Ladbroke
Casinos, one of the big four UK casino operators, has teamed up with Matchroom
Sport Promoters and broadcasters of major sports events worldwide to create the
biggest poker tournament ever, they say. The truth of the matter is they won't
be able to match the World Series of Poker finals in downtown Las Vegas for
shear numbers and high class field but they probably will come a decent second
with a monster first prize on offer.
Its an old casino trick of offering a big prize to get
publicity, regardless of the fact that they may not be able to give any other
prizes, just so that they can get maximum publicity. Here it may actually work
for once because the TV people are involved and they can offer 15 minutes of
fame to the winner. |
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| Latest
News |
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| The tournament is now over. The accounts from all parties
agreed that it was a great success. I (Richard Whitehouse) have been covering
it from day one and have enjoyed every minute. |
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| Isle of Man |
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From
the 13th-19th November, the beautiful and quiet Isle of Man is the venue for
the richest tournament to be held in the Europe and eventually, they hope, the world. At first its baffling why anyone would ship
the worlds top players to a small island where its still obligatory for
visitors to stop and make a wish as they make the bumpy journey from the
airport to Douglas. Why not play it in London where the big hotels and many
casinos are?
With not much trouble you can understand why. There is no
where they could stage a big event, no where that would allow all night play
and no where that would allow TV cameras to take over proceedings like they are
bound to in the PokerMillion tournament. Also the island is a self governing
community with oldest parliament in the world and they can bend their own
gambling laws to suit the commercial needs of such a tournament. Its the sort
of thing that makes small islands commercially viable.
The Hilton is in
Douglas, the capital. Its a small seaside town with its own little gambling
mecca. Over the years people have travelled from as far as Japan and Australia
to play in a variety of poker and backgammon tournaments creatively staged
here. Many came for the more-than-you-can-eat English breakfast that often
turned out to be the only serious meal they would likely get. |
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| Prizes |
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| Place |
Prize |
Place |
Prize |
| 1 |
£1,000,000 |
7 |
£10,000 |
| 2 |
£100,000 |
8 |
£8,000 |
| 3 |
£50,000 |
9 |
£6,000 |
| 4 |
£25,000 |
10 |
£2,000 |
| 5 |
£15,000 |
to |
£2,000 |
| 6 |
£14,000 |
20 |
£2,000 |
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| Special Rules |
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The
Poker Million Tournament will be run with a novel idea of giving the players
their chips in two batches, a.k.a "Double Chance". Entrants get chips to the
value of 10,000 points for their stake money but start the competition with
half, i.e. 5,000 points. If any player loses all their chips within the first
four levels of blinds they automatically receive the remaining
balance.
After the first four levels of blinds have been completed, all
players who have yet to take their full quota of chips will then be given
theirs as a top-up.
Players who reach the final table are in for
a bit of a shock, unless of course you are Phil Helmuth. Why him? Because he
doesn't often where silly hats, dark glasses or track suits and he doesn't
smoke. Neither will anyone else be able to if they should make it there because
the TV rites specifically prohibit these things. So all you budding
millionaires had better start living clean.
Another point to remember is
that they will be showing the final table in a way similar to CH4's Late Night
Poker. This means under-table camera views of players cards!
Also se
PRIZES |
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| No-Limit |
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| If you didn't
know, the big tournaments are run with No-Limit rules. This basically means
that the minimum bet is the level of the
big blind
and the maximum is anything you have in front of you. Below is another chance
to see the No-Limit rules. |
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Starting
At the
beginning of the game a player is chosen at random to be the "Dealer". That
person will not actually deal the cards, the house dealer will do that, but its
a title that means the house dealer knows who gets the first card of each hand.
A big white button is placed in front of that player with 'Dealer' marked
clearly. After every hand the title of dealer moves along one position to the
left and people speak of the button moving along. |
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Dealing
The two players to
the left of the dealer must each make a blind bet (called blinds)
before the cards are dealt. This creates a pot before cards are
dealt which makes sure the game gets some flowing action. (Otherwise people
could sit forever and just play their very best hands). Now the dealer deals
two cards to each player. |
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Playing
The third person
from the button is the first person to have to make a decision or
speak. This is because they are the first in line who hasn't
already made a bet. They must at least call the blind bet, which
means placing the same amount of money as the blind bet into the pot. They can
of course raise and the No-Limit feature of this competition
means they can bet any part or all of the money in front of them.
Alternatively, if they feel that their hand isn't worth playing then they can
fold, which simply means throw their cards in to the discard pile
(normally means just giving them to the dealer). |
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| If any player
raises, all of the people after them in the order of action must at least call
the same amount of money to continue playing in the hand or else they must
immediately fold their hand. |
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| When the
initial round of betting is over the dealer deals the flop, three
cards face up in the middle of the table. These are communial cards which all
players can combine with the two they hold to form a poker hand. After the flop
is dealt, betting starts once more, this time from the first person after the
button who is still playing in the hand. This time however no blind bet has
been made and so the player can check, which simply means make no
bet now but reserve the right to raise antbody who does make a bet. |
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Showdown
When the betting
stops (there might not have been any) then the dealer deals a forth card in the
middle and another round of betting starts. After this a fifth and final card
is dealt. There is a final round of betting and when that is finished all
remaining players must turn over their cards to see who wins the pot. The best
hand wins according to the ranking of poker
hands and is made from using five cards from the seven card combination of
players hands and the five communial cards. |
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| Promoters |
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| The promoters for this event are Barry
Hearn's MATCHROOM
SPORT |
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| Also
LINK TO
POKER on this site |
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