The last time this humble blog reported on an event from Deauville, France was February 12, 2006. The lady of the the French Coast was one of the players' (and, frankly our) favorite places to stop on the European Poker Tour. Since then, due to uncontrollable circumstances and the vagaries of the poker world, Deauville has remained only a pleasant memory. Absence has made the heart grow, if not fonder, at least a little misty for the old haunt on France's northern shore.

Enter the ever-likable John Duthie.

Duthie, creator and chief executive of the European Poker Tour, has announced that the EPT Deauville event is back on on the calendar for the coming year. The Season Five French Open will run at Casino Barriere de Deauville on January 20-24, 2009.

Deauville boardwalk, circa 2005

The luxurious town of Deauville will once again attract hundreds of poker players who will sit down to play in the charming Casino Barriere Deauville including all four of the Team PokerStars Pro ladies; Vanessa Rousso, Vicky Coren, Isabelle Mercier and Katja Thater. As well as the ever successful ElkY, Noah Boeken, Alex Kravchenko, Luca Pagano, Dario Minieri and Chad Brown.

PokerStars players, as always, can win their tickets to EPT Deauville on PokerStars.com. Satellites are running daily and platers can win a package worth more than $9,000 which includes buy-in to the tournament, hotel accommodation and expenses. Players can buy directly into the main event for €5,300. The event is capped at 700 players and is looking an estimated prize pool of €3,360,000.

We'll see everybody in Deauville.

The PokerStars European Poker Tour couldn't let its fifth season go by without adding a brand new stop on Europe's biggest poker series.

The EPT announced today that it will host Hungary's first-ever live poker tournament October 28-November 1 in Budapest. After finding quite a bit of interest and success in recent EPT launches in Prague and Warsaw, the EPT's €4,350 four-day No Limit Hold’em Hungarian Open will almost certainly draw hordes of players from all over the world.

Lest you not recognize Hungary's role in world poker, Hungary's Denes Kalo was runner-up twice in last season’s EPTs – at EPT Baden and the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo. He's pocketed more than €1.5 million in EPT winnings.

Fellow Hungarian Valdemar Kwaysser is not content to let Kalo be his country's only big poker star. Kwaysser won the first PokerStars.net Latin American Poker Tour event in San José, Costa Rica for $274,103.

Satellites for the EPT Hungarian Open are running on PokerStars now. For more information on the event, visit the Hungarian Open homepage on EPT.com

The PokerStars European Poker Tour is giving you a chance to pick your favorite player poker on the EPT.

The first-ever EPT Awards are just a couple of weeks away in Barcelona. On September 9, the eve of the Season 5 opening event in Barcelona, some of the best players from around the world will show up and be recognized for all the work they put in during Season 4 of the European Poker Tour.

While several awards will be presented that night, one award stands out: The EPT People's Choice Award. This is your chance to recognize your favorite player's efforts. Use whatever criteria you like: the player's game, contribution to poker, entertainment value, or whatever you think is best.

If you need some help getting started, here are the Top 50 players from Season 4 of the EPT.

Ready to make your vote? Click HERE to make your choice.

For more information, visit the EPT Awards homepage.

The PokerStars European Poker Tour is giving you a chance to pick your favorite player poker on the EPT.

The first-ever EPT Awards are just a couple of weeks away in Barcelona. On September 9, the eve of the Season 5 opening event in Barcelona, some of the best players from around the world will show up and be recognized for all the work they put in during Season 4 of the European Poker Tour.

While several awards will be presented that night, one award stands out: The EPT People's Choice Award. This is your chance to recognize your favorite player's efforts. Use whatever criteria you like: the player's game, contribution to poker, entertainment value, or whatever you think is best.

If you need some help getting started, here are the Top 50 players from Season 4 of the EPT.

Ready to make your vote? Click HERE to make your choice.

For more information, visit the EPT Awards homepage.

The PokerStars European Poker Tour is giving you a chance to pick your favorite player poker on the EPT.

The first-ever EPT Awards are just a couple of weeks away in Barcelona. On September 9, the eve of the Season 5 opening event in Barcelona, some of the best players from around the world will show up and be recognized for all the work they put in during Season 4 of the European Poker Tour.

While several awards will be presented that night, one award stands out: The EPT People's Choice Award. This is your chance to recognize your favorite player's efforts. Use whatever criteria you like: the player's game, contribution to poker, entertainment value, or whatever you think is best.

If you need some help getting started, here are the Top 50 players from Season 4 of the EPT.

Ready to make your vote? Click HERE to make your choice.

For more information, visit the EPT Awards homepage.

The PokerStars European Poker Tour is giving you a chance to pick your favorite player poker on the EPT.

The first-ever EPT Awards are just a couple of weeks away in Barcelona. On September 9, the eve of the Season 5 opening event in Barcelona, some of the best players from around the world will show up and be recognized for all the work they put in during Season 4 of the European Poker Tour.

While several awards will be presented that night, one award stands out: The EPT People's Choice Award. This is your chance to recognize your favorite player's efforts. Use whatever criteria you like: the player's game, contribution to poker, entertainment value, or whatever you think is best.

If you need some help getting started, here are the Top 50 players from Season 4 of the EPT.

Ready to make your vote? Click HERE to make your choice.

For more information, visit the EPT Awards homepage.

The European Poker Tour has long been home to high-rollers. The Grand Final buy-in of the tournament series is impressive in itself at €10,000. The rest of the events are nearly as big. However, we always knew there were people in the room who wanted to play bigger. After the tournament was over for the day, the big players would start up big-money sit & go tournaments. If that wasn't enough, the true high rollers would retire to a hotel suite and play private games for more money than most people can imagine.

Now the European Poker Tour has given these high-rollers a tournament of their own.

When the Season 5 EPT London event kicks off in a few months, event organizers will not only host the scheduled EPT London event. They have also just announced a brand new £20,000 + £300 PokerStars EPT £1 Million Showdown, with a guaranteed £1,000,000 prize pool. If that doesn't attract the big action players, not much will.

That's not all. The London EPT event is getting a shot in the arm and the winner of the event is going to be pretty happy about it.

PokerStars is adding an extra £250,000 to the prize pool of this October’s EPT London event, making for a guaranteed £1,000,000 for the winner.

Look out for EPT London satellites starting at PokerStars on August 4, and satellites for the £1M Showdown starting August 18.

For more information on how you can qualify, visit the PokerStars EPT satellites page.

For all you need to know about the EPT, visit the European Poker Tour home page.