UK & Ireland PokerNews Round-Up: Passing of a Legend Dominates the Headlines
Each week, we take a look at the most popular stories from our UK & Ireland PokerNews site, and it usually begins with some sort of a brag about how an Englishman, Irishman, Scotsman, or Welshman has won a major online or live tournament. Sadly, this week's begins in a much more solemn start.
On Monday, April 6, surrounded by his family, British poker legend David "Devilfish" Ulliott lost his short battle with colon and liver cancer and passed away, only two days after his 61st birthday. Tributes from all corners of the globe poured in on social media and even the broadsheet and tabloid newspapers in the UK ran feature-length articles on the lovable rogue from Hull who became an international star.
We're not going to dwell too much on the sadness we feel for poker — and the world — losing one of its most colourful characters because Ulliott wouldn't have wanted that. He'd have demanded, in his own unique, probably vulgar style, that the proverbial show must go on, and on it does go.
Some more cheerful news now, that of yet another Brit managing to win online poker's biggest weekly tournament. Marcin "MARCIN123" Milde bulldozed his way through a huge crowd of 7,687 players in the PokerStars Sunday Million to get his hands on the $230,614.05 first-place prize.
As a result of this huge win, Milde soared to ninth place in the UK online poker rankings and a career-high of 97th in the world.
Most of the news from the British Isles has stemmed from the live poker circuit, which looks super busy during April.
One such event is done and dusted, it's champion crowned. The 2015 Paddy Power Irish Open saw Ioannis Triantafyllakis walk away with almost €260,000 for his victory after defeating popular local star Kevin Killeen in heads-up play. The champion won €50,000 extra than what the prize pool offered after being the last Paddy Power online qualifier.
Two other festivals are in full swing, namely the 2015 Genting Poker Series Newcastle and 2015 Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT) UK Student Poker Championships. Both exciting stops will be completed over the weekend so be sure to head to UK & Ireland PokerNews for daily recaps of the action.
Rounding up the, well, round-up is the preview of the upcoming PokerStars UKIPT Nottingham festival that features, among a handful of juicy-looking side events, a £1,100 buy-in Main Event with a gargantuan £1 million guaranteed prize pool. The Nottingham leg of the UKIPT has always been popular with British grinders and we fully expect the lofty guarantee to be blitzed.
Finally, the Grand Final of European Poker Tour (EPT) Season 11 is only a couple of weeks away so we took a look at five players who have qualified for the Main Event via PokerStars who we believe could have a major impact in Monaco. Do you agree with our chosen quintet?
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