Card sharks and poker fans will be interested in the Full Tilt Poker Galway Festival which finished up last week, after a successful fortnight of festivities. Jessica Thompson reports…
The Full Tilt Poker Galway Festival came to a swift and exciting end last week as Alan Gold took his start-of-day chip lead and parlayed it into a win in under four hours.
After a heads up deal, the United Kingdom native took €187,494, while runner-up Paul Febers, also from the UK, received €149,906.
Senior PR Manager for Full Tilt Poker, Rebecca McAdam said that she has never experienced “a live poker festival quite like the Full Tilt Poker Galway Festival”.
“I’ve seen all kinds of poker tournaments all around the world and there are some truly great festivals out there but the kind of buzz at the Full Tilt Poker Village was something I have not seen for some time in poker,” she said.
The Full Tilt Poker Last Longer was an intense game as Alan Gold, Damian Porebski from Poland and Irishman Darragh Davey battled it out for a chance to win a sponsorship package of buy-ins and expenses to every remaining stop on the UKIPT Season 4 tour. Mr Gold will be heading to UKIPT London for free in October.
The Full Tilt Poker “village” welcome visitors from all over the world to Galway City and featured an entertainment marquee with a lounge and bar, and a second marquee dedicated to poker and other games.
“It was so great to see some of the best poker players in the world like Full Tilt Poker Professionals Gus Hansen and Viktor Blom enjoying themselves with locals and taking part in events you would not normally see them in. We wanted to enhance the live poker experience and create some wonderful memories. Player and media feedback has been so positive, I think we have achieved this,” Ms McAdam told the Galway City Tribune this week.
One of Full Tilt Poker’s professional players, and Ambassador for the festival Gus Hansen showed a bit of Irish love when he joined Ireland in the UK versus Ireland Heads Up Championship.
The Danish pro was originally recruited by the UK team, but when the Irish were losing so badly, he switched sides, bumping up Ireland’s score. The UK team won the best team overall, but Hansen outlasted all players and won the championship.
The atmosphere at the Full Tilt Poker village attracted thousands of visitors from all over the world, who dropped in to watch the poker, play one of the many games or just soak in the atmosphere. With music, pool tournaments, table football, Pacman, arcade games and food and drink served until late, there was something for everyone.
Taking place during the very busy Galway Races, the festival saw thousands of people visit Galway, giving the local economy a boost.
“I have nothing but good things to say about the location of our festival. Galway City is absolutely fantastic and being there for over two weeks made me discover things about it I never knew. The people, the sights, the food; everything was so great. I can’t get over the restaurant scene in the town – it’s definitely a city of foodies and I have not stopped recommending it to friends, family and poker players abroad and at home,” said Ms McAdam.
“I really believe we did something special here, but we definitely picked a special place to do it.”
Photograph courtesy of Full Tilt Poker Flickr page.
For more information on Full Tilt Poker, visit: http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/promotions/live-events/ukipt
