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Another Astounding Success in the Second Dusk Till Dawn Grand Prix

 An amazing 1319 individual players visited the club this weekend, as Dusk Till Dawn hosted their second Grand Prix Event. Last October’s Grand Prix was a £50 buy-in, attracting a UK record field of 900 players and generating a prizepool of £45,000.  This time, the buy-in was increased to €100, and yet again the event sold out in advance, hitting its cap of 810 players.  There was one other difference.  As well as buying in directly through Dusk Till Dawn Online Poker, there were 28 consecutive days of online satellites, where players could win their seat by playing the €3 rebuys.

 Dusk Till Dawn guaranteed 56 seats across the satellite period, and a grand total of 123 players made it through to win their place.  What made the Grand Prix satellites so unique, was that each winning seat also came with a £5,000 Golden Chip.  Any satellite winner that then went on to make the final table on Day 2, would bag themselves an extra £5,000 in addition to their winnings, courtesy of Dusk Till Dawn. 


On day 1A (Friday), 64 out of the field of 405 were satellite winners.  Each player started with 10,000 chips, and played 13 x 40 minute levels.  By the end of the day, 54 players remained, 6 of which possessed a Golden Chip.  Day 1B followed the same format, but started with 59 Golden Chip winners.  It saw double the amount of satellite winners go through to Day 2, meaning 18 out of the remaining 111 players, started Day 2 with an extra £5,000 to aim for.

Of the 18, only 1 person chose to display their Golden Chip.  All other satellite winners decided not to, as there was a chance it might act as a disadvantage to them.  Strategically, opponents could force them to pass, by moving in on them, knowing that the chip holders had so much more to play for, and were unlikely to act unless they had premium hands. 

 
However, James Perry chose a different strategy.  James, whose seat cost a total of €6.60, decided to display his chip on the table throughout the tournament.  He felt that when he moved all in, players would assume he had a big hand.  James was our last remaining Golden Chip winner in the event, and his strategy almost paid off!  Ironically, when he finally committed his stack just TWO places away from the final table and an extra £5,000, he did have a big hand – pocket Queens!  Unfortunately, the race ended for James as he faced Ace King, which connected with a King, high flop.  With no Queen on the turn or river, James finished in a very respectable 10th place, winning €870.  James (pictured below) comments on his result:

“I was pleased to have got this far and got a buzz from playing with my Golden Chip on the table. Towards the end, it was the final table and the extra £5,000 payout that I was playing for.  It’s gutting to be two places off the final table, but I’ve enjoyed playing.  I’m looking forward to playing the next Grand Prix and I’ll definitely be looking to win another golden chip.”   

 
Simon Trumper, Live Poker Director, commented on the closeness of James’ result:

"with two tables left, there were still four of our Golden Chip winners remaining, so we were sure at least one would make the final table.  James was very unlucky to find such a premium hand and have it beaten, but should be extremely proud to have outlasted 800 players.  The event has been a phenomenal success.  All the players were following the progress of the Golden Chip winners, and you could feel the empathy in the cardroom as we announced that the last chip had fallen just 2 short of his extra £5,000 payout.”

 

It took a further 13 levels on Day 2, before a chip count deal was agreed to between the remaining 4 players.  Cloudio Devito, Andrew Walker, Ben Dixon and Vikram Digpal took between €9,000 and €12,000 each, and Claudio was declared the winner (pictured below).


The Grand Prix was another fantastic success, with Dusk Till Dawn proving yet again, that when it comes to huge fields, they can maintain all the qualities and high standards that make them such a unique and highly regarded card room. With side events on the Sunday, there were a total of 581 players in 4 separate tournaments! 

 
Plans are already being drawn up for the next Grand Prix, which will be held in April.  Brace yourselves… this WILL be one not to miss!

Alex at DTD