The UKIPT will be paying its first-ever visit to Blackpool next month for the second stop on this year’s tour. The six-day festival is taking place from July 11 to 16 at the Grosvenor Casino right next to Blackpool’s famous Pleasure Beach.
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In addition to the £1,100 buy-in Main Event, the festival will also feature a £2,200 High Roller and the £330 buy-in UKIPT Cup. Other tourneys include two £220 NLHE Freezeouts, a £220 NLHE Bounty tournament, a £550 Deepstack Freezeout plus a bunch of super satellites. Players in the Main Event will get a generous 30,000 starting stack with two re-entries allowed per flight.
Blackpool is a fantastic location for a poker festival; it’s a classic British seaside resort known for its lively atmosphere and wealth of seaside attractions. The GUKPT has held an event at the Grosvenor Casino every year since 2007 so it’s a venue well-accustomed to hosting premier poker festivals.
There’s no shortage of off-the-felt activities in Blackpool – from donkey rides on the beach to bars, restaurants and clubs, this vibrant resort has something for everyone. If players can tear themselves away from the poker tables, we recommend a stroll along the “Golden Mile”, a bustling stretch of promenade lined with amusement arcades, shops, and traditional seaside attractions.
The 2023 UKIPT so far
The 2023 UKIPT first got underway this year with the PokerStars-sponsored Irish Open. PokerStars qualifier David Docherty won the event after outlasting a huge field of 2,491 entries. Docherty, who made the final of EPT London last October, beat Irish delivery driver Declan Rice heads-up to take the title, €365,000 cash prize and coveted Irish Open trophy. His monster cash took him to fifth place on the Scottish all-time money list with total live tournament winnings of over $1 million. He won his two Irish Open entries online in PokerStars €109 qualifiers and used both tickets.
UKIPT Leaderboard
This year’s tour is the biggest UKIPT schedule since 2016 and players at all the stops – including April’s Irish Open and the Summer Festival Malta which at the end of this month – are in with a chance of winning the 2023 PokerStars UKIPT Leaderboard.
Prizes are being awarded to the top three players: a UKIPT 2024 Package worth £15,000 for the winner; live event credits worth £2,200 for the runner-up and £1,100 for the third-place finisher. Andy Black is currently leading the UKIPT Player of the Year race but will be missing UKIPT Blackpool so there are plenty of chances for other players to catch up.
The leaderboard is a points-based system, whereby every player who cashes in an eligible event (all standard Multi-Table Tournaments with a buy-in over £220/€220, excluding satellites) will receive points based on their finishing position and number of event entries.
Up next after Blackpool
Following Blackpool, the UKIPT will be taking a summer break before heading to Brighton in September, then London, Edinburgh, and to Dusk Till Dawn, Nottingham in November for the Grand Final.