Poker Blog

Even though there are many excellent poker destinations in the world and online poker means you can have great fun without leaving your home, there is still a lot of glamour and glory attached to Las Vegas. For many people, Las Vegas will always be the place they associate with gaming and gambling. This means that many people have a big ambition to make it to Las Vegas and play in some of the most illustrious gambling venues in the world. Slots and roulette may hold a lot of appeal but poker is always going to be a game that stands out for many folk.

There is one pub poker player in the UK who is going to have the chance to live this dream. John Kendal who plays in the Ellesmere Port Labour Club has scooped this remarkable prize after taking part in a poker tournament which was held at the Genting Club in Sheffield. The Redtooth Poker Vegas 100 tournament may not be the biggest name when it comes to poker tournaments but you try and tell that to John! There is a genuine opportunity for John to live out his dreams thanks to this event and he is not the only one.

Plenty of poker players playing for a big prize

There were over 200 pub poker players from all over the UK at the Genting Club taking part in one of the national semi-finals. Of this 200, 10 players managed to book their way to the United States of America and in total, there will be 100 poker players from the UK heading over. You now see why the Vegas 100 event got its name! It’s a tremendous achievement for John and he will get the chance to put his wits against some of the best poker players in the country in one of the best surroundings.

It would be fair to say that the Vegas 100 event is the biggest pub poker league in the country. It has been going since 2007 and is played across over 1,000 venues in the UK. The fact that there are 150,000 players registered to the league gives you a sense of the interest that surrounds this league.

While there have been a number of UK poker players taken to Las Vegas by the company in the past few years, 2013 will see the biggest number yet, making it a very special occasion.

While the lure and appeal of being a professional poker player and travelling the world will never diminish, it is not for everyone. There are more than enough people that like to enjoy poker as a hobby or past-time. There are plenty of folk that enjoy poker as a way of adding more fun to their life or giving them a break from the important things they have going on in their life. This is why even though it is inevitable that there will be a focus on the professional poker world, it is important to look at what is going on with the amateur poker community too.

There was a celebration of the amateur poker community over the Easter weekend with the highly praised Dusk Till Dawn venue being the host for the APAT World Championships Of Amateur Poker (WCOAP). Anyone looking for a thrilling end to the Main Event were treated to a fine display of poker skill and play that would have graced any final poker table around the world. At the end of it all, Erimas Livonas, from Lithuania, was the champion in the £110 buy-in event. The buy-in price was set at a good level considering the amateur nature of players and there was a lot of interest in the Main Event. A total of 451 players were involved at the start of the process but this had been whittled down to 64 on the final day.

Money and bling for the winners!

As well as playing for the kudos of being the Main Event winner players were battling for a £10,000 prize, a seat at ISPT Day 2, a gold medal from APAT and there was a custom made bracelet created especially for the event by Aspire Jewellery. Livonas may not have been the most conventional of players at the final table but he had a strong level of effectiveness to his play and in the end he managed to outlast his opponents and claim the glory and the prize.

There were also plenty of over events and poker tournaments held during the celebration which means that plenty of people ended the Easter weekend feeling the glow of being a winner. In the WCOAP Heads Up Championship, there were 64 players duking it out in a one versus one style to grab the crown. There was a lot of joy at Dusk Till Dawn in this event because Weswell Ellis, the eventual winner, is a regular player at the club. Weswell triumphed against Vikrum Mehta in the last match, earning himself £1,100 for the Heads Up winner. Mehta shouldn’t feel too down though because he received £700 for his second place finish and he also managed to come second in the WCOAP Seven Card Stud event. He could look at the weekend as one of near misses but he should take a lot of pride in his performance.

32 poker players stepped up to the challenge of the WCOAP Razz Championship and there was a strong finish to this as well. The 4th placed player, Duncan Hodgkins earned £160 while in second place, Mark Lassman grabbed £320. In 2nd place was Simon Lawlor who received £416 while in first place was Joanna Sharp. Joanna received £592, a gold medal and a bracelet, giving her plenty to remember from her time in Nottingham.

There were 113 players competing for the WCOAP Omaha Championship but it was Mike Perry, from Southampton, who was rewarded for his trip. The buy-in was set at £55 but there was additional incentive for poker players due to the fact that a ISPT Day 1 seat had been added to the prize pool. This was claimed by Perry in addition to £1,666.75.

