Poker News

PokerStars UKIPT Kicks Off

The four-day tournament, running until Dec. 14, drew players from 22 countries, including 104 online qualifiers.

“Given it's the first event of a brand new tour, it is really exciting that so many players have qualified for the event and from so many countries,” said newly named UKIPT host and veteran European Poker Tour commentator Nick Wealthall.

“As the tour becomes established and builds its reputation, we look forward to welcoming more and more new players to big time live poker.”

Team PokerStars Pros John Duthie, J.P. Kelly, and Jude Ainsworth joined a field that included 147 players from Ireland and a total of 52 from the United Kingdom.

The group is vying for a piece of a €471,400 prize pool, including €125k for first.

Galway is the first of eight stops on the newly launched UKIPT. The tour will also visit Manchester, Nottingham, Killarney, Brighton, a city yet to be named in Scotland, Dublin and London, where the PokerStars EPT London main event will act as the Grand Final next October.

More on the tour can be found on the UKIPT website.

The PokerStars UK and Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT) kicked off in Galway, Ireland Friday, drawing 259 players for its €2,000 Main Event.

The four-day tournament, running until Dec. 14, drew players from 22 countries, including 104 online qualifiers.

“Given it's the first event of a brand new tour, it is really exciting that so many players have qualified for the event and from so many countries,” said newly named UKIPT host and veteran European Poker Tour commentator Nick Wealthall.

“As the tour becomes established and builds its reputation, we look forward to welcoming more and more new players to big time live poker.”

Team PokerStars Pros John Duthie, J.P. Kelly, and Jude Ainsworth joined a field that included 147 players from Ireland and a total of 52 from the United Kingdom.

The group is vying for a piece of a €471,400 prize pool, including €125k for first.

Galway is the first of eight stops on the newly launched UKIPT. The tour will also visit Manchester, Nottingham, Killarney, Brighton, a city yet to be named in Scotland, Dublin and London, where the PokerStars EPT London main event will act as the Grand Final next October.

Jude Ainsworth joins Team PokerStars Pro

Ainsworth will represent PokerStars in the new UK & Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT), which will see him play a tournament on his home turf of Galway from Dec. 11-14, 2009.

"I'm really looking forward to competing in the UKIPT and being part of such an exciting tour," said Ainsworth. "Undoubtedly the event I'm looking forward to is the return to my hometown Galway."

Ainsworth catapulted to poker fame ilast year when he won the Irish Poker Championship in Galway for €145,000.

This year Ainsworth, who plays as j.thaddeus online, went on to win the 2009 PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker $10,300 main event for $963,338, outlasting 501 players and a final table that included Jon "PearlJammer" Turner and Chris "Moorman1" Moorman.

After its launch in Galway, the UKIPT will move on to stops in Manchester, Nottingham, Killarney, Brighton, Scotland and Dublin with a grand final scheduled to take place in London.

Other notable players to take part in the UKIPT include Team PokerStars Pro Vicky Coren and former English soccer player Teddy Sheringham.

Visit the UKIPT website for the complete schedule.

PokerStars Announces UK and Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT)

PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker site, has introduced the UK and Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT). A total of nine events will play out beginning in Galway on December 11th.

The first UK-based event will be held in Manchester on February 11th at the Grosvenor G Casino. The Galway event, which serves as the kickoff tournament of the inaugural UKIPT series, will be part of the Irish Poker Championships. Players will descend upon the Radisson Hotel for the €2,000 buy-in event and the tournament crowns a champion on December 14th. In 2009, The Irish Poker Championship was brought to you by PartyPoker and saw 24 year-old Rory Rees Brennan bank €160,000 for the win in its Main Event. Seven out of the top ten finishers were Irish.

Team PokerStars Pro member Vicky Coren, a Brit, discussed the newest poker tour in a press release distributed this week: “This is an incredibly exciting addition to the range of PokerStars live events. Here is our own local British and Irish tour, nicely accessible for those who can’t travel abroad very often or who save their foreign travel for larger international events.” Champions of UKIPT events will take home an entry into the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) London Main Event next October. PokerStars officials noted that EPT London will also serve as the UKIPT Championship Event.

