Category: Live Poker Tournaments

As the almighty Pulp sang back in the early to mid-1990s, “Do you remember the first time?” and this is certainly a question that people love to answer. There is often nothing like the exhilarating rush of adrenaline and happiness when you do something for the first time and you can bet that Griffin Benger will be feeling very happy with himself this week. This is down to the fact that the triumph during Event Number 13 at the EPT9 London was the first time that Griffin Benger ever managed to win a major live poker tournament.

This isn’t to say that Benger is a rookie or a player still making his way into the world of poker. It is just that this proud Canadian has experienced a lot more joy and success in the online poker environment. It may well be that Griffin Benger doesn’t ring a bell for you but the name of ‘Flush_Entity’ is a lot more recognisable. This is an online moniker that has certainly had a lot of success over the years and with winnings in excess of $4m in the online arena, this is one poker player that definitely has the poker skills to pay the bills.

Poker firsts are worth celebrating

So, while the prize of £29,700 at the London EPT event was a big thrill, Benger probably took more from the fact that he was able to translate his online success into success at a real-life poker table and tournament. This could see a psychological barrier lifted for the player and who knows; perhaps this will be the springboard for a lot more success at poker tournaments around the world. Sometimes in life you just need to get the first one done under your belt and after that, life begins to a whole lot easier!
The overall prize pool managed to get beyond the £100,000 mark and there were 104 players involved in the NLHE Turbo event. It was a Canadian 1-2 in this event with Sam Greenwood being the runner-up tucked in behind Greenwood.

It was not as if Benger let this triumph get to his head though and as he walked away with a big cheque and a great sense of satisfaction, he was already making plans for his next assault. For Benger, this was to be the £10,300 High Roller event which was scheduled to get started at 4pm on the 14th of March so who knows, by the time you are reading this, he may well have been a winner once again. Never mind the High Roller event, when you get on a roll in life, it is sometimes best to sit back and enjoy the ride!

When it comes to delivering a perfect poker finish, you should be able to rely on a Finnish person and that was definitely the case for Event #11 at the EPT9 London event. There was a buy-in of £2,100 for the event but given that there was as total prize pool of £114,460, there was certainly a lot for the 59 players to get excited about. The top 8 players all got a fine return for the involvement in the event but it was Lauri Pesonen that triumphed.

Pesonen was up against Joao Barbosa, the EPT champion and both players came away from the table with a lot to celebrate. Not only does Pesonen get to class himself as a champion, he picked up £40,060 or his triumph. Barbosa in second place only walked away with £25,190 but that was enough to push his live tournament earnings up to the massive total of $1,426,238. That is the sort of poker money that will make anyone feel proud of themselves but more importantly than that, Barbosa has now moved into second place with respect to the all-time earnings of Portuguese poker players.

Big money on offer for all poker players

A Bulgarian player finished third with Vladimir Velikov claiming £14,880 with US player Scott Seiver bagging over £10,000 for his efforts. That little amount of money may be minute compared to the $2m plus prize that Seiver bagged after taking the PCA 2013 Super High Roller prize. You expect a big prize to be on offer when you are involved with a high roller event but becoming an overnight millionaire is definitely the dream when it comes to playing poker.

The other finishes in the top with went to Marc-Andrew Ladouceur from Canada, who took home a prize of just over £8,000. In sixth place was Sam Greenwood from Canada who claimed £5,720. In seventh place was the Kuwaiti poker player Salman Behbehani who received just over £5,000 for his efforts. There was UK representation in 8th place as Roberto Romanello claimed £4,580.

The Main Events of these poker tournaments will inevitably grab the headlines and provide the highlights but reputations can be earned and developed in the minor events too. Lauri Pesonen will definitely look back on his time in London as being well spent, even if he never got around to seeing all the major tourist attractions that Finnish people look to see when in the English capital.

No matter the activity, any competition that pits the best against the best is well worth watching. Football fans have the Champions League and the World Cup, X has Y and when it comes to poker, a great battle of the champions took place on Monday evening in London. The UKIPT Champion of Champions event took place and the grand winner was the Welsh wizard Richard Evans. Evans booked his place amongst the best players due to succeeding in the UKIPT Dublin event back in May of last year. That seems like such a long time ago but Evans proved that he has consistency in his poker play by triumphing once again when the chips were down… on the table.

