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Amateur Matthew McDerra Wins UKIPT Manchester

Matthew McDerra, an amateur poker player from Plymouth, has been declared the winner of the UK and Ireland Poker Tour Manchester stop. McDerra beat a field of over 650 players to win GBP 74,000 in first prize. Many of those in attendance earned their entry into the UKIPT through online qualifiers at internet poker sites, and others were professionals who navigate the UK poker circuit. The final took place at GCasino in Manchester.

The final table was a breeze for McDerra after the first six finalists were eliminated in under three hours.  The player soon found himself head to head with Poker Stars qualifier, Matuesz Warowiec, who proved to be a worthy contestant.  Warowiec started out the final table with just over two million in chips, and was a favourite to win the competion.  The two played six nail biting levels which ended when McDerra beat Warowiec’s top pair and eliminated him in the next hand.

The UKIPT, which had a buy in of GBP 500,  had a total prize pool of GBP 307,500 and 81 players were able to take home cash prizes.

27 year old McDerra was thrilled with his win and posed happily with a glass of beer and his trophy after the match.

The final positions and prize money were as follows:

First place: Matthew McDerra – GBP 74,000

Second place: Matuesz Warowiec – GBP 43,500

Third place: Robert Angood – GBP 27,600

Fourth place: Mick Fletcher – GBP 20,300

Fifth place: JP Kelly – GBP 16,000

Sixth place: Paul Nash – GBP 12,600

Seventh place: Owen Shiels – GBP 9,500

Eighth place: Michael Birth – GBP 7,200

Irishman Dennis Troake missed out the final table by one spot and took home GBP 5,125 for his ninth place in the UKIPT.

Party Poker Pays out Bad Beat Jackpot Prize

It definitely pays to lose at Party Poker, especially when the prize for doing so is close to half a million dollars!  The online poker arm of gambling giant Party Gaming, announced that a German player won more than $479,000 last week after hitting the bad beat jackpot.  The player, Praetorianer, had his four tens beaten by another opponent rol007 who upped his hand with a Royal Flush.  But while Praetorianer had a moment of frustration by seeing such a good hand beaten, he suddenly found himself amidst cheer and jubilation as Party Poker declared that he had won the Bad Beat jackpot.  His prize for ‘losing’? $479,101!

“After the river, I realized my opponent might have a better hand,” said the winner/loser. “I went all in, he called right away and then everything happened really fast.”

Praetorianer recalled that a message appeared on his screen, and he rushed to open his account to see that he had a credit for nearly $500,000.

“I was shocked at first and then started jumping around,” he said. “I was extremely happy.”

The player says that he loves playing at the jackpot tables because it is a bit like playing the lottery. He said that if one plays the higher stakes, the expected value is higher. He vowed that he would continue playing these tables from now on.

Praetorianer’s rival, the player who beat his hand with a Royal Flush, naturally didn’t leave the game empty handed. Besides the money that he won for playing the winning hand, he also took home a whopping $239,550 at the $2/$4 limit table. The seven other players who were at the table at the time that the Bad Beat jackpot hit each took home $34,221.

Party Poker Giving Away Cool Gadgets in New Promotion

A new promotion launched by Party Poker online poker room will see players walk away with some cool gadgets every single evening. The Win Tonight promo will run until March 28th and each week, the prize package includes the latest electronic boy toys and cash.

The Win Tonight promotion is available to all new players at this site, which is not to say that existing players don’t get to enjoy their own promotion along similar lines. All new players need to do is sign up to the site and make a deposit of at least GBP 25 into their accounts before March 27th. They will then receive an invitation by email to take part in Win Tonight freerolls daily. Naturally, the sooner a deposit is made, the more freeroll invitations the player will receive.

The prize package for each day (Monday to Saturday) will differ, and tournament winners will win as follows:

Monday – iPad 16GP WiFi and iPad cover

Tuesday – Canon EOS 1000D plus tripod and bag

Wednesday – PSP Monster Go and Monster Beats headphones

Thursday – PS3 320G Slim, Ps3 Move Pack and charging kit and 2 games

Friday – iPod Touch 64Gp and docking speakers

Saturday – Sony Vaio VPC and 16VB Flash drive

And if all that is not enough, Party Poker will be giving away a fantastic 3D home system cinema comprising a Samsung 40″ TV, Blu Ray player and 3D glasses each Sunday of the promotion.

Players who finish in the top ten but don’t make top prize will still be able to enjoy cash prizes.

It shouldn’t be forgotten that Party Poker offers all new players a $500 welcome bonus, over and above the Win Tonight promotion, which allows them to try out the site, play quality poker and enter tournaments that run around the clock.

English Deepstack Poker Championships Running this Weekend

This week sees the start of the first English Deepstack Poker Championships, an event that has definitely caught the attention of UK poker players, as well as visitors from abroad. The event kicked off on March 3rd at G Casino in Luton and will continue until Sunday March 6th, bringing players a four day poker extravanganza with plenty of prizes available.

The English Deepstack Poker Championships is brought to the local scene by D4 events, the guys behind European Deepstack Poker Championships that were held in Dublin.

The schedule for the first English Deepstack is as follows:

Thursday March 3rd

English Deepstack Main Event GBP 550.

Day 1 A – 1 pm.

Player cap – 200

Friday March 4th

English Deepstack Main Event GBP 550

Day 1B

Player cap – 200

It should be noted that the starting chips for the main event are 50,000 in total, as well as a one hour clock. This ensures that only the best remain standing and that competition among players will be at an all-time high.

