Richard gives you the latest news from Blackpool!

If you're in Blackpool on Saturday 24th Jan, Castle Casino will be the place to be. Take a seat, enjoy the fun and play your way into the Liverpool Winter Festival through a €20 Rebuy tournament. 10KingsPoker.com had a chat with Richard Gilby who is in charge of the LIVE satellite on Saturday.

Your poker alias: I'm known as 'doublebubble' online. ('awoper' on 10KingsPoker)
Age: 37
City: Thornton Cleveleys, Lancashire

Your poker experience and strengths:

I've been playing 8 years, and my biggest strength is that I'm very solid and patient. Playing a short stack very well...

Ehh, is that a good thing, Richard?!

Hmm.. maybe not. You caught me there. Ha-ha. I must have too much practice at it.

Why do you find the Liverpool Winter Festival interesting?

I was immediately drawn to the 10,000 x 2 double chance structure, as I haven’t seen that before. This is my preferred tournament structure giving that life-line from a potential bad beat. It was the main reason I wanted to organise a satellite. For bigger tournaments I feel that £500 is also the right amount.

How did you hear about the Festival/10KingsPoker
I was talking to a friend of mine about playing more selective tournaments this year and he sent me the link for the Liverpool Winter Festival site which is being run by 10KingsPoker.

Was it easy setting up the LIVE satellite in Blackpool ?

Yes and no. There is a good network of players in the Blackpool area, and the response has been excellent. When it comes to organisation though I try to be a perfectionist and cover all angles. This has created a lot more work however a good turnout will make it all worthwhile. I have been to see the General manager at the Circus in Blackpool, been over to see Cardroom manager Paul Fox in Liverpool, posted on poker forums, created an event in Facebook, handed out flyers at the local competitions, and phoned and texted everyone I know that would be interested.

I was in Blackpool in November, and to me it seems that Blackpool has a really good name in UK poker, especially when it comes to festival poker, well run tourneys and the strong interest in card games. You agree?

Certainly! Blackpool has a massive interest in poker. Only recently one of the mainstream players took down the Blackpool leg of the GUKPT for £75,000. Also some big names on the online world and the live circuit have come out of Blackpool , I will hopefully show on Saturday how popular events like the Winter festival will be.

So please tell us about your Top 5 players in Blackpool .

Oh, this is a tricky one... A bit like an Oscar acceptance speech, you're always going to miss someone out. I think one of my good friends Adam “Clarkatroid” Clark has to be on the list. He is a very successful on-line player and this year is looking to hit 1,000,000 hands!

Other players out of the Blackpool Camp that are well respected:
* Dave “Nice Dave” Mayall
* Simon “Bubble” Zac
* Mick Fletcher
* Alan “The Rev” Barnicle

Finally you can't list Blackpool Players without including Simon “Boycie” Rimmer. A must at anyones table.

Any feisty 'heads-up' expected? Is there some wellknown rivalry between Blackpool poker players?


There will be plenty of rivalry between players. Expect fireworks between
* Doublebubble and WackyDUK
* The Hutch and CCTV
* Ron and Enid Musson (Husband and Wife!)

Thanks, Richard. You have done a very good job in Blackpool, and 10KingsPoker will do everything we can to welcome you to an enjoyable Liverpool Winter Festival.

Yeah, fingers crossed for Saturday. I am actually very hopeful of a good turnout. I started off hoping to get 25 although if all goes well there should be more than double that. This is a great opportunity to enter a satellite where a few seats are going to be generated. You just have to be a member of the Casino to get in but you can join on the day, and no need to buy in before. Feel free to contact rickgilby@yahoo.co.uk or allan@10kingspoker.com if you need more info.

BLACKPOOL:
Live Satellite (£20 rebuy) for the Liverpool Winter Festival
Saturday 24 January, starting time 6:00pm
Location: Castle Casino Blackpool
Starting chips: 2,000
2 levels of 45minute rebuys ‘50/100’ 100/200’ and then a 20minute clock
Alternates allowed for the first 2 levels
Add on allowed at the end of the rebuys
(If you have entered from the start the add on is 3,000. Alternates add on is 2,000)
(This is just an incentive to be in from the start)
For every £550 in the pot 1 seat will be generated and this will be handed in to the Circus in Blackpool who will transfer it to Liverpool.
10KingsPoker.com will be adding a £110 seat for the bubble finisher if 25 runners.

(Copyright on pictures: Aworldofpoker.com)