UK Players Find More Success At SCOOP

PokerStars SCOOP 2013As far as successful poker tournaments for UK poker players go, the SCOOP event organised by PokerStars has to be one of the biggest and best. The fact that players are able to take part in these events from the comfort of their own home is always going to be a good thing and it has certainly encouraged a great number of UK players to get involved. While the high number of UK success stories indicates that this is a great tournament for the Brits, it would be interesting to know how many UK poker players are taking part.

For every success there are going to be plenty of failures and disappointments but there is no real sense in focusing on that is there? The real point of any event is to look towards the winners and this is something that will see poker players remember this tournament very fondly.

If you love poker events with a long name, the 27th event at SCOOP would be one that would appeal to you. The Fixed Limit Triple Draw Deuce to Seven game probably had some players eliminated from the action before they could finish the title! However, it appears to be a poker discipline that is growing in popularity and stature and its presence can only increase after the latest event.

Low buy-in price generates a lot of interest

As you would expect from an event that had a buy-in of $27, there was a lot of interest in the low level event. There were a total of 1,668 players taking part in this game and there were a few UK players in the upper reaches. When you think about how many players were involved, reaching 28th (“GrowsOnTrees”), 19th (Jamie “buffslayer1” Wilby) and 4th (“crack2”) represent big achievements.

The jump in price to $215 for the middle level game saw the number of players fall to 376 but this was still enough to represent a prize pool of $75,200. Large swathes of this money made it to the UK with “AceOddity” finishing in 18th, “$IERRA_TANGO” finishing in 9th and Stephen Chidwick, who plays online under the name of “stevie444” finished 7th.

Stephen ChidwickThis was a great performance by Chidwick but he was to do even better in the High buy-in event. The $2,100 buy-in was no deterrent although UK player “Wrathchild57” will be gutted at busting out when they were just two places from the money. Another unlucky defeat fell to “Jackal69” who finished in 7th place but just fell outside of the final table!

However, there were two players from the UK in the final table, Rory Matthews and the aforementioned Stephen Chidwick. Sadly Rory was the first to leave the table but “stevie444” managed to fight his way to the front and grabbed the $52,320 which goes to the winner! Yes, Stephen Chidwick grabbed his first SCOOP title and going by his Facebook update, he seemed delighted by this outcome!

Stephen said;

After 6 years of being titleless I finally got the monkey off my back…2k triple draw champion for 50k and a watch!

While UK players showed the had the skill to make good poker hands, the success at the Razz event at SCOOP indicated that they have some talent in making rubbish poker hands too! The player called “TomaszRa” online came third and managed to earn himself $5,112.29! If you can recall the amount of rubbish hands you have played over the years and earned nothing, this sort of prize will definitely annoy you a little bit!

Hopefully the level of success that UK poker players have received at the SCOOP event will give other players confidence and motivation to get involved. There is no chance of winning if you don’t get involved and we can guarantee that you will fail to win every single poker hand that you fail to play.

More Big Money For UK And Irish Players At SCOOP

PokerStars SCOOP 2013The Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) has turned out to be a brilliant tournament for UK and Irish poker players and there is no doubt that many people have made the right decision in choosing to play in this event. The fact that there is the chance to play for big money against some great players from the comfort of your own home is always going to be of benefit to many poker players. While having the chance to play against top class players in beautiful surroundings is a large part of the charm and appeal in poker, for many players, it is the comfort and convenience of playing at home that really provides the important aspect for players.

Of course, when you learn that UK and Irish players have managed to bag over $4m in the tournament you will wish that you had gotten involved yourself! This is a huge sum of money to be heading to these shores and while there have been a considerable number of online events in the SCOOP tournament, there has been a great deal of competition up for grabs. This PokerStars event has been a huge success and it seems as though there will be plenty of players clamouring for this event to return next year and perhaps even be extended into other seasons too. Now that Spring is slowly making its way into Summer, you can bet that there will be plenty of UK and Irish poker players who are hoping to see Summer, Autumn and Winter events of a similar nature!

