The major British gambling group William Hill announced plans this
week to sponsor a major televised poker tournament between 17 and
25 October 2005 where the winner will receive GBP 150 000.
The William Hill Grand Prix Poker Tournament is the group's first
move into the major table tournament sector, with a GBP 100 000 in
sponsorship being added to the players' stakes to create a prize chest
of GBP 450 000, with the winner taking home GBP 150 000.
One of the UK's top TV poker production teams, Presentable Limited
has been signed up to showcase the programme, which will be aired
in early December on the Poker 425 channel on Sky TV. Presentable
has extensive experience in the poker TV field, having produced the
successful Late Night Poker series.
Will Hill's plan is to invite only world leading players to play in
the event, the whole concept behind the tournament being to put the
skill back into the technical game, and move away from what it calls
"...a 'blind structure' that is made for speed."
With 7 heats of 8 people at each table, comprising 8 online qualifiers
and 48 top international poker professionals the event promises to
be a fascinating exposition of the art of skilled poker play.
Entrants will be allowed to wear logos and branded merchandise, and
Internet qualification for the 8 online entries, began this week through
the William Hill Poker.com website.