The PokerStars European Poker Tour recently finished its fourth season in Monte Carlo, a glitzy place of razzmatazz and glamour and some of the best poker Europe has ever seen. But Europe isn’t the only place that poker increases in popularity year on year. As the Asia Pacific Poker Tour proved last year (and will do so again later this year) poker in South East Asia is rapidly expanding into all corners.

Now poker has reached another corner of the world where the poker boom is still ringing loud, the shores of South America, where the inaugural PokerStars Latin America Poker Tour event in beautiful Rio de Janeiro, played out last weekend and was won by 22 year old Dutchman Julian Nuijten, who took $222,940 back to Holland.

The event attracted 314 players from all over the world, including Team PokerStars Pros Andre Akkari from Brazil, Humberto Brenes, Vanessa Rousso, former world champions Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer, Victor Ramdin, Isabelle Mercier and new team members Chad Brown and Gavin Griffin. They no doubt experienced some great poker but also the stunning views from the mountains, the shores of Copacabana beach and some welcome Brazilian hospitality.

"This first Latin American Poker Tour event in Rio has been a phenomenal success", said LAPT President Glenn Cademartori. "I have already seen how passionate Latin Americans are about poker, but even I was surprised by the jubilant atmosphere here at the Rio tournament and the tremendous enthusiasm of both the players and their supporters. Latin America is one of the fastest-growing poker regions in the world and, thanks to the PokerStars.net LAPT, the region now has a high-stakes championship poker tour of its own."

The next two stop on Season 1 LAPT are in San Jose in Costa Rica from May 22-24 and then Punta del Este in Uruguay from August 7-9.