Here is the schedule for the first-ever running of the UKIPT:

UKIPT Galway (Ireland): December 11th to 14th
Radisson Hotel
€2,000 buy-in (9% juice)

UKIPT Manchester (United Kingdom): February 11th to 14th
Grosvenor G Casino
£500+50 buy-in

UKIPT Coventry (United Kingdom): April 8th to 11th
Grosvenor G Casino
£500+50 buy-in

UKIPT Nottingham (United Kingdom): May 13th to 16th
Dusk Till Dawn
£500+50 buy-in

UKIPT Killarney (Ireland): June 24th to 27th
Gleneagles
€1,000+100 buy-in

UKIPT Brighton (United Kingdom): July 15th to 18th
Rendezvous
£1,000+100 buy-in

UKIPT Scotland: TBA
Venue is TBA
£1,000+100 buy-in

UKIPT Dublin (Ireland): September 9th to 12th
Burlington Hotel
€1,000+100 buy-in

UKIPT London (United Kingdom): October 1st to 10th
Hilton Metropole
£5,000+250 buy-in

UKIPT tournaments are expected to attract some of the top names in the poker industry, including PokerStars sponsored pros Coren and Teddy Sheringham. The former added that the presence of the UKIPT in Northern Europe will continue to grow the game: “The buy-ins are great: big enough to make chunky prize pools, not so big that they’re a huge drain on resources. It’s about time there was a serious, respected tournament with a £500 buy-in, like the new ones in Manchester, Coventry, and Nottingham.”

Ireland has laid claim to a crop of accomplished poker players, including Andy Black, who finished fifth in the 2005 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event for $1.75 million, a tournament ultimately won by Joe Hachem. Black finished seventh in the 2007 EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final for nearly $320,000 and won an event during the PartyPoker Premier League in London in early 2008 for $250,000. Other top-tier Irish players include Liam Flood, bracelet winner Noel Furlong, Ciarán O’Leary, Marty Smyth, and Padraig Parkinson.

PokerStars also sponsors the EPT, Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT), Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT), Russian Poker Tour (RPT), Czech-Slovak Poker Tour (CSPT), and Italian Poker Tour (IPT). Its marquee land-based event is the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, which takes place each January at the Atlantis Resort and Casino in the Bahamas. In 2010, the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure is a stop on the LAPT and EPT circuits.

PokerStars will host a £10,000 freeroll for the top 100 players on the UKIPT leaderboard at the end of its first season. The top three players will also receive sponsorship opportunities to play in the second UKIPT season. Visit PokerStars for satellite information.

PokerStars Announces UK & Ireland Poker Tour

The UKIPT will kick off from Galway, Ireland, and the tour consists total of nine stops in both countries. The first tournament will be held at Radisson Hotel in Galway on 11th to 14th of December.

Compared to the EPT or the WPT, UKIPT is aimed for players who can’t afford to play in big buy-in tournaments, as the smallest tournaments of the UKIPT have only £500 + £50 buy-ins.

PokerStars has also added money to the prize pools of the UKIPT as all three events with a £500 + £50 buy-in (Manchester, Coventry and Nottingham) have a guaranteed prize pool of£100,000. In addition to that, Irish events with a €1,000 + €100 buy-in in Killarney and Dublin will have a €250,000 guarantee. The winner of each leg will also be awarded with a seat at the London Grand Final.

Also, players will be playing for UKIPT leader board points at every event. Winner of the leader board will receive a main event buy-in and money for the hotel for all UKIPT Season 2 events.

The full schedule of the UKIPT and the buyins of the tournaments:

UKIPT Galway December 11-14 Radisson Hotel €2,000*
UKIPT Manchester February 11-14, 2010 G Casino £500 + 50
UKIPT Coventry April 8-11, 2010 G Casino £500 + 50
UKIPT Nottingham May 13-16, 2010 Dusk Till Dawn £500 + 50
UKIPT Killarney June 24-27, 2010 Gleneagle Hotel €1,000 + 100
UKIPT Brighton July 15-18, 2010 Rendezvous Casino £1,000 + 100
UKIPT Scotland TBC TBC TBC
UKIPT Dublin September 9-12, 2010 Burlington Hotel €1,000 + 100
UKIPT London October 2-8, 2010 Metropole Hotel £5,000 + 300
* 9% of the tournament prize pool will be withheld to cover the cost of dealers and floor staff.

The satellites to the first tournament of the UKIPT at Galway are already running at PokerStars.

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PokerStars Announces UK & Ireland Poker Tour

PokerStars launches new UK and Ireland tour

The events will have a range of buy-ins from £500+£50 to £1,000+£100 for UK based tournaments and €1,000+€100 and €2,000 for events in Ireland.

"This is an incredibly exciting addition to the range of PokerStars live events," said Team PokerStars PRO Vicky Coren. "The buy-ins are great: big enough to make chunky prize pools, not so big that they're a huge drain on resources."

The first UKIPT event will be held in Galway, Ireland from December 11-14, 2009, in the Radisson Hotel. The event will be held as part of the popular Irish Poker Championships.

The first UK based UKIPT event will be held in Manchester from February 11-14, 2010 at the Grosvenor G-Casino.

Events will also be held in Nottingham, Killarney, Brighton, Scotland and Dublin with the Grand Final taking place as part of the PokerStars.com EPT London event next October.

