Great British Poker Tour

Michelle heaton from Liberty X encourages women to take up poker! The Great British Poker Tour (GBPT), organised by Gala Casinos in partnership with Coralpoker.com, got underway in February, with the first of five televised festival events having taken place at the Gala Maybury casino in Edinburgh.

The GBPT boasts a combined prize fund of more than £750,000, and is attracting masses of interest from both amateurs and professionals who are keen to be crowned the Great British Poker Champion 2007.

Each event in the GBPT starts with three days of prime poker action, followed by a two day "main event". Gala Casinos are adding £5,000 to each main event, and winners will receive a VIP seat in the Great British Poker Tour Grand Final, which takes place at the end of October.

As well as being crowned Great British Poker Champion 2007 (and enjoying their rightful share of the £500,000 final prize pool), the overall winner of the tournament will receive a fully funded trip to the Bellagio Five Diamond World Poker Classic taking place in December in Las Vegas. Runners up in the tournament will be rewarded too, with trips and buy-ins to European Poker Tour events and the Aussie Millions tournament in Melbourne, Australia.

There is clearly plenty to play for in the GBPT, and this is why professionals like Iwan Jones, winner of the 2006 Scottish Poker Championships £500+£50 event held at Gala Maybury, are getting involved.

"The GBPT is a real ace of a tour with eye-catching festivals nationwide at Gala Casinos and the Gala Maybury Casino certainly brings back good memories!" Iwan said. "There's plenty in the pot to play for with the ultimate accolade of getting crowned the Greatest Poker Player in the land. If you're into your poker, then you need to get involved now."

Nick Potter, Managing Director of Gala Casinos, said: "We are very excited to be staging the Great British Poker Tour. This is a fantastic opportunity for poker players of all levels to show the world how seriously we take our poker here in Great Britain, with the quality of player talent we have. We hope to see some thrilling clashes all the way up to the final. They'll also get to enjoy some of the best casino and poker venues in the country."

Online players who fancy their chances of becoming Great British Poker Champion 2007 can qualify in various ways (everything from freerolls to direct buy-in to the online final) at coralpoker.com. For those of you who make it through, and for the spectators among you, here are the remaining festival events: