PokerStars have today confirmed the cancellation of the planned first leg of the revamped Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT) after several days of consternation among players who had already booked their trips to the anticipated opening leg in Chile.
In a Stars Group PR email, Director of Corporate Communications Eric Hollreiser is quoted as saying:
“As we review our strategy for tournaments in Latin America, alongside the global event calendar and the overall Live Events proposition of PokerStars, we have decided to cancel LAPT Chile."
News of the cancellation was first spread via the 2+2 poker forum, late last week, 2+2 poster ‘mtaigo’ sharing the news that ‘Pokerstars just sent me an email saying they just cancelled the first stop of the LAPT tour! With 1 month to go, I’ve already bought all tickets for me and my whole family! This is ridiculous’.
The LAPT was one of the tours which PokerStars changed with their ‘rebranding’ back in 2016, the EPT and APPT two of the other big tours affected by the decision to revamp their LIVE tournament offerings. Disquiet among the tournament faithful last year, however, led to an announcement in December that the re-named Stars Group would be bringing back the popular series.
Eric Hollreiser’s statement today continued:
"We want to continue to produce tournaments in the region that players can love, and that can be enduring. As such, we are refining our plans with the aim to present a more exciting and stronger offering than ever before.”
It also stated that “Long-term relationships with our partners are the core of our events,” the Santiago venue due to host the opening leg LAPT Chile seemingly not the issue behind the stop’s cancellation…
For those who have already won their way to LAPT Chile, refunds via PokerStars should be completed already and in the case of local qualifiers, refunds are available at the Enjoy Casino.