The win brought about a great bonus for Evans who tool voluntarily redundancy from his work in January. This will come in rather handy because he will need a lot of spare time later on in the year as his success gets him entry to Season 4 of the UKIPT events. The first stop is Marbella but it seems as though Evans will some explaining to do when he heads to the continent for the event. Not because some players will be worrying about why the UKIPT event is taking place away from the UK and Ireland but Evans will be on poker duty when his wife hits 40. Firstly, you can probably bet that Evans gets pulled up by his wife for disclosing her age and of course, he will then be in trouble for being away. He’ll need to win and make sure that he brings her back a big present!

No success two nights in a row for Sergio Aido

Evans grabbed the Season 4 passport prize but Sergio Aido who clinched the UKIPT London event on Sunday night struggled to perform two nights in a row. Perhaps Aido was celebrating his London triumph was a bit too much but if that was the case, not to worry because he was soon out of the tournament, giving him plenty of time to recover! Robert Baguley finished in second place behind Evans while Emmett Mullin finished in 3rd. The remaining places went to Nicolau Villa-Lobos who finished fourth, Wotjek Brazanty who finished fifth, Thomas Finneran finished 6th, 7th place went to Dara O’Kearney, Chris Ferguson came in 8th and of course, Sergio Aido was in 9th position.

With the start of the next season of the UKIPT taking place in June, there is time for players to relax but there are always plenty of other places for poker players to play in between times.

Sunday, March 11 saw some excitement in the EPT9 London. Marc Dubach claimed the High Roller UKIPT winnings of £101,950. The final table was pretty tough, but he pulled through and now he’s feeling pretty good about his winnings.

Daubach was keeping company with top players like Martin Hanowski, Byron Kaverman and Zimnan Ziyard, but he still managed to pull through with his first six-figure win.

Daubach, has consistently played – and won smaller figures, but with a winning such as last night’s High Roller win, some speculate that he may be on his way up. While it’s not clear yet whether this is a sign of an upward trend, it still puts him on the list of players to watch.

Byron Kaverman, with career winnings of over a million, took second. Tom Hall came in at sixth, and while he won £18,050, he managed to jump in front UKIPT Player of the Year race, which got him a season of UKIPT Main Event Packages.

While UKIPT isn’t the main event of the London stop of EPT9, it’s added some thrills and intensity to London, and it looks like things are just getting hot. This year is just as exciting as it has been in years past and the location couldn’t be better. For those that love exclusivity, then the Vic is known for it’s poker. It earned it’s reputation in the 1960’s, when people would come from as far as the United States to be seen playing poker in this casino.

It’s been in business for 50 years, and it’s still going strong, even with the many other popular casinos nearby. The place is packed, and going strong, so it’s no wonder that EPT9 London is taking place here.

For many, EPT9 in London couldn’t be more exciting. Its merge with UKIPT has created, for many, a poker player’s paradise and it’s resulted in a mega festival that poker players and fans alike are sure to love. Plus, with so much poker talent in one place, and the tables so crammed into the Vic, there is non-stop action, stress and excitement this week.

Some of the biggest names in the EPT and the UKIPT can be seen concentrating, sweating; winning and losing, as well as many unknown players that we have yet to meet and discover. This is sure to be one of the most exciting stops in the EPT yet – and it’s all taking place in London, which has a friendship with poker like many other cities haven’t established.

Whether you choose your favorites to watch or you’re still deciding where to focus the attention, keep an eye on EPT9 because it’s likely that some up and comers will hit the radar by the time it’s all over.

Sometimes playing aggressively in poker brings the spoils and poker fans who appreciate this tactic will have enjoyed the triumph of Sergio Aido, the Spaniard, at the London leg of the Season 3 of the UKIPT event. Not only did Aido manage to pick up a big trophy for his troubles in London, he takes away a prize of £144,555.

Aggressive poker strategy pays dividends

Aido entered the final table in sixth place but wasted no time in playing big and getting his reward. He quickly disposed of Chris Dowling, a player who seems set to always get so close but not close enough at the final table in the UKIPT. Dowling has now in eight, seventh and sixth place on his last three attempts at the final table. In the end, it came down to Aido and Thomas Ward, a qualifier through PokerStars and the two players struck a deal before their showdown which saw the Spanish poker player come out on top.

All eyes now turn to the Champion of Champions Event taking place on Monday night. This is the sort of showcase event that always draws a big crowd and the players always want to be a winner at these events. After all, being the best of the best is something that everyone wants to have on their CV.

This event will be the big curtain closer to season 3 of the UKIPT before the tournament takes a rest before setting off on Season 4. There will be a bit of a diversion at the start of the next campaign because the first leg of the tournament is taking place in Marbella in Spain. In that regard, the fact that the Season 3 season was concluded with a win by a Spaniard is all the more fitting. Will the Season 4 opener of the UKIPT season be clinched by a British or Irish person?