Latest news about Festival (speaking to Paul Fox at Circus Casino)

Our members are looking forward to make the poker trip to Liverpool in Feb, and they have lots of questions. See below for current status as we have asked Circus Casino's Paul Fox 10 quick questions. (Thanks for taking the time to speak to us as you guys are busy preparing for Liverpool Winter Festival.)

Name: Paul Fox
Age: 30
Poker alias: Pafo777
Favourite team: Everton
Poker idol: Daniel Negreanu
Job: Cardroom Manager (Circus Casino, Liverpool)


Q1: How are you, Paul. Busy days as a cardroom manager, what's your background?

Doing fine, mate. I started working as a dealer in 2005 and having already had a keen interest in poker I took the opportunity to get involved in running the poker competitions at Liverpool Mint Casino as soon as it came up.

When I found out that the company would be opening a new Circus casino and wanted to have a strong focus on poker I knew that this was something I wanted to be involved in. I was given the role of Cardroom Manager and we haven't looked back since. We have been open for just over 12 months now and it has not been easy but we've finally established ourselves as one of the leading cardrooms in the north-west.

Q2: How has the last 6 months been at Circus Casino? You almost started from scratch and has slowly been building a new members base?

The last 6 months have been more enjoyable than the 6 months that preceeded it. We have gone from strength to strength in the latter part of 2008 and a lot of that has been down to the introduction of our £30 semi-freezeout tournament. I believe this competition to be one of the best value tournaments around; with a maximum spend of £63 and pots of around £5,000.

We finally managed a record field of 100 players on Sunday with the winner taking home £1865 for his £63 stake!!! I don't expect that record field to last long though with the upcoming Winter Festival looking like being a sell-out.

Q3: Is poker a popular game in Liverpool?

Poker, mainly Texas Holdem, is extremely popular in Liverpool and even in the midst of a credit crunch our numbers continue to rise. There are some really good players in the city and I'm looking forward to seeing some of them pit their wits against players like the 'Team 10Kings' of Nordic lads Henning, LK and Jan in the Main Event.

Q4: How's the interest for the Liverpool Winter Festival up in Liverpool?

The festival has created a buzz amongst local players that has surprised even me! It has been the main topic of conversation for the past few weeks. The best example I can give is the fact that we've tried numerous satellites for various comps over the last 12 months and never got them off the ground, yet in the last 2 weeks we have held satellites for the Main Event and have already allocated 6 seats.

Q5: We know you're busy guy these days. How do you prepare for the festival?
I'm basically preparing by eating, sleeping and living the Liverpool Winter Festival 2009!!!

Our 4 competitions a week (1 of which is a satellite to festival) are spent answering questions about the festival. When the tourneys are over I sit down with the casino managers and discuss all aspects of the festival week, staff, tables, chips, hospitality, etc.

On my days off I'm either hitting the poker forums, sitting writing notes or getting together with Ged (Cardroom Supervisor) and making sure we both know what we're doing when the time arrives.

We have hired extra staff, more tables, chips and a 2nd computer system to ensure we are prepared and myself and Ged will probably be working 11 days straight across the festival to ensure that everything runs as smoothly as possible. Poker players are not shy and i'm sure we'll hear the verdict in 3 weeks time!!!!

Q6: The Circus Casino staff are highly rated by 'Team 10Kings'. Impressive performance by you in Blackpool (final table in the £100 freeze out.) You had any luck lately online or offline?

As you can gather by my previous answer I haven't had much time to play poker lately but I have made it my New Year's resolution to play more. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Blackpool with 'Team 10Kings' and to cash was an added bonus. Anytime you want the 10Kings logo on a final table just give me a call! Ha-Ha.


Q7: By playing in the Blackpool Festival, did you pick up any useful advices? Was it a learning experience ahead of Liverpool Winter Festival?

It certainly was. I'm always looking for little things I can take back and use to improve our game. The thing I was impressed with most in Blackpool was how they coped with the sheer volume of players through the cardroom. The registration process is something I'm hoping to get right in order to get the tournaments going without any major delays.

Q8: Hosting a festival of this size is a real challenge, and it's a lot of responsibility on both Circus Casino and 10KingsPoker. Where do you see the biggest challenge is? Where's your main focus?

We could have held festivals before at Circus Casino but I have purposely held it off until we had a sound setup and have had time to iron out any problems. I know have a very competent team in place and think we're ready for the challenge. The enthusiasm of 10KingsPoker certainly helps too!

I don't think there is any one think you can point to and say "this is important". I think it's about getting the whole package right. From the registration process, to getting the comp started smoothly, good hospitality service and a well run tournament. All these things come together and create the good/bad poker experience.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about hosting a big event like this one but i'm also excited about what Circus Casino, Liverpool and 10KingsPoker are offering and intend to deliver.

Q9: We know there's a lot of interest for the Main Event! Can you tell us a bit about the side events and cash games? How do you handle these tournaments? How to register for the tournament? Can we pre-book seats also in the side events?

The side events will be sell-outs I'm sure. We are currently taking pre-registration for the 1st 50 seats in the £100 and £200 freezeouts. Both games will be capped at 100 runners but will allow alternates.

The cash game side of things should be interesting. I'm expecting numerous cash games on all days of the festival and I'm guessing the action will be huge. We will make tables available as early as possible for the cash and dealers where possible.

Q10: For those who wanna win a seat in the Main Event, what do they have to do? When is the next LIVE satellite in the Circus Casino?

We have already awarded 6 seats through live satellites and are offering 2 more chances to qualify live. Next Monday 26th January will be a £30 semi-freezeout (1 Rebuy OR Add-on) 8:30pm start.

Then we have the Super Satellite which is Wednesday 4th February.
£30 semi-freezeout ( 1 Rebuy AND 1 Add-on). Expecting this one to be VERY busy as it will be the last chance for people to qualify and two days before Main event starts.

After speaking to Paul Fox at Circus Casino, I'm confident Liverpool Winter Festival is in safe hands. This team knows what they are doing!