Author: andrew

In less than a week’s time, poker players will be involved with the latest GUKPT event which is sure to bring more great poker action to the UK. There have been London and Didsbury events so far that have brought a lot of fun and heartache to the poker community and if these events are anything to go by, the Stockton event which starts on Sunday the 5th of May and carries all the way through Sunday the 12th of May is sure to be another one to keep in your diary.

Even though these events provide a week-long opportunity to enjoy poker, there is no getting away from the fact that many people only want to focus on the Main Event. This is the one with the big money and it is definitely the one that will have people paying attention to everything that is going on. By the time the action reaches the final table on Sunday, it will have the focus of thousands, if not more, poker players up and down the country. There is of course the opportunity to get involved with this event too which can see players playing for real cash in a live poker tournament.

Day 1A begins on Thursday

With respect to the Main Event, there is a guaranteed £50,000 on offer and the first day of action takes place on Thursday the 9th of May. Day 1A has a buy-in of £500 while there is a registration fee of £50. The action begins at midday but if Thursday is a little bit too soon for you, you’ll be glad to know that Friday is Day 1B of the event with the same set-up and start time. Players that manage to battle through from the Day 1 action will be involved with Day 2 on Saturday the 11th of May and anyone lucky enough to get through that stage will be involved with the Main Event final. This starts at 2pm and not only is there a big prize pot waiting for poker players, there is a big trophy to grab the attention too.

If the thought of the £500 buy-in is putting you off, you will be highly interested in the satellite events that are taking place for this event. These begin on Sunday the 5th of May and feature a £30 buy-in with a £5 registration fee. This is a much more affordable way to get involved with a poker tournament and you may well find that a lot of people are looking to this option to give them a chance of winning the trophy and big prize. With further re-entry and satellite games taking place throughout the week in the build-up to the Main Event and the Turbo and Bounty games to enjoy too, there is a lot of poker action taking place in the Grosvenor G Casino in Stockton, Stockton-On-Tees in the near future. If you’re looking for poker action from next weekend, and bear in mind that Monday is a Bank Holiday, you will want to have a look at what is on offer here.

When you go outside of London, you may feel as though you have to look around a bit further to find great poker options but perhaps you are looking in the wrong places. It is probably fair to say that most poker fans are not going to start by looking in Nottingham but in all honesty, there is definitely a great poker opportunity available for players in this part of the country. This is down to the fact that the Dusk Till Dawn club is found here and this is one of the most respected poker venues up and down the country.

However, it is not suitable for everyone to attend, especially with respect to midweek poker options so it is great to see that the company also puts a lot of focus into its online poker play. Anyone looking for the great poker style and experience of the DTD club but doesn’t fancy leaving their home will definitely be in luck in the week ahead. April may be turning into May but with the weather still being rather changeable, there is no great desire to leave the house so have some online poker fun instead.

Join the Deepstack fun online

There is an online Day 1A event for the £150 May Deepstack event which starts at 8.30pm on Thursday night. If you want the chance to play at the club on the weekend but want to guarantee your place before making the journey, this is the ideal way to do so. There are even satellite opportunities in the build-up to the event so you can reduce your expenditure even further if you have the spare time this week.

There are live Day 1B and Day 1C events taking place at the club on Friday and Saturday so if you much prefer to do all of your poker playing live and in person, you can do so. It is good to see that poker clubs are providing players with both options and this will hopefully help to boost the numbers of players playing and getting involved with the big event. No matter if you play online or at the club, you will be looking to gain entry into Day 2 which takes place on Sunday the 5th of May and the action starts at 2pm.

With a Bank Holiday Monday to follow, there could be a long night in store but most people will be able to live with that if it ensures that they remain in the competition and have a chance of bagging big money.

One of the best things about poker is that the great amount of poker events will let you travel around the world. Many poker players will decide that they do not get as many opportunities to play poker in their country as they would like and therefore decide to set up home in a different country. This move may be carried out for poker reasons or it may be carried out to get some other form of benefit but there is no doubt that the fluid nature of online poker and poker around the world means that you have a greater amount of freedom to be based where you want.

