blonde poker forum

Okay, for those that took the time to read my WSOP and Dusk Till Dawn diaries, and for anyone else interested, I am going to diarise the 28 days we have left till the end of Day 1c as DTD and PokerStars attempt to hit the £1M GTE at the UKIPT Nottingham Leg. So, let's start with a little background to how we have managed to find ourselves in this position just 4 weeks away from an event. Well, we have always had a little "to do list" at Dusk Till Dawn, challenges we would like to beat, some have been completed over the last 5 years but a few still remain, they are not normal business things such as make x profit, increase sales by x %, or open more Dusk Till Dawn's, just stuff we would like to do, so still on the "to do list" are;

1. Have a tournament in the Caribbean like the old Crypto CPC, just because that was me and Nicks favourite poker trip (apart from meeting Simon in Subway)
2. Have a tournament with a £1m prizepool, just because its a round number
3. Have a tournament where the winner gets £1m, again, just because when number 2 is done, we need another challenge
4. Do some sort of Poker Tour outside of the Club, dunno where, what and when, we have a remote licence, so why not, seems an interesting project

Previous things on this "to do list" were break the record for the highest number of runners in the UK (why the Grand Prix was created), have the biggest prizepool for a monthly tournament in the UK (why the monthly Deepstack was created),  take 20 players to the WSOP (why we did the Las Vegas Challenge in 2010), have the best £1k event in the UK (why the Monte Carlo was created), do the WSOP structure (why we did lost £80,000 back in 2009!) and so on and so on and so on, anyway, there are 4 things left on the list.

So when PokerStars told me it was likely they would be sending 600 ish players for their UKIPT this year, 200 more than in 2010, my first thought was that we could have a crack at putting a line through number 2, which is a challenge that has been bugging me for some time. I have been saying to Kirsty (Head of UK Gaming at PokerStars) over the last few weeks that it would be great to break the £1m (thinking of our "to do list"), but it was actually her idea to GTE the event after our meeting this week. With the greatest respect, PokerStars are used to achieving multi-million pounds prizepools in their Sunday Million and EPT's, but a £1 million pound event at Dusk Till Dawn, even though its not our event, would mean a lot to the all of the DTD Team and staff. So, this is how the conversation went, after we had finished the UKIPT meeting yesterday afternoon, and Kirsty and Jamie were preparing to leave.

Kirsty (Head of UK Gaming for PokerStars) "you can GTE £1M if you want - haha"
Me   "would you really let us GTE one of your UKIPT events?"
Kirsty "why not, it's been done before in Spain, where a venue GTE'd a tour event for so and so, if you're serious, I can speak to head office"
Me (turning to Nick and Simon) "What do you reckon"
Nick (puts head in hands) "aghhhhh"
Simon "lets do it"
Me (turn to Nick) "only if Nick says its okay"
Nick "jesus (pause).... okay"
Me "Fine, lets do it, please call your head office Kirsty"

5 minutes later...........

Kirsty "they said it's fine"
Me "Cool, we just need to find 830 players, Jamie, you will definitely generate 600 right?"
Jamie (Pokerstars Marketing) "erm, well, at least 500"
Me "Great, so maybe we need 930 then, you're on, 100%"
Nick (head in hands) " "

So, that's how we got here, I hope PokerStars don't mind me repeating our conversations!. I'm unsure how much increasing to £700 buy-in will reduce last years direct buy-ins on the Day 1's, there we only 100 odd direct buy-ins on the day 1's at UKIPT Gallway, so what I do know is that we cannot sit back, relax, cross stuff, pray to the poker gods and expect everyone turns up on the day! In simple terms, it's like a larger version of the first Grand Prix, I guess, but this time we are working with the world's biggest poker operator, rather than on our Jack Jones. So for those that are interested, I will blog on here what we go through over the next 28 days, anything less than exactly £1m in the prize pool will be a failure right? Anything that is a lot less than £1m will be what normally happens when we have been known to miscalculate on the "odd" occasion..... First thing to do is look at the current status, and then tomorrow wake up with some sort of marketing plan and calculate how many extra players really need to be generated.

Current Status
Buy-In = £700 + £70
PokerStars Qualifers = 307
PokerStars Direct Buy-Ins = 27
DTD Qualifers = 9
Total Players Registered To Date = 343
Players to hit GTE Needed = 1429
Additional Players Needed = 1086
(Days remaining = 28)
Last Year's UKIPT
Total Players = 1058
Buy-In = £500 + £60
Prizepool £529,000

Cheers Rob

PS. If you have not seen the web site news here is the link http://www.dusktilldawnpokerclub.com/news.php?id=2232

PPS. Damn, just as I am writing this, WPT have just emailed Simon and said "thank you for holding a £1M GTE  event that clashes with WPT Vienna and The Party Poker Big Game", hmmm, may lose us 25-40 players, I know quite a few guys (Roberto etc) who could have defo come to the UKIPT who have been asked to play in that Big Game thing, woops, anyway, I'm an orginal EPT fan, all these new tours and comps around Europe are getting confusing, so no halm done :)

FIRST!

GL with this Rob. In it to win it on Friday

All the world and his dog will come!

£700 to win a possible £250,000? Yes please!

Although I do think if it is somehow possible to find extra space in the card room to cater for 500+ players if possible?

DTD = nuts!

Well done everyone involved!

Lol nice, wish I could make it  :(

Best of luck with this rob, DTD is by far one of my favourite places to play poker despite only playin there on several occasions

Lol build it and they will come!
Gl Rob, I think you guys will just about do this. No one ever said you didn't have huge danglers :)

fwiw I instantly bought in for day 1c thorugh the stars client, gonna be an amazing 5-6 days

Loving your psychology here Rob. Set an almost impossible challenge, go public on it, then set about finding ways to achieve. Poor Nick should be Knighted.

I'm sure you'll achieve the goal, & I hope blonde are able to do their bit to help. That's the very least we owe Europe's best cardroom by far.

The queues are forming already.


(http://i41.tinypic.com/33p5vmc.jpg)

Bigger marquee needed this year me thinks

Amazing Rob,

 ;tightend;

Nick.

 ;frustrated;

Simon

 ;karabiner;

Wp dtd .....again and again and again

To Rob and the DTD team I wish you all the luck this I hope you smash ALL records

wish I had the balls/money to play an event such as this

Fair play 2 dtd amazing event . Tempted to take my savings out and having a go but not sure it would go down well with the other half lol . Can't see them failing to get numbers for this life changing for winner

I honestly think I will wake up one day and find out DTD was all just a dream, if only everyone in poker was like them.  ;tightend;

loved the WSOP blog mate.

Dear Rob

Please move DTD closer to London.

Kthxbye

What and have all them moaning southern shandy drinkers ruin it. No thanks

Rob, I believe that the UKIPT date was announced well before the WPT Vienna date, in fact I've had it in my diary for many months, so it is the WPT who made the event clash with yours.  Plus the Big Game isn't even a real tournaments, just some TV thing.

GL and I'll be telling my friends to try and win a seat!

-1

Pretty sure the WPT was announced first but that's not really the point, they shouldn't clash much anyway.