No No, No No No No No, There’s No Limits!

Some of the latest successes at the SCOOP event have been found in the No Limit Hold ‘Em events. NLHE games are always going to be popular and the fact that there was such an affordable buy-in level for the event listed as number 21 on the schedule ensured that there would be lots of players involved. There was a buy-in price of $27 but there was also a $300,000 guarantee attached to this event so it was no surprise to find that there were plenty of players looking to get involved.

In fact, there were more than 23,000 players involved in the running and there was a UK player, going by the name of “Run Bad King” in the final four positions! The thing is though, with respect to cash, this player had a great time because they managed to pick up more cash than the second or third player. With deals being made between the last 5 players in the event, the cash prize of $35,892.38 was a great deal for this player. There were also three other UK and Irish players in the top 45, which when you think of the huge number of players involved is a considerable achievement.

James The medium level, priced at $215 didn’t feature any UK players in the top 10 but James “jamerOK” Cawley came 21st, which is not bad out of a field just short of 6,000 players. In the High event, with a $2,100 buy-in event, two UK players broke into the top 10. A player called “JackRich” finished in 10th, earning $19,483.20 while “callmemanu” came fourth, earning $92,906.

Event 22 was another NLHE event and this had larger guarantees to play for! The low level event, priced at $27, drew over 25,000 players to it and there was a huge amount of cash to play for. The guarantee was set at $400,000 but the actual amount of money played for was over $615,000!

Two local players managed to grab a hefty chunk of this money. The player called “monk419” earned over $8,000 for coming in second place and gallant runner up “hartwith” picked up just under $46,000. The medium buy in level also smashed its guarantee amount and “mariivida” got into 6th place, earning $51,509.60. The high level event only welcomed 1,048 players to it but again, there was a UK player in the top 10. The “dagunman” John O’Shea came in 10th and received $22,008.

It seemed as though there was UK and Irish success at every event of SCOOP and it has been a hugely popular and profitable tournament for so many local poker players!

Less Than A Month Until Marbella

UKIPT MarbellaThere are some parts of the UK and Ireland that never get around to seeing the sun and it can be good to take a break from these places! There are plenty of brilliant places to enjoy and explore in the UK and Ireland but there is no doubt that getting further afield can bring some benefits too. However, if you are the organisers of the UK and Ireland Poker Tour, UKIPT, you may find yourself a little locked in with regards to the places you can go. This is not the case though and it is now less than a month until the UKIPT rolls into Marbella!

This is sure to be an exciting time and any poker player that wants to experience the feeling of playing poker in a place where you know sunshine awaits outside of the venue, this is definitely an event you should be looking at. There have been one or two complaints about the UKIPT event heading away from these shores for sunnier climes but the vast majority of poker players are just delighted to get the chance to try something a little bit different and certainly something out of the ordinary. Holiday makers and ex-pats agree that Marbella is a brilliant place to visit so why not see what is on offer.

Poker across the seas

A big reason for the jaunt across the water is the fact that UKIPT is teaming with the Estrellas Poker Tour. A little bit of local knowledge can go a long way and both of these poker event organisers are sure to make a brilliant splash in hosting the PokerStars Marbella Festival. With the Main Event carrying a guarantee of €500,000 there is definitely a lot to look out for.

Estrellas Poker TourThe Casino Marbella is the place to be from the 12th of June and the Main Event will continue all the way through until the 16th, which is definitely something to mark in your diary. The Main Event is going to feature a €1,000 + €100 buy-in. This should be enough to grab the attention of plenty of poker players but there are going to be High Roller games, Turbo events and even satellites in the build-up to the more expensive tournaments. All in all, a trip to Marbella is always great news but the fact that there is going to be a chance to play poker and win money is definitely something of merit to poker players in this trip!

