Being dubbed the “Glastonbury of Poker”, Poker in the Park is bringing a band of top players from the poker world to the heart of Leicester Square for a celebration of all things poker!

The event will run from 5.00pm – 9.30pm on Thursday 13th and will then re-open the next day on Friday 14th August and run from 12.00pm – 9.30pm

Headline attractions will include the following:

•PKR Poker Dome – Headline sponsors PKR will welcome the UK’s top pub poker leagues at the PKR Dome. Each league will run a FREE turbo sit-n-go tournaments.
•Unibet Lecture Marquee – Unibet will host some of the UK’s most successful poker talent as they address the crowds in a series of lectures. Speakers include Jamie Gold, Peter Eastgate, Neil Channing, Paul Jackson.
•Bluff Europe Heads-Up Challenge – Here players can defeat opponents at the electronic PokerTek Heads-Up Challenge™ tables. Sit-n-Go’s will be running here across the two-days.
•Littlewoods Poker Tuition – Littlewoods Poker are inviting people to come and play open-handed poker with Littlewoods Pros and Celebrities including ex-Eastenders actor turned Poker Pro Michael Greco and ex-Irish football International Tony Cascarino.
•Prime Table Games – Here people can trial new variants of poker and meet the inventor of PTG Holdem™ and PTG Omaha™.

The Pokerplex
A bevy of activity will be happening at the Poker in the Park PokerPlex:

Attendees can come and meet the Bluff Europe magazine team and get their hands on Bluff Europe goodies. The PokerPlex is also the home of co-sponsors Nuts Magazine where the lovely Nuts girls will be on hand to provide a bit of glamour – signing autographs taking photos and subscriptions.

Neteller will be providing their latest offers and signing up players whilst London Chess and Bridge, will be selling a huge selection of hard to find editions, and even copies signed by the authors.

PokerShopUk.com will be selling everything from cards to chips, hats to t-shirts. And the London Poker Circuit (LPC) will be present, along with a couple of their LPC girls and a guest pro, who will take on all comers in a heads up duel.

Staking site and soon-to-be poker room, Blackbelt Poker, will be taking sign-ups and dishing out goodies. GamCare will also be on site in the Poker Dome to promote responsible gambling.

Jamie Gold Charity Tournament
Starting at 7:30pm on Thursday, 13th August at The Empire’s Shadow Lounge, The Jamie Gold Charity Tournament aims to raise money for The Jamie Gold Foundation’s numerous charities and will be co-hosted by 2008 WSOP Main Event winner Peter Eastgate.

Direct buy-in to the tournament is £500, and there will be £50 Sit-n-Go satellites running all day at the Casino at the Empire on Thursday 13th. For the list of great prizes on offer and other details, go to http://pokerinthepark.com

The Casino at the Empire will also be running a special series of £50 Sit-n-Gos all day Friday, Aug 14, to run along side Poker in the Park!

VIP Treatment
A bevy of activity will be happening at the Poker in the Park PokerPlex:

Ivobank will be treating Sponsors, Media, Celebrities and Poker Pros to a bird’s-eye view of Poker in the Park from the Icon Bar in the Casino at the Empire. The Radisson Edwardian Hampshire Hotel is offering exclusive rates and accommodation for those planning on taking a night-cap during the two-day event.

Billed as Europe’s largest consumer poker show, this is the third anniversary of the popular two-day poker extravaganza. Kicking off at 17:00 on Thursday 13 August, those in attendance will be able to participate in free tournaments rolling every hour at the PKR Poker Dome, as well as meet celebrities, hear lectures from top poker pros, get massages from the lovely Xhilarate girls, and take advantage of free poker lessons and discounted poker merchandise. Pros already signed up to the lecture roster include Peter Eastgate, Neil Channing, Nik Persuad and Jamie Gold. Ex-actor turned poker pro Michael Greco and Irish football legend Tony Cascarino will also be at hand to give players of all levels expert guidance and game analysis.

NETELLER will have a significant presence on the ground at the event, as well as sponsoring the takeaway bags at this event. Poker players will be able to sign up instantly at the NETELLER stand, taking advantage of our VIP Promotion which will allow those players to obtain 3 months’ VIP status and related benefits for free.

Michael Caselli, organiser, said “We are really pleased to have NETELLER as one of sponsors this year. Their online wallet has long been the best way for poker players to move money between sites whenever they want to.”

Dan Starr, Executive Vice President of NEOVIA, commented “We’re proud to be sponsoring Poker in the Park. We have a long history of servicing the poker market and serving our VIPs well has always been a primary focus for NETELLER. Our VIP motto “Always been all-in” demonstrates our commitment to our VIPs and we look forward to welcoming more of you during this special event in London, Europe’s Poker Capital.”