Just when many of us were looking to move beyond the joys of Easter and settle back into the old routine, there were plenty of people in Dublin still living it up. There is no doubt that Dublin is a place that likes to party 24/7 but with the Irish Open Poker Main Event taking place on Monday afternoon and evening, there was to be no early finish for the players. Of course, that is just the way that many poker players like it, so you wouldn’t get many complaints about what was on offer in Dublin.

One of the biggest elements of the Irish open was the Paddy Power Poker Sole Survivor title. This was given to the player that came through to the Main Event from a Paddy Power Poker satellite and lasted the longest. There were two players in the running for this in the final 7 players, so it shows once again that there is a great deal of talent qualifying for major poker events through these satellite events.

The winner of the Paddy Power Poker Sole Survivor title was Calvin Anderson and this weekend was certainly a lucrative payday. For being the longest lasting player, he picks up €50,000 and entry to next year’s WSOP and the Irish Open Main Event. That is a great range of prizes and when you think that Anderson also gets to take home the prize money for his final table finish, it has certainly been a lucrative Easter holiday for him.

Late night fun was had by the final five

At 10pm, there were still five players in the hunt for the Irish Open and the excitement was getting to everyone. The player at most immediate risk was Mark Davis, who had 1,380,000 chips. In fourth place sat Michael Farrelly who had 1,570,000 chips at his disposal and Namir Mohamed was in third place, with a chip count of 2,510,000.

The Sole Survivor Calvin Anderson was sitting in second place with 2,940,000 chips as well as the big wad of cash that was already secure. This meant that in the lead was Ian Simpson, who held 5,690,000 chips at this point. This definitely gave Simpson a fantastic start for the run-in but we’ve all played far too many poker games to know that these leads are not always insurmountable.

This was proven by the fact that Anderson exited in fifth place. However, any disappointment he may have had was eased with taking home a massive cheque which combined his Sole Survivor prize and his finishing place money. In fourth was Namir Mohamed and in third place was Mark Davis. This left two players and at the start of the heads up, Ian Simpson had a massive lead of 11,470,000 chips compared to Michael Farrelly who held 3,440,000.

It was therefore no surprise when Farrelly was quickly ground out of the event, taking home €141,500 which meant that Ian Simpson was the Irish Open champion, receiving €265,000 for his time and effort. That certainly made for a happy Easter for Simpson!

When it comes to having fun with your friends or family members, there is something to be said about having a big get-together at Easter. This is something that would have been in the mind of poker players that gathered in Nottingham at the Dusk Till Dawn venue over the Easter weekend. There was a celebration of amateur poker with the 2013 APAT World Championship taking place. The Amateur Poker Association & Tour is a popular body and there was a lot to celebrate over the course of the year.

A number of awards were also handed out on the night including one which saw Dusk Till Dawn being awarded the best poker venue award. It would have been poor form if the host venue was overlooked for another venue so no doubt there was a great sense of contentment with that award.

Suzanne Hayward was acknowledged as the breakthrough player of the year while David Amos was deemed to have made the member performance of the year. The Player of the Year award went to Carl Pilgrim and the hall of fame entrant was Paul Davis.

The teams made it a big celebration of poker

One of the big parts of the event was the Team Championship, which gave players the opportunity to have some national pride in their poker players. There was two days of big match poker action and the final places were fought out between four high quality teams. The third and fourth play-off saw Spain and Canada battling it out for the bronze while the Grand Final took place between Italy and England.

Canada managed to claim the bronze medal by defeating Spain by 3-2 with all attention turning to the big final where the full support was behind England. The noisy crowd got what they wanted as England romped home with a 3-0 win. Stuart Ward was up first and he defeated Guiseppe Maggisano and then the two nil lead was grabbed when Carl Pilgrim defeated Luigi Belleri. The English triumph was clinched when Tony Trippier defeated Gariel Lemmito leading England to a 3-0 whitewash which set the scene for an evening of celebration. The English football team may not be able to get the better of Italy but the amateur poker players showed that they know what it takes to defeat the Azzuri.

