Poker: my first UKIPT trip

Having just come back from UKIPT in Brighton, which was my first UKIPT, thought I would do a brief summary of my experiences.

The actual detail of the play is pretty much already on my twitter updates so won’t repeat here

The only reason I was able to enter the UKIPT was due to a nice win on a previous Casino trip, so was very much looking at the UKIPT entry as a “once in a lifetime” sort of event as I don’t have the bankroll to buy in at £560 on a regular basis. 

Having got my entry funds ready, I decided to research Brighton’s hotels, etc and get something booked early.   I know a lot of people wouldn’t bother until nearer the time, but Brighton was very busy with all sorts of events and most B&B I walked past seemed to have “No vacancies” sign out.   The Brighton tourist information web site had good research material and googling “brighton hotel reviews” found some useful review sites such as http://www.brightonlife.com/hotels.html

I also need to get the time off work, which as it turned out was quite tricky but managed to sort it out in the end!  Finally I had to research car parking ,as it is very expensive to park.   as it happens, Lynn’s blue badge came to the rescue and we can park for free on the road in front of our hotel   Certainly for those paying for car parking will probably find it a bit trickier to find cheap parking for a few days but the Brighton & Hove Council Parking web site was very useful.

Despite having the buy-in already in the bank, I decided to try and qualify through the Satellite games.   The thing I needed to ensure was not to spend more than a buy-in by trying to qualify, so checked the satellite schedules and worked out how many attempts at each level to try.  In the end I budgeted £110 although only ended up spending £106.50 (without success) and end up buying in about a week before the event via my Pokerstars account.

At last the big day arrives and I turned up at the Hotel for the game.   There was a UKIPT desk in the hotel lobby area so got directed to the correct location for the Poker.  There were three desks to register at and quickly found out what was needed and got my registration sorted out.    Half hour before the game kicked off, I was able to get my table/seat number so was ready to go.  You do need to remember to bring Photo ID with you though, but drivers license is OK so not a big deal.  Also need to bring on Day 2 as well…else you don’t get to sit down!

The only slight oddity of the event (which didn’t effect me though) was that there was no facilities for accepting cash or card on site for entry to the side events.  You could walk 10 mins up the road to the G Casino and then register for the event, then walk back… but just seemed odd way to have it.  If you have funds in your Pokerstars account, then you can use that to buy-in at the venue, so maybe that’s the thing to do…

Back to the main event and was very impressed by the dealers and floor staff.   It was very well organized and ran smoothly.   Any floor disputes seemed to be resolved well and everyone seemed to be in the right place at the right time.  

The structure was pretty good as well….  one hour clock, 15k starting chips and blinds starting at 25/50 there is plenty of play.  Around 250 players on Day 1a and about 350 odd on Day 1b so is well attended.  81 places pay out.  

You can follow live updates on all the action on the Pokerstars Blog at http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/tournaments/ukipt/season-2-3/brighton-1/ which is pretty cool (esp. when you get some mentions and a piccy   http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/ukipt/2011/ukipt-brighton-day-12-level-17-updates-b-085158.html)

At the end of day one, you bag up your chips and leave on the table, so you don’t need to think too much!

Coming back for day two, there were pay-out structures and seat assignments posted to the walls around the room, so was easy to find where you needed to be and how much you were going to be paid (for the lucky few )

The pay out itself is also very efficient, as you get escorted from your table to the pay-out desk, show ID again, fill out a form for you to sign and that’s it!  I chose to have the funds put into my Pokerstars account but was other options

I ended up spending £106.50 on satellites, £560 to buy-in but was lucky enough to win £1400.  After leaving £100 tip for the dealers, I therefore ended up in profit for the event of £633.50 which is a great result and am well pleased.

In conclusion, I felt the tournament was very well organised, well planned and they made it very easy for the players, even those for whom it was their first event.   Overall a great event and am sure would still be saying that even if I hadn’t won any money