PokerStars Launches UK and Ireland Poker Tours

PokerStars.com, the world's largest poker site has announced the launch of the PokerStars.com UK and Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT). The first UKIPT event will be held in Galway, Ireland from December
  11-14, 2009, in the Radisson Hotel. The event will be part of the popular Irish Poker Championships. The first UK-based UKIPT event will be held in Manchester from February 11–14, 2010 at the Grosvenor G-Casino.

The event will attract top names from around the UK and Ireland such as former England footballer Teddy Sheringham and Team PokerStars PRO Vicky Coren as well as other celebs and top professional poker players to be announced at a later date.

"This is an incredibly exciting addition to the range of PokerStars live events. Here is our own local British and Irish tour, nicely accessible for those who can't travel abroad very often or who save their foreign travel for larger international events," said Vicky Coren.

The UKIPT is a fresh and exciting poker tour for amateur and professional players in the UK and Ireland. The events are being held in regional locations and will provide players with a first-class poker experience at an affordable local level. The events will have a range of buy-in levels; from £500+£50 to £1,000+£100 for UK-based tournaments and €1,000+€100 and €2,000 for events in Ireland.

"The buy-ins are great: big enough to make chunky prize pools, not so big that they're a huge drain on resources. It's about time there was a serious respected tournament with a £500 buy-in, like the new ones in Manchester, Coventry and Nottingham," added Vicky.

In addition to a UKIPT title and prize money, players will also win a buy-in to the PokerStars.com EPT London event next October, which will also be the UKIPT Championship Event. This will give regular season UKIPT finalists the chance to experience the exciting atmosphere playing in one of the biggest live poker tournaments outside of Vegas, alongside some of the biggest names in the world of poker.

The UKIPT will have its own Points Leader Board that will be regularly updated. Players will be able to track their progress against other local players and professionals; including their favourite Team PokerStars PROs. At the end of the season the top players from the UKIPT leader board will be rewarded with great prizes, including: a £10,000 freeroll for the top 100 players over the season; and the top three players will receive various levels of PokerStars.com sponsorship to events during the UKIPT's second season.

Team PokerStars PROs attending the events will lead question and answer sessions ahead of play at selected UKIPT events giving players the opportunity to up their game with top tips from the PROs.

After the launch event in Galway, the PokerStars UKIPT will visit Manchester, Nottingham, Killarney, Brighton, Scotland (city TBC) and Dublin with the Grand Final taking place as part of the PokerStars.com EPT London event next October.