(www.PokerStars.net), the world’s largest online poker site, today announced

the launch of Latin America’s first major poker tour, the LAPT. With

stops in Brazil, Costa Rica and Uruguay, the tour is set to bring world-class

Poker Tour kicks off in the beautiful beach city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from

May 3-5, 2008. This three-day $2,500 tournament will be the largest poker

tournament ever held in Brazil, with players competing for a total prize

pool of over $600,000. Among the players will be Team PokerStars Pros and

international poker stars Andre Akkari from Brazil and Humberto Brenes from

with the LAPT San Jos, in Costa Rica from May 22-24, and then moves on to

Cademartori said: “Poker is exploding in Latin America and the game is more

than ready for its own major poker tour. It’s one of the fastest-growing poker

regions, and there are thousands upon thousands of players in countries like

Brazil and Argentina who will love the chance to take part in events of this

kind. In every regard, the LAPT is going to put Latin America on the map as the

from Latin America, the LAPT is also set to attract top players from North

America and Europe. Each LAPT event planned so far anticipates 250 players or

partnership with PokerStars was ideal for the LAPT. “It’s not just

because PokerStars has proven success in launching major poker tours in other

regions, but also because it is the world’s number one online poker

destination. This means it’s uniquely positioned to give an enormous

number of players from across the globe the chance to take part through online

qualifying satellite tournaments. Our goal is to provide Latin American

players and beyond with the best poker tournament experience in this part of

sponsors the European Poker Tour (EPT), the leading poker tour in Europe, now

in its fourth season, and the Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT), which launched

last year to bring world-class, televised poker to the Asia Pacific region for

the first time. It is already the largest poker tour in Asia Pacific and a

will be Tournament Director Mike Ward. He said: “As director of Foxwoods Resort

Casino since 1996 and director of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the

Bahamas since its launch in 2004, I’ve already overseen some truly dramatic

expansion of tournament poker. I’m now really looking forward to bringing my

Andre Akkari said: “It’s a real honour to be representing Team PokerStars in

the PokerStars Latin American Poker Tour - and even more exciting that the very

first event is in my home country. The LAPT offers great opportunities for

Latin American players. Poker is growing so fast in this region and now local