Online poker site Blue Square and Grosvenor Casinos have announced a UK poker tour for 2007. The Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT) takes in ten different locations in England and Wales and features ten £1,000 buy-in No Limit Hold'em tournaments plus a £3,000 buy-in end of year Grand Final. Added prize money of £10,000 plus a seat in the Grand Final is being put into each of the first ten legs, with £50,000 being added to Grand Final, which will take place at the casino group's flagship Victoria casino in London.
All eleven events will be televised for transmission on Channel 4, one of the UK's largest TV stations.
It will be the first UK based poker tour to appear on terrestrial television in the UK. While most of the poker shows that have graced the small screen on the UK's five main terrestrial stations have been single table studio events, these will be casino based multitable tournaments.
One of my main criticisms of UK based poker publications is that they seem to be infatuated with the big name American players and don't give enough exposure to home grown talent. Hopefully the tour will go some way to creating a new wave of British poker superstars who through the TV coverage, will get the media attention that they deserve.
It is with great pleasure that I am writing about this, as I have been heavily involved in devising the concept and structure of the tour and the original suggestion to run it came from me. It is personally satisfying to see it finally come to fruition and to continue to be involved in running it. My role will be that of Tour Manager. This does not mean that I am the head honcho of the tour. Far from it, but I will be involved in many of the aspects of the way it is run. I will also be co-ordinating the live coverage and reporting on the events on the tour's website grosvenorukpokertour.com.
Sponsor Blue Square is putting up the added prize money and running exclusive online super satellites to all the events. Unfortunately the site does not accept US players, but it is anticipated that up to 20% of the seats at these 200-400 runner events, will be filled by online qualifiers. Any Americans wishing to play will have to make the trip across the pond to buy-in directly or take part in live super satellites at each host venue. The first event takes place in the Lancashire town of Bolton in mid January and continues monthly throughout the year, with a break in June during the WSOP.
The full tour schedule is as follows GUKPT Dates Location Buy-In
Leg 1 Jan 12th - 14th Bolton £1,000
Leg 2 Feb 15th - 18th Walsall £1,000
Leg 3 Mar 22nd - 25th Cardiff £1,000
Leg 4 Apr 20th - 22nd Manchester £1,000
Leg 5 May 18th - 20th Brighton £1,000
Leg 6 Jul 20th - 22nd Newcastle £1,000
Leg 7 Aug 9th - 12th Luton £1,000
Leg 8 Sep 7th - 9th Plymouth £1,000
Leg 9 Oct 18th - 21st London £1,000
Leg 10 Nov 15th - 18th Blackpool £1,000
Grand Final Nov 29th - Dec 2nd London £3,000
