PokerStars announced the release of its Latin American poker round

Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT) starts in the beautiful city of Río de Janeiro, Brazil, on May 3-5 of the current year. This us$ 2,500 tournament will be the main poker event performed in the country, in which players will compete for a total prize of more than us$ 600,000. Among the players, there will be PokerStars Pros team and international poker stars such as Brazilian Andre Akkari and Costa Rican Humberto Brenes.

The tour goes on in San Jose de Costa Rica on May 22-24, and then continues in Uruguay, Punta del Este, on August 7-9. LAPT President, Glenn Cademartori, said: "Poker is succeeding in Latin America. It is one of the poker regions which grew the most, in countries such as Brazil and Argentina, which love the opportunity to participate in that kind of events".

LAPT will not also attract Latin American players but also important players from North America and Europe. Each LAPT event anticipates 250 players or more, creating total prizes of more than us$ 600,000.

Cademartori said that the society with PokerStars was ideal for LAPT. "Not only because PokerStars has proven to be a success for the release of the main poker tournaments in other regions, but also because it is number one in online poker sites. “Our aim is to bring Latin American players as well as people from other countries the best experience in poker tournaments in this part of the world”.

PokerStars sponsors European Poker Tour (EPT), the main European poker tournament, now in its fourth season, and Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT), released last year, to brink first class TV poker to the Asia Pacific region for the first time.

Mike Ward will be the Director of the Tournament and will be in charge of LAPT supervision. "As director of Foxwoods Resort Casino since 1996 and director of PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas since its launching in 2004, I had the opportunity to assist to the dramatic expansion of poker tournaments. Now I am waiting for the opportunity to show my skilss and energy for the Latin American Poker Tour".