PokerStars, the title sponsor of the European Poker Tour, the Latin American Poker Tour, the Asia Pacific Poker Tour and about a half dozen others around the globe, recently announced they will now be planting a flag in North America as well, directly competing, in the most brazen way yet, with the current dominant force in American big buy-in poker tournaments, the World Poker Tour.

This audacious new North American Poker Tour (NAPT) has technically already begun, as it was recently announced at a press conference that the hugely popular PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) currently taking place in the Bahamas, will now - along with already being a part of the EPT and LAPT schedules - be considered a major part of the NAPT as well. 

Although much of the full NAPT schedule has not yet been released, some of the other announced stops include a $5,000 buy-in main event at the Venetian in Las Vegas this February, and a $5,000 buy-in main event in Connecticut's Mohegan Sun, in April.

"I'm really looking forward to the launch of the NAPT" stated Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu.  "PokerStars.net has done an excellent job sponsoring meaningful tournaments around the world with the EPT, LAPT, APPT, and various other local tours - and it's exciting to see them coming to my home town of Las Vegas!  With the addition of the NAPT, I'll have a chance to play some tournaments on home soil, and I'm very excited about that."

For more information on the new PokerStars North American Poker Tour visit the PokerStars blog (www.pokerstarsblog.com). 


Story by Mark Anderson