The countdown is on for the Hippodrome Casino’s annual Mega Series festival which kicks off in just two weeks. With a £125,000 guaranteed Main Event, the festival promises to bring Autumnal cheer to the heart of London’s West End with a schedule packed with exciting poker tournaments.
The Mega Series festival starts on November 16 and offers five days of high-octane poker action, all taking place in Lola’s, the Hippodrome’s new tournament space on the Casino’s lower ground floor.
In addition to the Mega Series Main Event, there are seven other tournaments on the schedule including a £275 buy-in Mystery Bounty, a bunch of mega satellites, a PLO Bounty 4/5/6 event, a NLHE Turbo Bounty, and a £175 buy-in Seniors tournament on the final day.
The curtain raiser for this forthcoming edition of the Mega Series – presented by PokerStars Live at the Hippodrome – is a one-day, £330 buy-in PLO 4/5/6 Bounty tournament starting at 1pm on Wednesday, November 16. Players get 30,000 in chips.
The following day is Day 1 of the eagerly-awaited £275 buy-in Mystery Bounty. At the Hippodrome’s Super Super Series Mystery Bounty in September, MainEventTravel package winner Lee Dean seized the very first bounty and won the £5,000 top prize. Dean eventually ended the tournament in tenth place, snagging another £541, and then went on to win the Main Event for more than £33,000.
The £125,000 guaranteed, £1,100 buy-in Mega Series Main Event gets under way on November 18 and features three starting flights including a Day 1c turbo starting at 7pm on November 19. All players get 30,000 in chips with two re-entries allowed per event. There will be eight levels of late registration with Day 1 playing down to 15%; all Day 1 survivors get paid.
On-demand, £150 single table super satellites for the Main Event are already running at the Hippodrome. There is also a £240 scheduled Mega Satellite turbo starting at 7pm on November 17 – with eight seats guaranteed.
Among those certain to be playing the Mega Series is new Friend of the Hippodrome Lydia Cugudda. Cugudda has a long history of competing at the Hippodrome including her biggest live cash to date in 2013 when she was runner-up to poker pro Jake Cody in a UKIPT side event. Over the years Cugudda has been a big supporter of women’s poker – starting right back in the days of the Betfred Ladies Poker Tour. Her achievements include a third-place finish in the EPT London Ladies Event in 2013 and winning the record-breaking Goliath Ladies Event in 2019. She will be playing her first Mystery Bounty tournament at the upcoming Mega Series.
Kerryjane Craigie, Director of Poker at The Hippodrome Casino, said: “Lydia brings a spark and skill to the team with impressive results on the poker tables, boxing ring and in life’s arena. Her love of the game has stayed strong over recent years whilst balancing motherhood and a career, and jumping into a poker seat whenever she can. Cugudda made her debut as part of “The Hippodrome Family” in the recent EPT London women’s event.”
Craigie added: “The Mega Series is the biggest poker festival of the year at the Hippodrome and always enjoys a great turnout. We are super excited about this year’s event which will feature a Mystery Bounty tournament for the first time in addition to a wealth of other great tourneys and the £125,000 guaranteed Main Event.
“The schedule offers a really great mix of buy-ins, variations and structures and is designed to appeal to players of all kinds. Come along to enjoy five days of fabulous poker at Lola’s; there’s something for everyone including two great live satellites into the MEGA Main Event!
At the last Hippodrome Mega Series, Scotland’s Thomas Pearn took down the Mega Main Event for £51,900; with Hippodrome Ambassador Chris Da-silva finishing third.
The Hippodrome Casino is a world-renowned landmark just off Leicester Square in London’s buzzing West End. With seven floors, eight bars, multi-award-winning steak house and a three-floor outdoor terrace, The Hippodrome Casino also features London’s largest dedicated poker floor.
Photo credit: Hippodrome Casino, Grosvenor Poker
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