More SCOOP Success For UK Players

PokerStars SCOOP 2013With the weekend nearly upon us, you may be thinking about your plans for the weekend. If the weather manages to stay nice, many people will be desperately heading out into the sun, making the most of what is on offer. Of course, it is still far too early to say whether the weather will be nice this weekend because you can never tell on a day to day basis in this country! There is definitely a need to have a Plan B up your sleeve and if there is no chance to get out and have a brilliant time in the sun, you should look into staying indoors and having some fun.

This is where playing online poker may be the best bet for you. There are some players that think that playing online poker is a waste of time and that they would be as well burning their money for all of the good that it does them. This is one viewpoint but it is not the attitude to have in life. You can only become better by practising and playing. Online poker players should view their progress like a journey and there are many steps to take before you become good and confident. However, once a breakthrough is made, you will never look back!

Anybody that is looking for inspiration for what can happen to UK poker players when they play online only needs to look at some of the results from the SCOOP event. The Spring Championship Of Online Poker has been a big draw in the past week and there has been a lot of money heading to the UK thanks to the skills and determination of many of the best bedroom poker players in the country. You don’t need to be one of the big name poker players to win these tournaments but you do need to be involved.

Play poker and be a winner

An example of getting involved can be seen in the UK players that took part in the eight event at the SCOOP tournament, which was a No Limit Hold ‘Em offering. There were a number of levels for players to get involved at and the low and medium levels were won by British players. If this is not the sort of thing that will inspire you to success then it is hard to know what will.

The low level event had a buy-in of just $11, which is something that many UK players will be happy with as this works out as being less than a tenner! The top prize for this category was scooped up by a player called “1hmm11” who earned $20,057.76 for his efforts.

Sam GraftonThe medium level, which had a buy-in of $109 was won by a Britain too. The player listed as “potbet11” was the heads up winner who grabbed a SCOOP watch and just under $80,000 in prize money! Sadly the $1,050 high rolling buy-in event was not win by a British player but Sam Grafton did manage to earn himself $153,251 for his efforts.

It wasn’t all great news for British poker players at this event though as Jon “LUFCBAS” Spinks was the player who managed to be the bubble buster at the final table. Then again, if the LUFC part in his online name stands for Leeds United Football Club, there will be plenty of people up and down the country having a slight chuckle at Jon’s expense! Such is the nature of football rivalries!

So, no matter what sort of weather there is this weekend, you should think about finding some time to enjoy online poker. You don’t need to commit yourself to a major event like SCOOP or even any of the big name poker tournaments which take place every weekend but you do need to commit to doing something with your time. The more poker you play, the more you will hopefully learn and this weekend might just lay the foundations for a lot more poker success to come in the future!

The Poker SCOOP Is Big News For UK Players

PokerStars SCOOP 2013It can be hard to keep up with the amount of big events and tournaments that PokerStars provide for players but this is not something to complain about. Poker players are always on the lookout for promotions and tournaments to keep them interested and to boost their chances of winning a great deal of money. The latest PokerStars event to get UK and Irish poker players excited is the Spring Championship of Online Poker. If this seems like a bit of a mouthful, you will be glad to know that the event is more commonly known as SCOOP and the 2013 event is proving to be successful for Irish and UK poker players.

The fact that the third event at SCOOP 2013 had three different buy-in levels meant that it was always going to be a popular choice for poker players. The No Limit Hold ‘Em Rebuy Six-Max Action Hour is quite a title but it proved to be a popular choice and it brought some money to players over here!
With the low level buy-in coming in at $5.50, there was an opportunity for plenty of players to get involved. The huge popularity of this event can be seen with the fact that the prize pool reached $305,385. This is a tremendous sum of money for such a low buy-in and it indicates that players will look to get involved with low buy-in events if the incentive was there.

