Huge Start On the 2008 Tournament Circuit

The poker world saw the new year start with a bang as the first major tournament of 2008, the European Poker Tour $8,000 buy-in PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, shattered a host of records.

A whopping 1,136 players traveled to the Bahamas for this year's PCA, by far the largest event in the EPT's four-season history. The players generated a prize pool of $8.5 million, and $2 million of that will go to the eventual winner (yet to be determined at press time).

The event had been a World Poker Tour stop for the past few seasons, but PokerStars, the EPT's title sponsor that also awarded more than 650 seats to online qualifiers, pulled the event into the EPT fold. As a matter of comparison, last year's EPT Grand Final attracted 706 players. And, if the 2008 PCA had remained a WPT event, it would have been the largest WPT event ever, beating the number of entrants at the 2007 L.A. Poker Classic by 345 (791 played in that event).

The PCA, along with preliminary events for the World Poker Tour World Poker Open, the World Series of Poker Tournament Circuit event in Tunica, and the Aussie Millions Poker Championship all kicked off as we went to press. These events offer the first chance for players to pick up Player of the Year points. Check out the Inside Straight for 2008 Player of the Year criteria.

In this issue, we honor Doyle Brunson. The legend, with 10 World Series of Poker bracelets, launched his own online poker site, DoylesRoom.com, in 2004. When the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was passed in late 2006, DoylesRoom.com left the U.S. market, but as of October 2007, the site has reaffirmed its commitment to U.S. players. Read all about the site's new software, awesome promotions, and how you can play against the poker superstar himself in this issue.

Also, in this issue, we're kicking off a new feature that will profile poker's most successful cash-game players every two weeks. "Capture the Flag," named after the $5,000 Bellagio chips that are sort of the unofficial currency among nosebleed-stakes players, debuts in this issue with none other than Phil Ivey. Enjoy.