In addition to the UKIPT title and prize money, all winners will earn a seat in the Grand Final.

The UKIPT will also have its own Points Leader Board featuring prizes for the top players at the end of the season, including PokerStars.com sponsorship in UKIPT events during the second season for the top 3 players and a £10,000 freeroll for the top 100.

Daily satellites are already running on PokerStars for as little as $0.25 or 250 FPPs.

Full details of the PokerStars UKIPT schedule can be found below. For more information and updates please see the tour's website.

Thomas Rolfe wins Irish Poker Festival

Ladbrokes Irish Poker Festival starts today

Lady Gaga invited to Irish Poker Festival

Lady Gaga asked to show her <i>PokerFace</i>

"It would be great if she could come and we'll even make room for Kanye," Ladbrokes' head of poker Kate McLennan said.

"The question everyone wants to know is if Lady Gaga can make sweet music on the green baize."

There's been no word yet on whether Lady Gaga will make the trip, but 90's Irish boy-band star, Boyzone's Shane Lynch, has confirmed he will play.

The Irish National Events Centre in Killarney will play host to the €250,000 guaranteed main event.

In 2008, the event was a sell-out at 832 players setting a European record. Irishman Jimmy McSweeney banked the €100,000 first prize.

This year, the Festival also includes a two-day €270+30 tournament Oct. 3 and a one-day €150+20 event Oct. 4.

Ladbrokes Irish Poker Festival Packages Sell Out

Popular European poker site Ladbrokes, part of the Microgaming Network, announced that all of its €950 Ladbrokes Poker Killarney packages have sold out.  The only way for a player to enter this exclusive event is to qualify through a €60 live super satellite where 30 seats will be awarded.  Players for this tournament will be allowed one €50 rebuy and one €50 add-on.  This super satellite event will be held in Killarney at the Irish National Events Center.  Last year’s event attracted 300 players and this year, it’s expected to exceed that total.

The Irish Poker Festival is one of the best value live tournaments of the year for European players.  The €250,000 Main Event prize pool is one of the richest for Irish players.  Ladbrokes has gone to enormous lengths to market itself to this segment of the European poker playing market.  Last year, notable Irishmen Marty Smyth, Roy Brindley, Jon Kalmer, Ken Doherty, and Steve Davis all made appearances at the event.  This year, the rumor mill is saying that Doherty will be back to make a bold final table prediction.

Poker players who participate in the Main Event will start with 15,000 in chips and play through one hour blind levels.  European ranking points will be earned for players buying into this event.

Kate McLennnan, Head of Ladbrokes Poker, commented in a press release, “The Ladbrokes.com Irish Poker Festival ticks all of the boxes for the savvy poker player.  We promise players great value, a brilliant time, an excellent venue, and the opportunity to experience the legendary Ladbrokes hospitality. The low buy-in (€550) allows us to host affordable satellites and introduce live poker play to a wider audience.”

In addition to this Main Event, Ladbrokes is hosting two one-day events during the Irish Poker Festival.  A $270+30 event will begin on October 3rd and a $150+20 tournament will start on October 4th.

Ladbrokes Poker is part of the Microgaming Network, which is currently ranked ninth in the world for overall traffic.  According to PokerScout.com, the network has a seven-day running average of 1,840 cash game players with peak hours garnering over 3,600.  The site offers a full variety of Hold’em games along with tables for Omaha, Seven Card Stud, Five Card Draw, and Razz.

Recently, Ladbrokes had a huge Bad Beat Jackpot hit as part of the many promotions that regularly run on the site.  At a $0.50-$1 table, two players were involved in a hand where a seven-high straight flush lost to a jack-high straight flush.  The winning hand won an extra $75,000, while the losing hand won a whopping $151,000.  Every other player at the table claimed a share of the jackpot to the tune of $18,940.  To qualify for the Bad Beat Jackpot, hand a player must lose with four eights or better.

Another promotion at Ladbrokes centers on the Master Classics of Poker in Amsterdam.  Throughout the month and into October, the site is promoting the opportunity to win €8,000 packages to the Master Classics of Poker.  The event starts on November 9th and concluding on the 15th.  Satellite winners will receive a full VIP package, which includes a buy-in to the event, accommodations, and €820 for travel and spending money.  Qualifiers start at €3.30 and can be found in the Tournament > Satellites > Masters Classics lobby in the Ladbrokes client.

New players to Ladbrokes can receive a first-time deposit bonus of 2,000% up to $1,000 with a minimum of $50 in currency equivalent.  Players have 45 days from the time they make their first deposit to play and earn points.  The points release bonus dollars and players can continue to make deposits during the 45 day period to maximize their bonus.  One dollar in rake is equivalent to 10 Poker Points.

