Author: andrew

The first leg of the Champions League quarter final games threw up some interesting questions. A lot of them surrounding David Beckham and whether he can still run but other questions like did the officials have money on PSG to score and did Borussia Dortmund’s strikers have money on themselves not to score? Beckham’s limited involvement aside, there was no British or Irish involvement in the premier tournament in European football but that doesn’t mean that the Brits are out of the running for European glory.

No, we’re not talking about Eurovision and that’s not just because we don’t fancy Bonnie Tyler’s chances of success. The main focus for Brits in Europe turns to Cyprus and the upcoming European Nations Cup which is being held in Paphos. This is the first International Federation of Poker (IFP) event of the year and it takes place between the 12th and 15th of April at the Annabelle Hotel.

Technology is at the forefront at the IFP event

It promises to be a landmark event because there will be no poker cards or live dealers at the event. This is not an oversight in that someone forgot to bring the cards or the dealers have all been sacked it is down to the fact that all players will receive hold card information and all other essentials via their smartphone. This will ensure that every single play that is made in the game will be stored and then made available to review and watch again.

It is quite an intriguing set-up and there are a number of distinct rules and structural components. For instance, there will be players from 14 different countries sat at each table but each nation will occupy a specific seat at every table. This means that if the UK team is sat at Seat 1 on the first table, someone from Team UK will be positioned on seat 1 at every table.

Also, every player from each nation will receive the exact same cards. Again, using Team UK at seat 1 as an example, if table 1 receives a pair of Kings, every Team UK player sat at seat 1 of their respective table will receive a pair of Kings. This provides an interesting scenario and it can be seen how different poker hands pan out thanks to players making different decisions from the starting situations.

Team United Kingdom consists of Daiva Barauskaite, Karl Mahrenholz, Ben Roberts, John Eames, Neil Channing, Ross Boatman and Barny Boatman. Team Ireland consists of Cat Taylor, Dara O’Kearney, Dermot Blain, Eoghan O’Dea, John O’Shea, Mick Graydon and Padraig Parkinson.

Hoepfully the technology is up to the task because it will be a right kerfuffle dealing and shuffling cards to make sure every table gets the same run of cards!

Heading to Australia at any time is going to be a great trip but when you think that we’re in April and the British weather is still diabolical, you cannot blame people for wanting to head down under. Poker players get the chance to see sunnier climes and enjoy a number of brisk poker challenges in Australia for a large part of April. This is down to the fact that the inaugural World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific event will be taking place. Thankfully the name of the event has been shortened to the slightly handier WSOP-APAC!

A lot of British hopes are going to fall on Sam Trickett and he has some national or pan-European pride to play for. This is down to the fact that he is the Team Europe captain and he will be responsible for leading the team into battle against Team America (not the World Police unit made famous in film, a poker team) and Team Asia-Pacific. The other captains are Phil Ivey and Joe Hachem so Trickett is in great company. You can also expect Trickett to have an interest in the High Roller event and he could well come up against Dan Shak again. The two of them faced off at the end of the PartyPoker.com Premier League event when the American triumphed and he is supposed to be heading to Oz to take part. If Shak does travel, you just know the high roller event is calling him!

A massive festival of poker

There is sure to be a lot of poker excitement in Melbourne for this event which lasts for nearly two whole weeks. The first event takes place on Thursday the 4th of April and the event runs all the way through until the 15th of April. Every one of the WSOP-APAC poker events will be taking place in the Crown Casino in Melbourne. This is an outstanding venue and one that will be familiar to many poker players across the world. This is because it is a huge poker room, big enough to fit in more than 70 poker tables. This is one reason why the Aussie Millions poker event has been run so well in the past few years. It is this history and organisational skills that leaves you confident that the 5 WSOP bracelet events and the two non-bracelet events are being held in the perfect venue.

If your heart is set on winning a WSOP bracelet, the fact that the first bracelet event at the tournament starts on the 4th of April may come a little too soon for you. There is a buy-in of $1,100 and the event runs until the 8th of April. The other bracelet events that will take place at the WSOP-APAC event includes a $2,200 Mixed Event, a $1,650 PLO event, a $5,000 NLHE 6-Max and the final bracelet to play for is the $10,000 Main Event. The final figures are yet to be released but there is a lot of confident talk that there will be more than 500 players taking part in the Main Event.

Even though there are many excellent poker destinations in the world and online poker means you can have great fun without leaving your home, there is still a lot of glamour and glory attached to Las Vegas. For many people, Las Vegas will always be the place they associate with gaming and gambling. This means that many people have a big ambition to make it to Las Vegas and play in some of the most illustrious gambling venues in the world. Slots and roulette may hold a lot of appeal but poker is always going to be a game that stands out for many folk.

