partypoker LIVE shows they have the organisational nous and player pulling power to replace PokerStars as the most successful live tournament operator in Europe after hosting the largest festival in CIS history.

When Mike Sexton left his cushy number at the World Poker Tour (WPT) to help his beloved partypoker become the number one live tournament operator in the world, I thought all the gambling had messed with his mind.

Neither the WPT or the World Series of Poker (WSOP) had been able to replicate their North American success in other parts of the world, leaving the European Poker Tour (EPT) to rise from the bubbles in John Duthie’s bath tub to become the leading light in European live poker.

If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best, and partypoker LIVE has wasted no time getting into the face of the PokerStars machine. The EPT brand name may be dead, but the PokerStars Championship contains the EPT’s soul.