Poker Tournament Trail -- John DuthieDuthie Talks About Playing in His First EPT Event and What’s in Store for the Tour This Year |
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John Duthie (pictured right) founded the PokerStars European Poker Tour in 2004, and since that time he has watched it grow into one of the marquee poker tours in the world. Duthie is currently the CEO of the tour, which unfortunately leaves him little time to play at the tables. The poker professional entered his first EPT event at the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, and he had a successful run that saw him cash in 12th place out of a field of 1,529 players to take home $130,000 in prize money.
Card Player caught up with Duthie in the Bahamas and he talked about playing in the EPT event, as well as what players can expect from the tour in 2010.
Ryan Lucchesi: How would you rate your first experience playing in a EPT event?
John Duthie: It’s the first event that I’ve played, so I’m very excited to go this deep, obviously. For me, it’s a tournament. When I’m playing in a tournament, I’m very much a player. I’m not even looking at what’s going on elsewhere. I’m not getting involved in anything that might be going on; I’m very much a player. I can do this here because this event is totally run by PokerStars, not by us. So that’s good.
RL: What do you think of the atmosphere that has been created at the PCA?
JD: It’s great to see so many players really enjoying themselves here. This is very close to the World Series. I mean, it feels like the World Series. It’s the same sort of size — slightly smaller — but you have a great number of events, and all of these people, all of these tables, and dealers, and all of this investment. The size of the room is similar. It feels great, and we’re in the Bahamas, which makes it even nicer.
RL: How much of a treat is it for you to get to play in tournaments outside of your business duties with the EPT?
JD: I love to play. I love playing poker, and I’m a player first. I play whenever I have the opportunity, and in the last couple of years, I’ve only really had the opportunity at the World Series of Poker to play in any significant events. I’m always there for a couple of weeks trying to do the best that I can. I did OK in the heads-up event there this year [second place out of 256 players], and I cashed in a few tournaments. During the rest of the year, I don’t really play that much. I’m hoping to play more this year.
RL: What are you most excited about for the EPT in 2010?
JD: What’s good is that we have altered the structure. This has been incredibly popular with the players, and I think it is attracting more players. I think we have added some interesting venues. We’ve got the Snowfest event, which will be a combination of skiing and poker. I think it will be popular. I’ve skied and played before, and it’s great fun. We also have the big event in Berlin coming up, which I think will be huge, because poker is massive in Germany. I think a lot of Europeans will go to Berlin and hopefully a lot of Americans will also make the effort to come over.
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