World Poker Tour UK Festival Returns to DTD in October 2015
Matthew Pitt
The World Poker Tour is returning to the United Kingdom again in October when Dusk Till Dawn plays host to the partypoker WPT UK Festival after a successful debut in 2014.
Played across 16-days and featuring nine events with combined guarantees of at least £2.5 million, the WPT UK Festival is sure to attract the very best of the UK & Ireland poker community as well as drawing in some stellar names from further afield.
Kicking off the festival is the WPT500 UK, which costs £500+£50 to buy into and for that players have the opportunity to play for a share of at least £1 million. As with previous editions of the WPT500, the 2015 WPT500 UK features several starting flights (12 in total) in an attempt to boost the attendance figures and reach that massive guarantee, a guarantee that was hit in 2014 when 2,133 entries created a £1,066,500 prize pool, the lion’s share of which went to PKR-sponsored pro, Eleanor Gudger who collected £140,000 for her victory.
In addition to four online start days at partypoker and five live flights held at Dusk Till Dawn, there are three Day 1s at Aspers Casino in Stratford, London. This is the first time that a second venue has been utilised and gives players from the capital the chance to enjoy a WPT event in their home city.
Aspers Casino WPT500 UK Day 1 Schedule
| Date | Time | Starting Flight |
|---|---|---|
| Sat 24 Oct | 2:00pm | Day 1a |
| Sun 25 Oct | 2:00pm | Day 1b |
| Fri 30 Oct | 5:00pm | Day 1c |
partypoker WPT500 UK Day 1 Schedule
| Date | Time | Starting Flight |
|---|---|---|
| Mon 26 Oct | 8:00pm | Day 1a |
| Tue 27 Oct | 8:00pm | Day 1b |
| Wed 28 Oct | 8:00pm | Day 1c |
| Thu 29 Oct | 8:00pm | Day 1d |
Dusk Till Dawn WPT500 Day 1 Schedule
| Date | Time | Starting Flight |
|---|---|---|
| Sat 31 Oct | 12:00pm | Day 1a |
| Sat 31 Oct | 5:00pm | Day 1b |
| Sun 1 Nov | 12:00pm | Day 1c |
| Sun 1 Nov | 5:00pm | Day 1d |
| Mon 2 Nov | 10:00am | Day 1e Turbo |
The official Day 2 begins at 2:30pm on Monday 2 November with the eventual champion being discovered at some point on November 3.
As the WPT500 UK champion is being crowned (November 3), the £2,200 WPT UK Main Event gets underway and again features a £1 million guarantee. There are only two start day’s for the Main Event and the format has been tweaked so that players who bust Day 1a can only re-enter on Day 1b while Day 1b is played to a freezeout format with no re-entries available. While this makes the guarantee more difficult to hit, Rob Yong is an advocate of levelling the playing field for players despite their bankroll levels and believes this format will allow that.
The 2015 WPT UK Main Event champion is crowned on November 8.
Several side events run alongside the WPT500 UK and the Main Event and are sure to be well-attended. The crown jewel of these side events is a £10,000+£250 Super High Roller that is to be live streamed and should see some of the world’s biggest names make the trip to Nottingham to compete in it.
2015 WPT UK Festival Side Events
| Date | Time | Tournament | Buy-In | Guarantee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon 2 Nov | 5:00pm | High Roller | £5,000+£250 | £250,000 |
| Thu 5 Nov | 5:00pm | Eight-Max | £2,000+£200 | £100,000 |
| Fri 6 Nov | 5:00pm | Six-Max | £1,000+£100 | £60,000 |
| Fri 6 Nov | 5:00pm | Super High Roller | £10,000+£250 | TBD |
| Sat 7 Nov | 12:00pm | Deep Stack | £300+£30 | £50,000 |
| Sat 7 Nov | 5:00pm | Pot Limit Omaha | £1,000+£100 | £30,000 |
| Sun 8 Nov | 2:00pm | Turbo | £300+£30 | £10,000 |
Satellites into both the WPT500 UK and the Main Event can be found in the partypoker lobby. Currently, these take place at 7:00pm and 9:00pm every night and command a buy-in of $22, $109 and $530 depending on the number of seats guarantees and the target tournament.
Download partypoker via UK & Ireland PokerNews, deposit at least $25 using the bonus code UKPNEWS and not only will you be eligible for a one-time 100% match up to £250 first deposit bonus, you will also be granted access to the remaining PokerNews-exclusive PokerNews Cup freerolls. The special tournaments take place at 7:00pm BST on September 16, September 30, October 14 and October 28 and award the winner a €1,100 package to the 2015 PokerNews Cup being held at the King’s Casino in Rozvadov, Czech Republic.
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