PokerStars Set to Launch Latin American Poker Tour
Mar 14, 2008By: Jennifer Newell PokerStars recently announced the launch of the inaugural Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT). The tour has been in the works for quite some time, and PokerStars has signed the agreement to partner with the LAPT for the first series of tournaments ever to tour through the Latin American countries.
The first stop on the LAPT will be in the beautiful beach city of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil from May 3-5. The tourist city will host the $2500 buy-in event, where the prize pool is anticipated to be more than $600,000. In addition to Team PokerStars pros making the trip, Latin American poker pros Humberto Brenes of Costa Rica and Andre Akkari of Brazil will be in attendance.
In the press release, Akkari said, “It’s a real honor to be representing Team PokerStars in the PokerStars Latin American Poker Tour – and even more exciting that the very first event is in my home country. The LAPT offers great opportunities for Latin American players. Poker is growing so fast in this region and now local players will have the chance to compete in major events in their own backyard.”
The next two stops on the LAPT calendar will be May 22-24 in San Jose, Costa Rica, and the Punta del Este in Uruguay from August 7-9. More destinations will be released at a later date.
Glenn Cademartori, LAPT President, said, “Poker is exploding in Latin America and the game is more than ready for its own major poker tour. It’s one of the fastest-growing poker regions and there are thousands upon thousands of players in countries like Brazil and Argentina who will love the chance to take part in events of this kind. In every regard, the LAPT is going to put Latin America on the map as the newest hotspot to play high stakes international poker.”
As to the partnership between the LAPT and PokerStars, Cademartori added, “It’s not just because PokerStars has proven success in launching major poker tours in other regions, but also because it is the world's number one online poker destination. This means it's uniquely positioned to give an enormous number of players from across the globe the chance to take part through online qualifying satellite tournaments. Our goal is to provide Latin American players and beyond with the best poker tournament experience in this part of the world."
PokerStars already sponsors the European Poker Tour (EPT) and the Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT), the latter of which brought poker to television in the Asia Pacific region for the first time and became the largest and most popular poker tour in that part of the world. PokerStars and the LAPT anticipate the same popularity to surround the new tour in Latin America.
