EUROPEAN POKER TOUR GRAND FINAL SET TO BE POKERSTARS’ LARGEST FESTIVAL IN MONACO

ONCHAN, Isle of Man – February 18, 2016 - The schedule for the Season 12 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino European Poker Tour (EPT) Grand Final has been announced today and will be the largest schedule of events ever held in Monaco and sponsored by PokerStars, an Amaya Inc. (Nasdaq: AYA; TSX: AYA) brand.

Joining forces with the national France Poker Series (FPS), this season’s EPT Grand Final is an 11-day extravaganza running from April 26 to May 6, 2016 at the Monte Carlo Bay Hotel. The schedule features a massive range of events to suit players of all kinds – from €100 Turbos right up to the prestigious €100,000 Super High Roller.

The charity event on Saturday April 30, raising funds for the EPT’s official charity partner Right To Play, will be one of the schedule highlights with a host of celebrities and Team PokerStars Pros taking part with amazing prizes up for grabs. Since the EPT and Right To Play partnership began last year at EPT Malta, nearly €30,000 has been raised for the charity which – through the power of sport and play – helps to transform the lives of children in 18 countries. Since the partnership with PokerStars began, over £700,000 has been donated to the charity.

Edgar Stuchly, PokerStars Director of Live Events said: “This season’s PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino EPT Grand Final promises to the biggest and best yet. As always our flagship events will attract the best players in the world to Monaco, but we have a wider range of tournaments than ever before this season, giving everyone a chance to compete. We are also hoping to break our record for the number of online qualifiers. We look forward to seeing thousands of players at our Season 12 finale.”

FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS
For the first time, the festival will host four High Roller events - the €100,000 Super High Roller, the €50,000 one-day High Roller, the €25,000 High Roller and a new €10,000 High Roller taking place on the first three days of the festival.

As well as flagship events such as the €1,100 FPS Monaco Main Event, the EPT Main Event and the €25,000 High Roller, this year’s festival also includes several events making their Monaco debut.  These include Flipout and Pot Limit Omaha super satellites to live events, the debut of the incredibly popular online tournament format Progressive Super Knockout and the Cote d’Azur Open. Other highlights of the festival will include the 2016 European Poker Awards which will be held on May 3 at the Monte Carlo Bay Hotel.

A record number of qualifiers are expected to win their way to Monaco where this year’s Main Event prize packages are worth €9,000 including €5,300 buy-in, spending money and luxury hotel accommodation. This year Main Event prize packages are worth €9,000 including €5,300 buy-in, spending money and luxury hotel accommodation. There will also be numerous live satellites taking place on site from “early bird” satellites starting at 10am through to “night owl” satellites starting at midnight.

The first major tournament of this season’s festival is the new €10,000 High Roller, starting on April 26. The €1,000 FPS Monaco Main Event, the debut event of FPS Season 6, starts the following day and comes with a €500,000 guarantee. Last season, the event attracted 993 entries and was won by German player Sebastian Supper for €177,000. The EPT Main Event was won by Adrian Mateos for €1,082,000, giving Spain its first ever EPT champion after the 20-year-old defeated a 564-strong field.

STARS FUN
A ton of #StarsFun activities are planned to take place including a Multi Sports Video Game Simulator contest being held throughout the festival. The “EPT Grand Final Hexathlon” will feature football, field hockey, golf putting, American football, basketball and tennis – with daily leaderboard winners and the overall winner snagging a seat in the €1,100 Estrellas Main Event at EPT Barcelona.

The cash game room is always busy at the Grand Final and this year will be no exception with experienced EPT dealers running tables nearly 18 hours a day.

For full details for the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino EPT schedule, please visit the European Poker Tour website.

About the European Poker Tour

The PokerStars sponsored European Poker Tour (EPT) is the world’s richest and most popular poker tour. Since 2004, the EPT has paid out over €835 million in tournament prize pools and hosted successful festivals across Europe. The EPT also incorporates the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA), which takes place every January in The Bahamas, one of the richest poker festivals in the world.

Season 12 of the EPT builds on the success of more than a decade of world-class live poker events, with major poker festivals in Barcelona, Malta, Prague, and Dublin. The PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final will be held in Monaco.

Further information on the EPT is available online at http://www.ept.com/.