The main focus may have been on the Main Event but the Team Championship was a big event for all concerned in Nottingham.

If you have been spending the Easter weekend enjoying chocolate and having some quiet time with friends and family, you may not be alone in that. After all, there is nothing better than having some quiet time to relax and unwind and this maybe explains why the poker action has not been so fast and furious over the past couple of days. Poker players can usually find a good excuse to slip off and enjoy the poker action at times but at big family events like Easter, that may not have been so easy.

However, you know that you can always rely on Dublin to host a party and the Irish Open has been taking place over the past few days. The final is not starting until early afternoon on Easter Monday so there is still some work to be done for the main players but a good few players have already fallen by the wayside. If you have been at a loose end, you may have caught up with the event which has been streamed live and there is still time to watch the final table play out on Monday afternoon and evening if you want to see the top class poker players involved. Given that the Irish Open is one of the oldest poker tournaments in the world, there is no doubt that there is a high level of prestige involved with winning this event.

Kara Scott will have to wait a little while longer to achieve her goals of being a WPT winner as she crashed out in 12th place at the Venice event. Things had been looking good for Scott but in the end, a run of bad luck worked against her and she was leaving the action before things progressed to the final table. There was not a great deal of UK involvement with the WPT Venice event with Scott and Liv Boeree being the only notable UK related players to make any in-roads to the tournament. Perhaps the Easter weekend was a time for many of the UK players to rest and prepare for upcoming events!

History was made in Venice

One player who wasn’t taking things easy over the weekend was Rocco Palumbo who triumphed at the Venice event. The Italian is already a WSOP bracelet winner but this latest triumph ensures that his name is engraved on the WPT Champions Cup too. The Venice event was staged in the Casino di Venezia, the casino which is the oldest in the world and Rocco will be delighted with walking away with $180,097. This is a hefty prize and one that definitely made ignoring the sights of Venice for poker action a very sensible one for the player.

There may not have been the same money on offer at the UK Poker Championship which took place in Coventry last week but the tournament was still as eagerly contested. In the end, student Ben Foxwell was the player that came out on top of the 469 entrants to the event. There will no doubt be plenty of people up and down the country bemoaning the fact that students are playing poker as opposed to studying but if you have a talent for something that you enjoy you may as well use it. For his efforts, Foxwell received £3,450 and entry to the GUKPT Grand Final but the kudos of overcoming the rest of the student poker population will no doubt be of great interest too!

Things will hot up in the next week or two when it comes to poker so if you’re looking for more excitement, there will be plenty to enjoy and look forward to.

Following on from the brief diversion of the Student Poker Championship in Coventry, the GUKPT is gearing up to get on the road again. The season kicked off with a successful event in London and the organisers will be hoping that the second leg of the tour in Didsbury is just as successful. Taking poker around the country is an ideal way to ensure that everyone gets the chance to be involved with the big events and there are plenty of big poker games to enjoy from the start of next week.

The event, taking place at the Grosvenor G Casino in Didsbury provides Northern poker players the chance to play for big prizes and to make sure that they are booked up for the Grand Final of the tour which is coming later in the year.

The poker action gets underway in a week

The event begins on Monday the 8th of April, so you will want to start thinking about making plans for next week if you have not already done so. Forget about the fact that today is April Fool’s Day, all of the information regarding the Didsbury event is spot on and can be relied upon!

The first Main Event day takes place on Thursday the 11th of April, which is day 1A and Friday represents day 1B. There is a £500 buy in for the initial days but with a trophy and a guaranteed prize pool of £50,000 on offer, there is likely to be a lot of excitement and interest in the event. Day 2 proper of the Main Event takes place on the Saturday and the final is lined up for the Sunday so you don’t need to enjoy the full weeks’ worth of activities, you could make the most of Friday, Saturday and Sunday while being a big winner.

With satellite games, turbo games, Omaha games and even a Bounty game taking place prior to and around the Main Event, there should be plenty of poker options available for players looking to make the most of their time next week. With buy-ins being available for some events from as little as £30, there is no need to spend a lot of money to enjoy poker.

