With the cancellation of EPT Paris, this month’s journey to the south of France for PokerStars EPT Monte Carlo has been thrust into the highlight.
It’s not simply the subsequent large cease on the calendar, however now serves because the unofficial opener of the European Poker Tour season. For followers, it’s an opportunity to see the sport’s largest names again below the lights.
For Francine Watson, Affiliate Director of Artistic & Content material at PokerStars, it marks the beginning of what could possibly be probably the most formidable 12 months but for the model’s poker output.
A New Beginning Line
Watson sees Monte Carlo not as a finale, however as a launchpad. It’s an indication of the momentum PokerStars has constructed heading into 2025.
“Monte Carlo used to really feel just like the grand finale,” Watson says. “However now, with Paris off the desk, it’s the launch pad. There’s this actual sense that reside poker is again. And we’re coming into it with a lot momentum.”
That momentum has been constructing on-line. Simply forward of the competition, PokerStars dropped The Large Sport on Tour Uncut, a full 150-hand deep dive into probably the most iconic tables from final season’s revival. It’s uncooked, uninterrupted, and designed squarely for the purists.
“It was for the hardcore followers,” Watson explains. “No modifying, no polish. Simply each determination, each dynamic, stack sizes, positions, every little thing poker purists have been crying out for.”
Evolving Content material for a Broader Viewers
The discharge indicators a transparent shift in how PokerStars approaches content material. Whereas the unique Large Sport episodes are nonetheless delivered in punchy, YouTube-friendly packages for informal and new followers, Uncut embraces depth over pace. It’s a part of a broader technique to fulfill poker audiences the place they’re, whether or not they’re anticipating leisure or dissecting fingers for technique.
“The problem is all the time: how do you converse to each?” Watson says. “There’s no one-size-fits-all anymore. The Large Sport is designed to really feel like premium TV. It’s enjoyable, dramatic, stuffed with character. However Uncut is about belief. It offers the viewers every little thing. We’re saying, ‘Right here, you work it out.’”
Watson’s group was liable for reviving The Large Sport after greater than a decade off-air. And whereas season one was a viral success, season two got here with added strain. That was very true when it got here to discovering and casting the present’s Free Cannons.
“It’s actually my favorite half,” she says. “It scratches that talent-show itch. You’re assembly folks from everywhere in the world with wild tales who’re genuinely obsessive about poker. And the suggestions from the professionals was unimaginable. They cherished it. Lex, Keating, they had been all eager to come back again.”
The behind-the-scenes effort was large. “I feel I had 275 variations of the spreadsheet earlier than we locked the line-ups in,” Watson says with fun.
Stay Poker Returns with New Ambitions
However because the PokerStars group appears again on the enormous Irish Open, with electrical ambiance and wild ultimate desk scenes, the eye turns towards Monte Carlo and the European Poker Tour. The return to reside poker, with new components just like the PokerStars Stay League and revitalised regional festivals just like the one in Dublin, represents a contemporary push to attach the dots between content material and competitors.
“There’s an actual journey now,” Watson explains. “Earlier than, the EPTs type of stood alone. However with the League, we are able to construct storylines that stretch throughout occasions. Mid-stakes gamers have one thing to chase, followers have new names to comply with, and it offers us the prospect to inform greater, richer tales.”
In a poker panorama the place breakout stars are more durable to come back by and content material home windows are extra aggressive than ever, that continuity is important.
“We want new characters. We want rivalries. The League offers us that.”
Watson hints that extra large concepts are within the pipeline. Some are nonetheless below wraps, whereas others are already in manufacturing. However for now, the main focus is firmly on Monte Carlo.
“This 12 months already feels particular,” she says. “And we’re solely simply getting began.”
Will Shillibier
Managing Editor
