Arguably, the line-up of players confirmed for The William Hill Grand
Prix II, worth £500,000 ($950,000) could provide the tournament
with the greatest line up of players ever to assemble on this side
of the Atlantic.
Heading the line-up is 2005 GP winner Phil Unabomber Laak and fellow
Americans Antonio Esfandiari, Brian Wilson and Robert Williamson III.
The Europeans are spearheaded by Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott,
the entire Hendon Mob, Marc Goodwin, Andy Black, Pascal Perrault,
Juha Helppi, Tore Lagerborg and European Ranking Champion Mickey Wernick.
Following the success of the inaugural Grand Prix in 2005, the sponsor's are putting even more of their own money in to the pot with a contribution of £164,000 ($320,000) a fact not lost on the players themselves.
The William Hill Grand Prix II is filmed for Sky Sports, set in a luxury penthouse with a multi-level poker room that oozes style and wealth. And whilst the final list of forty-four poker professionals who start the tournament reads like a 'who's who' from the Gods Of Poker, mere mortals have been winning the chance to sit down and play with the very best in a series of online and off-line qualifying line satellites.
The final satellites as set to be run in the next week with on-line
qualifiers now being played at williamhillpoker.com (entry from just
£1.75 + £0.25) and the final land based qualifying tournament
playing out at the Broadway Casino, Birmingham (http://www.broadwaycasino.co.uk)
on Weds 27th September 2006 (start time 8pm)
Having shown the original Grand Prix in 2005 to what turned out to
be the biggest TV audience for any UK tournament, Sky Sports has already
snapped up the rights to GPII and will be airing the tournament early
in 2007. Unlike any other televised tournament, the William Hill Grand
Prix has a structure designed to bring out the true skill of poker
instead of trying to fit with tight production schedules.