After the Didsbury event, the GUKPT moves onto Stockton in May where the event will also be taking place near the beginning of the month. There is a lot of poker to be played in the GUKPT 2013 season with the Grand Final in London seeming a very long way off but by playing soon and making a name for yourself, there is a chance to ensure that there will be a lot of poker fun and activity to look forward to at the end of the year.

Hopefully you have been enjoying your Easter weekend but we should always spare a thought for people that have to work during these busy times. Even though some of us get some well-earned time off to spend with loved ones, there are also people that find that this is when they are at their busiest. While you may be thinking that the Easter break is a perfect time for poker players to relax, there is definitely a lot to be said for taking this time to engage in some serious poker action. This is why there has been so much focus on Dublin, which has been hosting the Irish Open over the Easter Weekend.

This event is one of the most prestigious in the world of poker and it has a great reputation. Dublin has a fantastic reputation as the sort of place that people love to visit but for the poker players involved with the Irish Open, there wasn’t much time to party. It has been all about the business and things are now starting to head along to a big finish. This is because the final table has been set up and there are now just eight players in with a chance of winning the prestigious poker event.

Plenty to play for in Dublin

Day three of the event, which was Sunday, started off with 63 players and every one of them was no doubt thinking about grabbing the first prize, which is an impressive €265,000. The Sunday play took 12 hours but this allowed the 63 players to be narrowed down to a cast of eight and it is these players who will be taking part in the Monday session. One of the interesting things about the Sunday poker was that the main players managed to hold their lead. Quite often in poker play, a leader at the start of the day will find that their dominance is eroded rather quickly but that has not been the case in Dublin.

Calvin Anderson and Ian Simpson were the leaders at the start of the day and they are both coming in to the Monday session with a great deal of confidence and happiness with their form and their poker stack. This can all change in a short space of time but there is no doubt that there is a lot to look forward to for these players.

The player who got caught on the bubble was Niall O’Sullivan, who was the last player to go home with nothing. There was a surprise in store for O’Sullivan though because he was informed that he would receive a free pass to the Irish Open in 2014, which definitely helped to soften the blow of exiting with no money.

With only eight players going through to the final table, there was always going to be a big exit of some big names. This means that players like Liam Flood, Dermot Blaine and Andy Black all missed out on coming back for the big event on Sunday.

The end of March is a difficult time for many students because the threat of exams is looming large. For the dedicated student, study time has already begun and this month will be a quiet period when they spend all of their time in their books cramming hard for the big exams that are coming up shortly. However, there will be some students that feel as though there is plenty of time before they have to start worrying about exams. This means that some students will be in the mood to let their hair down before the more serious effort of studying comes to a head.

One student who will definitely be in the mood for celebrating at the moment is Ben Foxwell. This is because Ben is the big winner of the UK Student Poker Championship, the UKSPC. The event has been taking place at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry and 469 players took to the event in the hope of grabbing one of the top prizes. When you consider that the entry fee for the event was £30, the eventual return that Foxwell managed to grab was well worth the time and effort that he put in at the Coventry event.

A good selection of prizes for Foxwell

For his achievement, alongside the kudos of knowing that he defeated all of the other players, Foxwell gets to celebrate the fact that he receives £3,450. In addition to the cash, Foxwell will also receive a seat at the Grand Final of the GUKPT. This has a value of £2,000 so you have to say that this student has played his cards right with his performance this week. 98 players made their way back to the event on Thursday afternoon but there was only cash for the top 50 players so a lot of players would be going home very disappointed with their showing.

It was a late affair for the final table with the last 9 players getting down to action around midnight. Mind you, this is still quite early in the evening for a number of poker players so it would not have been a culture shock to be playing at this time. The first player to drop out of the final table was Andy Sumeou who received £245. In 8th place was Arthur Villa, who received £425 and Matt Butcher, in 7th, picked up £630.

In 6th place, earning £775 was Simon Priddis and the 5th placed player, Sunny Kalcutt, earned £915. The first player to earn over £1,000 was Han Zhang, who came in 4th and there was £1,405 provided to Matt Takaro in 3rd place. The unlucky runner up was Lucas Durney who received £2,100 and of course, Ben Foxwell was the winner, receiving £3,540.

The GUKPT rolls onto Manchester in April but many of the students will only be looking forward to the hard slog of examinations before the long joy of summer comes their way once again.