UK Poker Tour

UK Poker Tour was announced in November 2006, with Blue Square and Grosvenor Casinos boasting a total prize pool of £4million. The first leg of the tour kicked off in January of this year in Bolton. It was supposed to have 160 participants, but more people bought in directly or qualified by playing online at Blue Square than was originally anticipated, and this bumped numbers up to 200.

As a result of this popularity, subsequent events were extended to four days, comprising two first days, a second day and a final day. Russell Tamplin, the Operations Director of Grosvenor UK Poker Tour, said that they were: "delighted at the sheer demand for our first event and have had to rethink future tournaments so that we can cope with the expected increase in numbers. It's good news for the players as the winner of each event can now expect to walk away with over £100,000."

Each GUKPT event is being filmed and broadcast on Channel 4 television. Talking about the event, Deborah Poulton, Deputy Editor of Sport at Channel 4, said: "We are proud of our reputation for bringing high quality poker programming to our audience, with brands such as Late Night Poker." She went on to say that Channel 4 "consider this a valuable addition to our Poker programming."

Players qualify for the events by buying in for £1,000 or by qualifying in satellites held at Grosvenor Casinos and also online at bluesqpoker.com. Non-leg winners can also buy directly into the Grand Final for £3,000. The prize pool of over £4million is being shared between the events, and both Grosvenor and Blue Square are excited by this new UK Poker Tour.

"Grosvenor Casinos have long been a home of live poker, but up until now there has been no major dedicated poker tour in the UK," said Peter McCann, Managing Director of Grosvenor Casinos. "We feel that a professional tour accessible to all is the natural progression of our existing poker offering and a means of attracting new players who wish to experience live poker tournaments."

The Managing Director of Blue Square agrees with this sentiment. "The popularity of poker continues to grow and Blue Square hope to maximise on the synergy between us and our sister company Grosvenor Casinos," he said. "We aim to give people an opportunity to cross the threshold from playing poker online to playing live at high profile tournaments throughout the UK."

Although the first two UK Poker Tour events have already taken place, there is still time for aspiring tournament winners to get involved. Whether you buy-in directly or qualify in a satellite, the important dates and venues of the remaining events are as follows: