Two Poker Tours Hit London While The Big Event Continues In L.A.

Today we’ve got live tournament news from both sides of the pond as both the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour and UK & Ireland Poker Tour hit London and as The Big Event at the famous Bicycle Casino poker room (aka the Bike) in Los Angeles continues on toward Day 4 of play. While none of the three tournament series are associated with the larger tours, all three are known for their ability to attract some stiff competition.

The UK Poker Tour’s second London stop will run from March 9 through March 21 at the Grosvenor Victoria casino. It is expected to draw a field of around 400 for its £1,500 + £90 Main Event. Last year the same event offered a prize pool of almost half a million pounds, and with live poker on the rise once more plus the tournament’s always popular addition of several new low buy-in side events, the GUKPT is expected to have even better numbers (and payouts) this time around.

Also in London this week is PokerStars’ UK & Ireland Poker Tour which is being hosted by the G Casino in Manchester. We’re not going to say that PokerStars is trying to muscle out the rest of the UK tour competition, but the corresponding dates sure seem suspicious. This is only the second season of the UKIPT, but PokerStars has been working hard to grow the tour by offering ample satellites, added prize money and by cross-promoting the league with larger preexisting EPT events.

The UKIPT’s Manchester leg runs from March 10 through March 14 and features a £500 + £50 Main Event. The last UKIPT event was held in Nottingham in February and set a record by collecting the most entries in the tour’s short history – a total of 1058 altogether. If you want to see highlights from this year’s tournament, they’ll be posted promptly after the action finishes on PokerStars.tv.

While both of this week’s UK tournaments have only just begun, things are well underway at the Big Event in Los Angeles. Day 3 saw a tight field of 68 quickly reduced. The players’ efforts started paying off once the bubble was popped at 56, but the eliminations didn’t stop there. When all was said and done, only 24 entrants survived Day 3.

Unfortunately, Daniel Negreanu – who’s been working hard to post more tournament cashes as Erik Seidel quickly gains on his live tournament earnings lead – was eliminated in 37^th, far from his goal of the final table. Alternately, Victor Ramdin – who’s thus far posted at least seven live and online tournament cashes in 2018 – is currently leading the field. Close behind him is relative newcomer Taylor von Kriegenbergh. By far the most notable name left in the running is Joe Hachem who’s currently sitting pretty with the 8^th place stack.

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