I used to write a lot more about golf here than I do now. I used to watch and care about golf a lot more than I do now.
But when I was interested, I wrote a great deal about different tours, like the Asian and Australian Tours, that have outstanding golfers but are overshadowed by the PGA, European, and Nationwide tours.
I found such things interesting because I like variety. If you are an pro football fan, the NFL is pretty much the only game in town (CFL isn't on U.S. TV anymore in most markets, and Arena Football is a different sport). Same with baseball and basketball as far as your high level viewing options, for the most part.
In poker, though, I count no less than six multi-country poker tours. And the similarity to golf to end there. In both, the events have both players who bought in directly and qualifiers (lots more of this in poker, to be sure, than Monday qualifiers of a PGA event).
The World Series of Poker Circuit is still the most prestigious. With main events both in Las Vegas and London, they also make stops in Atlantic City, Lake Tahoe, Indiana (suburban Chicago), San Diego, New Orleans, Mississippi, and Iowa.
Unlike the other tours, the WSOPC does not allow online qualifiers. Instead, offers you see online promising WSOP qualifiers are actually just going to give you the cash equivalent.
Then there's the World Poker Tour, which is struggling financially and on its third TV home (now FOX Sports Net) in the last few years. That said, they are the first entity people think of when they hear "poker tour." They might benefit by cutting the costs of their main events down to under $10,000 to enter, as most other tours have for most of their events.
The next three are all run by Poker Stars, which has seemed to find a very profitable format for running poker tours, as they are constantly birthing new tours and existing stops on their existing circuit.
Their flagship tour is the European Poker Tour, which visits 12 cities this year. The Season Championship is in Monte Carlo and used to be known as the Monte Carlo Millions. That, the Aussie Millions (not a part of a tour), the WSOP Main Event, and the WPT Championship are the de facto four majors of poker.
Poker Stars also hosts the Asian Pacific Poker Tour, which is about to wrap-up its second season. It spans from Oceania (Sydney, Auckland) to the Far East (Macau, Manila, Seoul).
Finally, they just added the Latin American Poker Tour, which held events in Brazil, Uruguay, and Costa Rica in their inaugural season, and started Season 2 almost immediately after, with Costa Rica again, Mexico, and more sites TBA.
I can't really count it here because it's just one country, but just two days ago they also started the Russian Poker Tour, with two stops announced: St. Petersburg in January and Moscow in February. In case you were wondering, the average January temperature in St. Petersburg is just shy of 20 degrees. It's the northernmost metropolitan city in the world. Qualify today.
Finally, there's the confusion-engendering Asian Poker Tour (not Poker Stars Asian Pacific Poker Star), which has staggered two events in some APPT cities (Manila and Macau) and are returning to Manila in 2009.
Those are the tours that are established enough to have staged events in multiple countries. A handful more are trying.
The Poker Tour of the Americas is run by a penny stock company, but seems to be trying in earnest to get a series of events going, which would visit Costa Rica, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Canada (Vancouver).
The Latin Series of Poker has already run an event, their "Main Event" in Costa Rica, and hopes to return there as well as hold events in Chile and Colombia. Dates TBA, however.
Finally, I'd love to give some props to the International Poker League. They have a host of events listed on their website all over the word, including the African Open, Aussie Open, UK Open, and Asian Open. Too bad their website hasn't been updated in over a year.
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