The EPT Kicks off with its Barcelona stop as usual this year. The EUR 8,000+ 250 Main Event will take place at the Casino Barcelona, in a city of 1.5 million people, which is the second largest city of Spain. It is in the same time the capital of Catalunya, a semi autonomous region of the country, and a primary tourist destination conveniently located on the shores of the Mediterranean. Famed for its architecture, Barcelona has a lot to offer for the casual fun-seeking visitor too: its restaurants, pubs and cuisine are also among its must see and experience attractions. Reachable via air from just about any corner of the world, Barcelona’s El Prat International Airport is also a destination for a host of budget airlines operating within Europe. Therefore, if you happen to live in Europe, traveling to Barcelona for the EPT will certainly not set you back significantly from a financial point of view. Once you’re at the airport, you can take a cab into town (black and yellow ones are the licensed taxis) for about EUR 20, but if you’re a thrifty person and you don’t mind waiting around a bit, the bus regular bus service that runs between the airport and the town will only set you back EUR 3.75. There’s one alternative that’s even cheaper: the train costs only EUR 2.40. If you’re an online poker qualifier, the poker room where you won your package will have to notify you of your hotel details. If you’re on your own in this respect, you can take a look at epthotels.com, the EPTs official hotel booking service. Barcelona is within the EU, the currency used is EUR. If you’re an EU citizen yourself, you can travel there freely. If you’re a North American or Australian citizen, you can visit for 90 days without a visa. If you’re a citizen of another country, you should check with your travel agent for details concerning the visa requirements. The EPT Main Event itself takes place between September 10th and 14th, it costs EUR 8250 to enter and it is capped at 600 players. Big poker names like Greg Raymer, Isabelle Mercier, Vicky Coren and Noah Boeken have already booked their seats for the event. Last year (season 4) there were 543 players at the EPT Barcelona, who eventually generated a prize-pool of more than EUR 4 million. Daniel Negreanu, Greg Raymer and Johnny Chan all played at Barcelona last year, as the victory went to Sander Lyloff who took home a EUR 1.1 million first prize. As always, you can buy into the tournament directly, or if you just don’t have that much money for poker purposes, you can attempt to qualify online. Most of the big online poker rooms feature EPT Barcelona packages, and if you take advantage of the sub-satellites they also run, you may win your seat for as little as $2.22. If you just happen to be in the area and you decide to participate in the last minute, you can also buy in directly at the casino, on the day of the tournament.

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