Play Live Poker

With all of the disruption in the world of online poker the live game is making a comeback

With all of the headlines surrounding the World Series of Poker (WSOP) it is easy to forget that there are still big money tournaments going on elsewhere. One player who understands this full well is British poker pro Gareth Walker who is taking down some massive pots at the UK and Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT). The Newcastle event took place during the WSOP and was well attended by a range of big name British poker players. But the spotlight is all on Gareth Walker after he has managed to make the switch from playing poker online to getting close and personal with live events.
Walker shot to prominence in February of 2011 when he won the massive amount of £109,000 playing in the UKIPT Nottingham event for his first big cash win. Gareth has quit his day job of website developer in order to concentrate more fully on poker. Walker isn’t the only poker player who has shifted his emphasis from online games to live games. Now that poker players in the United States have been deprived of the online market, high stakes cash games and tournaments are going to go through something of a revival. Already a bunch of Hollywood celebrities, including Tobey Maguire and Ben Affleck have been caught playing in underground games where the minimum buy in is $100,000.
Although for British players there are both live games and online games available perfectly legally and in abundance it looks like the live game has found a new lease of life. Despite events in the online poker world (or perhaps because of them) the WSOP has had a more successful year in 2011 than ever before. A part of this is because players everywhere recognise that the skill of reading people is a part of the classic game and that to win online is very different to being able to win when you can actually see your opponent opposite you. For that reason the WSOP as well as other poker tours such as the European Poker Tour, the World Poker Tour and the Deepstack series are enjoying so much popularity among both professional and amateur players. Online gamers are playing their hearts out in satellite tournaments in the hope of winning the chance to play in these events and take the chance to make the leap to becoming professional players.