A lot of the poker focus this weekend may fall on Australia and the WSOP-APAC Main Event but that is not the only place to find great poker action. There is plenty on offer for UK poker players and you don’t need to be in London to have something to look forward to. London is great and it is always worth a visit but it is good to see other places getting the nod when it comes to exciting poker events. Recent weeks have given Nottingham the chance to shine and very few UK venues do poker better than Dusk Till Dawn. This weekend though, it is time for Didsbury to be the one of the key poker places in the country.
This is because the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT) Main Event is taking place. The first of two Day 1’s took place on Thursday and the leader of the day was Nigel Ventre. After being given the same starting stack of 20,000 as the rest of the field, Ventre managed to turn this into 99,925. This made him the leader from the 59 poker players that were involved in Day 1A.
Ventre is the Day 1A leader
Of the 59 players, only 22 poker players managed to book their passage through to Say 2 which takes place on Saturday. Then again, you can bet that many of these players will have tried their luck again on Day 1B which took place on Saturday. The Friday event was always likely to be the busier of the two so the players who are already guaranteed for the Saturday action will be delighted to have booked their place but at least the players who fell by the wayside know that they still have a chance.
Poker success is nothing new to Ventre though and he has picked up some success in GUKPT events before. Ventre received a cheque for £1,400 for a £200 buy in event which took place at the 2010 Club GUKPT Club Championship. That event was in Huddersfield, so he knows all about playing poker in glamorous locations and he will be keen to add to his GUKPT success in Didsbury.
Other poker players that managed to book their place on Day 2 alongside Ventre include Rob Sherwood, who managed to get 32,500 chips, Peter Wigglesworth, who held 59,450 chips and Kevin Houghton who managed to just pip Peter with 59,700 chips. Putting up a closer fight to Ventre are Matt Davenport, who managed to earn 85,700 chips and Erimas Livonas, who held 76,500 chips. Livonas has recently tasted success at the APAT World Championship Main Event and will be keen to do well in this event too.
The poker fun has only just begun in Didsbury and there will be a lot more to look out for over the course of this weekend. It may not have the media focus or the luxurious surroundings that the WSOP-APAC can offer but the GUKPT event is always worth following.