Saturday March 5th

GBP 300 side event

8 pm, Day 2 event

15,000 chips, 40 minute clock

Sunday March 6th

GBP 200 side event

2 pm, 1 day event

10,000 chips, 30 minute clock

This particualar event should attract a large number of English poker players, although French players are also expected to make an appearance, creating more competition and pushing up the prize amounts up for grabs.

D4 poker events are usually extremely popular, with tickets selling out months in advance. The European Deepstack Poker Championship in Dublin sold out a month before the competition after over 800 French players  registered and pitted their skills in the event. Other events in Belgium and Spain also had to turn disappointed poker fans away.

Poker Magazine Plans UK Land Tournament

UK poker players will be pleased to note that a leading poker publication will be running a new tournament that will hit the live circuit next month.

Poker Player announced this week the launch of The Poker Player Tour, which it will run in partnership with Gala Casinos, the top UK gambling brand.  Players will be able to get their hands on super prizes, including GBP 25,000 in prize money.

Five events have been planned in total, all of them in different cities around the UK to reach as many poker fans as possible across the country. They will be held in various Gala Casinos so that players will enjoy the environment of a true gambling establishment, with all the excitement that goes with it.

The schedule of the Poker Player UK Tour is as follows:

April 9th, 2011 – Gala Casino Bristol – Buy in: GBP 100 + GBP 10

May 21st, 2011 – Gala Casino Edinburgh – Buy in: GBP 100 + GBP 10

July 23rd, 2011 – Gala Casino Leeds – Buy in: GBP 100 + GBP 10

October 1st, 2011 – Gala Casino Teeside – Buy in: GBP 100 + GBP 10

November 26th, 2011 – Gala Casino Birmingham Grand Finale -Buy in: GBP 150 + GBP 15

Each of these five events will bring with it merchandise giveaways, staff bounties and a free buffet!

Players who want to skimp on the buy in fee and win their way into the tour, can pitch their skills online by entering one of many qualifiers being run at GalaCasinos.co.uk.

An online freeroll for the first stop in Bristol will be run on Wednesday 10th March where twenty seats into Gala Casino’s first qualifier final will be given away. Entry into this freeroll costs nothing, while unlimited $3 rebuys and one $3 add-on in the first hour of the event are available.

 The first online final will run on March 13th with a $20 + $2 buy in. Players will earn 3,000 starting chips and a 12 minute clock. Nine seats are up for grabs.

PKR Exec Comments on “Staggering” Growth of UK Online Poker

It is no secret that online poker is one of the fastest growing forms of internet entertainment in the world, and this trend is keenly felt in the United Kingdom in particular. The Marketing Manager at PKR Technologies, the group that runs the award winning PKR.com online poker room, said that the growth of online poker in the UK is “quite staggering”.  Erika Schwartz Poole said in an interview this week said that the game of poker has been growing significantly online over the past ten years.

She said that in previous years, poker was seen as a men’s only game, played out in down-and-out poker rooms, with the reputation as an undesirable card game.

However, all that has now changed, thanks to the growth of online poker and the fact that so many celebrities from across the board have taken to this game as a form of entertainment. In addition, top players who regularly hit the high stake tables at online poker rooms, as well as winners of prestigious land based poker tournaments, have become celebs in their own right, instantly recognized not only by poker fans but by the mainstream as well.

Thanks to online poker, the card game has become acceptable for both sexes, and cuts across all race, nationality and age barriers.  “It now has a mixed player base of both male and females with varying ages,” said Schwartz Poole. “From college students to city bankers to housewives playing in their spare time. ”

PKR Poker continues to offer new players to its site a generous $800 welcome bonus that can be used once they make a deposit into their poker accounts. The 3D site, which uses proprietary software, has won various industry awards for its excellent product, and providers players with a highly entertaining gaming experience.

£109.000 Jackpot Scooped by Jarrow Poker Ace

A very excited amateur poker wizard from the North, Gaz Walker, is celebrating after having scooped a massive £109,000 prize.

Gaz began playing poker only a few years ago and the game, which was held in a huge casino hall in Nottingham, was only his second tournament.  However, he is no stranger to the Newcastle poker scene due to the fact that he captains his own team, the Walker Sensations.

A UK record crowd of 1,058 people turned up at the tournament hoping to take home the winnings but it was lucky Gaz Walker, a web designer from Jarrow, South Tyneside, who claimed the huge pot after a grueling 36 hours at the card table.

Gaz paid an amount of £500 to enter the game and was among just twelve players left and sweating over the huge win that was at stake when before long, the 28-year old was dueling with only one other contestant.

 in some of the World Series tournaments rticipa espeAfter his massive win, Gaz said “I was still very tense at this stage.  Twice already I had lost hands that had doubled the number of chips my rival had.  I started to get de-motivated and began to lose my patience a little, especially as it was about three in the morning”.

However, Gaz realized that aggression was the answer to winning and in another decisive hand he took his adversary in all and succeeded in winning with a flush draw.

Gaz added that “When I knew I’d beaten the last man, I was over the moon. After so much effort and concentration I was delighted it paid off. To win this amount of money was amazing. I decided to go all in and try to blow him out of the water – and it worked.”

This lucky player has many times thought of turning professional but made a decision to keep it as a hobby.  He has, however, now decided to take a trip to Las Vegas in the summer where he will participate in some of the World Series tournaments.

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