Hi Guys

Full schedule details including side events and Live satellites are available on our website plus all ways to buy in.

http://www.dusktilldawnpokerclub.com/news.php?id=2232

For those of you hoping too get a hotel during this week we recommend that you book as early as possible as Nottingham hotels do tend to fill up very early.

Cheers Nicola

Rob really think its cool your putting these big GTE's on.... not just UKIPT but the monthly's etc are great tourns.... hope it all works out well mate thanks again

Ever thought of opening the DTD Hotel up next door???

FWIW and without wishing to sound complacent (I know DTD won't be), I think you'll smash it!!!

Same but through the DTD store - I think its gunna be really tough to get a 450 people in a £770 event on a wednesday but I've doubted you guys before and have been very much wrong the majority of the time, so best of luck would be really sick if you make it

Firstly, well done for having the Cojones to do this...

So my thoughts, seeing that this is for the poker community, I'm thinking you need to get all the poker rooms across the country involved "A Call To Arms" Independence Day style... Here's some inspiration for you...
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUdB8gCMcXI

Good Luck...
BTW 28 Days Later was Brilliant... Budget of £5 Million and took £63 Million at box office, never mind pay for TV and Rentals.. *Shakeshead* 

SS...

you got some serious stones Rob Kudos.

I think i'm out of the country but 100% behind you if not.  Gooooood luck!

Great idea

I know a good night manager  ;)

Agree, 28 days later and the sequal 28 weeks were both pretty good imo

Who is always on the Internet at work? :)

Actually, who is guaranteeing the mill, Rob or Stars? (http://i724.photobucket.com/albums/ww249/mikill_thomas/unsure.gif)

+1

Erm, Woodsey................... ;noflopshomer;

Okay, I have done a full reconciliation of exactly where we are runners wise, with just over 3 weeks of qualifying left....hmmmm:

UKIPT Summary 15/3/2012      
PokerStars Qualifers         316
PokerStars Direct Buy-Ins      34
PokerStars Players         350
DTD Online Qualifers         13
DTD Club  Qualifers         To Be Confirmed
DTD Shop Buy-Ins         6
DTD Cash Desk Buy-Ins      3 (all into Wed Day 1a with a little persuasion.....thank you James, Mitch & Alex :)up)
DTD Players                 22
Total Players                  372
Player Deficit                 1057

Thank you for your good luck posts, and for the PM's and even more so for the offers of help... well, apart from lightening your wallet by £770, you can really help A LOT by just getting the word out. There will be people all over the UK playing poker in pubs, snooker clubs, private poker clubs, home games, casinos or even just sitting watching poker on TV, that don't have a clue about this UKIPT the £1M GTE, not everyone reads Blondepoker, plays poker regularly, has a PokerStars account or has visited Dusk Till Dawn.

Help Needed/Begged for/Pleaded For/Required  ;spam;
So, if you have a blog of any kind (especially a poker blog), or a facebook account, or a twitter account, or just post on a particular forum, or work in local/national/any type media/press, you could really help out by posting/writing a little bit about this UKIPT event, also posting a link to our "£1M news item" and the "UKIPT Nottingham schedule" would be  Aspades, here are the main 2 links I need as many people to read in the UK/World/Galaxy/Solar system/Universe (is that actually the right order?).

UKIPT schedule http://www.dusktilldawnpokerclub.com/images/pokerstars-flyer-2012.pdf

News Item http://www.dusktilldawnpokerclub.com/news.php?id=2232

After getting my begging bowl out......can I please ask for one more favour............... can ANYONE who takes the time out to do this, either post on here OR if at least PM me through Blonde, so that I know who you are and also be able to say thank you in person one day at Dusk Till Dawn or at least PM you back to say "thanks mate"

Thanks and Cheers Rob

PS. Haha leethefish, I laughed my head off at your  ;karabiner; post on page 1 of this thread ref Mr Simon Trumper, because that's actually how he danced when we were at the Irish Open a few of years ago, like THAT exactly,I went out on the bubble when a player flopped the nuts and the conversation went like this;

Me: I can't fold there
Mr Simon Trumper: I knew the guy had the nuts
Me: Simon, at least wait till I get off the table until I get the rubdown
Mr Simon Trumper: Terrible call, anyone could tell he had flopped the nuts
Me: xxxx off, don't start with that "Simon Trumper Book of Tells" lecture, hoe the hell did you know he has the nuts then Mr Late Night Poker Champion
Mr Simon Trumper: It was obvious, when he saw the flop he stood up and did this  ;karabiner; (and for the rest of the time in Dublin Mr Trumper did this dance!)

Good management allows this  :P ;) (and just sometimes i DO have a night off)

First one was brilliant but I'm slightly biased cos one of my favourite actors was in it (Christopher Eccleston). If the UKIPT is half as popular you're laughing.

The twins 3rd birthday on the Sunday, and there is no way I can't open my business on the Monday.......

nothing to worry about then :D




I'm in for soft Wednesday.

Wow, hope it all goes to plan.
Already in for 1c, seat won and holiday off work booked. Just hope my baby daughter doesn't arrive six weeks early now...

Happy to...FB'd, G+'d & Tweeted.
@Paulie_D59 (https://twitter.com/#!/Paulie_D59)

Posted on the betfair forum.  Unfortunately nobody ever reads it anymore. 

You have tempted me into my first UKIPT, just need to get it won now.

Good luck with this.

PokerStars UKIPT £1M - Post 3: First Live UKIPT Club Sat (Tick)

The £150 Deepstack £50K GTE was down today as I expected, we let 37 online satelitte qualifiers move their seats to the £100K supersized £150 Deepstack http://www.dusktilldawnpokerclub.com/events/150-deepstack-special/3368 the weekend before the UKIPT, which resulted in a £2K overlay this weekend, I don't blame players for wanting to use their seat for an event with double the GTE. However, every cloud has a silver lining :)up, this meant that we had some spare dealers, so I called Simon this afternoon and asked him to run a £50 UKIPT satelitte tonight and it made 3 seats with 35 runners, Club regs, Bash, Jason "Smashed Again" and Amjad bagged the seats, not ideal as I think these 3 would have bought in direct anyway ;grr;, but it's a start (sorry guys, i mean "it's great you won a seat" ;joestrummer;). I have targeted to qualify a minimum of 100 Club players over the next 3/4 weeks, and we will run another UKIPT Club satelitte next Saturday 24th March at 9pm with 5 seats GTE, £50 buy-in.

I have asked Alex to move the daily Early Bird Online €20 Turbo RB satelitte to 6.30pm, hopefully we can do this for Monday, I would like to see that making 2 seats as we get closer to the UKIPT, in total, I have targeted to qualify 200 players through Online and the Club, of course, I expect some overlays but they pale into insignificance when the GTE for comp is £1M. Strategy wise, we have a simple 2 point plan to scrape to the 1430 players needed;

1. Qualify as many players as possible through the Club and Online (200+ target)

2. Increase direct buy-ins from outside of England, focussing on countries that fly direct to East Midlands and Birmingham Airport (200+ target)

I have spoken to my contacts/friends in Spain, Norway, Wales, Ireland, France, Austria and Holland, a couple of them have already promised me 25+ players through their live casinos/card rooms and I fly to Dublin and Amsterdam next week to meet them. I believe that focussing on the English market will not be enough to make the £1M prizepool, when we put a £250K GTE on our March £500 Deepstack, pretty much every English poker player with £500 spare probably played it, we had 520 unique players but only 320 were actually direct buy-ins, with 200 being qualifiers, so it's not rocket science to estimate the Engliish market for £700 cash buy-ins at around 400- 500 max, plus unlike our £500 Deepstack, there is no Day 1 on Saturday so all players must take a day off work to participate.