There is one pub poker player in the UK who is going to have the chance to live this dream. John Kendal who plays in the Ellesmere Port Labour Club has scooped this remarkable prize after taking part in a poker tournament which was held at the Genting Club in Sheffield. The Redtooth Poker Vegas 100 tournament may not be the biggest name when it comes to poker tournaments but you try and tell that to John! There is a genuine opportunity for John to live out his dreams thanks to this event and he is not the only one.

Plenty of poker players playing for a big prize

There were over 200 pub poker players from all over the UK at the Genting Club taking part in one of the national semi-finals. Of this 200, 10 players managed to book their way to the United States of America and in total, there will be 100 poker players from the UK heading over. You now see why the Vegas 100 event got its name! It’s a tremendous achievement for John and he will get the chance to put his wits against some of the best poker players in the country in one of the best surroundings.

It would be fair to say that the Vegas 100 event is the biggest pub poker league in the country. It has been going since 2007 and is played across over 1,000 venues in the UK. The fact that there are 150,000 players registered to the league gives you a sense of the interest that surrounds this league.

While there have been a number of UK poker players taken to Las Vegas by the company in the past few years, 2013 will see the biggest number yet, making it a very special occasion.

Just when many of us were looking to move beyond the joys of Easter and settle back into the old routine, there were plenty of people in Dublin still living it up. There is no doubt that Dublin is a place that likes to party 24/7 but with the Irish Open Poker Main Event taking place on Monday afternoon and evening, there was to be no early finish for the players. Of course, that is just the way that many poker players like it, so you wouldn’t get many complaints about what was on offer in Dublin.

One of the biggest elements of the Irish open was the Paddy Power Poker Sole Survivor title. This was given to the player that came through to the Main Event from a Paddy Power Poker satellite and lasted the longest. There were two players in the running for this in the final 7 players, so it shows once again that there is a great deal of talent qualifying for major poker events through these satellite events.

The winner of the Paddy Power Poker Sole Survivor title was Calvin Anderson and this weekend was certainly a lucrative payday. For being the longest lasting player, he picks up €50,000 and entry to next year’s WSOP and the Irish Open Main Event. That is a great range of prizes and when you think that Anderson also gets to take home the prize money for his final table finish, it has certainly been a lucrative Easter holiday for him.

Late night fun was had by the final five

At 10pm, there were still five players in the hunt for the Irish Open and the excitement was getting to everyone. The player at most immediate risk was Mark Davis, who had 1,380,000 chips. In fourth place sat Michael Farrelly who had 1,570,000 chips at his disposal and Namir Mohamed was in third place, with a chip count of 2,510,000.

The Sole Survivor Calvin Anderson was sitting in second place with 2,940,000 chips as well as the big wad of cash that was already secure. This meant that in the lead was Ian Simpson, who held 5,690,000 chips at this point. This definitely gave Simpson a fantastic start for the run-in but we’ve all played far too many poker games to know that these leads are not always insurmountable.

This was proven by the fact that Anderson exited in fifth place. However, any disappointment he may have had was eased with taking home a massive cheque which combined his Sole Survivor prize and his finishing place money. In fourth was Namir Mohamed and in third place was Mark Davis. This left two players and at the start of the heads up, Ian Simpson had a massive lead of 11,470,000 chips compared to Michael Farrelly who held 3,440,000.

It was therefore no surprise when Farrelly was quickly ground out of the event, taking home €141,500 which meant that Ian Simpson was the Irish Open champion, receiving €265,000 for his time and effort. That certainly made for a happy Easter for Simpson!

When it comes to having fun with your friends or family members, there is something to be said about having a big get-together at Easter. This is something that would have been in the mind of poker players that gathered in Nottingham at the Dusk Till Dawn venue over the Easter weekend. There was a celebration of amateur poker with the 2013 APAT World Championship taking place. The Amateur Poker Association & Tour is a popular body and there was a lot to celebrate over the course of the year.

A number of awards were also handed out on the night including one which saw Dusk Till Dawn being awarded the best poker venue award. It would have been poor form if the host venue was overlooked for another venue so no doubt there was a great sense of contentment with that award.

Suzanne Hayward was acknowledged as the breakthrough player of the year while David Amos was deemed to have made the member performance of the year. The Player of the Year award went to Carl Pilgrim and the hall of fame entrant was Paul Davis.

The teams made it a big celebration of poker

One of the big parts of the event was the Team Championship, which gave players the opportunity to have some national pride in their poker players. There was two days of big match poker action and the final places were fought out between four high quality teams. The third and fourth play-off saw Spain and Canada battling it out for the bronze while the Grand Final took place between Italy and England.

