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.
The new season does not properly get underway until the 12th of June, where there is a jolly outing to Marbella to commemorate the start of season 4. However, poker players keen to find some UKIPT action will be able to get involved this weekend with the launch of the UKIPT Series. This is not part of the official Season 4 but it will run alongside the main tour, providing additional poker opportunities.
The events, listed as £250+£25 events will follow the same structure as the Main Events from the UKIPT but there will be a tighter time scale. There will be a 30 minute clock in play and with a starting stack of 20,000, there is likely to be a lot of poker played. The layout of the event will see there being two separate day 1’s, which will take place on Friday and Saturday and then Sunday will see Day 2 taking place. Even though the average working week is changed beyond all recognition for many people across the UK, poker events that take place over the course of a weekend will be of benefit to many poker players.
You can rely on Liv Boeree to grab the headlines
The UKIPT Series event will take place in London with the new PokerStars LIVE at the Hippodrome Casino card room, which is sure to be one of the major poker venues in the capital. One player who is sure to be at the event this weekend is Liv Boeree who has taken to Twitter to drum up interest in the event. Given that she is a PokerStars player, it is perhaps not the biggest surprise that she will be at the event but any time Liv is at a poker event, she always manages to grab the attention.
There will be an added sense of value and merit to the UKIPT Series down to the fact that the winner will receive entry to the UKIPT Champion of Champions event. This will be a major highlight at the end of the Season 4 of the UKIPT. With a passport available for season 5 of the UKIPT season, this will be hotly contested. Poker players love value and being able to play for the chance to get a whole season of future benefits will definitely inspire players to get involved with the UKIPT Series in the months ahead. The more poker tournaments the better so this is a welcome addition to the UK and Irish poker community.