I am enjoying this challenge, even though it's not a Dusk Till Dawn "home" event like a Monte Carlo, Grand Prix or Deepstack, each day, I update my spreadsheet and every time I get an email from our Online Shop saying "Confirmation of £700 + £70 buy-in for UKIPT", I get a real buzz, the same feeling as the first Grand Prix when noone gave us a prayer of hitting those numbers. There is a very positive mood around the whole DTD Team, everyone is working so hard, we have thought about a £1M prizepool at Dusk Till Dawn for the last couple of years and this will be our best ever chance due to the backing and brand of PokerStars.

Updated Numbers
UKIPT Summary 17/3/2012      
PokerStars Qualifers         330
PokerStars Direct Buy-Ins      44
PokerStars Players         374
DTD Online Qualifers         17
DTD Club  Qualifers         3
DTD Shop Buy-Ins         14
DTD Cash Desk Buy-Ins      5
DTD Players                 39 (well, that is 39 more than 3 days ago!)
Total Players                413
Player Shortfall                 1017   ;hide;

IMPORTANT: If you can only play Friday Day 1c, please buy-in ASAP either at the Club, through our Online Shop http://www.dtdshop.com/ , or through the PokerStars client, if you intend to bink a satelitte either at the Club or Online, and are successful, we can just give you your money back that you bought in with, there is 0%/zero/no chance that Friday will not sell out, we have further requests from players for 15 seats and are just awaiting wire transfers

Cheers Rob

Full Schedule http://www.dusktilldawnpokerclub.com/images/pokerstars-flyer-2012.pdf
Satelittes: http://www.dusktilldawnpoker.com/satellites/pokerstars-ukipt

PS. If you post our UKIPT news item http://www.dusktilldawnpokerclub.com/news.php?id=2232 on Facebook, Twitter, a Blog or a Forum, please drop Nicola a email nicola@dusktilldawnpoker.com.  She in having a prize draw for everyone that helps her keep her job by getting 5000 unqiue views, the winner gets a £770 seat, hotel, expenses, free food and drink at the Club for the whole week. We will follow the winner's progress throughout the UKIPT, what an amazing story if he or she actually won!

Read through the WSOP diary a couple of weeks ago and nice to be able to be involved in this one hope you smash the Guarentee i know i will be stepping up my qualfyier trail over the next few weeks and hope to bink my seat sooner rather then later!!

Good luck Rob and the DTD team!

Proud to be one of the first club sat winners.
 
Massive buzz and great atmosphere around the club with everything that's going on. Wp

well done mate .....nice one!

Samll error in ur blog rob 24 march for the Satalite i assume

Yes really pleased. In the space of two days I get a mention in Rob Yong's diary and lildaves blog. Life's complete :)

Plus the missus has put the new straighteners on to the barnet and given it some new shine and lift. WAL.

Errr yeah. Am defo going through the mid life crisis. Wtf is she doing mentioning stuff like that. May just turn up at the UKIPT in leather trousers ;)

I have to say that I'm very disappointed that PokerStars are no longer running the Sunday satellites with packages guaranteed.  Their emphasis seems to have switched to the UKIPT Dublin already.  Take tonight for instance.  8pm 200 euro Dublin satellite with 4 packages guaranteed.  At 10.30pm (???) a £70 satellite to Nottingham with 2 seats guaranteed.  I know DTD are running satellites as well, but come on Stars, sort it out.

You should give the 77 quid satty a try. Really good structure and makes around 5 seats. Probs more tonight

Fair point. Rob is sticking a long neck out, .....you would have thought Stars would help and push the Million GTD headline and still be putting on package sats.

There you go.
Hope you get the numbers you need.
http://www.ukpokercalendar.com/ai1ec_event/ukipt-leg-2-dusk-till-dawn-nottingham-e700e70/?instance_id=

I'm doing weekly newsletters at the minute so I'll make sure it's in the next couple.

Posted both on Pokerinedinburgh sites

Geo

You've got me.

I was going to duck this tournament because it clashes with the Grand National.

But I've got to support a club which makes guarantees like this.

Congrats and good luck making the required number.

They've stopped running package satellites as they have flogged all the hotel room allocation

Not difficult to obtain some more rooms surely?

I would think Stars would only have a certain level of hotel they would work with and would be prepared to team up with in offering a package.

If they offered a package at some hotel which turned out to be a shithole it would reflect badly on them.

Also main event travel have booked up a ridic number of rooms. I don't know what hotel stars used last year but MET have booked up rooms at the belfry, jurys inn and the britannia

Stars, do a deal with MET!  Crikey this stuff is not rocket science!

Before anyone points it out, yes I know deals are no longer allowed!

I think I'd much prefer to win a seat only sat anyway for a comp reasonably close to home and make my own travel and hotel arrangements. I tend not to enter the package sats for this very reason, unless it's abroad or something.

I bought into day 1c last night and I get a steer in work today that I have an away trip 10-13 April, straight away something is amiss in my head. Norrrrrrrr Ukipt, I tell them that this is a massive no no..... Why they ask....erghhh I can not work Friday the 13ths is my response as I am supstitious. Fade achieved day 1c here we come.

PMSL, vwp.

The amount they take out of the package used to be way in excess of what you can book the same hotel for. I don't know if this is still the case with them and main event travel but it does take a lot of the hassle away if you are a "can't be arsed sorting it myself" type, which a lot of poker players are.

Hi all,

Posting for the first time on Blonde with Rob's blessing.

This is pretty much the feedback we received from most players. Seat only > Satellite Package.

In terms of providing numbers, a Nottingham full package cost £1,300 whereas as Seat only requires £770 out of the satellite pool. We can therefore provide more players for the main event with a majority of seat only satellites as we are not drawing money out of the pool to pay for hotels etc.

There are a lot of cheapish hotel options in Nottingham and our thought process was that it is better to give people the option particularly since the event is not taking place in the same hotel as with Galway, Dublin, Edinburgh etc etc. We did have 90 hotel rooms for players which is normal enough but these were admittedly snapped up pretty quickly.

If anyone would like to stay at the Park Plaza, UKIPT hotels still has a limited supply of rooms:

http://www.ukipthotels.com/city.asp?id=2&idc=22&nottingham

Any other questions please let me know and I will do my best

Cheers!

Jamie

 

Thanks for posting Jamie.

Could you mix the seat only satellites up a bit?  The £33 1R1A is ok, but the structure of the weekly package satellite you used to have on a Sunday was much better (although I guess you would need to reduce the buy-in).  Ideally I would like to see a £77 f/o with a good structure every few days, with decent satellites into this.  If you mix it up a bit you'll get more runners!

Dtd are also running sats both online and at the club. Any fool can win them I hear :)

Thanks for posting Jamie.

