There are many different activities and entertainment available to choose from when it comes to a Sunday but there are a lot worse ways to spend it than playing poker. If you make the most of Friday and Saturday, it may be that Sunday is your day of rest before you have to think about getting back to work on the Monday. In this instance it makes perfect sense for someone to have a lazy day but you can take things easy while retaining a mental focus. This is where online poker can provide the perfect platform to sharpen your mind while giving your body a rest.
Of course, Sunday online poker is boosted by the fact that there are so many great online poker events and tournaments to choose from. There is a wide range of online poker sites providing a fantastic range of poker events for players and many with big money up for grabs. This is definitely a huge incentive to make no other plans for your Sunday because you could be in line to win a sum of money that could see you start Monday with a massive smile on your face.
Go for the big money and you may just get lucky
You may be thinking that this is a little far-fetched but it happened to one UK player at the weekend so the bar has been raised once again. You have to remember that someone has to win these events and you have to be in it to win it. The odds may be stacked against you but sometimes that is the majesty of poker. This is definitely what David Vamplew will be thinking after his big weekend success. There were a number of Irish and UK success stories to come from Sunday but picking up $61,457 deserves to be the main story and Vamplew, or “david1213” as he is known as online is clearly smiling now! The event was the PokerStars $225,000 Guaranteed Sunday Rebuy event.
One of the interesting things about the win was the fact that there was no agreement made at the final table to split the cash. There were some big step ups in money so the fact that no agreement could be reached meant that Vamplew was a huge winner. This could have worked against him but sometimes fortune favours the brave and this was definitely a daring and deserved success. Vamplew has had some notable success in his poker career, including a EPT London win and this was also his second biggest online cash success, meaning he has achieved even more than what he earned on Sunday.
If you think you have the poker skills to pay the bills, it is time to step up to the plate and show that you can mix it with the big boys. You just never know, you could earn a huge sum of money for doing so when it comes around to poker time on Sunday.
Sometimes making it to the final table is the main thing for players when playing in a big poker tournament. Getting past the bubble and into the money is always going to be an important thing and once players get beyond that stage, some will relax. There will be other poker players that can sense victory and will push on to win but there will be others who will be delighted with the fact that they can earn some cash. Getting to the final table can often take a lot of skill and effort and by the time a player arrives and the final table begins, some players may find that they have little left to give.
It was the €2,000 No Limit Hold ‘Em game and a 19th position saw a prize of over $8,000 making its way to the UK. This was followed by two money finishes at the 43rd World Series of Poker (WSOP) event in Las Vegas. A 283rd finish in a $1,000 No Limit Hold ‘Em game may only have brought about a prize of $1,942 but a lower finish garnered a much higher prize in the $10,000 World Championship No Limit event. James may have finished in 508th place but this saw him bag $24,808. The last big money win for 2012 for James came at the Fox Poker Club in their October Main Event where a 9th placed finish in the £400 No Limit Hold ‘Em game saw James pick up $1,052.
You’ve got to be in it to win it is something that most people recognise in life. This is true for all events and activities that have a competitive element. While taking part in something to win it is great news, it often means that you have to deal with the heartache of losing out on something.
This is exactly what Najib was able to do, just coming up short at the end when he lost out to the winner Micah Raskin. However, there was a three-way tie agreed by the last three players so there was a big amount of money coming the way of Najib Kamand. €105,366 is the sort of prize that will greatly appeal to most players and it make the impressive return for the Turbo game on the day before look like loose change for the UK based poker player!
Over the weekend there will inevitably be a lot of focus on the WSOP-APAC Main Event which is scheduled to finish on Monday the 15th of April. As the working population in the UK were getting set up for what would hopefully be a fun-filled Friday, Day 2 of the Main Event was already well underway down under. The number of players still left in the tournament, as you would expect, was huge, making it impossible to predict how it will pan out. However, any UK poker fan having a fly check of the updates before 9.30am would have seen a familiar poker name up to his usual antics.
Although the problems and differences between the United Kingdom and Ireland are still very much evident, there are ways that progress is being made. It is not as if a successful poker tournament is going to have any impact on the future of the 6 counties in the North of Ireland but it would be fair to say that the UK and Ireland Poker Tour, or UKIPT, has been a great success. The organisation has been operating since late 2009 and it has gone from strength to strength.
It is perfectly understandable that the weekend is the time when plenty of people take to online poker sites. Even though there are poker sites running games and tournaments at every hour of the day, there is not always the time or energy to take part in these games during the week after work. It is not just a case of turning up for these games and hoping that your skills will kick in.
“TapeWormJim”, a poker player taking the name from a lovable computer character from the 1990s, took part in the $530 Sunday 500 where there was a guarantee of $300,000. Finishing in eight place, the UK player received $8,720.
When it comes to getting one over people from foreign countries, the English have a lengthy list of opponents and rivals. We’ll leave aside the rest of the British and Irish contingent but even after doing that, there are plenty of battle scars for English people to remember. The history with Germany is obvious and shouldn’t be glorified with respect to a poker review and of course, there has been conflict with Argentina as well. The might of Maradona at the 1986 World Cup still rankles with many but not too many people will argue that he was a genius on the field of play.
There is no doubting Raine’s experience and skill at the poker table, he has the high-placed finishes and the cash to prove his skills. Raine came second in the UKIPT 3rd season but he grabbed his first win of the FPS at this event. As well as the kudos of being a series winner, Raine also managed to carry of €60,000. To make victory even sweeter, Raine gained entry to the event through an online satellite, which meant he battled all the way to get there.
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.
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.