John Duthie, founder and former CEO of the European Poker Tour, is to become President of the new “partypoker LIVE” tour. John founded the EPT in 2004 and, in association with PokerStars, helped turned the EPT into arguably the most prestigious tour in the world.
As a poker player, John has over $3.2 million in live tournament winnings and won the groundbreaking inaugural Poker Million in 2000. He was originally a TV director and has recently been working on TV and Netflix productions. He said: “I still love the game just as much as the first time I saw my first flop and I believe this passion will help partypoker LIVE become the largest and most fun poker tour in the world,” he said. “I plan to enjoy myself immensely working with and meeting old friends.”
Tom Waters, MD of partypoker commented “We are thrilled that John has joined us at the beginning of this journey. Very few people in the world have made such a significant contribution to poker and his experience, relationships and understanding of players will be a huge asset to us.”
partypoker LIVE, which was launched in January, will offer a minimum of 5M GTD for 5k buy-in events, 1M GTD for 1Ks and 500K GTD for 200 buy-in and plans to visit as many continents and countries as possible. Dates already lined up include the partypoker Million in Sochi which will have a $1,100 Main Event with $1m guarantee and run March 23-27 a the spanking new Sochi Casino & Resort. partypoker LIVE has also just confirmed the dates for the partypoker Million Germany – another $1k Main Event with €1 million guarantee taking place June 1-5 at King’s Casino, Rozvadov.
partypoker LIVE is also hosting the following events: partypoker Grand Prix Austria (April 6-10), partypoker MILLIONS at Dusk Till Dawn from April 18-23, partypoker Grand Prix Canada at the Playground Poker Club (April 25 – May 1) and partypoker Million North America (May 5-10).