Robert Haigh is a German born poker player that is currently based in Brighton. The UK poker scene certainly wouldn’t claim Robert as one of their own but there are plenty of people who will look out for his results and see how he is doing. There would have been a couple of raised eyebrows at his most recent strong showing which took place back in his home country. After getting away from Germany to come and play a lot more poker, there is certainly a neat twist to the fact that Haigh returned home to Germany to nab a decent poker prize.

A change of leadership on the final day

Going into the final day, Haigh was the chip leader with 5,495,000 chips to his name. In second place was Daniel Pidun who held 5,250,000 chips and in third place was Lasse Frost who was a good bit further behind with 3,700,000 chips. There was to be a turnaround in the final day though because it was Pidun who managed to claim the top prize at the event. Pidun is another German poker player so the organisers of the European Poker Tour Berlin Main Event would have been delighted at the fact that two German players were facing off to take the main prize. The Brits may try and claim Haigh at times but there is no doubt that the Germans still have the stronger claim on that player!

Of the final 8 players, Roman Korenev was the first one to drop out of the table and he managed to pick up €77,000. In 7th place was Julian Thomas who received €110,000 for his troubles. In 6th place was Roman Herold who man managed to pick up €155,000 and in 5th place was Alexander Helbig who received €202,200 for his strong showing. In fourth place was Pascal Vos who earned €255,000 and in third place was Lasse Frost who picked up €325,000. Robert Haigh came second and was able to bank an impressive €531,000 for his hard work and skill whereas Daniel Pidun managed to bag €880,000 for being the big winner.

It is the sort of cheque that befits the winner of the Main Event at such a prestigious poker event and it was well deserved after a great few days of poker play from Pidun.

It can be all too easy to let a Bank Holiday slip by without doing too much. A trip to a DIY store and then watching rubbish films on television is not a great way to spend your time away from work so you need to think in advance about how best to spend your time. The thought of playing online poker for most of the weekend will undoubtedly be a pleasant one for many people but there is a lot to be said for getting out of the house and perhaps seeing new sights. Of course, if you are able to do this while playing poker, it would be the best solution for everyone.

This is why the Irish Pub Poker Gathering is going to be one hell of a weekend. The event is taking place at the White Sands Hotel in Portmarnock which is in the north of Dublin. The event will be taking place between the 3rd of May and the 5th of May, so you still have time to get booked up and put yourself in line to have some craic over in Dublin!

Cheap buy-in is always an attraction for poker players

One of the great things about this event is that it is a bit more relaxed than some poker events and it will only cost you €120 to get involved. Once you pay this amount of money you will find that you start play with 30,000 chips and the blind structure for the event is 20/50. These blind levels for the first day will be 30 minutes and then on the following days will rise to 40 minutes.

There will be an opportunity to re-enter the tournament if you get knocked so if you despair at the thought of travelling all the way to Dublin and then getting knocked out early on in the tournament, you have the chance to stay in the mix. The fact that there is such a low buy-in level means that this should be more affordable for players and the re-entry availability will provide a better chance to cover the €15,000 guaranteed prize pool.

If you are taking part in Day 1A or Day 1B, which refers to Friday the 3rd of May and Saturday the 4th of May, respectively, you should note that the start time for both days is 3pm. However, if you manage to battle through to the Sunday play, the poker action begins at 2pm. You want to be aware of this because there would be nothing worse than battling through to the final day and then missing the start of the play.

Poker is undoubtedly going to be the main attraction of the weekend but the organisers of the Pub Poker Gathering have promised that there will be plenty of events to look out for. There is a proposed golf event and there will be a lot of entertainment on in the hotel over the course of the Bank Holiday weekend. There is a pub crawl planned for after the poker event on Sunday night and if you feel the need to party into the wee small hours of the morning, there is a nightclub in the hotel. A trip to Dublin could provide the perfect May Bank Holiday weekend.

When you are out of the Main Event at a poker tournament, you have a few options available to you. You can hang around watching the other players playing for big money. This can be a hard shift and while you want to be supportive of the other players still in the tournament, the pangs of jealousy and regret are going to be fairly evident. You could decide to get away from the venue and destination as quickly as you can. This may seem like the best option for players but it is a fairly bad move and one that will no doubt be cast up by other people. There is another option remaining though, there are usually a number of side games that are available around these Main Events and this is what has been going on in Berlin.

