While there was no sign of panic at the end of Day 1A at the Reading leg of the GUKPT event, there would have been or two nervous organisers. There was a very low turnout for the event, with just 52 players deciding to pay their way into the event. Thursday’s can be a bit slow for poker events like this and hopes were high that there would be a much bigger turnout on the Friday. This definitely turned out to be the case as Friday had more than double the number of paying poker players than Thursday had!
Yes, there were a total of 113 poker players paying their way to play on Friday and at £550 a pop, this meant there was a lot of smiles from the organisers. In fact, with 113 poker players snapping up the chance to play on Friday, the Reading event actually managed to become the busiest with respect to GUKPT events. It just goes to show that a lot can change overnight!
A much healthier turnout for Day 1B
Of the 113 players on Friday, a total of 44 managed to make their way into the Day 2 event which was taking place on Saturday. With 25 players gaining entry to Day 2 from their efforts on Thursday, Saturday had 79 players lined up to come along and take part in the fun and excitement at the G Casino in Reading.
The overall chip leader for the play on Saturday was decided on Friday with John Burberry ending up with a total of 133,850 chips. John is no stranger to live poker events and managed to claim a fourth place finish at a WCOOP (World Championship of Online Poker) event so he has plenty of skill at the top end of a major poker event. Having a substantial chip amount at the end of the Day 1 poker action is no guarantee of getting to the end of Day 2 in a similar position but at least Burberry has provided himself with the chance to grab success in this event.
Some other poker players who will be happy with their work building to Day 2 include Ashley Smith, who earned 98,125 chips, Andy Probyn, who grabbed 108,000 chips and David Lloyd, who was holding 128,850 chips at the end of Day 1B. The plan for Saturday’s play was to continue until the final table was in place and then the action would roll over to Sunday.
In the current climate, everyone is obsessed with numbers and seeing how things stack up and compare to other things. This is something that is particularly prevalent in the current UK poker scene and every event will have the number of players and attendees examined and analysed in close detail. We’re not ones to be left out in this regard which is why the initial turn-out for the start of the GUKPT Reading leg was fairly disappointing.
Even though there will still be 
No matter the activity in life, it can be all too easy to focus on the big names and the star players. When there is big money involved, people will inevitably look towards the top players but one of the best things about poker is that it is open for everyone. On the right day with the right turn of cards, a lowly player can take out a massive name, which is something that is not always available in other activities and sports. By and large the big name poker player will take care of the smaller poker player but there can be occasions where the lesser known player wins.
Given the amount of poker players from around the world who are trying their luck at the WSOP in Las Vegas, it is no great surprise that there are no British or Irish players amongst the winners just yet. There are still plenty of events to go do hopes are still high that there may be some success to come but as of yet, there have been no stories of UK triumph. This is not to say that there haven’t been great performances from UK and Irish players though. There are plenty of players from here over who have performed well over there, grabbing cash finishes and making it through to the latter stages of the tournaments.
While there are many professional poker players taking part in the WSOP, there are also plenty of players that have scrimped and saved all year to take part in some of the smaller tournaments. Being able to play in the WSOP in Las Vegas is clearly a dream come true for many players and hopefully every UK and Irish player that has made it all the way to Sin City will have a brilliant time. Winning and doing well is brilliant but at times like these, sometimes it is the taking part that is the most important thing.
It is perfectly understandable that poker players will have interests outside of poker. There is no doubt that the top players in the game will have a great deal of focus on improving their skills and becoming a better player but players need to be able to unwind and step away from the game. Many poker players like to follow a sport and this is where football comes to the fore of popular activities.
Going into the final day, the table was set up as follows. Ludovic Geilich was the chip leader with 4,100,000 and the second placed player was Kamil Hrabia, who had 2,815,000 chips. In third place was Pablo Rojas who held 2,155,000 chips while in fourth place was Jorge Erguas Paniagua who had 2,095,000 chips. In fifth place was Asier Crespo, who had 1,410,000 chips while Fernando Curto was in 6th place with 1,190 chips. In 7th was Jonatan Soderstorm, the first player with less than 100,000 chips as he had 660,000 chips. In eighth place was Lucas Blanco, who had 440,000 chips.
This meant that Pablo Rojas and Ludovic Geilich were in the final head to head and with a 3 to q chip lead established early on, Geilich remained in full control, eventually grinding out the win, the big money and the kudos of being a big poker title winner.
Given that over 760 poker players have taken part in the UKIPT Marbella event, it has been a great achievement to make it to the end of Day 2. Every player that has made it through to this level will be guaranteed of taking away a couple of thousand euros for their trouble but once you get to this stage, you want to keep going as much as possible. Of course, every poker player will say this and there will be a great deal of competition to make it to the big money stages.
Even though a great deal of the focus and attention on the ISPT Wembley event fell on the numbers (and lack of attendees), it would be fair to say that some poker events have been achieving great success with respect to pulling in the punters. This has definitely been the case at the Marbella UKIPT event, which says a lot for the reputation that the event has managed to develop for itself.
Given that so many players failed to make the cut from Day 1B, it was no surprise that a number of major names fell by the wayside. Leo Margets and Gregorz Mikiekewicz were knocked out, leaving them to think about what might have been. Given that the event is a UKIPT event, some of the big UK names still involved in the tournament include Surinder Sunar and Martins Aeniya, who will still be harbouring dreams of big success. Some poker players will be looking forward to the UKIPT Cork event in August but plenty of poker players still have high hopes for Marbella success.
There was a lot of excitement and anticipation in the build-up to the Main Event of the UKIPT Marbella event. The fact that it was the curtain raiser of the season meant that there was always going to be interest but with this event being held outside of the UK, there was an added level of interest in how the event would go. The idea of jetting off to sunnier climes to enjoy some poker action is something that appeals to many people and if you were unable to make it to the Las Vegas for the WSOP, heading to Marbella seemed like a great compromise!