Poker Blog

While a great deal of focus at the WSOP-APAC event has been on bracelets and big money, there has been more in store for keen poker players and fans. The Caesars Cup event has definitely been of great interest to players and Team American were going all out to retain their title. This was the third event of this team tournament and going into the WSOP-APAC event, the score was tied 1-1 with America and Europe. As reigning champions, the Americans got a bye to the final which meant that Europe had to play against Team APAC to regain their crown.

English poker player Sam Trickett was the team captain of Team Europe and ultimately, he would be the captain that would taste success at the end of the event. The captain picked wisely from a squad that was not too exhaustive, given the location of the tournament there was no surprise that European players were a bit thin on the ground but success was achieved regardless of overall numbers or crowd support.

Poker glory is a big prize

Sam Holden was another English member of the team and he was very excited on Twitter when talking about the big event.

We won! I managed to beat Greg Merson in the deciding game to win. No money, only pride. It’ll be shown on sky later in the year.

This tweet goes some way to showing that it is not only money that motivates poker players. There was a great deal of money going around at the WSOP-APAC event and you can imagine some players would have had their focus on the cash. However, there is definitely a lot of kudos in putting yourself up against some of the best poker players in the world and the European team can take a lot of pride in overcoming their opponents.

Phil Gruissem may be a German poker player but he lives in Brighton and anyone looking at the best poker players residing in England at the moment would definitely have him on their list. The team was rounded out with another two Germans with Marvin Rettenmaier and Dominik Nitsche completing the line-up. This meant that the five man team was comprised of two English players, two German players and an additional German player that lives in England. There has been some differences between Germany and England in the past but the make-up of that team was a great blend to ensure there was balance between the two sides!

2-1 was the score of the tournament

The nature of the event saw teams take part in a best of three event with the first two games being team games. Every side would select two players who would share their stack and then take on their opponents together. After the two team games had been completed, if there was a need to decide the tie, a one on one game would be played. Europe took the first game but Team APAC levelled it which meant that there was a need for a one on one game to decide it. Europe went with young German Domink Nitsche against Jeff Lisandro, a WSOP Champ on five occasions and the odds were on Europe taking an early exit. However, luck was on the side of the Europeans and Nitsche won the hand, taking Team Europe through to the final.

The final between Europe and the USA followed a similar pattern. Europe took the first game but the Americans tied it at 1-1, leaving it to a one on one game to complete the tournament and decide who wins the prize. Sam Holden managed to defeat Greg Merson, giving Europe their second win, adding to their triumph in 2009.

So far there has been no announcement whether there will be another Caesars Cup event or where and when it will take place but you cannot imagine the Americans will be happy at a tournament ending when it is not in their grasp. The trophy has never been contested in America so it would make sense if the 2015 event was held in America but Europe will be keen for more success.

Thursdays are good but Fridays are always better. The closer you get to the weekend, the more excited you become and the more exciting your options are. There is no doubt that Day 1A of the GUKPT Didsbury event went down well and was a big success but there was a big difference between the Thursday and the Friday. This was no criticism of the organisers or the players that took part in the opening day but there were more players and a bigger buzz of excitement surrounding the Friday play.

There were a total of 94 players involved in the Day 1B activities, which was a sharp rise from the 59 that took part on Day 1A. In total, 153 players were fighting for the rights to make it through to Day 2 and just less than a third managed to progress to the Saturday action. 55 players were starting out on Saturday morning with high hopes for the event but 40 of the players will be leaving very disappointed. This is because only the top 15 players will be taking cash away with them. This means that there is a lot to play for and the tension and drama is guaranteed.

Plenty of chips picked up on Friday

The big chip leader on the day also turned out to be the big chip leader of the Day 1’s as Neils Ladefoged made hay with his 20,000 stack of opening chips. By the end of play, Ladeofoged had turned this into 119,750 chips. This beats the amount of Nigel Ventre who managed to claim 99,925 on Thursday evening.

Ladefoged does not have many cashes showing in his Hendon Mob page, but the ones that are displayed are quite impressive to say the least. He has live tournament winnings of £37,900 with his most recent cash being for £10,350 that was his reward for finishing seventh in the 2012 English Poker Open.

With players like Ventre, Peter Wigglesworth, Kevin Houghton, Matt Davenport and Erimas Livonas already through from Thursday, there were some big UK poker players making it through on Friday too. Coming through with Ladefoged were players like Mike Hill, who managed to pick up 118,375 which was also more than the amount picked up by Thursday’s leader. There was Day1B success for Julian Thew, the Sky Poker player too, who managed to earn 93,500 chips. Other players making it though were John Eames, Stuart Rutter, Steve Holden and Tom Hall.

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.

With the Hippodrome playing host to some top class poker this weekend, the Aspers Casino in Stratford may have been feeling a bit left out. After all, this has been the host for so many great poker tournaments already this year but it may be that the Hippodrome is going to give it a run for its money. There is no getting away from the fact that a casino and poker room in the heart of London’s tourist centre is going to be a popular choice and its location at Leicester Square is a huge draw for the Hippodrome.

However, the Aspers Casino in Stratford is not that far away and it is not as if there are no other attractions in the nearby area. It is a huge complex, a place you could easily spend all day in and there are plenty of reasons for poker players to spend a lot of time in this part of the capital city. Next weekend though, there is a very strong reason for spending a good amount of time in the Aspers Casino.

A big venue for the big poker events

The Boylepoker.com event, their International Poker Open (IPO) will be taking place and there will be a £200+£25 buy-in for the event. This tournament will be hosted in the same venue that has recently played host to the World Poker Tour National London event and the recent Premier League VI from PartyPoker.com was also held in Stratford. The venue has very quickly established itself as one of the main draws in the London poker circuit and you can guarantee that plenty more events will be hosted here.

The event starts on Wednesday the 17th of April but there will be three starting flights for the event. Yes, Wednesday will be Day 1A, Thursday will be Day 1B and Friday is all set to be Day 1C! Saturday will be Day 2 proper and Sunday is Day 3 and the final day where the poker action will continue until there is a winner. With respect to the flight days, the evenings will begin at 7pm and it is expected that the events will carry through until just before 1am. There is a lot of interest in this event and organisers have said they expect there to be around 700 poker players involved at the time when the registration process is shut.

There is an added boost for the players with the news that Boylesports have added £5,000 to the prize pool, boosting the amount that will be on offer. The kudos of taking on and defeating your fellow poker player is always good but when it comes down to it, nothing spells success like poker winnings!

Wednesday is as good a time as any to start looking forward to the weekend’s activities. To be honest, Monday morning is probably as good a time as any to start looking forward to the next weekend but there is no doubt that many people like to get some days behind them before they start wishing their life away. As the middle point of the week, Wednesday feels as though you have put the Monday blues far behind you and the weekend starts to move into touching distance. Wednesday is far from being the ideal day of the week but if you love to play poker at the weekend, this is the day to start pulling your plans together.

If you are looking to play online poker, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to do so. The big sites all offer massive Saturday and Sunday games so you’ll not be short of options. However, there are players that prefer the chance to play against actual people in real-life venues at the weekend. If you are sat behind a computer screen all week at work, you may not find the idea of sitting behind a computer screen all weekend too appealing. This is why you should get out and play poker around a table against other keen poker fans.

There were not too many big poker options for UK players last weekend but that is not the case the weekend. In fact, if anything, there is too much choice because two of the biggest names in UK poker have events this weekend. This lack of convergence may be slightly annoying for some poker players who would love the chance to be able to take on the biggest names and play all of the biggest venues. Different poker bodies and organisations don’t need to plan ahead with other bodies in mind but it would be good if there was a bit more thought put into the planning process.

Some big poker choices have to be made

One big poker highlight of the weekend comes with the UKIPT Series which is launching at the Hippodrome just off Leicester Square. This is going to be one of the most popular poker venues in the country due to its great location. However, the fact that big names like PokerStars are also getting involved means that there will be a lot of interest in what the venue has to offer.

This should be enough to get poker players excited but if you are looking for a different option, Leg 2 of the GUKPT tour will be taking place in Didsbury in Manchester. The event is already underway but it will start to get exciting this weekend. Thursday and Friday represent Day 1A and Day 1B of the event with Saturday representing Day 2 while Sunday is the Main Event Final Day.

One thing that is of benefit to players is the fact that there is a geographical split for the event. The players in the South of England can focus on London for their event and anyone in the North of England or Scotland can look towards Manchester for their poker activity. There has already been a huge North / South divide this week due to the passing of Margaret Thatcher and the differing views of her work in both of these areas. In this sense, a slight poker difference is not going to be too big a deal in the grand scheme of things.

While playing and winning this weekend can be of benefit, there is an incentive to get along and play to ensure you have poker plans later in the year. Both of these events grant entry to later tournaments and events where you will get to play alongside other champions. There is no doubt that poker players looking to mingle with the best can benefit from being active this weekend with some proper poker tournaments.