This huge sum of money was spread out amongst a huge range of poker players but a good chunk of it came to the UK thanks to the player known as “Shaunn1”. Even though there were 17,403 players taking part in the event, this player managed to be number 3 in the overall standings. This position ensured that a prize of $28,530.64 was on its way to Blighty! Thanks to a three way chop, this prize actually turned out to be about 3 grand higher than the money earned by the player who finished in second place.

There was strong interest at mid-level too

The mid-level buy-in for the event was still an affordable $55 and with a lot of money on offer at this level, some well-known poker players could be found sniffing around! Again, there was a big placing for a UK player with Southampton’s Christopher “NigDawG” Brammer picking up $16,502.50 for finishing in fifth place.

There was a big jump up with respect to the high level buy-in, which stood at $530. This is the sort of money that rules out all but the top, the most confident or the already rich players. It was therefore no surprise to see that Chris “Moorman1” Moorman ranking highly at the final table. A sixth place finish is not going to be the highlight of Moorman’s year but picking up $26,212.50 is never a bad thing.

Once again, the allure and appeal of online poker is laid out starkly and the fact that this event provided a level for every type of player made it an extremely popular choice for UK players.

Fifth Place For UK Poker Player At EPT High Roller

EPT Monte Carlo High Roller EventThe very term “high roller” carries an air about it that sees many people gasp or look on with a greater level of awe and wonder. To be honest, it doesn’t actually mean that every poker player is better; it usually just means that they have more money to throw at the game. The poker players who have worked their up to the High Roller level through earning money via their poker skills are definitely worthy of inclusion but some folk will find their money in other places and get involved from there.

In saying that, it takes a lot of nerve to out your money where your mouth is in these events so there is a huge deal of excitement involved in these events. There is a chance for a life-changing amount of money to be won and of course, if you are paying a huge buy-in figure and continually miss out on any cash return, the time will come rather quickly when there is no real point in playing in the High Roller events.

A High Roller event in Monte Carlo is living the dream

This is not the outcome for one talented UK poker player who managed to grab fifth place at the recent High Roller event at the EPT Monte Carlo. The thought of playing in a High Roller event would be a big draw for some people whereas the notion of playing in Monte Carlo would be a huge draw for some other players. This is why any event that manages to bring them both together is definitely going to be something that poker players really love.

Toby LewisToby Lewis was the lucky Brit who managed to take fifth position and for his trouble, he managed to earn €232,400. This is an amount of money that most of us would settle on for playing a few hands of poker! Toby may feel bad about only finishing fifth in the big poker event, especially when the fact that the tournament winner Steven Silverman picked up more than €775,000 but you can’t always judge yourself on what other people are doing. The top prize indicates the sort of money that was being played for and it is worth pointing out that there was an agreed split between the top three players. The players coming in second and third, Anthony Gregg and Fadar Kamar both earned €760,000 each!

UK Poker Player Wins Big On PokerStars

PokerStars LogoThe size and scope of PokerStars means that there is always going to be a good reason to log on to the site. Some players will find the fact that there are so many poker players on site will be intimidating and likely to negatively impact on their chances of winning. That is true but it also means that the spoils available to successful players can be of great importance and highly enticing. This is definitely the poker site for players that like to think they have a chance of winning big money and at the weekend, another UK poker player struck big.

The Sunday Second chance game at the PokerStars site is a big hit with players and the fact that there is a $175,000 guarantee is definitely going to be a big factor for many players. This weekend there was an even bigger incentive as the prize pool was inflated thanks to the huge number of players that were involved. With 1,568 players battling it out for the top prize, there was a total of $313,600 up for grabs. This ensured that the top 180 players would receive money for taking part in the event but if you are going to get involved with an online poker tournament; you may as well be involved to try and win it!

