SKY UK Poker Championships

The UK Poker Championships, hosted by Sky Poker and Dusk Till Dawn last week, could be the single best development in UK Poker since DTD itself opened. 

Alex Spencer, who won it, can now call himself the UK Poker Champion! How cool is that?! He can legitimately tell his friends and family, that he is the UK Poker Champion! God I'm jealous! That sounds better than EPT Champion! People from outside of the poker world can relate to a UK Poker Champion, they don't know what an EPT or WPT is. They can tune in to Sky Sports and watch the Championships of UK Poker being played out and that means something to them. 

They can watch the story of Deborah O'Connell from Stoke who spent £1 on a satellite on DTD and turn that into a seat into the main event, and turned that into £16,000 for coming 7th. 

They can watch Allan Graham from Leicester turn £2.80 into £12,500 for 8th. 

James Rimmer was just coming up to Nottingham with his mates who'd all won seats. He wasn't going to play but was there for the craic, and didn't mind spending £50 on a satellite just to see what happened. He won a seat and got 4th for £37,500. 

These guys battled it out with the biggest names in UK Poker - professionals who've won millions in their careers. So many great stories came out of this week. The club was absolutely buzzing all week, side events were booming, cash games non-stop, plenty of socialising at the bar, everyone having a good time - It was a fantastic week. 

On a personal note my week was financially not too bad- I played the hiroller, 6max and the turbo and didn't cash, but got 24th in the main event which got me out of it and did OK in the cash games so it's been alright. I was chip leader in the main event for the last few hours of day two and the first level or two of day three. So I'm pretty disappointed to come 24th. 

Yes I've put on weight :(

Everyone says the worst day of the year is the day you bust the WSOP Main. The better the event, the more painful the bust-out. That's why 's why it hurt so much to bust this. I so wanted to be on the final table, to have that bracelet, to be the Champion! GUKPT, UKIPT, GPS doesn't even come close to that feeling. The prestige can't even compare. 

I think there could be a boom in the UK poker scene when this airs on TV next month. It's so good for poker. I really hope the UKPC is here to stay and will be an annual event on the calendar. I think it'd be a massive shame if it wasn't. Thank you DTD and Sky Poker!