The tournament was co-created by Late Night Poker's Nic Szeremeta, PokerInEurope's Jon Shoreman, and gaming journalist Rich Geller.
Its success led to America's creation of the National Heads-Up Poker Championship.
From 2001 to 2003, the event was held at the Concord Card Casino, Vienna, Austria.
The event was filmed each year for TV broadcast around the world.
In 2010 the event was broadcast live via the Internet for the first time at PokerInEuropeLive.com with commentary provided by Mike Carlson, Pete Singleton, and Neil Channing.