EPT11 London: Looking forward to the primary Event

The European Poker Tour heads back to London this weekend although in truth it's already there within the type of the UKIPT. This can be a type of warm-up act should you like--you arrive in London early you give it a try to by the top of the week you make a decision you really liked it enough to shop for the album. Then the feature act arrives on stage.

London was one of the vital mainstays of the tour (an honour shared only by Barcelona), having appeared at the EPT calendar in each of its now 11 seasons. Back in Season 1 the primary prize was an insignificant"" €200,000 (hindsight is an excellent thing), won by John Shipley. But London was also where Victoria Coren won her first of 2 EPT titles amid memorable scene in her home casino. Year on year though London has delivered something memorable.

But while several places lay claim to being the spiritual home of poker, London can't quite live as much as such billing. It could, however, be considered poker's administrative home, with PokerStars, dealing to more tables than anyone else, a minimum of doing its paperwork out in their London office.

In fact, when plotted at the map, there'll be a kind of PokerStars line of latitude, a parallel running from the PokerStars office, during the Hippodrome Casino the entire approach to the Grand Connaught, that is where all of the fun stuff will happen starting on Sunday.

Last year some 604 player took seats beneath chandeliers, buttresses and the odd dash of Art Deco, one of the crucial ornate venues at the tour. That was when Swedish player Robin Ylitalo triumphed to assemble a primary prize of £560,980, beating crowd favourite Leo McClean--who was profiled on PokerStars.tv this week--along the way in which. Then there has been Martin Finger who picked up even more, £821,000, by winning the Super High Roller. It was a corker of a festival, and person who was available to observe during on EPT Live.

Last year's Main Event winner Robin Ylitalo

The EPT Live team will after all be back in London to supply full coverage from Day 2 on Tuesday, throughout to a winner per week on Saturday. They convey with them the standard analysis, repartee, film references, contests, the newest Challenge Stapes sequence and every kind of different stuff so that it will keep you glued to the screen. And there is always the mute button is the boss walks in.

For players London always offers something of a treat. It is a city that may be difficult to tire of, and the Grand Connaught Rooms is slap bang in the midst of it. Major landmarks and attractions--Covent Garden, Leicester (pronounced "Lester") and Trafalgar Square are minutes away, as is the British Museum, Parliament, the South Bank and the closest branch of the, erm, Aberdeen Steakhouse.

As we highlighted earlier this week the player experience remains on the heart of every EPT festival. To assist somewhat there'll be regular shuttle buses between the Hippodrome and the tournament venue, although you too can walk it in roughly ten minutes. And you may pass about six Starbuck's at the way.

They'll even be food trucks outside the Grand Connaught Rooms to fulfill appetites through the breaks. Not more dashing down the road to snatch something to eat. Simply walk outside between the hours of 11:00 and 20:00 BST.

Then there's the poker, some 45 tournaments in the course of the entire festival with highlights being the £4,250 Main Event and £10,000 High Roller, with various other side events fitting budgets and desires. It's really no wonder whether was voted best tournament on the 2013 British Poker Awards.

So because the warm-up act continues--a pretty good one at that, as you will find for yourself in our live coverage of the UKIPT--we sit up for the principle feature. All of it kicks off at 12:00 BST (07:00 ET) on Sunday, with coverage at the PokerStars Blog through to a winner late on Saturday night.

For everything else, take a look at the EPT website for details of all of the EPT London festival.

See you in London.

Stephen Bartley is a staff writer for the PokerStars Blog.

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