Could you mix the seat only satellites up a bit?  The £33 1R1A is ok, but the structure of the weekly package satellite you used to have on a Sunday was much better (although I guess you would need to reduce the buy-in).  Ideally I would like to see a £77 f/o with a good structure every few days, with decent satellites into this.  If you mix it up a bit you'll get more runners!

[/quote]

Hi,

Thanks for the feedback.

We are all really excited for this event, it is absolutely huge and has got a massive buzz going around the office!

We have re-vamped our online qualifiers alot for Season 3 and we do currently offer at least one non-turbo direct satellite per day into the UKIPT.  We have been running satellites since the 22nd of January for Nottingham and Dublin has a much smaller qualifying period. I'm sure you can appreciate the needs we have to balance our commitments to the rest of the tour whilst being fully behind this for the time being.

We will be having two weeks of just UKIPT Nottingham satellites in the two weeks prior to the event so that should definitely improve things for you for two weeks at least ;)

Anyway, I don't want to derail Rob's thread too much so if anyone has any questions please post in the UKIPT Nottingham Information thread and I will post replies whenever I get the opportunity or ukipt@pokerstars.com as always.

Cheers!

Jamie,

You can de-rail any thread of mine if you keep qualifying more players mate! I was the stats for last week, nice uplift, can you stick some 100 seat GTE mega sats on please, £1 buy-in  ;)

Plus, you lot happen to be the biggest online and live poker business in the world, so we would like you to have a presence on here.

If there is any UKIPT info that you feel players will find useful, please stick it on here  http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=56990.135

Cheers Rob

Hi Rob, great tournament and great guarantee! I'll be playing the Wednesday as long as I'm still in England. Posted the link on facebook as requested.

Rob, you were talking about Europe before. I live in Berlin and there are direct flights to East Mids with Ryanair. There are two main places to play poker here. Spielbank Potsdamer Platz(home of the EPT) and Westspiel at Alexanderplatz. I have no contact with the management of either of these places and no idea if they would run sats, but just throwing it out there. The largest casino for German players is Rozvadov, just over the border in Czech Republic.

GL!

Will tell the people I play with over in Berlin what a nice cardroom you have, how easy the flight is and how huge this tournament will be!

£5>>£25>>£125>>Seat, pls.
Hi,

Thanks for the feedback.

We are all really excited for this event, it is absolutely huge and has got a massive buzz going around the office!

We have re-vamped our online qualifiers alot for Season 3 and we do currently offer at least one non-turbo direct satellite per day into the UKIPT.  We have been running satellites since the 22nd of January for Nottingham and Dublin has a much smaller qualifying period. I'm sure you can appreciate the needs we have to balance our commitments to the rest of the tour whilst being fully behind this for the time being.

We will be having two weeks of just UKIPT Nottingham satellites in the two weeks prior to the event so that should definitely improve things for you for two weeks at least ;)

Anyway, I don't want to derail Rob's thread too much so if anyone has any questions please post in the UKIPT Nottingham Information thread and I will post replies whenever I get the opportunity or ukipt@pokerstars.com as always.

Cheers!
[/quote]

Rob, if you hit the milly can you have all the money on the table during the HU like they do in the series?

I would love to but not sure what insurance company would think!

I'm not at all sure that would be a wise thing to do in Nottingham! And I cannot imagine any of the top finishers would want to be paid in cash.

It's a tradiitional thing in the WSOP Main, & a few other events, but it is not very British, imo, & a shade tacky I always think.

It is a little tacky, but juggling bricks is fun!

It's not real money at the WSOP. I quite fancy owning £10 with Rob Yong's face on it- get 'em printed ;-)

Goodness me Mr TK - is there anything we should know about Nottingham to understand your advice :)

This - there has to be a few bricks to hold up for the photos - I'll get practising.

How is it tacky having all the cash out on display? It's what everybody's there for.

If we can have a couple of ridiculously hot birds parading round it wearing nothing but DTD logo'd bikinis I think you've just about hit the jackpot.

Go on Rob. You know it makes sense.

Lets not jump the gun Matt - lets see how the diet goes first.....

Kill me now......

Already had to dive for cover under tables once because PokerStars had too much of the entrance money on display!

They had the plaques on display once, next to a mean looking bouncer. That was pretty cool.

Totally agree.  Just asking for trouble.  Word gets round and at some point some unsavoury characters will have a go. 

One questions btw who's paying ?
Pokerstar to ur account or DTD at the cage?

 ;thankyou; ;thankyou;

Ps. If I cash or scoop!

You needn't worry about that frankie neither need I just turn up and have the craic

The money's safe as houses. Nobody will try anything while Sinclair is on the door with Ronaldo backing him up :)

Big comedy cheques for the win anyway

I know that but still wanted to know if Dtd r paying
at the cage or PS to ur account. 
Dtd pays everyone at the cage last year.

The winner will get a cheque and possibly a bit of cash. You main dilema is that you need to decide if you want 5% or 10% swop but either way I will give you £20k or £10k in cash pound notes :)

I don't know about another other ways but if you qualify through pokerstars you can only get £2k in cash - the rest to your stars account

I remember last year Dtd pay EVERY single players
that cash at the cage.  Max of 10k in cash and rest
in Dtd lovely cheque.

Hi Guys,

Please read this carefully.

1. If you are a Pokerstars qualifier or have directly bought in through the Stars client, you can have max £2,000 cash at our cage and the rest in your PokerStars Online account
2. If you are a DTD Qualifer, bought in through DTD Shop, or bought in in cash, you can have max £10k cash and rest in cheque or bank transfer

Cheers Rob

P.S. I like the idea of putting plaques on the table heads-up, i've asked Simon to do this as long as Pokerstars are okay with it, I don't think its tacky, my trademark for heads up challenges is "cash on the table", but plaques are also fine and more practical :)

Such nits :D

Thanks rob. Only trust Chinese! Lol

and the hot birds in DTD logo'd bikinis?

U and me in the bikinis with rob and Simon holding the light !!

Wiiiiiiiii

omg is it please.

I could put on a mankini too !

incredible gaurantee, will definitely be supporting.

 Id love to show my support for this tourney and DTD in general, but unless i win a seat online im about £770 short.

 Best of luck though, and well done on having the balls to put the guarantee on Rob.  ;applause; 

:P

Pile of plaques on the table would be awesome :D

PokerStars UKIPT £1M - Post 4: Over the 500

We have now reached the massive ( ;djinn;) total 515 players with 20 days to go, only 915 players to drag through the doors. In simple terms, between us and PokerStars we have averaged 23 players a day through satelittes, online and cash direct buy-ins over the last 7 days, with no uplift over next 20 days, the maths is simple;

Current player total = 515

20 Days left x 23 = 460

Forecast Players before Day 1a = 975

Shortfall before Day 1a = 455 (i.e. cash buy-ins needed on Day 1a, Day 1b and Day 1c)

In our favour is there is normally an uplift nearer the event, previous to the £1M GTE, average players generated were only 10 per day, so we have had a 130% uplift, it could be argued that the "nearer the time" increase in players has already been experienced as players know Day 1c will sell out and are therefore buying their seat early, so I think it's prudent to assume that 23 will be the "norm" up to the Wed April 11th with the potential/hope of a mad rush on the last week.

