London’s celebrated Hippodrome Casino is gearing up for a busy few months with two great PokerStars-branded tournaments lined up in February and March***(See start time amendments below).
The first PokerStars London Series of the year kicks off on February 18 with a £50,000 guarantee No Limit Hold’em tournament. The £275 buy-in event features four starting flights in total including two special night flights kicking off at 8pm on February 18 and 19.
All players are given a 25,000 starting stack with 30-minute levels and eight levels of late registration and re-entry. Two re-entries are allowed per flight and players can enter all four flights if they want to. Day 1s will play down to approximately 15% of the field with all those who survive to Day 2 making the money.
It’s the first time in three years that night flights have been featured for a London Series tournament at the Hippodrome – a move made possible by using the new Lola’s Underground event space on the lower ground floor of the casino. Kerryjane Craigie, Director of Poker at The Hippodrome, said: “The transformation of Lola’s into a dedicated tournament area for the Inaugural MEGA series in November was such a success that we plan to host all our poker events at Lola’s this year. It’s a great venue for the tournaments and also means we won’t interrupt our very strong cash game action in our new poker room upstairs on the 3rd floor.”
There have been a dozen PokerStars London Series since the tournaments first launched five years ago. The Series was also the very first multi-day tournament to be offered by a UK casino after Covid restrictions were lifted in May last year.
The last two events have both more than doubled the £50,000 prize pool guarantee. Romania’s Edi Neacsu won in September for £25,485 while his fellow countryman Gabriel Ene took down the last PokerStars London Series in October for £21,327.
Following the forthcoming season debut in February, a second edition of the PokerStars London Series takes place from March 18 to 20***(See start time amendments below). The tournament has an identical format to February’s edition with a £50,000 guarantee, four starting flights, two re-entries per flight and a 25,000 starting stack for all players.
Both the February and March editions of the PokerStars London Series will be taking place at Lola’s. Registration will be at the poker room cash desk from five days before each tournament begins with registration open downstairs at Lola’s from 11am on the first day of each event.
Masks are recommended at the PokerStars London Series but are not mandatory; hand sanitiser will be widely available. Active players will also be asked to use hand sanitiser once per round and chips and cards will be sanitised regularly. All players must be members of The Hippodrome Casino to register; it’s completely free to join and only takes a few minutes – just remember to bring your photo ID on your first visit.
Cash games will run 24/7 throughout the Series and will take place in the newly-revamped state-of-the-art PokerStars LIVE Poker Room on the 3rd floor. The new poker room features 17 tables with its own cash desk, smoking terrace, bar and full facilities. Cash game players could even win a trip to Vegas for this year’s WSOP thanks to The Hippodrome’s house-funded loyalty race. There will be a winner in both February and March for the promotion which is awarding seven nights’ accommodation at a 5* hotel on the Las Vegas strip along with return flights, parties, activities and tournament buy-ins. Other prizes include tournament wallets, rake free cash play, vouchers for Heliot Steak House and a private game voucher for up to eight people with burgers and beers.
The Hippodrome Casino has been home to some of poker’s most iconic and successful London poker tournaments including PokerStars’ UK & Ireland Poker Tour, PokerStars MEGA Series and PokerStars London Super Series.
***Start times for the £275 buy-in event March 18 have been amended to Flight A - 12 noon and Flight B - 6pm and March 19 to Flight C - 12 noon and Flight D - 7pm AND the addition of the Bounty £100 + £50 + £20 Side Event March 20 was added following The Hippodrome announcement.
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