A large sum of money was picked up on Sunday

Matt Perrins

The big prize on offer was $52,386.88 and that amount of money made its way to the UK thanks to the poker skills of Matt Perrins. The player, who goes by the name of “pezler06” online will definitely be thankful he made the decision to get involved with the online tournament on Sunday. This is far from the first big win in Perrin’s poker career though and he can boast of a WSOP bracelet! This came about in rather bizarre circumstances when he won the $1,500 buy-in No Limit Deuce-to-Seven Lowball at the WSOP. This prize alone saw him bag $102,105 and he has achieved success in the live and online poker arena since then too.

The fact that there is a big UK poker success or two online should ensure that you have the motivation and confidence to try more big name poker events. Just because one UK poker player wins an event doesn’t mean that you will win an event but it should indicate that there is no reason why you can’t win an online poker event. A lot of it is about finding the right event for your level because if you are a rookie poker player, you are going to need a lot of good fortune to bag a massive prize. However, we all have to start somewhere and low online tournaments can help you to develop the confidence that will one day see you rise to the top in the big events.

5th Place Finish For UK Poker Star Jake Cody At EPT Grand Final

Jake CodyWhen you make it into the final table of a Grand Final poker event, you know you are going to be in the running for a big prize. The money is always going to be important and you should never believe those that say it isn’t. Of course, the money can go to different things. For some poker players, the poker cash helps them to play in tournaments and to balance out the cost of leading a double life! For other poker players, it is the love and pursuit of cash that helps players to keep going. No matter the reason though, the money when added to the allure of finishing strongly and defeating other poker players is always going to be a spur for some.

If you like to follow the successes of UK poker players, you will be delighted to know that Jake Cody managed to get into the final table, which meant he was guaranteed some big cash. The lowest ranked player at the final table still managed to walk away with €103,000, which is certainly not a bad return for a few day of poker player. Finishing 8th in a tournament may not be the stuff that dreams are made of but when it brings a take-home amount of more than 100,000 euros, it should be enough to keep players happy.

UK poker is still in the hunt for big prizes

Thankfully, Jake Cody was not in 8th place, he managed to finish in fifth place, which is obviously a whole lot better. If you are the sort of person that likes to look on the glass half empty side of life, there were four players that finished higher than Jake but sometimes in life you have to take what you have been given. The vast majority of poker players in the world would be hugely delighted with a 5th placed finish at an EPT Grand Final and hopefully Jake is feeling rather fine today!

EPT Grand FinalYou would hope that the prize money of €251,000 will be enough to ensure that he has a smile on his face. This is a big step up from the 8th placed player so even battling on to get beyond that extra player or two can make a massive difference to the amount of cash that is taken away. Of course, while Jake will be delighted with the amount of money he bagged in Monte Carlo, how do you think Steve O’Dwyer is feeling?

Steve came out on top and he managed to bag himself €1,224,000 which is certainly a prize that would make you feel rather pleased with yourself! This is a huge amount of cash but this is what the top poker players are playing for. Winning a Grand Final at the EPT is going to be something that Dwyer will look back on happily for the rest of his life but picking up over a million euros is also going to be a very pleasant moment in his life!

EPT Season 2013-14 Schedule Is Announced

EPT LogoWhile many poker eyes are currently focused on Monte Carlo to take in the current EPT Grand Final, there is also a good bit of focus being applied to the following season. It is understandable that many in the poker community like to look ahead. Some poker players will be keen to find the EPT stop-off that is local to them and others will be keen to find the cheapest travel deals to help them jet off to as many poker tournaments in advance. The earlier you book the more discounts you can receive so it makes sense that you would be keen to know the season schedule as early as possible.

For UK and Irish poker players, it is understandable where most of the focus for the forthcoming EPT season will fall. The second event of the season is scheduled for London and this is the one that plenty of players will dream of getting to. There are plenty of European dates that are within easy reach for UK and Irish poker players but it is perfectly understandable that the London date will be the one that stands out from the rest. The festival of poker will begin on the 2nd of October and it will carry all the way through until the 12th of October. This provides plenty of opportunities to get involved with the event and there will be lots of poker players that take the opportunity to have some fun in the capital of England.