Canada managed to claim the bronze medal by defeating Spain by 3-2 with all attention turning to the big final where the full support was behind England. The noisy crowd got what they wanted as England romped home with a 3-0 win. Stuart Ward was up first and he defeated Guiseppe Maggisano and then the two nil lead was grabbed when Carl Pilgrim defeated Luigi Belleri. The English triumph was clinched when Tony Trippier defeated Gariel Lemmito leading England to a 3-0 whitewash which set the scene for an evening of celebration. The English football team may not be able to get the better of Italy but the amateur poker players showed that they know what it takes to defeat the Azzuri.

The main focus may have been on the Main Event but the Team Championship was a big event for all concerned in Nottingham.

Following on from the brief diversion of the Student Poker Championship in Coventry, the GUKPT is gearing up to get on the road again. The season kicked off with a successful event in London and the organisers will be hoping that the second leg of the tour in Didsbury is just as successful. Taking poker around the country is an ideal way to ensure that everyone gets the chance to be involved with the big events and there are plenty of big poker games to enjoy from the start of next week.

The event, taking place at the Grosvenor G Casino in Didsbury provides Northern poker players the chance to play for big prizes and to make sure that they are booked up for the Grand Final of the tour which is coming later in the year.

The poker action gets underway in a week

The event begins on Monday the 8th of April, so you will want to start thinking about making plans for next week if you have not already done so. Forget about the fact that today is April Fool’s Day, all of the information regarding the Didsbury event is spot on and can be relied upon!

The first Main Event day takes place on Thursday the 11th of April, which is day 1A and Friday represents day 1B. There is a £500 buy in for the initial days but with a trophy and a guaranteed prize pool of £50,000 on offer, there is likely to be a lot of excitement and interest in the event. Day 2 proper of the Main Event takes place on the Saturday and the final is lined up for the Sunday so you don’t need to enjoy the full weeks’ worth of activities, you could make the most of Friday, Saturday and Sunday while being a big winner.

With satellite games, turbo games, Omaha games and even a Bounty game taking place prior to and around the Main Event, there should be plenty of poker options available for players looking to make the most of their time next week. With buy-ins being available for some events from as little as £30, there is no need to spend a lot of money to enjoy poker.

After the Didsbury event, the GUKPT moves onto Stockton in May where the event will also be taking place near the beginning of the month. There is a lot of poker to be played in the GUKPT 2013 season with the Grand Final in London seeming a very long way off but by playing soon and making a name for yourself, there is a chance to ensure that there will be a lot of poker fun and activity to look forward to at the end of the year.

Hopefully you have been enjoying your Easter weekend but we should always spare a thought for people that have to work during these busy times. Even though some of us get some well-earned time off to spend with loved ones, there are also people that find that this is when they are at their busiest. While you may be thinking that the Easter break is a perfect time for poker players to relax, there is definitely a lot to be said for taking this time to engage in some serious poker action. This is why there has been so much focus on Dublin, which has been hosting the Irish Open over the Easter Weekend.

This event is one of the most prestigious in the world of poker and it has a great reputation. Dublin has a fantastic reputation as the sort of place that people love to visit but for the poker players involved with the Irish Open, there wasn’t much time to party. It has been all about the business and things are now starting to head along to a big finish. This is because the final table has been set up and there are now just eight players in with a chance of winning the prestigious poker event.

Plenty to play for in Dublin

Day three of the event, which was Sunday, started off with 63 players and every one of them was no doubt thinking about grabbing the first prize, which is an impressive €265,000. The Sunday play took 12 hours but this allowed the 63 players to be narrowed down to a cast of eight and it is these players who will be taking part in the Monday session. One of the interesting things about the Sunday poker was that the main players managed to hold their lead. Quite often in poker play, a leader at the start of the day will find that their dominance is eroded rather quickly but that has not been the case in Dublin.

Calvin Anderson and Ian Simpson were the leaders at the start of the day and they are both coming in to the Monday session with a great deal of confidence and happiness with their form and their poker stack. This can all change in a short space of time but there is no doubt that there is a lot to look forward to for these players.

The player who got caught on the bubble was Niall O’Sullivan, who was the last player to go home with nothing. There was a surprise in store for O’Sullivan though because he was informed that he would receive a free pass to the Irish Open in 2014, which definitely helped to soften the blow of exiting with no money.

With only eight players going through to the final table, there was always going to be a big exit of some big names. This means that players like Liam Flood, Dermot Blaine and Andy Black all missed out on coming back for the big event on Sunday.