well accepted at the time, though, as the tour was popular, therefore leaving players scratching their heads as to why these regional tours had been scrapped without first having requested any feedback from the players themselves. Furthermore, the company even dropped its smaller tours, such as the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour (ANPT).

Instead, PokerStars subsequently decided to give its brand name even more global exposure by introducing the PokerStars Championships and PokerStars Festivals. The company also decided that all regional tours would be classified based upon their buy-ins, with Main Events under $1,000 featured at PokerStars Festival events, and those over $5,000 at PokerStars Championship events.

Players Disappointed With The Changes

Over the past couple of years, PokerStars has made a number of changes to its online poker products, some of which have resulted in a major backlash from its players. Nevertheless, PokerStars remained adamant that the changes were necessary and that players would need time to see that they would ultimately be of benefit to them, as well as the poker ecosystem as a whole.

At least PokerStars has been a lot more open to feedback when it comes to its live poker series, and after players complained that they had been unhappy with the 2017 PokerStars Championship Bahamas and wanted a return of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA), the company relented and is now set to bring back the PCA at the start of next year.

Revival of EPT, LAPT, and APPT

Showing that it is prepared to quickly correct those decision that have not payed off, PokerStars has decided to call a halt to the PokerStars and Championships series and go back to its original regional tour format. The company subsequently asked its main Team Pro ambassador Daniel Negreanu to issue the announcement during the PokerStars Championship Prague, and talk about the changes PokerStars was expecting to make in 2018 and 2019. As Negreanu explained at the time:

“It was clear to me when we changed the name that there were a lot of disappointed people because the EPT had such a long history. One way we can show in 2018 and beyond, that PokerStars is committed to giving the players what they want is to give them back the EPT, give them back the LAPT, and the APPTs. So this really was an easy decision, as far as I was concerned. It just took a little bit of logistical work to get it done.”

Needless to say, the players were pleased that PokerStars had chosen to bring back its regional tours, including the LAPT, APPT, and EPT, even though thus far there has been no announcement made about the return of its smaller regional tours, such as the ANPT and Eureka.

PokerStars Wants to Give Players More Value

It’s expected PokerStars will announce additional changes to its live tournament series after the new year. The company now appears determined to ensure that it gives its customers extra value when it comes to online and live poker. Another way in which it will do this is by launching the PokerStars Players No Limit Hold’em Championship tournament in 2019, along with promotions for the tournament running through 2018. The event has a buy-in of $25,000, and is expected to change the face of the industry. In addition, PokerStars has said that it would invest $9 million into the tournament, as well as a further $8 million given away to three hundred PokerStars customers as Platinum Passes.