More than 300 qualifiers registered for Main Event so that it will be streamed live from Day 2

The PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final, which starts in not up to two weeks, has witnessed a record selection of online qualifiers, PokerStars announced today. 

The Season 12 finale, which joins forces with the regional France Poker Series (FPS), will feature 80 events over 11 days on the Monte Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort. A number of the Team PokerStars players set to compete at this season's Grand Final are Brazilian football legend Ronaldo Nazario, who's trying to better his 26th-place finish at PCA 2015 and Daniel Negreanu, who's the highest-earning live tournament player of all time with greater than $32 million in winnings.

MASSIVE NUMBERS IN MONACO

The €5,300 EPT Main Event field will feature 302 qualifiers, including 121 players who managed to show just €10 right into a €9,000 prize package via the EPT Spin & Go tournaments. The choice of online qualifiers this season has already beaten the Season 10 record of 210. Greater than 155 players have also qualified for this season's €1,100 FPS Monaco Main Event. 

Numerous players won their seat for only a few euros, with British poker professional Ben Dobson heading to Monaco after investing just €4.22. He'll be joined in Monaco by 12 other players who've qualified for €55 or less. An extra two players won full packages after victory within the Team Pro Online Week freeroll. EPT satellites are running daily on PokerStars until April 26, with the overall FPS Monaco satellite happening on April 24.

Edgar Stuchly, PokerStars' Director of Live Events, said: "We're very fascinated with this season's finale. We reduced the principle Event buy-in to offer additional players an opportunity to enroll in us and that's the reason exactly what has transpired with a record choice of online qualifiers set to compete on this prestigious event. For all our regulars, in addition to all those coming to an EPT for the first actual time, we extend an excessively warm welcome to Monaco."

DAILY CARDS-UP BROADCAST

EPTLive will broadcast seven days of cards-up* action, starting with the Super High Roller and FPS Monaco Main Event final tables. Viewers can then follow the EPT Main Event from Day 2 through to the overall table. This may occasionally be the primary time an EPT tournament has featured daily 'as-live' cards-up coverage before the overall table and is a part of PokerStars' drive to continuously evolve its live event experience. Greater than 300 qualifiers registered for Main Event with a view to be streamed live from Day 2

Neil Johnson, PokerStars' Head of Live Poker Operations Europe, joined James Hartigan and Joe Stapleton at the latest episode of the EPT Not Live podcast to talk about the change: http://www.soundcloud.com/eptnotlive

*Cards-Up: 30-minute delayed broadcast with players' hole cards displayed on screen

FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS

The first major tournament of this season's festival is the brand new €10,000 High Roller, starting on April 26. The €1,000 FPS Monaco Main Event, the debut event of FPS Season 6, starts the next day. Last season, the development attracted 993 entries and was won by German player Sebastian Supper for €177,000. The EPT Main Event was won by Adrian Mateos for €1,082,000, giving Spain its first ever EPT champion after the 20-year-old defeated a 564-strong field.

One of the schedule's highlights, the €150 buy-in charity event on April 30, will raise funds for the EPT's official charity partner Right To Play, with a bunch of Team PokerStars Pros are expected to participate including Fatima de Melo, George Danzer, Vanessa Selbst, Celina Lin, Johnny Lodden, and Theo Jorgenson and amazing prizes up for grabs. 

This year's festival also includes several events making their Grand Final debut, including Monaco's first live Spin & Go tournaments with buy-ins starting from €50 to €500. Players could have a possibility to win the largest prize yet, with the wheel awarding as much as €10,000 per €500 spin within the three-handed game. 

#STARSFUN

#StarsFun activities happening on the festival include a Multi-Sports Simulator contest with the full winner snagging an Estrellas Barcelona Main Event package and. The EPT Grand Final Player Party can be going down on the exclusive Jimmy'z nightclub - located within the same building because the event.

EUROPEAN POKER AWARDS

Other highlights include the 2016 European Poker Awards on May 3 on the Monte Carlo Bay Hotel. This year's nominees include EPT photographer Neil Stoddart, PokerStars' Director of Live Events Edgar Stuchly and PokerStars Tournament Director Thomas Lamatsch, in addition to last season's EPT Barcelona, EPT Prague and EPT Grand Final Main Events and Estrellas Poker Tour Barcelona. Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree may also attend to assemble her award for winning the GPI Women's European Player of the Year category. 

KEY TOURNAMENT DATES

April 26-28, 2016 Single Re-Entry High Roller €10,000 + €300April 27-May 1, 2016 FPS Main Event €1,000 + €100April 28-30, 2016 Super High Roller €98,000 + €2,000April 29-30, 2016 FPS High Roller €2,000 + €200April 30-May 6, 2016 EPT Main Event €5,000 + €300May 1, 2016 Single Day Super High Roller €49,000 + €1,000May 4-6, 2016 EPT High Roller €25,000 + €750

For full details for the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino EPT 12 schedule, please see: europeanpokertour.com

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