Vamplew Going Strong in Scotland, EPT Monte Carlo on Course to be Huge

Vamplew Amongst Leaders in Edinburgh

A busy day inside Edinburgh’s Grosvenor Casino yesterday culminated with 81 players taking to the felt for the first ever GUKPT Main Event to be held in Scotland.

With a prizepool of £100,000 and rebuys available throughout the day it was a case of destroy and rebuild for some pros but as the masses dispersed it was the familiar face of David Vamplew that rose to prominence.

The Scottish pro might be more used to winning EPT and WSOP titles than GUKPT trophies, but as the session progressed he found himself steadily increasing his stack. Indeed, by the close of he’d managed to muscle his way into second place on the daily leaderboard behind Ross Loggie.

Also finishing amongst Day 1A’s 28 survivors was Colin McConaghy, Dominik Nitsche and Karl Mahrenholz.

Today’s session got underway earlier and at the time of writing more than 50 players had taken to the felt with just over an hour of play down. Despite an overlay currently in place the organisers are hopeful that the late registration period will be long enough for players to reach into their pockets and join the action.

So far today the like of Barny Boatman, Ben Jackson, Jeff Kimber and Paul McTaggart have all been spotted with a smattering of chips in front of them.

For live updates from the felt, click here.

EPT Monte Carlo Could be a Record Breaker

This year’s EPT Grand Final could be one of the largest ever according to the people behind-the-scenes at PokerStars.

With 210 players already registered for the €10,600 Main Event and that number only set to increase in the three weeks leading up to the tournament, the organisers are hoping 2014 could set a record.

Overall PokerStars is planning a number of final qualifiers for its marquee event and by the time the cards go in the air they plan to have at least 200 players qualifying for the finale compared to 167 in 2013.

Already signed up and ready to rock in Monte Carlo are some of the poker world’s top players, including Marc-Andre Ladouceur, Dominik Panka, Dimitar Danchev and Mike McDonald.

This season the Grand Final will also see the EPT partner with the French Poker Series, a move which should not only increase the number tournaments on offer but significantly bump up the number of players at the felt.