Some poker players may think that the idea of qualifying for a decent poker event via a satellite is a waste of time. There can be a natural reaction that the major players are going to be the winners at these events and that it is a waste of time to play your way through the online events to book your place with the big boys. That is not the attitude to have though. Just think about saving money through qualifying through the satellite naturally and you will start to see the benefits of playing in this manner. There is also the fact that qualifying through a satellite event is going to give you a boost in confidence, which is definitely going to be great news for many poker players. It never hurts to give yourself a boost in confidence at any point.
The East End Live poker event is not going to claim to be one of the most important poker events but there were many reasons why this event was being taken seriously. In total, there were 287 players involved at the event at the Aspers Casino, which tells you a lot about this poker promotion. Getting close to 300 players out for a major event is definitely something to take pride in and the organisers clearly pulled a lot of things together to make this event such a huge success.
Some big name poker players were involved
You can also look at some of the major names that were involved at the event to get a feel for how big this poker event was. James Dempsey, a player for Team Ivey was on hand, the Sky Poker expert Jen Mason was on hand, Joe Beever was involved and there were some big names from Blackbeltpoker.com in Richard Ashby and Jerome Bradpiece on hand too.
However, despite all of these big poker names being in attendance, it was Nik Stylianou who qualified via a satellite who rose to the top. This saw him clinch $9,000 and this was well deserved after defeating Dan Whittaker in the final showdown. Nik is a 40 year old poker player from the North side of London so if you think that the poker glamour and excitement has passed you by, don’t be too hasty, there could still be an opportunity for you to achieve poker success.
As you can imagine, Nik was very complimentary about the event and the organisation after his win! It is not as if he was going to start bad mouthing the event after he clinched victory but there did appear to be a high level of fun and excitement at this event. There is no doubt that Apers is fast becoming a very popular venue for poker players and this is going to see a lot more poker events in the near future.
As for Nik though, he told Blackbeltpoker.com that he may well give Las Vegas a shot after his triumph. With $9,000 to get him over there or to boost his bankroll, there is going to be a big chance for him to have some fun and see where his poker skills can take him. Playing in satellite events is no guarantee of success and the vast, vast majority of satellite qualifiers fail to make any real mark on the major events. However, we know that all it takes is one day to go in your favour and your life can be positively impacted in a serious way. If you have been thinking about playing satellite events but always decided against it, you may want to rethink your outlook.
While Nik picked up $9,000 for his win, second place went to Dan Whittaker who received $8,500. In third was Jim Parberry, who received $5,700. In fourth position was Mark England, who received $4,600 and fifth place earned $3,600 for Craig Connaughton. In 6th position was Carlo Hassan, who earned $2,750 and in 7th place was George Achillea, who picked up $2,000. Michael Brock was in 8th, earning $1,560 and in 9th spot was Lee Brooke- Pearce who picked up $1,200.