Sky Poker, the first multiplatform poker room, kicked off its nationwide live tour on Saturday at the Dusk Till Dawn card room in Nottingham. 120 players came to the inaugural event after having qualified through online satellites at www.skypoker.com. A small number of players also won though a live satellite held at DTD.The winner of the event was local player, Maria Demetriou (left). She, along with the other top ten finishers, qualified for the Grand Finale of the Sky Poker UK Tour, which will be held back at Dusk Till Dawn in June 2009. “It was a really fun day out,” said Maria. “Qualifying for the £25,000 guaranteed final was the best thing, but it was a really nice touch to have all the top ten players win a seat, that made it much more exciting.”
Maria’s final hand remained on the table as the final three players agreed to all take a third place payout. As the chip leader, Maria qualified first with a pro rata payout for each of the final three, according to their chip stack.
The first leg of the Sky Poker UK Tour brought together the Sky Poker community which created a friendly tournament atmosphere. In particular the diversity of Sky Poker community was illustrated with a large contingent of female players, including names such as Tracey Dell, Claire MacGregor and Helen Wilcox. “There were at least two women on each table which is something I have never seen before,” Maria continued. “To have Sky Poker do a live event and have so many ladies come and play in it is a really great thing to see.” Also notable in their presence were celebrities Norman Pace, Richard Orford and blonde poker's own Tony 'tikay' Kendall.
The next leg of the Sky Poker UK Tour will be held at the Broadway Casino in Birmingham on Saturday November 8th 2008. The dates and venues for the rest of the Sky Poker UK Tour will be announced shortly. For more information and to buy in to the satellites for the Sky Poker UK Tour please visit www.skypoker.com
1st Maria Demetriou -- £2,100
2nd Royston Finch -- £1,200
3rd Davyd Wright -- £798
4th Scott Winnard -- £510
5th Thomas McCready -- £500
6th Nichiei Hicks -- £270
7th Paul Pitchford -- £210
8th Kimberley Ploszanski -- £156
9th Mark Lamb -- £114
10th Paul Turnstill -- £84
11th Wayne Barber -- £84
12th James Limmer -- £84