Cash buy-ins on the Day 1's could be lower than previous years, as many players may have pre registered or qualified via satelittes due to the increase in buy-in from £500 + £60 to £700+£70. If we get a poor Day 1a, even if there were 500 players that turn up on Day 1c, we couldn't actually seat them and would end up in the wierd position of turning players away and doing our xxxxocks on the GTE!

I am mindful that UKIPT Gallway only had 100 cash buy-ins, so there is noway that we can afford to be at 975 players before the doors on on Day 1a Wed, having Thur and Fri sold out will not matter, we can't rely on a 50% direct cash buy-in rate into Day 1a. On many occasions Simon, Nick and myself have "walked the car park" of Dusk Till Dawn, hoping cars are turning into our car park, only to see them turn into the Cinema next door, I don't fancy doing this at £700 a pop!

I am assuming that there are not enough players in the UK at this £700+£70 entry level, so we need to generate 200-250 non UK buy-ins by networking our contacts abroad, starting with me going to the Norwegian Championships next week, where there will be 1000 players, then I'm off to Amsterdam, Austria, Paris and then back to Dublin for the Irish Open. So far, I have "loose mates type" agreements with 10 different poker mates in different countries to try and generate 20 - 25 players from their country, either through their live venues or marketing their player databases, if this comes off, we will get very close to the 1430 players and get as many players into Day 1a as possible.

Cheers Rob

Online Satelittes: From Monday next week we have increased our 9pm €50 Online Satelitte from 2 to 3 seats GTE, the 6.30pm early bird €20 RB stays at 1 seat

Club Sateliites: £50 9pm this Saturday 5 seats GTE http://www.dusktilldawnpokerclub.com/events/ukipt/3344, our marketing plan is 100 seats to be qualified through the club, so there will be plenty of chances for our regulars to get into this event, defo want to keep this prize pool in the DTD village :)

Have faith obi wan the force is strong with dtd
Galway was 2 hours? From an airport
Dtd is only 2 hours from some of the most densely populated towns in the midlands
5 mins from the m1
30 ? Mins from east midlands airport ( you could offer your car as acourtesy pick up ?)
It will be close but I think u will make it

How about giving players an incentive to play 1a?

Half juice or something.

Travelling players will always pick the last starting day to cut down on expenses.

EDIT: How about a freeroll on day 1b for all day 1a players for a free seat in the hi roller?

REEDIT: Freeroll is a terrible idea, but some sort of thing to get players in on Day 1a and get then to return to play cash or whatever on day 1b.

I like the ideas to get players to play/choose Day 1a, we wouldn't be able to deal a free roll for 400 (or 40) players though on Day 1b - but I really like the idea, Day 1b is gonna be sold out with alternates for sure and PokerStars also have aside event at 8pm - however I guess I could do something on Tuesday night for those Day 1a players. In terms of half price juice for Day 1a, PokerStars wouldn't allow that as its pretty unfair on their players who have already qualified for Day 1b and c. I like the concept of trying to get players to move into Day 1a or choose that day, its definitely been on my mind cause I feel we do 1000 runners (450+ 50 alternates) over Thu and Fri, so if I can hit 450 on Wed, we are safe!. I''ll see what the numbers look like in another week but youre spot on, cause if I can fill Day 1a, we smash the GTE, but I have to be careful of gimmicks to do this, as its a UKIPT event and we play by PokerStars UKIPT rules, and rightly so, I can't just change things/offer promos to other players because we have put up the GTE, and I'm mindful of doing things the right way for all sets of players, qualifiers and direct buy-ins, whatever Day 1 they choose. That's kind of more important that hitting the numbers. Cheers mate, Rob

Never worries Rob, u know that u Gona break
the guarantee by miles!!!!!!
Have faith dude.

 ;goodluck; ;goodluck;

how about running something like a DTD charity raffle on Wednesday only.

 £1 ticket, " lots of great prizes" kindly donated by DTD.

Rob,

I've met you but a couple of times but for a man with what must be a lot going on you have always been very polite, attentive and engaging.

What you and all at DTD have done for UK poker really is great and I just wanted to take a moment to wish you and the team the very best of luck for the mad month ahead.

I hope you not only hit the GTE but smash it, but I'm sure you'd secretly rather have a sweat going into level 4 on day 1c!

All the best,

Ed

Frankie, I hope you are putting your horses into Day 1a! This is a good structure for you, you can fold your way to the final like the Monte Carlo and then freeze at the final table but get a bigger payday this time :) thanks for the support mate, I know I take the xxxx but I know how much you support it the club

Thanks for the kinds words Ed (get yourself into day 1a, apparently it's the luckiest day to play, no one gets any bad beats on day 1a, the kitchen will be serving double potions and all the best looking waitresses are on day 1)

The Future is Bright.....The winner WILL come from Day 1a!

I agree with Frankie on this one but miles maybe an exaggeration. 1a should appeal more to the Dtd regulars as it should in theory offer a softer field. All the stars regs/qualifiers/pros should be playing b or 1c as well as all your bandit mates that you are gonna be flying in from all over Europe :).

The 50 alternates might not be as high also especially without any re entry system. Obv sat qualifiers are gtd a seat in at least 1 day but I can't think of many people in their right mind who have the buy in being stupid enough to not pre register and take a chance on getting in as an alternative.

Just one thing tho. You won't be able to get either Frankie or myself to put our money where our mouths are. The chances you take on these gtd comps is ;gobsmacked;

If someone has their stars account banned, can they still play the event?  and how will large cashouts be handled?

Sandy

TY

Such a sharky idea!

How about a evening freeroll for day 1a players?

What about professional chefs do a tasting menu with wine pairings with day 1a players and the other days get buffet or whatever u normally do?

Anyone that buys in or qualifies through dtd get a free dtd hoodie if they play day 1a.

There's really no need to cheapen this with gimmicks. It won't make any difference to overall numbers whatever you do.

There's a set number of people already who want to play. They've already decided what day they want to play. If that day sells out they'll go for another day because they want to play anyway.

Unless you do something really expensive like the Camel's idea (450 x £35 = £15750!!!) you're not going to alter a thing. Even that won't make much difference.

Just leave it as it is and keep pushing the advertising.

Wat? Day 1as are always tougher than Day 1bs at DTD, as the earlier days attract poker pros for whom every day is as good as any other day. Folk with jobs are much more likely to play the last day. This is probably less true in comps with no re-entries, but it's still true.

Would have thought that day 1c would be the softest as it attracts the qualifiers and casual players like me.

The Day 1s are going to finish at about 1.20am.  That's quite a long day from a 12:00 start, especially if you then have to travel home any distance.

Then Day 2 starts at 12:00 again, so there's definitely a disadvantage playing Day 1c, in terms of being tired from Day 1, especially if you're planning on getting to Day 3 and then the final...

At last - one for the girls.

The points is now rob r trying his very best to make the 1m guarantee .
The 3 day1 don't have any softer field to what I
experience. People that pay £770, got staked, online qualifier or selling part of
their action will play their best and try to win!!

As for the guarantee , I think rob will b ok, as I say b4. No problems dude and have faith in u.