Sit-n-Go Satellites to the £500 Jamie Gold Charity Tournament will run all day Thursday, August 13 – allowing players the opportunity to qualify through a 10-man £50 satellite.

The tournament which aims to raise money for The Jamie Gold Foundation’s numerous charities, will be co-hosted by 2008 WSOP Main Event winner Peter Eastgate and will commence at 7.30pm on Thursday, 13th August at The Empire’s Shadow Lounge.

Although the tournament buy-ins will go towards the Jamie Gold Foundation, there have been a number of generous donations to the prize pool including an EPT seat worth £5,200, donated by PokerStars, as well as a seat to the Unibet Open, worth £3,000. For the full list of prizes available visit Jamie Gold Charity Tournament

The Empire will also be hosting £50 Sit-n-Go tournaments running all day Friday.

If you would prefer to buy into the Jamie Gold Charity Tournament directly, visit Jamie Gold Charity Tournament

Europe’s largest annual poker festival will get underway this Thursday, 13th August at 5.30pm and at 12.30pm on Friday 14th August. The festival will end both nights at 9.30pm.

Lecture Schedule
Thursday, August 13th

•17.15 Jamie Gold – Welcome speech and Charity tournament
•18.00 Peter Eastgate – Q&A with current World Champion
•18.45 Alex Rousso- Know the stats
•19.30 Nik Persaud – Using the internet to improve your game
•20.15 Neil Channing – Understanding tells
Friday, August 14th

•12.30 Derek Webb – New poker games
•13.15 Nik Wealthall – Luck in Poker
•14.00 Derek Kelly – Omaha
•14.45 Paul Jackson – Hand analysis
•15.30 Liv Boeree
•16.15 Tony Cascarino
•17.00 Michael Greco
•17.45 Alex Rousso
•18.30 John Tabatabai
•19.15 Derek Kelly – Book reading
•20.00 Ian Frazer – Starting out in online poker
•20.45 Jamie Gold

The PKR Poker Dome has also released their finalised tournament schedule. Headline sponsors, PKR, will welcome a number of Pub Poker League players into the PKR Poker Dome to battle it out in their respective tournaments.

Each hour a different league will run a FREE turbo sit-n-go tournament with up 80 runners.

Tournament Schedule
Thursday, August 13th

•17.30 Nuts Magazine Tournament
•18.30 BLAPO.co.uk Poker Events
•19.30 Nuts Poker League Championship
•20.30 Bubble Poker League
Friday, August 14th

•12.30 Nuts Magazine Tournament
•13.30 Get Noticed Poker Open
•14.30 The Royal Surrey Tournament
•15.30 Pokerinthepub.com
•16.30 Masters poker league Tournament
•17.30 The Poker tree Open
•18.30 Red tooth Poker Open
•19.30 Champions league poker Open
•20.30 London Poker Meet-up Tournament
Everyone over 18 years of age is welcome to play in these free tournaments and league members can reserve seats by contacting their respective league organisers.

There will be nine Heads-Up Challenge™ automated poker tables on which players will be able to compete against each other heads-up for FREE in Texas Hold’em Tournaments.

Bluff Europe will host a series of FREE Sit-n-go tournaments across the two-days in the Heads-up marquee, where the most successful heads-up player gets the Heads-Up Poker Champion title, a trophy, bragging rights and their picture in Bluff Europe magazine.

The electronic tables are very easy to use and offer traditional poker actions and realistic movements and sounds.

Europe’s largest annual poker festival will get underway this Thursday, 13th August at 5.30pm. The festival will close for the evening at 9.30pm and then re-open the next day at 12.30pm, Friday 14th August.

PKR will be welcoming an array of Pub Poker Leagues into the Poker Dome to host their respective tournaments during the festival. Each league will run an hour-long No Limit Hold’em Tournament with a maximum of 80 runners. These tournaments are free to play and open to anyone who registers at the PKR Poker Dome.

PKR will also be teaming up with glamorous massage company Xhilarate, who will have their own space within the Poker Dome and will offer an exclusive massage therapy service to attendees of the festival.

Also present at the Poker Dome will be members of Team PKR Pro, recently back from the WSOP and happy to join in on the festivities at Poker in the Park

Do you think your poker game is up to scratch? If you do, and you fancy pitting your skills against WSOP world champions Jamie Gold (2006 World Champion) and Peter Eastgate (2008 World Champion), register your interest here and head to the Casino at the Empire on Thursday 13th of August at 7:30 to put your money where your mouth is.

