Poker, beer, rinse, repeat. It’s time, the Beer Poker Tour is ready to start serving. There’s fine ales, craft beers, lagers and bad beats, all available on draught. Not sure if it’s OK to sneak in a cider or two, but I’ll update you on that later.
This is the second running of the Beer Poker Tour, which takes place at Aspers Casino Genting Stratford in London.*
The inaugural event of this enigmatic new addition to the UK’s live poker circuit was also held at Aspers (when it was called that), in March, where Guillaume Diaz and Merivan Hassan unveiled their creation to the world.
-Read More: Beer Poker Tour Returns to London
*When I started drafting this post the casino was called Aspers, but by the time it came to publish it, the casino had changed its name. Not an everyday occurrence.
Live Coverage of Beer Poker Tour on Poker Pro
Poker Pro will covering the action (on and off the felt) throughout the week at the Beer Poker Tour. Not only that, Poker Pro is the sponsor of the £150 multi-day 4/5/6 Card Pot Limit Omaha, which has the first of its 4 starting flights at 6pm today. We’ll be focusing on that in today’s coverage, with Poker Pro CEO Jason Glatzer (dead money alert, he’s exhausted) firing his first bullet in Day 1a.
Are you feeling the FOMO of not being in Las Vegas for the WSOP? Do you want to taste some low stakes action against opposition that have had too much to drink? Get yourself down to Genting Stratford and join in the fun! Or of that’s not possible, follow our coverage here and on our social media channels, where Glenn Brown will be delivering a tipple and a taste of what’s going on at the Beer Poker Tour.
Five Unique Elements of the Beer Poker Tour
It’s a fair guess to say there’s been some seriously creative brainstorming sessions to put this one together. The tour is unsurprisingly aimed at low stakes recreational players (with a penchant for beer) and contains several unique elements.
1. Low Buy-In Nature of the Tournament Schedule
The Beer Poker Tour truly is a low-stakes tour., there’s no high rollers and the biggest buy-in is the £185 Main Event. There are even two free-rolls
satellites for the Main Event with 5 tickets to be won in each.
2. The Main Event Format
The £185 Main Event is a Double Mystery Bounty Tournament with no less than eight starting flights, the first of which is on Thursday.
Usually mystery bounties can only be won once the players reach Day 2, however in this event, every Day 1 player who busts on Day 1 will get a chance to spin a prize wheel. Stay tuned to this blog for more details on what the prizes on the wheel will be. We reckon beer vouchers will feature quite heavily.
3. The Main Event Trophy
The very on-brand Main Event Trophy is perhaps the most unique poker awards we’ve ever seen.
4. Side Events With Twists
Two new side events are included in the schedule, each with a unique element, adding a bit of liquid gold to the prize pool.
The first of these is The Beerpot, a £100 (£85+£15) No Limit Hold’em which is on the schedule twice during the week (Tuesday and Sunday). Its twist is simple, a beer voucher will be added to the first pot of every level, on every table. The blinds go up every 20-minutes and given the price of a pint in the capital these days, the total value of the “pintpool” could end up quite big.
The other new event is the Beer KO, which at first glance just looks like a suitably thematic name for a bounty tournament. However when you look more closely at the label of the £100 (£85+£15) event’s bottle, it makes perfect sense. There’s no cash bounties, they’re all beer vouchers. KO a player and drink their beer too (voucher).
5. The One player to a Pint Rule
There is absolutely no truth in the rumour that one has to fail a breathalyzer test in order to enter….that’s only required if you make it to the payout desk.
There is however a one-player to a pint rule, let’s keep this event hygienic. The reverse does not apply, it’s not “one pint to a player,” you are allowed to consume more, but do so sensibly, as licensing laws require the casino’s bartenders to refuse to serve anyone who is worse for wear.
Today’s Action
Play began at 1pm with a freeroll offering 5 tickets into the £185 Main Event. If you’re just reading about it now for the first time it’s too late, you missed it, but there’s another one on Thursday at the same time, also with 5 tickets to be won.
The opening flight of the Poker Pro £150 (£130+£20) 4/5/6 Card Pot Limit Omaha begins at 6pm, with 25 minute levels and a 50,000 starting stack.
At 7pm the £100 (£85+£15) Beerpot begins, to round off the opening day of the festival.