If u have to overlay like 20k, just treat it like advertising for club.
U deserved to hit the guarantee !!!!!

Fingered cross for u anyway .
P/s will tell every of my customers in chip shop
about this comp.

Frankie, YOU are the best. Just for my marketing plan, what % of your customers can I expect to buy into Day 1a?

free beer,shot and chaser for 1A's? must be consumed at table within 1 orbit?

No clues. I hope the play poker

I'm in

Now we're talking.

I'm playing day 1a if it helps :)

Unless they've changed the structure from Galway the day 1's finish about 9pm. They play 8 levels  with 3 x 20 mins break so plenty of time to get home rather than have to get a hotel if you live within a few hrs.

Steve

Raffle for a dinner with Ms Otterwell only to take place on Day 1a????


I can't be the only one thinking this...

U sick little boy!!!!!!!

How about this x 8 for every player ?
I May stand a chance then !!

they are playing extra levels due to extra day and numbers

Diverting away from the UKIPT a litttle, what a good read Keith Johnson's blog is, one of the UK's best poker players IMO and also one of the most gratious losers ;tightend;

http://www.dusktilldawnpoker.com/blog.php?profile=1000

Could market a fairly turbo freeroll at around 10pm for all busts from day 1a - 10 seat guarantee re-entry for 1b

It would be like a poker repechage

n.b, if you like this idea, I wouldn't be too proud to accept a free entry to the tourn

no re-entries

ffs

Okay, Here are the latest numbers...................

UKIPT Summary 24/3/2012         To Date
PokerStars Qualifers                  397
PokerStars Direct Buy-Ins         109
PokerStars Players                  506
DTD Online Qualifers                  43
DTD Club  Qualifers                  11
DTD Shop Buy-Ins                  42
DTD Cash Desk Buy-Ins           8
DTD Players                          104
Total Players                          610

Players Needed 820...................days left 15  ;boltpp;

MY ADVICE IS TO ENTER/CHANGE TO DAY WED 1A - THAT IS THE LUCKY DAY  ;tightend;

I am off to Dublin tomorrow to the Norwegian Championships - to try and recruit some Norwegians to the UKIPT :)

Club members have been moaning about the lack of live satelittes for the UKIPT, well, as promised here they are! Dates and times on this link http://www.dusktilldawnpokerclub.com/satellites/pokerstars-ukipt, I wanted the buy-ins to be as low as possible so as many club players as possible have the opportunity to have 1 or 2 bullets trying to have a shot at the £1M. They will be promoted in the club and if one more person asks me why we are not doing live satellites I may explode into dust!

Cheers Rob

P.S. asked about doing a "Day 1a promo", was thinking about offering anyone that played Day 1a got to the final a £6K CPP Package (would have cost approx 2-3 +seats based on the odds), but after disucssion, was seen as a little unfair on  players that can only make Day 1b and Day 1c, plus might chance play before final table :(

What about running some day 1a sats so seats can only be used for day1a mabye like a 10 seat guaranteed sat and as a promo the sat could have no reg fee? Or mabye an added seat?

Give the player who last longest from day 1a a free shot at a HU game vs you. If he beats you, he gets £1k. Simples.

Running 1 extra online satellite a day with 1 seat added might work. Winners auto-entered into 1a. If you were thinking to give 2-3 CPP packages away at 6k each to boost wednesdays numbers, surely you wouldn't mind having 1 seat added to a few satellites. Although it should clearly state that the satellite is to day 1a ONLY and this is the reason for the extra seat added.

Like

I'll play the Wednesday - if I make Day 2 that gives me a couple of days at home to rest and relax with the five Grandkids and the two dogs that will be visiting

Totally unveiled brag obviously - I binked a seat last night  ;karabiner;

I would have played 1a but it's my daughter's 18th on the 11th April (omg where did the time go?).

I'm feeling this! I won't be playing the UKIPT as taking my daughter to Venice for a short break that weekend, as when she comes back she is starting her GCSES and her last term of school - the past 16 years have flown by.

Surely a day 1A seat would be the perfect pressie?

Yep and a total waste of £770!!!

It is really scary isn't it?!

Pah! My youngest is 26 that day, now that is scary.

<3 Dtd and Rob's relentless ambition

any updates? hope everything is going ok

Here you go mate

UKIPT Summary 31/3/2012         To Date
PokerStars Qualifers         443
PokerStars Direct Buy-Ins         141
PokerStars Players         584
DTD Online Qualifers         68
DTD Club  Qualifers         
DTD Shop Buy-Ins         63
FPP Buy-Ins         6
DTD Cash Desk Buy-Ins         26
DTD Players         163
Total Players         747
GTE Covered         52%


10 days to go...........what do people think? What's your predictions? Here are the runners by day so far;

Seats Avaliable   Gone   Left
Day 1a Wed   59   391
Day 1b Thu   209   241
Day 1c Fri   379   71
Undecided   100   
Total   747

Cheers Rob

Done enough on sats so probs easier to just accept never gonna do it and buy in - so day 1a if it helps  :)

Frankie says relax you've nothing to worry about so you've nothing to worry about. :)

With there being no re entry it might be a bit tight but had you allowed re entries then you would have needed a bigger club.

FRIDAY DAY 1C WILL SELL OUT TODAY - 24 SEATS LEFT

If you can only play Friday, please buy-in ASAP through DTD Shop or PokerStars Client

If you have a seat for Friday, and live locally and can play Thursday or Wednesday, please change (eg. Mr Gascoigne)

If you buy-in and then win a satelitte, we will of course REFUND YOU.

Cheers Rob

What is the number of players to sell out and how many alternates are you expecting to squeeze in?

To sell out need 450 a day = 1350 + 80 alternates = £1M GTE.................so tight as you can ever be........., got 750 so far total, its a 1 hour clock with 15k chips, plus a lot at stake, so i would expect 25-35 alternates, at the end of say, ill deal myself in the car park if I have to, but may not get that one past Stars

Just out of interest rob why is their no re entrys? i think (if you had more chairs) with re entry and the brand of someone like stars you could have hit 2k runners/ push 1.5 million obviously 1 million is the guarentee and the pool isent going to get much bigger then that due to space limiatations as well as lack of players!

ive still not binked my seat yet so you can add one more to your list ;)

Are we to assume that the side event places are going to be very limited too?

I think these tables are also going to have to be in the car park...

Can i suggest a nandos side event we could do 4 max tables in nandos ;) winner of a £5 sit and go gets the full platter?

+1

Think i new what was coming! Binked my seat tonight (sick brag)

Sorry though Rob i did it on that other site running sats!

I'm not Rob but I believe that no re-entries is a UKIPT rule. I'm pretty sure none of the other venues are re-entry as well.

