You can have a great night out in Newcastle but for the next few days, the poker players in the city will be fully focusing on the action that takes place on the poker table. There may be plenty of other delights to grab your attention in the city but with the Genting Poker Series, or the 2013 GPS, having its second leg on Tyneside, this is going to be the main attraction. Anyone looking to get involved with the action or even just capture some of the excitement that takes place when top class poker players get together, the Genting Casino that is located on Forth Street is the place to be.
This is the first time that the GPS will have arrived in Newcastle but there is sure to be a warm welcome from the Geordies, who love the idea of a night-out on any day of the week.
The Main Event of the Newcastle leg of the GPS is scheduled to being at 1pm on Wednesday and the other starting flights will follow on at the same time on Thursday and Friday of this week. Going into Wednesday morning, there are already more than 100 players registered for the event already and the organisers are expecting a figure that is at least double of that to be involved by the time the action starts to heat up.
A quick chance to bounce back with a poker win
Given that the GPS Newcastle event carries a guarantee of £100,000 there is sure to be some interest from poker players from across the country and beyond. Any poker player that missed out on the money at the London EPT event may see the Newcastle tournament a great way to bounce back quickly. With the end of the financial year looming, there may be a need for some people to crack on and make sure that they have a few more wins behind them!
The official Day 2 of the Main Event starts at 1pm on Saturday and on Sunday at 1 o’clock in the afternoon, the Main Event Final Day begins. There are other poker events to look out for around this week and weekend so this could be something to focus on. Players that get knocked out of the Main Event may be looking to bounce back quickly and these side events can provide the excellent platform to be a winner. This was the route that Victoria Coren took in London and her strong finish in the High Roller event at the EPT saw her take home a great sum of cash, one she would have struggled to reach in the Main Event, even if she brought her A game to the table.
There are PLO and NLHE games to look out for with a special Bounty NLHE game taking place on Sunday at 3pm. There is never any requirement to wear a jacket in Newcastle but if you want success, you better bring your main poker skills.
Talal Shakerchi is at 439,000. He’s up 142,000 with 73 big blinds. He’s been all fired up during this event, but finished heat one in seventh place. This time around, Mr. Shakerchi has decided to play on the conservative side during the two opening levels of heat 2. Despite the caution, the chips have still started to build up and now he’s found that he has a good chance of going deep.
The final few days of the EPT event in London had so much exciting poker action taking place it would have been easy to miss out on so many of the big moments and exciting finishes to some of the individual events. It was only right that Ruben Visser got his due for winning the EPT London event and taking home £595,500 but plenty of other poker players enjoyed success in London. The British weather may have felt more like the middle of January as opposed to the middle of March but with St Patricks Day celebrations gearing up across the capital of England, it was not just the Irish that were celebrating.
Another big winner during the event was the Team PokerStars Pro Matthias De Meulder from Belgium. He managed to triumph in the No Limits Texas Hold Em event that was event number 15 at EPT9. De Meulder just fell short of clinching a trophy at the EPT Deauville in February so the trophy in London represents good progress and of course, another fine payday! De Meulder earned £22,580 for his win while second placed Rameev Sergey from Russian earned £20,000. There was then a big drop off in money with third placed Eddie Tasbas picking up £9,710 while fourth placed finisher Georges Tohme from the UK received £7,100.
Not only is London coming back down to Earth after an exciting St Patrick’s Day weekend, the climax of the EPT London event has left many people needing to take some time to calm down. Having so many poker events in a short space of time is a thrilling time for poker players but once the action has stopped and the adrenaline has left your body, it is only natural that you will feel a bit worn down. While the players take a much needed break and the EPT event starts to think about hitting Berlin next month, why not have a look at some of the other winners from some of the big tournaments during the EPT event.
Hearing that Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor was victorious is nothing new, he has been winning darts tournaments for more times than he would care to remember. The 16 time world champion knows what it takes to be a winner and even in a friendly event, he doesn’t want to come second best to anyone. This is especially the case when he is up against a fierce rival like Raymond van Barneveld who he has a lot of history with. The special night took place at the Bradford Gala Casino in Vicar Lane and while darts was high on the agenda, there was also a poker element to the evening too.
Also on the bill for the evening was a darts match between legend Eric Bristow and Andy Fordham, with Fordham clinching a 6-2 victory.
Day Six of EPT9 London started with only a fraction of the original players left in the main event, but the excitement and nervousness could be felt in every corner of the place. Everyone wanted to know who would win; some were hanging out waiting to see results, and others had a lot to lose. In the end, Ruben Visser won the Race to London title, along with a sweet £595,000, but getting there was no simple task.
It has been a fantastic festive of poker in London in the past week or so and while it may seem that the focus now falls on the Irish and Guinness drinkers to celebrate St Patrick’s Day, there will be plenty of big poker players celebrating a brilliant time in London. There was an awful lot of money up for grabs over the course of the different events and tournaments and of course, there was an awful lot of praise and adulation being bestowed upon the big tournament winners.
Other finishers include the German Christopher Frank who earned £112,000 for his sixth placed finish. In fifth place was Steve O’Dwyer and the American earned £146,000. In fourth place was the Dane Theo Jorgensen who received £183,000 and in third was Sweden’s Olof Haglund, who picked up £427,564. The unlucky runner up was Mantas Visockis from Lithuania who received £377,463 for his valiant efforts.
One of the big draws about online poker is that it can help you to be someone that you are really not. There is no doubt that a lot of people love the fact that they can put on a persona or use an avatar when playing online poker to give them a certain edge or change their feelings about themselves when they player. Playing online poker can require people to be more aggressive or confident than they usually are in their everyday life and there is no doubt that the anonymous element of playing poker online helps people to become the poker player that they want to be.
There are some poker players that focus purely on one poker discipline and this is a very sensible strategy. After all, if you have been blessed with a special talent and then you work hard to improve and maintain your talents, why shouldn’t you make the most of it. However, with so many different poker games and disciplines, some players aer keen to develop their skills across the board. This can be for fun, it can be done to get one over on your friends or if you are Ville Wahlbeck, you can improve your varied poker skills to give you a better chance of winning big money.
As if followers and players hadn’t seen enough excitement in EPT9 London, Friday night saw Jan Bendik strengthening his hold on the EPT leader board. He’s been a regular player throughout the tour and many said that he was establishing a stronger hold on the Slovakian top spot, but his 1st on Friday night at the £1,100 “Win the Button Event” has him looking out from the front even more. This lead might come as no surprise to some, but others weren’t expecting this turn of events at all.
He went on to beat 112 players to win the first prize of £436,330. It was his third tournament win, and his largest. With such a busy day job, Shakerchi still plans to play, but admits he won’t have a lot of time to sink into tournaments. He still plans to keep playing – and winning. The last half hour of the game seemed almost too easy for him; a flush against Quoss’ pair and then queens to beat Jaka’s ace-queen heads up gave the game a nice, clean finish.