Poker's International Presence Felt at WSOP and Beyond

If it wasn't for poker's phenomenal international growth, this year's World Series of Poker certainly would have experienced a drop in attendance. A large number of the 58,720 players who bought into WSOP events in 2008 were from abroad. And as these players continue to improve their poker chops, the winner's circle is looking more and more like an Olympic medal ceremony than a Texas road gamblers' convention.

This year, there were 118 different nations and territories represented by all the players who entered the main event, a 36 percent increase over last year. In total, players from 11 different nations won gold bracelets at this year's WSOP.

The great thing is, you can continue to experience poker's global boom even with the WSOP on hiatus (here in the States, at least, as the WSOP Europe's four-event series starts Sept. 19 and runs until Sept. 27) until next year. With a number of leading online poker rooms putting their marketing muscle behind new tours in countries friendly to online gambling, there are numerous opportunities for you to play for big money in exotic locations.

PokerStars now runs three poker tours: the European Poker Tour (EPT), Asia-Pacific Poker Tour (APPT), and Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT). By the time you get this issue in your hands, the last stop on the LAPT, in Uruguay, will have just wrapped up. Just a few years ago, who could have imagined a large poker tournament at the tip of South America?

The EPT, which has quickly surpassed the World Poker Tour in regard to number of players and, in many cases, size of prize pools, also returns to action in September with the first event of nine of its fifth season, which runs until May 2009. The first event of the season, the EPT Barcelona Open, takes place Sept. 10-14 and carries an €8,000 buy-in. Last year, the top prize was more than $1.5 million, and the event is expected to grow even larger this year. You can win your way to Barcelona on PokerStars for as little as $2.22.

Asia seems to be the next poker hot spot, and a number of tournament offerings are there for the taking. There are five APPT events in 2008, and two of them take place in September. First, the APPT heads to Macau, Sept. 1-9, with a buy-in of approximately $3,200, and then to Seoul, Korea, Sept. 26-28, for a $2,870 (approximately) buy-in event. Other stops in New Zealand, the Philippines, and Australia round out the tour. And Macau, the gambling mecca of Asia, will host an Asian Poker Tour $5,000 buy-in event, Aug. 27-31, 2008.