EPT Barcelona has become one of the highlights of many poker players’ calendars. [Image: Shutterstock.com]
Barcelona in August
One of the things that pet peeves me is that tapas are highly appreciated by people who have excellent taste in food. In my opinion, they are nothing more than expensive glamorous snacks; Nibbles at best, leftovers at worst, masquerading as fine dining. This is an unpopular opinion which I suffered in silence until someone tried to serve my gourmet French wife some aperitif, and I expressed exactly the same opinion in much stronger terms.
EPT Barcelona has developed into one of the highlights of the European live calendar
Despite my point of view on tapas (and I’m not a big fan of paella either), I’m a big fan of Barcelona as a place. After Las Vegas, this is probably the place I travel to the most to play cards. Barcelona in August is generally an attractive show, and over the course of my career at EPT, Barcelona has developed into one of the highlights of the European live calendar.
This year, the run-up to the event was a bit of a mystery because of a word no poker player likes to hear: taxes. I will not go into details (Since David Lapin and I actually did our last detentionBut the bottom line is that the Spanish government has issued a statement of intent to tax EU residents at 19% on any gains, and non-EU residents at 24%. No doubt this has caused a number of players to rethink their plans to attend this year, David and I included. In the end, we decided to go for week one (the so-called cheap week centered around the Estrellas 1K main event) but skipped week two (EPT) for the reasons we explained in the Lock-In. More on taxes later.
my schedule
I’ve played the 1k Opening Freeze, Seniors, Estrellas Main (five bullets!) and the Cup. The schedule was very much centered around Estrellas Main, with very little play besides that and satellite in the week I was there. I realize the event is a casualty of its own success with ever-increasing numbers stressing the venue and staff, but it would be nice to see at least one modest Turbo or Hyper subscription to the schedule each day for base players. to be able to play.
Speaking of the cast, the all-star cast is a well-functioning machine at this point. In the past, sheer numbers have caused some logistical issues, and on this occasion, it seems the local internet just wasn’t able to handle the pace of meltdowns on day two of the Estrellas main event. As a result of the numbers and delays, many players were left out of the cup, some of whom had traveled from abroad specifically to attend.
The outstanding live events team under Toby Stone rose to the occasion
There will always be issues like this that are out of the team’s control: what matters is how the team responds to them. In this case, the stellar live events team led by Toby Stone rose to the occasion and handled it as best they could in difficult circumstances dealing with hundreds of frustrated clients. It is difficult to see what could be done to prevent these problems, although some of the tension might be relieved if the Spanish stuck their ground and continued to declare their intention to tax the gains in the event.
Events like this are also a social occasion and the Stars Live events team has done everything they can to put together a good program of fun events for players outside the tables. I especially enjoyed connecting with old and new friends, some like Jennifer Shahade and Dean Clay whom I hadn’t seen in a long time, and some like Tobias Likenis and Georgina James (GJReggie) whom I was meeting for the first time.
Back to taxes
It remains to be seen whether the Spaniards will stick their ground and follow through with their idea of taxing the gains. If they do, it will almost certainly affect numbers in the future, but it may not necessarily kill the event entirely as some fear.
Most people who cash out the WSOP each year end up paying taxes on their winnings, however the event is getting stronger. In fact, one American gamer I spoke to said:
19% Nothing, I’m used to paying much more than that back home!
I resolved any personal issues I might have on this front simply by blocking everything. If you’re going to take a trip (and you will occasionally: that was my first direct flight in a long time), it might also be the one that gets taxed, a fact I joked about when I posted a video of me calculating my tax liability based on what If it is 19% or 24%:
