When it comes to delivering a perfect poker finish, you should be able to rely on a Finnish person and that was definitely the case for Event #11 at the EPT9 London event. There was a buy-in of £2,100 for the event but given that there was as total prize pool of £114,460, there was certainly a lot for the 59 players to get excited about. The top 8 players all got a fine return for the involvement in the event but it was Lauri Pesonen that triumphed.
Pesonen was up against Joao Barbosa, the EPT champion and both players came away from the table with a lot to celebrate. Not only does Pesonen get to class himself as a champion, he picked up £40,060 or his triumph. Barbosa in second place only walked away with £25,190 but that was enough to push his live tournament earnings up to the massive total of $1,426,238. That is the sort of poker money that will make anyone feel proud of themselves but more importantly than that, Barbosa has now moved into second place with respect to the all-time earnings of Portuguese poker players.
Big money on offer for all poker players
A Bulgarian player finished third with Vladimir Velikov claiming £14,880 with US player Scott Seiver bagging over £10,000 for his efforts. That little amount of money may be minute compared to the $2m plus prize that Seiver bagged after taking the PCA 2013 Super High Roller prize. You expect a big prize to be on offer when you are involved with a high roller event but becoming an overnight millionaire is definitely the dream when it comes to playing poker.
The other finishes in the top with went to Marc-Andrew Ladouceur from Canada, who took home a prize of just over £8,000. In sixth place was Sam Greenwood from Canada who claimed £5,720. In seventh place was the Kuwaiti poker player Salman Behbehani who received just over £5,000 for his efforts. There was UK representation in 8th place as Roberto Romanello claimed £4,580.
The Main Events of these poker tournaments will inevitably grab the headlines and provide the highlights but reputations can be earned and developed in the minor events too. Lauri Pesonen will definitely look back on his time in London as being well spent, even if he never got around to seeing all the major tourist attractions that Finnish people look to see when in the English capital.
No matter the activity, any competition that pits the best against the best is well worth watching. Football fans have the Champions League and the World Cup, X has Y and when it comes to poker, a great battle of the champions took place on Monday evening in London. The UKIPT Champion of Champions event took place and the grand winner was the Welsh wizard Richard Evans. Evans booked his place amongst the best players due to succeeding in the UKIPT Dublin event back in May of last year. That seems like such a long time ago but Evans proved that he has consistency in his poker play by triumphing once again when the chips were down… on the table.
While the 
We all live busy lives these days and that is why it is great to have so many options available around the clock. Some people work shifts that sees them having leisure time when most of the country is fast asleep, some people have responsibilities that limit their free time and let’s face it, some people much prefer the night time to the day time. Online casinos and 
Sunday, March 11 saw some excitement in the EPT9 London. Marc Dubach claimed the High Roller UKIPT winnings of £101,950. The final table was pretty tough, but he pulled through and now he’s feeling pretty good about his winnings. 
It’s been in business for 50 years, and it’s still going strong, even with the many other popular casinos nearby. The place is packed, and going strong, so it’s no wonder that EPT9 London is taking place here.
When it comes to names like Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld, darts is obviously the activity that springs to mind. These two heavyweights have been at the top of the darts game for decades and when they face off against each other, there is always something worth looking out for. The two have had their disagreements in their time with both making complaints to each other about their attitude and behaviour but they always seem to fall back into friendship. When it comes to their sporting rivalry, they will have a lot to fight over but at the moment, it seems as though the two are on a good level with respect to respect!
Also on the bill alongside two current darts legends is major darts legend and reality TV star Eric Bristow. For those who grew up with the golden era of darts in the 1970s and 80s, Eric Bristow remains one of the biggest heroes you can find in the world of darts. This means that there should be an excited and noisy crowd at the event with the poker event being a huge attraction on a night which should be filled with fun and excitement.
Sometimes playing aggressively in poker brings the spoils and poker fans who appreciate this tactic will have enjoyed the triumph of Sergio Aido, the Spaniard, at the London leg of the Season 3 of the UKIPT event. Not only did Aido manage to pick up a big trophy for his troubles in London, he takes away a prize of £144,555.
All eyes now turn to the Champion of Champions Event taking place on Monday night. This is the sort of showcase event that always draws a big crowd and the players always want to be a winner at these events. After all, being the best of the best is something that everyone wants to have on their CV.
In the UK, we are well used to Sunday’s being labelled Super Sunday, Sky taking their promotional activities for the big football games direct from the American playbook. However, it is FA Cup weekend and no matter how much people protest that it is still a big attraction for footballers and players, a lot of shine has been lost from the famous tournament. Even the fact that Manchester United and Chelsea are clashing is doing little to raise excitement. You could argue that when it comes to the big Main Event this Sunday, it is poker, rather than football, that is the real deal.
Given the amount of money that is tied up in major poker games, there is no surprise that you hear rumours and whispers of poker bosses being taken out. We live in dangerous economic times and sometimes the lure of a big hit to make some quick money is too appealing for some people. Ordinarily, this would be a very worrying state of affairs but the Manchester 235 Casino, in association with the Manchester Confidential site, are quite relaxed at all the talk of there being a team of people looking to take out their boss.