August 21, 2009 Europe’s largest annual Poker festival, Poker in the Park, opened to a horde of poker enthusiasts last week as thousands of
people took to London’s famous Leicester Square for the event. The festival welcomed people from all over the UK to come and join the poker festivities, including free tournaments, live tutorials and the chance to learn from and meet some of poker’s most famous faces. The Unibet Lecture Marquee played host to some of the world’s most successful poker talent as they addressed the crowd in a series of lectures. Attendees were fortunate enough to meet 2006 WSOP Main Event Champion Jamie Gold, who spoke on both days of Poker in the Park as well as hosting the Jamie Gold Charity Tournament in the Casino at the Empire on Thursday evening. Amongst the rest of the speakers were 2008 WSOP Main Event Champion Peter Eastgate and a top line-up of British poker professionals including Neil Channing, Paul Jackson, Ian Frazer, Nik Persaud, John Tabatabai, Liv Boeree and Alex Rousso. Littlewoods Poker ran the Littlewoods Poker Tuition Tent, where players could play open-handed against their celebrity players Mark Goodwin, Michael Greco and Tony Cascarino. Other highlights of the event included the Bluff Europe Heads-Up Tent, where people were able to pit their wits against each other on the PokerTek Heads-Up Challenge electronic tables, and the introduction of PTG Poker from Prime Table Games.
Finally, visitors were greeted by Neteller, London Poker Circuit, pokershopuk.com, Gamcare, Blackbelt Poker and London Chess & Bridge in the Poker Multitent, which offered a menagerie for players both amateur and expert.