With so many players out of the running for the huge €880,000 that was up for grabs in the Main Event, there was a lot of time to kill and plenty of others looking to kill it. In fact, there were 237 players who got around to taking part in a €2,000 turbo side event. The huge numbers in the event ensured that there would be a prize pool of €450,000 on offer and the winning poker player would be able to pick up €131,000. As second prizes go, this is definitely one that most players would be able to console themselves with.

There is no shame in second place

With so many players involved, getting to the final table wasn’t as turbo charged as some of the players would have liked but there were some big names through to the final table and as the table progressed, UK player Chris Moorman was looking good although Rhys Jones, another UK poker player was in contention. Sadly Jones was bounced out in fourth place but this finish saw him pick up €32,000 for his troubles.

At this point, Moorman was the leading poker player left in the event and in the heads up many would have felt that he was in with a brilliant shout but sadly he was facing a poker player who didn’t know the meaning of the word defeat and was winning every all-in. This meant that Moorman finished second once again although hopefully the prize of €70,000 was enough to make sure that he was still in a great mood for the time he spent at the side event.

It is well known that Wembley is the place to be in May with the FA Cup final, the Champions League final and of course, the International Stadiums Poker Tour event. With Dusk Till Dawn now involved with the event, there is a lot more confidence about the big London event going ahead and that the promises put in place will be met. There is absolutely nothing wrong with showing a bit of ambition but there were plenty of poker players who were quite right to be cautious about committing to such an event. With DTD involved, there is the feeling that they aren’t going to put their name towards something that represents a risk to poker players, so there is a lot more confidence surrounding the event.

Can poker match the excitement of the other events?

Players are now on the lookout to find ways to get to Wembley without spending too much money. This is fairly understandable and with the FA Cup finalists known and surely the two German sides heading to Wembley, poker players want to get their names booked in as early as possible. Manchester City and Wigan got the job done in their respective semi-finals and you have to say that the demolition job carried out by Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund over two of the biggest names in the football world in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final should suggest that it will be an all German final at Wembley. Stranger things have happened in football and Real Madrid have got an away goal to their name but it looks as though all the football spots for the Wembley days are filled.

If you fancy getting involved at Wembley, you will be delighted to hear that Dusk Till Dawn are running a number of freerolls to get players to the event. There will be a special event on Monday the 6th of May where there will be 10 day one seats for the International Stadiums Poker Tour event up for grabs. You have to be in it to win it as they say and having the chance to even play poker at the famous old stadium is definitely something that is worth looking out for. You just never know where some luck and skill may take you and with a €1m prize on offer at the end of the Wembley event, it is definitely something that is well worth having a go for.

It would be fair to say that the GUKPT events are amongst the most hotly anticipated by UK poker players. There are plenty of great poker tours and tournaments happening up and down in the UK these days, giving players of all levels the chance to mingle and socialise but the GUKPT events have already been amongst the most exciting poker events of the campaign. Add in the fact that the Student Championship was well attended too and you start to realise that poker is a massive activity in the United Kingdom.

The Ricoh Arena in Coventry was the setting for the GUKPT Student Championship and it is also going to be the arena for the GUKPT Goliath tournament. There will be a prize pool standing at £200,000 which is going to be a huge incentive and will definitely convince plenty of poker players to part with the £100+£20 buy-in that is part of the event. The high level of interest in this event will be shown by the fact that there will be 4 opening –day flights taking place. The first of these opening days will take place on Tuesday the 20th of August. Given the fact that the Goliath tournament will not be decided until the following Monday, this is going to be an event that has the potential to be a long-one. If you join on the Tuesday and make it all the way to the final table the following Monday, you will deserve to get your hands on a fair amount of cash!

You have to beat the clock with poker

All of the poker players involved will begin with a chip stack of 20,000 and the clock is going to be times at 40 minutes at first. As the tournament progresses to the final day, this time will move out to an hour. The fact that the field at the GUKPT Goliath event is going to be limited to 400 for each day means that players that are serious about entering this event would be advised to register as soon as they possibly can. If you are basing your August Bank Holiday weekend plans around this event, you will be sorely disappointed if you end up missing out because you were too slow to get signed up.

The £200,000 prize pool for the Main Event will ensure that this is the big draw for many players but as you would expect from a poker event that is spread out over so many days, there are other games going on too. Players can indulge in some King and Queen Mixed Doubles fun and there is also going to be a guaranteed £25,000 on offer with the 25/25 event.

