PokerStars Launches North American Poker TourNew Venues Include the Venetian and Mohegan Sun |
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PokerStars now has a live poker tour in the United States.
The biggest online poker site in the world announced today that it was launching the North American Poker Tour (NAPT), which it bills as “the first major poker tour in North America created by poker players, for poker players, with accessible buy-ins, expectations for massive prize pools, and thousands of players from around the world all competing for millions of dollars.”
The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas will serve as the tour’s first event, but the site also announced two new venues today for the tour’s inaugural season — the Venetian in Las Vegas and Mohegan Sun in Connecticut.
“I am both pleased and excited about our new relationship with the North American Poker Tour and PokerStars.net,” said Kathy Raymond, executive director of poker operations at the Venetian. “I believe that the Venetian poker room will serve as the perfect home to the hottest new poker tour in North America.”
The NAPT Venetian event will run Feb. 20-24 and also serve as the main event of the casino’s very popular Deep Stack Extravaganza I series. The NAPT Mohegan Sun event will run April 7-11 as part of a new poker festival at the Connecticut casino. Both the Venetian and Mohegan Sun NAPT events will feature $5,000 buy-ins, as well as a variety of side events similar to the PCA.
“We are extremely excited and honored to partner with such an amazing brand, PokerStars.net,” said Bruce Dixon, director of poker operations for Mohegan Sun.
Mohegan Sun will begin running satellites to its NAPT main event starting tomorrow, Jan. 7, and running until the April event. The casino will host $200 satellites every Tuesday, Saturday, and Sunday, as well as on Monday, Jan. 18 and Monday, Feb. 15. Mohegan Sun will also run $300 satellites every Saturday and Sunday, and also on Jan. 18 and Feb. 15.
PokerStars.net will be running satellites into the live events, which will be filmed and broadcast for a major television audience. The broadcast sponsor has not yet been announced, but that news is expected within the next few weeks.
Dancing with the Stars and PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge competitor Joanna Krupa will serve as the tour’s TV host. Krupa talked to Card Player TV’s Kristy Arnett about her new role:
The news of another major poker tour servicing the United States is exciting to a lot of players, especially Team PokerStars pro Daniel Negreanu.
“I’m really looking forward to the launch of the NAPT,” said Negreanu. “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.”
PokerStars already runs the European Poker Tour, the Latin American Poker Tour, and the Asia Pacific Poker Tour, as well as a number of smaller international tours. The site is expected to announce additional venues for the NAPT in the months ahead.
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