blonde poker

This May sees the UK festival circuit make a rare jaunt up North towards Newcastle. The destination? The highly rated Aspers Casino at the Gate on Newgate Street.

Rather unfortunately, considering the popularity of the game and quality of venue in the region, Newcastle doesn’t enjoy as many festivals as it should, last year’s WSOP-clashing attempts being minor exceptions. But, with the introduction of their May Madness week, Aspers Casino appears to be putting themselves out there as a potential contender on the UK circuit, and ensuring that their locals have some big events to salivate over during the upcoming days.

After speaking to the likes of Geordieboy Paul Gourlay, who, incidentally, just finalled in the Grand Prix de Paris for 26 thousand Euros, Aspers Casino is a cracking little casino that would put most, if not all the other poker-hosting outlets within the UK to shame. With this in mind, it’s mind boggling that not more festivals have made it to the north-east area.

Of course, with the second APAT event, Aspers proved that they were more than capable of catering for large numbers playing for big prizes, which, in my mind, makes their upcoming May Madness all the more alluring. Unfortunately for them, it is destined to clash (a mistake, perhaps?), with the ever-popular and jam-packed Grosvenor UK Poker Tour, making its fourth stop in Brighton.

However, rest assured, Aspers Newcastle won’t be short of numbers, especially when they catch sight of the tempting line-up they have scheduled for the week:

Mon 14th May (6pm) -- £100+5 NLH R/B, 90 mins
Tue 15th May (6pm) -- £200+10 NLH D-C F/O
Wed 16th May (6pm) -- £100+5 PLO 1xR/B & A/O
Thu 17th May (6pm) -- £300+15 PLH F/O
Fri 18th May (6pm) -- £500+25 NLH F/O (final next day)
Sat 19th May (6pm) -- MAIN EVENT: £1,000+50 NLH F/O - DAY 1
Sun 20th May -- MAIN EVENT - DAY 2
Sun 20th May (8pm) -- £50+5 PLO R/B

Of course, the biggie is the weekend’s £1,000 Main Event, but the other freezeouts, which provide a nice range from £200 to £500 freezeout (not to mention the £100 rebuy), should also attract it’s fair share of customers. However, only time will tell if the May Madness week is a success - if it wasn’t for the GUKPT, I’m sure it would be a home banker. Let’s just hope that we aren’t overestimating the current demand for poker and that Aspers can compete on the current scene. It’ll be interesting to find out…