With the tournament named Goliath, there is no doubt that there needs to be a David and the David at the 2012 event was Les Fenton. He was the player that managed to overcome the challenge of close to 2,000 poker players to grab a prize of more than £30,000. That is the sort of challenge that awaits players in August which may seem like a long time way but with the schedule announcement, it suddenly becomes a lot more real.

While poker, both online and offline is receiving a lot of press and publicity in the UK at the moment, there is no doubt that a little celebrity endorsement here and there will raise the profile of the game even further. There will be some poker players that are a little bit sniffy about new players coming in to the fore but many poker players have the belief that the more the merrier is the right attitude to have about poker. After all, if there are more players in the game, there is more money to make from them and you have to think that the majority of new players coming into the site will be lacking in poker skills and experience. This could be a win win situation for the experienced poker players if they play the card right!

One big celebrity poker night that has just been announced is taking part in Monaco during the EPT Grand Final celebrations. This is going to be a huge poker event anyway with plenty of the great and the good ensuring that they attend in Monaco. The paparazzi will have a field day and one of the biggest events for the snappers and the celebrity seekers will be the TV charity event that is being filmed on the 10th of May. The host for this big night of celebrity poker will be Jonathan Ross so you can bet there will be some cheeky quips made over the course of the special event.

A big host for a big poker night

The big names that will be attending are still being finalised and released to the public but two big names that have been confirmed already are John Bishop and Jason Manford. These two comedians will no doubt help Jonathan Ross to ensure the evening is light-hearted and there will be plenty of jokes flying around.

There are also two big name poker players who have been added to the bill in Liv Boeree and Vicky Coren. This is the more glamorous side of poker but let’s face it, you don’t want to be sat at the poker table with these two girls because they have the skills to part you from your cash in a short space of time. It will be an interesting night for Vicky Coren as her two worlds look set to collide on the evening.

For poker players, the poker table is where Vicky belongs but most people will be more used to seeing her alongside people like Bishop and Manford recording TV shows and displaying her dry wit and intelligence. Vicky Coren has definitely had a part to play in the success of poker expanding into the mainstream and there will be plenty of people turning in to this big event to see her and see how she reacts in a situation that combines two of her biggest loves.

With satellite entry available from a range of online sources, there is also an opportunity to mingle with the big names at this major poker event.

There are plenty of big poker tournaments and titles that players are keen to win and it would be fair to say that the Monte Carlo poker title up for grabs at the Dusk Till Dawn club is one that players are keen to be involved with. This weekend saw more than 500 players, including some big names, descend on Nottingham to try and win the tournament. There were plenty of big names who arrived back on Sunday but there could only be one winner from the 30 poker players that made their way through to this stage. Kevin Allen was the man who grabbed the poker prize that everyone else wanted, making him a man that very much enjoyed his weekend.

Big names like Dave Ulliott, John Eames, Ben Jackson, Mitchell Johnson and Tom Rutter were all knocked out before the final table was set-up. There was big money on offer at the final table and the least amount of money that anyone was walking away with was £10,000. This is what Joseph Cahill, finishing in 9th spot, received for his time. This is still a great amount of money to pick up at any time but there will be disappointment for any poker player that is the first to exit the final table.

Plenty of money was on offer at the final table

In 8th place was Timothy Chung who received £12,000 for his efforts. In 7th place was Emyr Wyn Lewis who received £15,000 and in 6th position was Lee Williamson who received £18,000. In fifth position was Benjamin Jenkins who managed to pick up £23,750 for his efforts. In fourth was Jamie Rutherford who received £30,000 and James Atkin received £45,000 for coming in third.

There was a notable spike in the money that was on offer the higher you went with the final table. There was £70,000 on offer to the poker player that came in second which was Richard Trigg. This meant that Kevin Allen got to enjoy first place and the £120,000 prize that goes along with it. You may not think Nottingham is the best place to spend your weekend but being able to pick up more than £100,000 can make any place seem like a much brighter place to be!

However, the title and prestige of the event means that Allen will be thinking about more than just money with his latest success. There is no doubt that plenty of poker players across the country will be feeling rather envious of what Kevin Allen managed to achieve this weekend.