partypoker Launches Shared Liquidity Site for French and Spanish Players
Poker players residing in France and Spain can now play online poker against each other thanks to the new partypoker site that launched on Jun. 4.
French gaming regulator ARJEL announced in June 2017 that France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain were signing an agreement on sharing online poker pools. Those countries previously had closed liquidity poker markets, meaning players in those countries could only play against their respective country’s residents.
Tom Waters: "We look forward to bringing our Spanish and French players together for the first time on our new and improved site."
The agreement was signed on Jul. 6, 2017 but it took until Jan. 2018 for France and Spain to follow through on this intercontinental liquidity pact. Portugal and Italy are yet to fully enjoy the benefits of shared liquidity due to red tape and bureaucracy, such as the appointing of operator licenses.
partypoker operated online poker sites in both France and Spain prior to being allowed to create a shared liquidity site. Now players from these countries can compete against each other online and do so with more than €1 million worth of tournament guarantees each week.
French players are now enjoying a multi-table tournament schedule that is double in size from what they could previously get involved with thanks to partypoker guaranteeing more than €1 million every week for buy-ins ranging from €0.55 to €250.
Bertrand Grospellier: "partypoker will be aiming to bring their ambition, expertise and successful model to the .eu market with some big announcements coming soon."
This new schedule includes more than €600,000 in guarantees for its popular Progressive Knockout tournaments (PKO). The new partypoker site, dubbed partypoker.eu, continues with partypoker’s commitment to not charging rake on the bounty element of their PKO events.
Short-handed tournaments feature predominately on the new schedule with them taking on names such as “Bazooka”, “Monster”, “Predator” and “Shield”.
It will be the first time that Spanish partypoker players can play multi-table tournaments as the old Spain-only site was limited to only cash games.
partypoker Managing Director Tom Waters added: "Today’s partypoker.eu launch represents a milestone for both French and Spanish players, who can now enjoy greater variety, reduced rake and bigger and better games on the new .eu platform. We look forward to bringing our Spanish and French players together for the first time on our new and improved site."
partypoker ambassador and representative in the eu market, Bertand "ElkY" Grospellier, commented: “I am extremely enthusiastic about joining partypoker to actively support their efforts to bring back the ‘Poker First’ mentality, live and online. Our goal is to provide players and fans with an experience they deserve worldwide. partypoker will be aiming to bring their ambition, expertise and successful model to the .eu market with some big announcements coming soon.”
