- It is being touted as the largest poker event ever held in Ireland.
- The festival runs from July 29 to August 12 and will take place in a new, custom-build “Full Tilt Poker Village.”
- 55 events, including a €1m guarantee main event are scheduled.
Full Tilt Poker has announced the inaugural UKIPT Galway, touted as the largest poker event ever held in Ireland, and marking the first time since relaunch that the poker room has put its name behind a live tournament series.
The new poker festival will run from July 29 to August 12 and will take place in a new, custom-build “Full Tilt Poker Village,” to be constructed in the city center. The series will coincide with the Galway Races, the longest and one of the most popular horse racing festival in the country.
In total there will be 55 events, including the Irish Poker Championship, a heads up challenge, and bridge tournament. Cash side games are also promised.
The series culminates in the €1100-buyin UKIPT Main Event, which begins on August 8 and spans 5 days. €1 million is guaranteed for the prize pool.
The online poker room will be running satellites into the Galway events, as it will for other live tours sponsored by the Rational Group.
Gus Hansen will be present, as will the “Full Tilt Poker Ambassadors,” a team chosen to “... represent the tour and interact with players on and off the felt,” according to the press release.
The PokerStars-sponsored UKIPT tour got underway in April in one of the group’s latest brick-and-mortar ventures, the poker room in the Hippodrome Casino, London.
It then goes to Marbella, Spain in mid-June, returns to London two weeks later, then takes a monthlong break before the Galway events.
The €1m guarantee for the main event is an increase of the previously-listed €500k guarantee. As of writing, the event location on the official UKIPT website is still listed as taking place in the “PokerStars Village”—their FTP colleagues should let them know of the name change.
