While the World Series preliminary events are a big media draw, many players do not have the bankroll or time to be involved. Fortunately, there are plenty of poker events with a more local feel these days. This article will focus on some of the great events scheduled in the UK and Ireland… with a special focus on those events which you can win seats in online.
This article covers a range of events including the GSOP, the UKGPT, EPT and Irish Winter Open events… I’ll do them in quick-fire ‘What, Where, When and how to Qualify format’:
UKGPT – The UK Grosvenor Poker Tour
What: Quite a big tour, with 1000 GPB main events, covers the UK with leaderboard contests and tons of preliminary events starting at around 70 pounds. Each year includes the ‘Goliath’ which aims to be the biggest UK live tournaments and has a 120 pound entry fee.
When: The next Goliath is starts on the 22nd of August 2012.
Where: Coventry, a non-descript mid-sized town in the middle of England… the venue is the Grosvenor casino attached to Coventry football club.
How To Qualify: Titan Poker are offering packages of accommodation / entry / spending money worth $1000 – with 3-stage satellites starting at just 12 cents!
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GSOP – The Grand Series Of Poker
What: I love this tour, which takes in some great destinations including Prague, Malta, The Bahamas and (qualifying for this article) Dublin! Buy-ins for these events cost $1500, which puts them in reach of amateurs as well as the ‘circuit pros’ in Europe.
When: The Dublin event is still a little way off, in Feb 2013, however the Malta event is in September and qualifiers are running online already.
Where: The season 3 schedule currently includes Malta, Prague (Czech Republic) and Dublin, Ireland – the venue for the final has not yet been released – last year this was in the Bahamas.
How To Qualify: You can win a $3600 package which includes travel, spending money and accommodation in addition to the entry fee. The place to do this is Red Kings Poker, who have weekly super-satellites, which themselves have sub-qualifiers starting at just $1.20c. Red Kings are a cool site on the fantastic OnGame network and are worth a look in their own right. You’ll have a choice of 6 welcome bonuses to clear while you qualify too – Click here to check out Red Kings Poker for yourself.
EPT – The European Poker Tour
What: This is the biggest tour which comes to the UK and Ireland. The events are televised and attract poker celebrities from all around the world. With buy-ins of $5k+, these tournaments might seem out of reach for many players. However there are tons of online poker sites running qualifiers, which means plenty of players get to take a shot!
When: The EPT London is held in March each year.
Where: Not yet confirmed, usually held at the Victoria casino.
How To Qualify: Pokerstars, the biggest stand-alone poker site, own the European Poker Tour (among many others) and offer an unparalleled number of satellite qualifiers to feed players into these prestigious live events. What I like about this site are the steps SNG qualifiers – you win one Sit and Go and move up to the next level – Step 6 awards live tournament packages! Click here to check out the awesome Pokerstars.com for yourself now!
Irish Winter Open – Dublin
What: A festival of poker in Ireland’s capital cite, Dublin. While there are several tournaments which cover Dublin, the winter festival attracts big crowds, big prize pools and has that special atmosphere which you only get in Ireland!
When: October 27th to 29th 2012
Where: The famous Burlington Hotel Dublin
How To Qualify: Again the place to head is the huge Titan Poker, where you will find weekly satellites giving away prize packages worth EUR 1800. This includes your entry fee EUR1100 + 4 nights accommodation + travel and spending money. Qualifiers start at just 4 cents!!
Don’t forget the reader offer of $20 extra cash with bonus code PBKLUB, check out those famously soft tables at Titan Poker for yourself now!
That’s all for this post – I have a bigger and more detailed section on satellite qualifiers over at SNG Planet – you can find it here