A London leg will be looked forward to

The main event of the London EPT event starts on the 6th of October. There is quite a gap between the English stop-off on the EPT and the remaining stops so there will definitely be a lot of players heading to London to help them to bridge the gap.

The season kicks off in Barcelona in late August, which is definitely a great time to be playing poker. Whether you love the sun or you think it is too warm to be outdoors in the Catalan capital at this time of year, hopefully you will be able to make the most of the poker playing opportunity. The first EPT festival of the season begins on the 28th of August and the event carries on until the 7th of September. The Main Event in Barcelona will begin on September the 1st.

After London, attention swings to Prague but this event is not beginning until the 8th of December. This is the date the festival begins but many players will be more interested to learn about the Main Event date, which begins on the 12th of December. The festival continues through until the 18th of December. This is the last event in 2013 with 5 poker events being crammed into the first four months of 2014. If you love poker, you are sure to find an exciting start to the New Year.

The first event gets underway on the 4th of January with the Caribbean Adventure getting the year underway. The Main Event begins on the 5th of January and the festival carries on until the 13th. Up next is the Deauville leg and the Main Event begins the same day as the festival begins, which is the 22nd of January. The tournament concludes on the 1st of February.

Next up is Berlin which begins on the 12th of March, with the Main Event beginning on March the 16th. The festival concludes on the 22nd of the month, leaving a short amount of time to prepare for the Sanremo leg. This festival begins on the 6th of April with the Main Event beginning on the 10th of April. The festival concludes on the 16th of April and there really is no time to draw breath before the Monaco Grand Final!

The Monaco festival kicks off on the 23rd of April with the Main Event starting on the 26th and the festival and the entire season will conclude on the 2nd of May!

British Poker Players Certainly Had A Super Tuesday

PokerStars Super TuesdayWhile the big focus for online poker sites comes with the Sunday games, there is not a day without a poker game that is worth looking out for. This is great news because we all run different lives and have separate schedules that we need to keep track of. What works for one person may not exactly work for another so it can be great to have some time when you know you can get online and enjoy some big poker action for a good amount of money. This is definitely the case on Tuesday evenings and some British poker players definitely had a Super Tuesday this week!

Real Madrid almost had a Super Tuesday this week but they just failed to overcome their first leg deficit and this means that Borussia Dortmund clinched their place at the big Wembley final later on this month. This is something that plenty of poker players will be looking to emulate with the Dusk Till Dawn backed International Stadium Poker Tour event heading for Wembley at the end of May. There was great success this week though and two British poker players managed to grab over $100,000 between them for their play on the Super Tuesday game.

Big poker success playing for big money

The $1,050 buy-in of the PokerStars Super Tuesday event is certainly eye-watering but it managed to draw 541 people to the game. This clearly means that there is a market for this sort of event and the fact that there was a prize pool of $541,000 on offer shows you that there was something special to play for. Whatever else you do with your time on a Tuesday night, it is not likely to be as exciting or as thrilling as this poker game!

Amongst the final 9 players were two UK players so they knew they were in the running to make big money. The smallest amount lined up for the final table was just under $9,000. This would be a big drop from what the winners would expect to get but it would still represent a healthy return for the initial investment and the time spent playing poker.

Going into the final table, the chips leader was David Emmons, who is known as “Betudontbet” online and he held 570,808 chips. In the third position at the table was one British player, “route666” who held 220,383 chips and in the fifth position around the table was Goldenboys, who held 320,280 chips.

For once, the chip leader going into the final table held on for victory and David Emmons grabbed a whopping $92,265 for his trouble. There was real UK success in second place though as “Goldenboys” found himself taking home $86,265 for a second place finish. The other UK player, route666 finished back in sixth place but this still earned a respectable $22,992.50. Both players grabbed the sort of financial return that most players could only dream of when playing poker and it remains to be seen how all their other Tuesdays this year rank against Super Tuesday.