This unique opportunity to play against two world champion poker players is being held to benefit the Jamie Gold Foundation, a charity set up by Gold following his record-breaking $12,000,000 World Series of Poker victory. The tournament buy-in is a £500 charitable donation to the Jamie Gold Foundation, and gets you into the fray with not just Gold and Eastgate, but with football legend Teddy Sherringham, TV actor Michael Greco, musician Mark Chadwick of the Levellers and poker pro JJ Hazan.

Prizes for winners have been generously donated and include a seat to the London EPT donated by Poker Stars, a package to the Unibet Open, a tailor-made Gresham Blake Suit, a week’s poker training in Las Vegas, a pop star experience, a safari park expedition, a custom poker table, a custom chip set and several items of jewellery.

The Jamie Gold Foundation supports a number of charities including The Muscular Dystrophy Association/ALS Division, The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, The Montel Williams MS Foundation, Sunflower Children, Covenant House, The Fallen Heroes Fund, The Fulfillment Fund and The Abolish Slavery Coalition.

The Jamie Gold Foundation Charity Tournament is held alongside Poker in the Park, Europe’s largest Poker Festival. Poker in the Park takes place in Leicester Square, London on Thursday the 13th of August (5pm – 9:30pm) and Friday, August 14th (12:00 pm – 9:30pm). It is free to enter and has everything for the poker enthusiast, including free live poker tournaments every hour, free lectures from the biggest names in poker, free personal poker tuition, heads up play, poker books and gear and much, much more. See www.pokerinthepark.com for details.

Ivobank, one of the leading experts of banking in the online gaming industry, will be treating Sponsors, Media, Celebrities and Poker Pros to a bird’s-eye view of Europe’s largest poker festival during the two day event on August 13 & 14 in Leicester Square from the Icon Bar in the Casino at the Empire.

The Icon Bar, that overlooks the splendour of Leicester Square, will give VIP guests the luxury option of a comfortable and exclusive retreat from the festivities.

“The Casino at the Empire is a tremendous venue, and its Icon bar exudes opulence,” said organizer Michael Caselli. “I’m really happy that Ivobank have come on board as sponsors of the VIP bar. They offer a great online payments solution which has been tailored specifically with us poker players in mind”.

In addition, the Radisson Edwardian Hampshire Hotel is offering exclusive rates and accommodation for those planning on taking a night-cap during the two-day event.

They are offering a special rate of £175 for a Double Standard room, inclusive of VAT and Breakfast for the nights of the 13th &/or 14th August 2009.

Anyone who wishes to book should call central reservations (0207 817 0761), quoting ‘Poker in the Park’ to take advantage of this great rate that would usually cost £220 per night.

Media interested in attending the event should contact Melissa Ross at Melissa@lyceummedia.com with their details, media association and times they would like to attend the event.

Poker Champion Jamie Gold and Poker in the Park are teaming up to host the Jamie Gold Charity Poker Tournament at The Casino at the Empire during the Poker in the Park festival in Leicester Square, London – 13th and 14th August.

The tournament which aims to raise money for The Jamie Gold Foundation’s numerous charities, will be co-hosted by 2008 WSOP Main Event winner Peter Eastgate and will commence at 7.30pm on Thursday, 13th August at The Empire’s Shadow Lounge

It will be a 50 player No Limit Texas Hold’em Freezeout Tournament with starting stacks of 6,000 chips. Forty seats will be available at £500 per seat – the other ten seats will be given to poker pros and celebrities personally invited by Gold and Eastgate.

Prizes
While cash buy-ins will be donated to The Foundation, the top three final table winners will receive prizes.

•PokerStars are generously donating a seat to the London EPT main event worth £5,200 as first prize.
•The Maven, Bluff Magazine’s 2008 Online Player of the Year, is donating one-on-one poker strategy training via his site TheMavenVT.com worth £3,000 to the second place finisher.
•The third place winner will receive a Gevril watch, established in 1758 and favoured by top celebrities including James Caan, Eva Mendes, Martin Sheen, Sting and Denzel Washington, worth £1,500 compliments of Bluff Europe magazine.
Jamie Gold and Peter Eastgate will also be giving lectures on both Thursday and Friday at Poker in the Park. On Thursday they will talk specifically about strategy for small tournaments (less than a hundred runners) similar to what will be played at Poker in the Park’s Poker Dome and at the Gold charity event. On Friday, they will do a follow-up lecture on tournament strategy, with stories and references from the Charity Event held the night before.

Both Jamie Gold and Peter Eastgate will be on hand to accept donations for The Foundation and to sign autographs.