Stock prices are down to just $1.53 for the World Poker Tour (WPTE on NASDAQ), according to pokerkingblog.com; that is less than a tenth of the price it sold for just three years ago. The company, once valued at more than $700 million, is now valued ��...full article
Stock prices are down to just $1.53 for the World Poker Tour (WPTE on NASDAQ), according to pokerkingblog.com; that is less than a tenth of the price it sold for just three years ago.
The company, once valued at more than $700 million, is now valued at around $30 million at its current stock price.
According to a recent entry on the blog:
The worst part of all (for WPTE management) is that no one seems to care about the stock. The stock had just 4,500 shares of volume today, and hasn’t traded more than 10k shares in the past two weeks. This is a far cry from 2005, when the stock would easily average more than 300k shares of volume per day. There are no “big” analysts covering the stock, and investors couldn’t seem to care less. WPTE seems to be marching towards penny stock status, and the company isn’t doing much to help with its declining revenues and consistent quarterly losses.
The blog goes on to theorize on the reasons for the company’s fall, from competition from other poker television shows to the end of the poker “boom.”
EPT: Modest beginnings to major prestige
This Saturday the poker world turns its eyes to the French Riviera and the tiny principality of Monaco, home of the Sporting Club at Monte Carlo Bay Hotel and host of the fourth annual European Poker Tour Grand Final.
In four short years the Grand Final has become one of the richest and most prestigious tournaments in the world.
With a price tag of €10,000, it sports the fourth-highest buy-in of the world's major multi-table tournaments, coming in behind the $50,000 WSOP H.O.R.S.E. event, the $25,000 WPT Championship, and the £10,000 WSOP Europe Main Event.
Given the high buy-in and prestige associated with the title, the event is sure to draw a large field. Tour sponsor PokerStars confirms on its Web site that 241 players have already qualified through the online poker room.
Last year's Grand Final drew a record field of 706 players, more than twice the number of entrants in the 2006 event. American Gavin Griffin defeated Canada's Marc Karam in the heads-up match to claim the €1,825,010 first prize.
Looking back at the EPT
The EPT does big business today, but it started off modestly. The first season consisted of seven tournaments which featured relatively small buy-ins ranging from €1,000 to €4,000, fields averaging 210 players, and first-prize purses averaging €225,000. Inaugural Grand Final winner Rob Hollink topped a field of 211 players to take home €635,000.
After the success of the first season, the EPT responded to the demands of the marketplace by raising its buy-ins to create richer prize pools. The first six events on the Season 2 schedule had buy-ins of €4,000, while the Grand Final remained at €10,000. The average number of players (287) and the average first prize (€440,000) were both up from the first season, signaling both the growth of the European poker market and the popularity of the EPT itself.
It was Season 3 that set the stage for the biggest changes in the EPT's young history, with the expansion of the tour's schedule. The German Open was added to the list of events before the season ever began, but a more important expansion took place after the French Open was cancelled.
The event was shut down, in the words of PokerStars, "as a direct result of last-minute intervention by the French authorities making it impossible for the Lucien Barrière group to run a poker tournament on their premises in Deauville." Rather than leaving a slot in its schedule open, the EPT created a new event: the EPT Polish Open in Warsaw. The €4,000 tournament was a success, drawing 284 players and crowning Peter Jepsen champion with a €325,633 first prize.
The tour's third season finished with its highest-yet averages for number of players (435) and first prize (€730,000), capped off by Griffin's victory at the record-setting Grand Final.
|
| Total no. of players | Total prize pool |
| Season 1 | 1,468 | €4,780,972 |
| Season 2 | 2,009 | €9,824,000 |
| Season 3 | 3,481 | €19,571,000 |
| Season 4* | 5,060 | €30,701,688 |
| TOTAL | 12,018 | €64,877,660 |
* Numbers include all Season 4 tournaments except EPT Grand Final
Fourth-season success
The fourth season of the EPT has capitalized on the success of the previous seasons by playing on its strengths. The buy-ins went up yet again, ranging from €5,000 to €8,000, and the tour saw a rise in the number of players - each tournament averaged 506 rounders.
The expansion of the tour schedule continued as well. Following on the heels of the third season's stop in Warsaw, the EPT returned there and also added stops in Prague, Czech Republic, and San Remo, Italy. The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, recently orphaned from the World Poker Tour, also found a new home on the EPT and drew a record field of its own. With the tour now rivaling the WPT in terms of prize pools, player turnout and prestige, its future can only get brighter.
The Grand Final expects yet another record-breaking turnout and looks set to draw the fourth season of the EPT to a close in style. Be sure to join the PokerListings.com all-star tournament reporting team for all the action in our Live Tournaments section beginning tomorrow, April 11, at 1:00 p.m. (CET).
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Some doubt remains about ePassporte pulling the plug on U.S.
While it seems likely that ePassporte is pulling out of the U.S. market, there is still a glimmer of hope for American online poker players. Yesterday, rumors began swirling that the money transfer service ePassporte would no longer be able to serve U.S. customers, which seemed ��...full article
While it seems likely that ePassporte is pulling out of the U.S. market, there is still a glimmer of hope for American online poker players.
Yesterday, rumors began swirling that the money transfer service ePassporte would no longer be able to serve U.S. customers, which seemed to be confirmed by Cake Poker. That site was telling players through their cashier screens that ePassporte could not be used in the U.S.
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Indictments Handed Down in Borgata Poker Room Sportsbetting Ring Case
A major sportsbetting ring allegedly being run out of the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa poker room has now seen indictments issued against two dozen participants. The ring, which was broken up last November after a 20-month investigation...
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