It has to be said that the GUKPT is becoming one of the biggest and most celebrated UK poker tours at the moment. There is a huge level of interest in these events and even though Thursday in Reading got off to a slow start, the turnout on Friday was huge, bumping the numbers at the event to a rather large level. While numbers aren’t everything, quality should always be more important than quantity, it is important to know that the poker playing community are buying into what is on offer and are enjoying what is being served up to them. The recent success of the GUKPT season will hopefully convince the organisers to keep going and hopefully there will also be other poker people looking at this success and wondering if they can get involved with events too.
There is no reason to think that you can just parachute into providing a great poker event from nowhere though and while the GUKPT is one of the big stories at the moment, it is not as if it has been an overnight success. There has been a considerable amount of work and effort placed into these events and that is why it is good to see the organisers are reaping the rewards.
A great deal of excitement at the final poker table
One player that is definitely reaping the rewards is James Martin and this is because he was the winner of the GUKPT Reading event. The final table at the Reading event was a rather exciting one, eventually, and there were four different players who held a chip lead at some point. Given the fact that there was no loss of players in the first 90 minutes, there was a lot of tension building but as per usual, as soon as one player cracks, the action really starts to get excited and more interesting. The first player of the final table to head home was Paul Dunne. Dunne was out in 9th position and would take home £1,650 for his efforts. This is not a bad take-home prize for a good weekend of poker and while Dunne would have been disappointed at being the first player to go home out of the final table, he should be happy with what he achieved.
After Dunne made his exit from the GUKPT Reading event, the rest of the goodbyes were as follows. David Lloyd was the next player to go and his 8th place finish saw Lloyd take home £2,270 for his trouble. In 7th position was John Burberry, who managed to grab £3,090 for his work. In 6th place was Alex Zeligman, who received £3,920 for his work in Reading. The fifth place player was Timotheos Timotheou who managed to take home £4,950 for his poker playing exploits in Reading.
At this point the drama was really starting to build and the player that crashed out in fourth position was Adam Howlett, who goes by the name of ‘Buzz’ in the poker community. This left three players and all of the players were guaranteed a minimum of £10,000 from the event. The last remaining female in the event finished in third place. It was a great showing by Ellie Biesske in finishing third and grabbing £10,520 but she will no doubt be a little bit disappointed to crash out so close to the big final showdown.
The top two players managed to reach agreement about the cash and both would be taking home a guaranteed £18,000. This left just over £4,000 to play for and of course, the title and glory that goes along with the GUKPT Reading event. The gallant runner-up was Jeff Kimber, who would have to console himself with that £18,000 prize. The additional £4,640 that James Martin picked up would have been a great reward but the prestige that goes with winning the event and of course picking up a seat at the Grand Final of the GUKPT season will no doubt have meant a lot more.
It isn’t too long until the next GUKPT event and the glamorous setting of Walsall is the place to be between the 7th and 14th of July if you are looking to take part in what is becoming a hugely important UK poker tour.
While there was no sign of panic at the end of Day 1A at the Reading leg of the GUKPT event, there would have been or two nervous organisers. There was a very low turnout for the event, with just 52 players deciding to pay their way into the event. Thursday’s can be a bit slow for poker events like this and hopes were high that there would be a much bigger turnout on the Friday. This definitely turned out to be the case as Friday had more than double the number of paying poker players than Thursday had!
In the current climate, everyone is obsessed with numbers and seeing how things stack up and compare to other things. This is something that is particularly prevalent in the current UK poker scene and every event will have the number of players and attendees examined and analysed in close detail. We’re not ones to be left out in this regard which is why the initial turn-out for the start of the GUKPT Reading leg was fairly disappointing.
Even though there will still be 
No matter the activity in life, it can be all too easy to focus on the big names and the star players. When there is big money involved, people will inevitably look towards the top players but one of the best things about poker is that it is open for everyone. On the right day with the right turn of cards, a lowly player can take out a massive name, which is something that is not always available in other activities and sports. By and large the big name poker player will take care of the smaller poker player but there can be occasions where the lesser known player wins.
Given the amount of poker players from around the world who are trying their luck at the WSOP in Las Vegas, it is no great surprise that there are no British or Irish players amongst the winners just yet. There are still plenty of events to go do hopes are still high that there may be some success to come but as of yet, there have been no stories of UK triumph. This is not to say that there haven’t been great performances from UK and Irish players though. There are plenty of players from here over who have performed well over there, grabbing cash finishes and making it through to the latter stages of the tournaments.
While there are many professional poker players taking part in the WSOP, there are also plenty of players that have scrimped and saved all year to take part in some of the smaller tournaments. Being able to play in the WSOP in Las Vegas is clearly a dream come true for many players and hopefully every UK and Irish player that has made it all the way to Sin City will have a brilliant time. Winning and doing well is brilliant but at times like these, sometimes it is the taking part that is the most important thing.
Going into the final day, the table was set up as follows. Ludovic Geilich was the chip leader with 4,100,000 and the second placed player was Kamil Hrabia, who had 2,815,000 chips. In third place was Pablo Rojas who held 2,155,000 chips while in fourth place was Jorge Erguas Paniagua who had 2,095,000 chips. In fifth place was Asier Crespo, who had 1,410,000 chips while Fernando Curto was in 6th place with 1,190 chips. In 7th was Jonatan Soderstorm, the first player with less than 100,000 chips as he had 660,000 chips. In eighth place was Lucas Blanco, who had 440,000 chips.
This meant that Pablo Rojas and Ludovic Geilich were in the final head to head and with a 3 to q chip lead established early on, Geilich remained in full control, eventually grinding out the win, the big money and the kudos of being a big poker title winner.
Given that over 760 poker players have taken part in the UKIPT Marbella event, it has been a great achievement to make it to the end of Day 2. Every player that has made it through to this level will be guaranteed of taking away a couple of thousand euros for their trouble but once you get to this stage, you want to keep going as much as possible. Of course, every poker player will say this and there will be a great deal of competition to make it to the big money stages.
Even though a great deal of the focus and attention on the ISPT Wembley event fell on the numbers (and lack of attendees), it would be fair to say that some poker events have been achieving great success with respect to pulling in the punters. This has definitely been the case at the Marbella UKIPT event, which says a lot for the reputation that the event has managed to develop for itself.
Given that so many players failed to make the cut from Day 1B, it was no surprise that a number of major names fell by the wayside. Leo Margets and Gregorz Mikiekewicz were knocked out, leaving them to think about what might have been. Given that the event is a UKIPT event, some of the big UK names still involved in the tournament include Surinder Sunar and Martins Aeniya, who will still be harbouring dreams of big success. Some poker players will be looking forward to the UKIPT Cork event in August but plenty of poker players still have high hopes for Marbella success.
There was a lot of excitement and anticipation in the build-up to the Main Event of the UKIPT Marbella event. The fact that it was the curtain raiser of the season meant that there was always going to be interest but with this event being held outside of the UK, there was an added level of interest in how the event would go. The idea of jetting off to sunnier climes to enjoy some poker action is something that appeals to many people and if you were unable to make it to the Las Vegas for the WSOP, heading to Marbella seemed like a great compromise!