International Stadiums Poker Tour is Groupe Bernard Tapie’s project. The French financing company has for long dreamt of organizing a tour of this size, and for many following the updates on Full Tilt Poker, the French company played a role in FTP’s case. Groupe Bernard Tapie had aimed to buy out the now defunct Full Tilt Poker. Although the company’s plans to buy the erstwhile poker site fell through, it did not stop them from focusing their energy on making their dreamboat ISPT come true.
Earlier this year, Groupe Bernard Tapie announced with much fanfare that they would have their first ever tour between May 31 and June 6 of 2013. The event will launch at the prestigious Wembley Stadium at London.
True to their words, the company has already made another announcement that honors their promise of a tour next year. GBT recently announced that poker pro Michael Mizrachi has been named as the company’s ambassador for ISPT.
Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi is a three-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner. He is also a two-time $50,000 Poker Players’ Champion at the WSOP. His enthusiasm at this announcement was evident in his tweets to his followers. Mizrachi said,
I just want to announce I will be @ISPT_poker official ambassador. Will be one of the biggest tournaments ever held!
With Mizrachi, GBT has made the right choice. Today, he embodies pretty much everything poker is about; courtesy his big wins and success stories. His performance is rated excellent, in a game with many other seasoned players. What makes him more like the ‘icing on the cake’, are his achievements over a very short career, spanning just eight years. In those short eight years, Mizrachi has made more than $14 million in earnings, standing tall at seventh, among other top earners.
Getting back to ISPT’s goal, we should tell that if they do succeed, it would certainly be the first of its kind in the poker world. The tour plans to draw 30,000 players from around the neighborhood to qualify for the finals. The qualifying rounds will happen online and if ISPT succeeds with this number, it would very well be the biggest numberof participants in a real tournament that is not played online.
Once the players qualify the rounds set online, they would assemble in Wembley where the next few rounds leading up to the final will happen live. The first prize is set at around €10 million (approximately $12,281,000) in an estimated prize pool of €30 million.
