There was a time when to play in a large poker tournament you had to head off into the desert and find your way to Las Vegas. How the horizon changes. Now you can literally fly to all points on the compass to play big buy-in events, with one of the last gaps on that horizon filled with the creation of the new PokerStars.net Latin American Poker Tour which starts this year - where no doubt more champions will be made.

Starting on 3 May the LAPT begins in the beautiful city of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, before moving on to San Jose, Costa Rica, and Punta del Este in Uruguay for some of the most exotic poker in the world.

The PokerStars.net blog will report back on this exciting ride starting with the first event in Brazil in May. Check back here to see how things go.