Ladbrokes Irish Poker Festival Packages Sell Out

Popular European poker site Ladbrokes, part of the Microgaming Network, announced that all of its €950 Ladbrokes Poker Killarney packages have sold out.  The only way for a player to enter this exclusive event is to qualify through a €60 live super satellite where 30 seats will be awarded.  Players for this tournament will be allowed one €50 rebuy and one €50 add-on.  This super satellite event will be held in Killarney at the Irish National Events Center.  Last year’s event attracted 300 players and this year, it’s expected to exceed that total.

The Irish Poker Festival is one of the best value live tournaments of the year for European players.  The €250,000 Main Event prize pool is one of the richest for Irish players.  Ladbrokes has gone to enormous lengths to market itself to this segment of the European poker playing market.  Last year, notable Irishmen Marty Smyth, Roy Brindley, Jon Kalmer, Ken Doherty, and Steve Davis all made appearances at the event.  This year, the rumor mill is saying that Doherty will be back to make a bold final table prediction.

Poker players who participate in the Main Event will start with 15,000 in chips and play through one hour blind levels.  European ranking points will be earned for players buying into this event.

Kate McLennnan, Head of Ladbrokes Poker, commented in a press release, “The Ladbrokes.com Irish Poker Festival ticks all of the boxes for the savvy poker player.  We promise players great value, a brilliant time, an excellent venue, and the opportunity to experience the legendary Ladbrokes hospitality. The low buy-in (€550) allows us to host affordable satellites and introduce live poker play to a wider audience.”

In addition to this Main Event, Ladbrokes is hosting two one-day events during the Irish Poker Festival.  A $270+30 event will begin on October 3rd and a $150+20 tournament will start on October 4th.

Ladbrokes Poker is part of the Microgaming Network, which is currently ranked ninth in the world for overall traffic.  According to PokerScout.com, the network has a seven-day running average of 1,840 cash game players with peak hours garnering over 3,600.  The site offers a full variety of Hold’em games along with tables for Omaha, Seven Card Stud, Five Card Draw, and Razz.

Recently, Ladbrokes had a huge Bad Beat Jackpot hit as part of the many promotions that regularly run on the site.  At a $0.50-$1 table, two players were involved in a hand where a seven-high straight flush lost to a jack-high straight flush.  The winning hand won an extra $75,000, while the losing hand won a whopping $151,000.  Every other player at the table claimed a share of the jackpot to the tune of $18,940.  To qualify for the Bad Beat Jackpot, hand a player must lose with four eights or better.

Another promotion at Ladbrokes centers on the Master Classics of Poker in Amsterdam.  Throughout the month and into October, the site is promoting the opportunity to win €8,000 packages to the Master Classics of Poker.  The event starts on November 9th and concluding on the 15th.  Satellite winners will receive a full VIP package, which includes a buy-in to the event, accommodations, and €820 for travel and spending money.  Qualifiers start at €3.30 and can be found in the Tournament > Satellites > Masters Classics lobby in the Ladbrokes client.

New players to Ladbrokes can receive a first-time deposit bonus of 2,000% up to $1,000 with a minimum of $50 in currency equivalent.  Players have 45 days from the time they make their first deposit to play and earn points.  The points release bonus dollars and players can continue to make deposits during the 45 day period to maximize their bonus.  One dollar in rake is equivalent to 10 Poker Points.

Ladbrokes, PaddyPower offering Irish Classic seats

The tournament takes place from Aug. 10-16 at the Macau Sporting Club in Cork, Ireland.

PaddyPowerPoker will host a satellite tournament on Aug. 5 with at least one seat into the Irish Classic guaranteed. Entry is $100+$10 with a rebuy and add-on.

Ladbrokes will be hosting its first satellite for the Irish Classic on Aug. 3. The buy-in will be slightly lower at $88+$8.

Meanwhile, online qualifiers continue at Betfair Poker every Wednesday with $80+$8 satellites, but it's also possible to qualify for as little as $2+$.20 in daily feeders.

Every player that registers for the Irish Poker Classic will automatically be entered into the free Million Dollar Game freeroll where the winner will go to London to play against 17 others for a $1 million first place prize at the Betfair-sponsored World Series of Poker Europe.

Live satellites are also available at the Macau Sporting Club as well as Dubin's Sporting Emporium, Fitzwilliam Club, Emerald Casino, Clondalkin, JP Poker, Fortune Rooms, Goldclub, Atlantis Casino, Eglington Casino, Fitzpatricks Limerick, Olympus Waterford and Cue Club Killarney.

Last year Irishman Rob Taylor outlasted a record field of 169 to win the event, including Annette Obrestad, Michael Greco, Marty Smyth, Ian Woodley and Mick McCloskey.

Although there was a chop with two players remaining, Taylor still took down $69,003 for his efforts.

Ladbrokes Irish Poker Festival announced