Yeh i think your right and seeing as most DTD comps are now re entry i cannot see why DTD would not want to do it so can only assume it has come from stars

Now that Friday is sold out I can't see there being any seats left for Thursday bythis weekend tomorrow having now seen the post below. Ihope you  smash the granny out of this and start wishing you had 4 starting days. Gl

IMPORTANT - DIRECT BUY-INS ARE INCREASING

FRIDAY DAY 1C - SOLD OUT

DAY 1B - 55 SEATS LEFT

DAY 1A - 356 SEATS LEFT

PLEASE LET ANYONE KNOW THAT CANT PLAY DAY WED 1A THAT THEY NEED TO BUY IN ASAP

POKER STARS NUMBERS ARE WAY OVER THEIR ORIGINAL PREDICTIONS OF 500-600, NOW MORE LIKE 800, THEY MADE 28 SEATS ON-LINE LAST NIGHT AND OF COURSE, ITS THEIR EVENT, THEY HAVE THE PRIORITY WHEN IT COMES TO SEAT ALLOCATION WHICH WAS AGREED AT THE OUTSET.

NICOLA IS NOW TAKING AN ALTERNATES LIST FOR DAY 1C FOR PLAYERS THAT CAN ONLY MAKE THIS DAY. nicola@dusktilldawnpoker.com

CHEERS ROB

PS. I WILL BE AT THE IRISH OPEN IF ANYONE WANTS TO GIVE ME THEIR £770 AND RESERVE A SEAT - JUST COME AND SEE ME

Hi all,

Thought it be time to join. I'm always tracking the updates on here. And I may have bagged a seat for day 1C online (sick brag). I hope DTD make the guarantee, massive step in the right direction for UK poker. Best club in the country.

JK

hi i posted here did it not go up?

hey, buying in to 1b online through dtd shop, payment method comes up as 1 option, worldpay. Can someone elaborate on this? was just hoping could buyin with debitcard or is this some sort of reservation jobbie?

Just click world pay and when you go through final confirmation you then choose which type of debit card you wish to pay on and enter those details.

Thin I have a debit card brag imo really  ;)

ta mate, just went through stars in the end. u playing bud? be good to see even more value.

Lol yh I am donating on the same day as ur goodself!!

UKIPT Summary 4/4/2012         
PokerStars Qualifers         485
PokerStars Direct Buy-Ins         182
PokerStars Players         667
DTD Qualifers         96
DTD Shop Buy-Ins         102
DTD FPP         7
DTD Cash Desk Buy-Ins         61
DTD Players         266
Total Players         933
% GTE Covered      65%

Okay, things have taken a turn for the better, we are now just 497 players away from hitting the 1430 runners mark and therefore the £1M GTE. Between us and PokerStars we estimate a further 200 players to qualify, so that just under 300 direct-buy ins needed.

When we set the £1M GTE, I thought it was a 50:50 shot if we worked our asses off, which everyone has done, I would now say that it is a massive odds-on that it will be achieved,  the last 3 days have seen an average of 50 players generated per day, and with 8 days left, we may have even done the unthinkable, and hit the GTE by the time the event starts, although I think this is highly unlikely unless Day 1a really starts to move.

I am off to the Irish Open on Friday, Liam Flood and Paddy Power have kindly agreed that we can promote the event over there so we will be taking some marketing materials over on Kevin "AKA Whisky Kev / High Roller" O'Connell's private jet, just for Kev's benefit, I will repeat that, "on Kevin O'Connell's private Jet!".

Thank you for all your support!

Don't forget that anyone who is going to the Irish Open can buy-in through me personally by tapping me on the shoulder and giving me £770 quid, you can also buy in for your mates  :)up

Cheers Rob

Whats wrong with taking your jet?

Can afford the petrol dude !!!!

And Tesco has run out anyway

I told u not worry dude . Why the panic!!! Players f more panic now because
if they rdg now, they may not get a seat . Is them who miss out
and not u . £770 to win neatly 1/4 millions . Mbn

No panic Frankie, just set the bar and try and hit it :)

Frankies panicking he's bought 1450 portions of fish n chips for his chip van in the car park and is worrying he might have some left over

I got it ordered by rob's kitchen actually.
I don't care if they don't sell. Lol

U will b ok dude. Good luck in Ireland

My Auntie Janet who's 62 years old and knows and cares nothing about poker or gambling mentioned a "big poker tournament in Nottingham" to my mum the other day.

Believe me. If she knows about it there's nothing more you can do to meerkat this event.

I'll be there Wednesday evening for late reg and I'm not over confident of getting in.

Sell out imminent!!

Good work.

Did she teach you?  ;D

Chatting to Lawrence last night he said he'd only heard of it yesterday! Weird how you're auntie Janet heard about it before Gosney.

(thinly veiled was chatting to Lawrence brag basically)

Maybe it's been better publicised locally?

but wait i thought Lawrence was Dean23Price on stars? he must have known - bluff IMO

I only have 21 seats left for Thursday Day 1b, if you can ONLY play that day you need to either;

1. Buy on on Pokerstars Client
2. Buy in at DTD Shop or DTD Club
3. Find me at the Irish Open!
4. PM me on here IF you know me personally and make payment arrangements

Here are the latest numbers;

UKIPT Summary 7/4/2012         Total
PokerStars Qualifers         551
PokerStars Direct Buy-Ins         223
PokerStars Players         774
DTD Qualifers         250
DTD Shop Buy-Ins         128
DTD Cash Desk Buy-Ins         93
DTD Players         478
Total Players         1,252
GTE Shortfall Players      177

Cheers Rob

This thread has gone too many pages without someone saying how good 28 Days Later is <3

cruising on the bridle with a furlong to go......... wp :)up

I think stars need to have an ept at Dtd now, no one else could get this done or even close

^^^
This is so true. I think Rob and everyone at DTD should get on to stars and get the ball rolling for EPT in Nottingham :)

Wow EPT Nottingham....sick

EPT Monte Carlo

(http://media.cardplayer.com/image/i/IMG_7421_Large_.JPG)

EPT Tallin

(http://www.pokerpolonia.pl/wp-content/uploads/EPT-Tallinn-2011.jpg)

EPT Copenhagen

(http://www.pokernews.com/w/articles/4f27/f83fe3971.jpg)

EPT Lenton Industrial Estate

(http://turnoffyourlights.co.uk/gallery/googlemap-nottingham.jpg)

It's a damn shame because the venue is absolutely amazing other than where it is.

It'd be a perfect EPT venue I just don't think EPT Nottingham is going to strike the right chord unfortunately.

Gl hitting the runners you need I wish my bankroll was that hard hitting but its not lol..




Oh yer 28 days later was a good film

Dont see nandos on the photos of any of them other ept  venues Nandos gets my vote over million pound yachts

+1.. although EPT Lenton Industrial Estate hahahahahaha

Copenhagen

(http://static.flickr.com/202/484422259_e9d00ed990.jpg)



Tallin

(http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/thumblarge_97/1163250158rvPMHi.jpg)




Nottingham

(http://www.tooty-fruity.com/nottinghamL_468x312.jpg)


Monte Carlo

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f8/Whole_Monaco.jpg/300px-Whole_Monaco.jpg)


What? You thought there was a photo that could make Monte Carlo look unattractive?

But a Nottingham EPT >>>> London EPT surely

LOL n1 matt

I think pokerstars should be forwarded this as a formal proposal for EPT Lenton Industrial estate i dont really see how they can say no!

