France has been removed as a venue for the European Poker Tour, the
organizers announced this week without giving any reasons. Inevitably,
speculation was immediate that the change of plan for the poker spectacle
was motivated by the truculent attitude of the French gambling industry
to any threat to its monopolistic structure.
The decision appears to have been left to the last minute. Set to
run February 20-24 at the Casino Barriere de Deauville, the French
Open was still being advertised as early as last week and tournament
seats were being offered by online poker rooms as part of recent promotions.
The abrupt official EPT announcement read as follows:
"European Poker Tour regrets to announce the cancellation
of the 2007 EPT French Open due to take place at Casino Barriere de
Deauville between 20-24th February, 2007. A full statement will follow."
The announcement comes on the heels of the recent addition of an event
in Warsaw, Poland (see previous InfoPowa reports), to the EPT Season
3 lineup. The Polish tournament, which is the inaugural EPT event
in the country, is set to run March 14-17.