John Garside couldn’t believe his luck when, after only being a partypoker member for just over a week, he won one of the first $6,000 Kings of Vegas packages.
The 47-year old father-of-three from Liverpool works in the busy world of I.T. and, being a regular on various live poker tours around the United Kingdom, is well-known in the British poker community. Recently John has been playing more of his poker online and, as you can imagine, is extremely glad he made the transition.
“I was looking for a new site to play on that had satellites and better structures,” explains John. “My friend had already signed up to partypoker and recommended it, so I signed up, played a few sit and gos and a bit of cash and won a coin flip token which then entered me into the Kings Of Vegas tournament.
“The Kings of Vegas promotion is very good although I didn’t sign-up specifically for it, but I’m glad that I did now!”
John entered the next available weekly Kings of Vegas final and found himself going up against 2,331 other players, each of them vying for a once- in-a-lifetime package worth a cool $6,000. As is sometimes the case in satellite tournaments, the play was fast and furious at the beginning as players tried their utmost to build big stacks. At the business end, however, play became more solid, players acting in a more conservative and calculated fashion.
“The standard of play was very loose at the start and then I witnessed some very good play near the end. I had good luck and bad luck along the way, as most of us expect to get; you have to take the rough with the smooth.”
Any rough terrain that John had encountered became a thing of the past as John made it to the final three five hours and 39-minutes after the tournament started. In doing so, a mere nine days after creating his partypoker account, John became a winner of a $6,000 Kings of Vegas package. It sounds too good to be true but, as John would undoubtedly agree, beginner’s luck is a beautiful thing.
And John isn’t the only one jetting off to Las Vegas this summer to compete in the $2 million guaranteed WPT500 at Aria Casino, Las Vegas. All 25 Kings of Vegas winners get to bring a friend of his or her choosing to Las Vegas so he decided to take a poker-loving friend he’s known for years who resides in Southport.
It will be John’s first trip to Las Vegas and said he’s expecting a great tournament with a very good structure and, like any good poker player, believes he’s in with a chance of winning it.
Although John’s a so-called “Vegas Virgin,” he’s not fazed by the stature of the upcoming event thanks to the experience he’s gained over the years on UK tours.
“I am quite well-known on the live circuit and have played many big tournaments including the £1,000 buy-in GUKPT and some UKIPT events along with many poker Goliaths.
“Although this may be the biggest tournament I’ve played in relation to the prize pool, it won’t faze me,” said John confidently.
John said he’s “quite impressed with the site” so we’ll be seeing more of him at the partypoker virtual felt. He also has intentions of participating in some larger buy-in satellite events.
We will, of course, keep an eye out to see how John and his friend fair when they land in Las Vegas and pursue their quest for glory in the Nevada desert in early July.
Do you want to have the chance to win your way to Las Vegas? Check out how you to get involved in our Kings of Vegas promotion where you, like John, might too be crowned a king of Vegas and be playing alongside some of the greats at the WPT500.
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