Welcome to the European Poker Tour

It was Three Dog Night that channeled Hoyt Axton and sang the landlocked boy's lament of the 1970s. If you're unfamiliar with the tune, the premise was simple and slightly sad: The boy had never been to Spain. And he'd never been to England.

Axton and Three Dog Night, it seemed, ended up compensating with other earthly pleasures. Sadly, though, the song never took us to the land of old world romance and exotica.

When I noted the first two stops on the inaugural European Poker Tour, I couldn't help but hear the song in the back of my head. They are places that are home to countless Europeans, but seem worlds away to those who live on other continents.

While many Americans will argue that poker is a distinctly American game, few will deny the fact that poker and its recent world-wide boom have brought together players from nearly every continent (I'm checking into the Antarctica Poker Tour to see what the buy-ins are there).

Already, the European Poker Tour (EPT) has been to Spain. It bested Three Dog Night and made it to England, as well. Now, it heads to Copenhagen, Denmark for the Scandinavian Open. And you, friends, will be going with it. If you're not already signed up to play, you can follow all the action from Copenhagen on this blog. The European Poker Tour blog will run in much the same fashion as PokerStars.com's recent Caribbean Adventure tournament reports from the Bahamas. However, whereas the Caribbean Adventure was one tournament, the EPT will take us from Copenhagen, to Deauville, France, to Vienna, to Monte Carlo. And you can read about it all right here over the next two months.

Here's a little more background on the EPT:

Season 1 of the European Poker Tour will include preliminary tournaments in Barcelona, London, Copenhagen, Deauville, Vienna and Dublin. The Grand Final event will be held in the majestic setting of the Monte Carlo Casino in Monaco.

Winners of the preliminary events will win prize packages worth 15,000 EUR(in addition to their tournament winnings). The prize package includes entry into the Grand Final event, flights for two, accommodation in the stunning Hermitage Hotel in Casino Square, Monte Carlo and 1,000 EUR spending money. View the EPT tournament schedule for details.

No matter where you live in the world, you still have an opportunity to play in the Grand Final event of the European Poker Tour in beautiful Monaco. Online satellite tournaments for the Grand Final event in Monaco will be played on PokerStars.com. Winners of those satellite events will receive their buy-in, hotel accommodations (where offered), and spending money which can be used for airfare and other travel incidentals.

Players who wish to buy directly into an EPT event may do so. Please visit PokerStars for details.

I'll be touching down in Copenhagen Friday morning. In the meantime, feel free to fire off an e-mail to me at the address on the right.

And after you're finished doing that, start trying to win your way to Monte Carlo. I hear it's nice in March.