YOU HAD TO HAND IT TO CLEETHORPES POKER PLAYERS

United Kingdom -- Hundreds of kings and queens visited Cleethorpes at the weekend for an ace poker tournament.

The resort hosted the country's largest ever poker competition, with nearly 400 card sharks testing their mettle against one another for some big prizes.

The atmosphere was tense, but the players were clearly having fun, though for the majority of the time they had their best poker faces on.



The Live Pub Poker League was played at the Thorpe Park holiday camp and the event stretched from Friday night to yesterday evening.

Local poker fanatic Dean Watson (41) said: "It has been great. It has been up and down as far as the games have been concerned. But it has always been a lot of fun.

"The atmosphere has been truly superb. There are some very nice people in here and I think a lot of people have made new friends.

"When someone goes out of the tournament there is a big cheer. It has been really well run and the prizes are phenomenal."

Steely-eyed poker players were attempting to outwit one another for a share of the £32,000 worth of prizes, including holidays to Las Vegas and Dubai, a 50-inch plasma television and a Kia Picanto car.

Sadly, no one from the Grimsby area made it to the latter stages of the competition.

A total of 392 people began playing Texas Holdem on Friday evening, and the number of competitors rattled down as the weekend and the knockout tournament progressed.

Natasha Banks (19), from Manchester, was in Cleethorpes for the poker tournament to support her boyfriend Steve Black (19).

She said: "I do play poker myself, but not very well. I have enjoyed the weekend, it has been brilliant. I think there is a great atmosphere.

"This is the first time I have been to Cleethorpes. I think it looks very pretty. It is a nice place for it to be set."

The Live Pub Poker League competition has a huge following online and the build-up from poker fans has been growing.

Organiser Neil Prest said: "I wanted to set it at a holiday camp which could exclusively accommodate the competition. I looked around and this jumped out at me.

"A lot of the keen poker players are from the north. I think the best thing about the weekend has been the camaraderie. There have been people from all over Britain, who have been speaking on line and now they have had the chance to meet."

News Added: 10 March, 2008

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