UKIPT Summary 8/4/2012         Total
PokerStars Qualifers         537
PokerStars Direct Buy-Ins         231
PokerStars Players         768
DTD Qualifers         242
DTD Shop Buy-Ins         143
DTD FPP         7
DTD Cash Desk Buy-Ins         104
DTD Players         496
Total Players         1,264
Players Needed to hit GTE      165

We have cancelled our online satelittes we had planned for Wednesday and Thursday as we don't have any seats left for Friday and only a handful for Thursday, however we will be doing LAST CHANCE SALOON Mega Sats Online and in the Club;

-  Online 10 seats GTE Monday and Tuesday night, €100 with feeders
-  Club 20 seats GTE Monday and Tuesday night, £100

PokerStars have 30 seats left for Thursday, so you can buy in through their client, and we have 7 seats left, we may be able to pinch a few of their Thursday allocation as they are only running sats into Day 1a now.

Last year 150 players were knocked out in the first 6 levels, so we will try and get as many alternates in as possible on Thursday and Friday, the average stack will be around 20,000 by Level 6, so even players that don't get in till the very end of the alternate period, they will have a very playable chips stack of 50BB

But if you want to play from the start, Wednesday is the best day, or grab one of the remaining seats on Thursday :)

We have groups of players coming over from Sweden, Norway, Holland, its going to be a fun week. I have many personal friends coming over so Im looking forward to it.

I'm shattered, still in Dublin, fly back tomorrow, the DTD team have done excellent in marketing this event, 5000 + views on our UKIPT News item, thanks to everyone that has helped get the word out and good luck to the winner of the free seat, whoever that is.

Cheers Rob

Great effort Rob and massive well done for taking the risk of the 1m on, glad you've been rewarded. It should be a great week for the club, looking forward to it.

+1 to this. Sick sick effort, wpwp

I bet there is at least 300 players out there who are thinking "it's gonna be ok. I'm just gonna turn up early Friday morning and be first on the alternates list". Gl :)

Any 1 waiting 2 buy I'n last minute must be mad . Updates on numbers for starting days been excellent so no excuses gl all blondes

So many fail to read these words of wit
So they usually end up in the shit

Congratulations to Stuart Kinghorn for winning our UKIPT free seat draw for promoting the £1 Million event for us. Stuart will be joining us on day 1B to play for a estimated first prize of £250K...Good luck Stuart! Thank you so so much to everyone who posted about the event for us and helped me keep my job ;)

There is very limited spaces available for day 1B and just over 100 available for 1A so please register ASAP to reserve your seat or play our MEGA SATS tonight and tomorrow. 10 seats GTD online at 9pm for €100 and 20 seats GTD at the club at 8pm for £100! This event is going to be immense!!

why didnt i win the free seat? grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

well done too Stuart Binkhorn on winnining the seat and also to Nicola an Rob for giving away a free seat.. This was probably my last chance to play this awesome event but I can't win a 70/30 nevermind a raffle..  ;frustrated;
 Not all bad tho because think I've talked the Mrs into giving me pass out for tonight's 20 seat satellite so going to use my one time..
 gl me  ;pokergods;

oh an Nicola we need to have a chat..  ;smackedbottom;

use my one time mate....can i be present at the chat. i wont say a word.    ;popcorn;    ;smackedbottom;

UKIPT Summary 10/4/2012         Total
PokerStars Qualifers         539
PokerStars Direct Buy-Ins         245
PokerStars Players         784
DTD Qualifers         242
DTD Shop Buy-Ins         173
FPP         7
DTD Cash Desk Buy-Ins         128
DTD Players         550
Total Players         1,334
Players Needed for GTE         95

Okay;

1. PokerStars have stopped taking direct buy-ins apart from Day 1a
2. Day 1b and Day 1c are basically sold out give unless a player moves or Pokerstars give us a few seats back that they have reserved for their pros
3. We have around 100 seats left for Day 1a

If someone is desperate for a Friday Day 1c or Thursday Day 1b seat and CANNOT PLAY THE EVENT OTHERWISE please PM me on here and I will see what I can do in terms of swopping players round that I know do not mind moving to Day 1a, BUT NO PROMISES OKAY!

Cheers Rob

An incredible achievement by Rob & his Team to get these numbers.

£1,000,000, who'd have thunk?

Hope all goes well this week.

The Live Update should rock, too, hopefully a lot of new faces will sign up.

ONLY 76 SEATS LEFT FOR DAY 1A GUYS

BUY IN ONLINE THROUGH DTD SHOP OR POKERSTARS CLIENT

CHEERS ROB

What I told u rob.... Defo sold out!!!!
It's stupid not to play this comp at £770 for 1/4 mil 1st prize.
Wd dude. C ya Thursday .

See you Saturday Sunday Monday Frankie.... Get that sign made up. "Chip shop closed due to other fish to fry" :)

Lol

Well done Rob and the DTD team smashed it! See you all tomorrow and then hopefully saturday sunday monday....!

Good luck blondes!

A fantastic achievement just the boost the game needs at the moment. I for one didn`t think when the guarantee was announced it would be met just shows what I know!! Congrats to all at stars and DTD sick I am missing the event. I predict 1599 total runners good luck to all.

Yes, great effort Rob - posted on other thread, clearly all that bar based networking in Dublin worked :)

Delighted for you and all the team, well done. See you Friday

THINGS TO DO

£1M GTE (TICK)

Cheers Rob

P.S. The alternates system is working well, I am sure we will have got everyone into the event by Friday that wanted to play :)

Good effort, wish I was there to play  :)

THINGS TO DO

Last more than 2 levels in a UKIPT (UNTICK)

Just like to add what a great achievement by Rob and all the DTD staff in pulling this off.
;applause;

I am coming up tomorrow can I pay through my pokerstars account to go on alternates list or does it have to be at cash desk now ???? anyones help is appreciated

PM me your number or email and Ill try and help, Rob

Rob excuse my dulardisity cant find your pm :(

You can't send until you've made 10 posts bud.

ok ty

your a very nice chap

ty

4 posts to go

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Well, it's over, what a great party and week of poker, and who would have predicted that one of our regular £15 evening players would win the tournament and no deals would be done!  Brilliant job by Pokerstars and the DTD staff, and so much support from the poker community. Love the thread on EPT Lenton Industrial estates, ironically it's true, if we were in London we would probably get an EPT, I have asked a few occasions over the last few years, as the EPT I'd my favourite brand, 8 handed, great structured events and prestigious, but I doubt whether that would ever happen due to our location.

Anyway, I'm shattered, and I'm sure I'm not the only one, to put something like this on takes so much energy and committment by so many people and we all need some rest to reflect on what to do next. We have Vegas and the CPP to look forward to, plus the Grand Prix and Chip Leader are fun projects, although my personal thinking is that I would like to take a shot at another big 1m event at the club in 2012, whether that's possible im not sure, PokerStars brought 800 players to this UKIPT and did lots of marketing Europe wide which would have generated 200 extra players minimum, so in reality, we probabaly generated 600 ish, out of the 1600 total.

Thank you all again, my only slight issues were the buffet q and also the sheer volume of people in the card room, over 1000 wed to fri, I didn't get a single complaint, but I think improvements could be made in the future for major events, player experience is of the highest importance and it's good to be self critical.

Cheers rob

any idea where the photos from the pokerstars party are gonna be posted??

Turned out to be a pretty decent film after all.

Oscar Nominations are likely.