European Masters of Poker heads to Bulgaria

DUBLIN, Ireland -- (PRESS RELEASE) -- The European Masters of Poker makes the second stop of its tour in Varna, Bulgaria between April 15-18, 2009 having attracted 248 players to the first tournament in Tallinn, Estonia last month.

Qualification for the €1,100 buy in event is now underway across the Entraction network where online poker players can qualify for as little as €2 or 200 VIP-points. Premium partners for the European Masters of Poker are i4poker.com, Pinnaclesports.com, kickoffpoker.com, DailyPoker.com, GoldWinPoker.com, MartinsPoker.com, and 24hPoker.com.

There are nine daily satellites to the €100 Sunday Main Qualifier (19:40 CET) and three daily satellites to the €100 Wednesday Main Qualifier (19:40 CET).

Each package to the European Masters of Poker is worth €1,800 with €1,100 for the tournament buy-in and €700 for travel and hotel expenses. A total of at least ten packages are guaranteed in the prize pool each Sunday while five packages are guaranteed each Wednesday. Players can also buy in directly through their Entraction account.

Numbers for the Varna event are expected to top 300 meaning the winner could walk away with up to €80,000. The European Masters of Poker is designed to appeal to players who want to play big live tournaments with affordable buy-ins, in exiting locations.

The event, which was won in Tallinn by Johanna Pyysing from Finland when she beat former EPT Barcelona winner Bjorn-Erik Glenne from Norway to win €69,440, has a starting stack of 10,000 chips with 45 minute levels for the first four hours and one hour levels thereafter.

The three-day tournament is being held at the Grand Hotel & Casino International in the Golden Sands Resort, Varna 9007, Bulgaria and is open to players over 18 years-old.

Golden Sands Resort is located 15 km north of the city of Varna and is famed for its golden sand and long wide beach.

An additional benefit of the European Masters of Poker is the leader board competition where players can win additional prizes beside the regular prize pool. Five percent is taken from each tournaments prize pool and is placed in the leader board prize pool. The top 15 overall players will receive cash prizes after the five first tournaments.

The estimated first prize is €25,000. In addition to this, the winner will receive a watch worth €10,000 if the player has earned 25,000 VIP-points from January 1st 2009 until the start of the last tournament.

After Bulgaria the tour pulls in to Prague, Czech Republic from June 25 to 28, 2009.