Partypoker presents the forthcoming WPT500 event at the Dusk Till Dawn Card room in Nottingham, and Lee Davy urges people to pay a little back to Rob Yong by smashing down his doors in droves.
To think that you know a man after only speaking to him for no more than a minute is pretty folly, but that’s exactly how I feel about the Dusk Till Dawn (DTD) owner Rob Yong.
“Can I have an interview with you later?”
“Sure”
That’s the sum of the verbal transactions that I have had with one of the most influential, and important, members of the UK poker circus, and yet I feel a connection with him.
I had puffin books for shin pads, I played football in my hallway with rolled up socks, I used to write football teams onto pieces of paper and roll dice to see who would win the matches, I lived on a council estate and I didn’t have a money tree growing in my back garden.
Rob Yong knows who I am, and because of that, I feel like I know who he is.
He’s certainly busy I will give him that.
At the time of writing he is sitting in DTD somewhere. I expect he is holding a lamp. He is rubbing it, hoping a Genie will emerge shouting: “your wish is my command!”
“Please send me enough players to hit my £500,000 guarantee.” Yong pleads.
With his ear to the ground, Yong decided to put on a 6-Max Championships with a £500,000 Guarantee, and now he waits with baited breath.
Then in November the World Poker Tour (WPT), and partypoker, stroll into town in readiness to take over. The first event will be the £1m guaranteed WPT500 event. The closest that you are going to get to a grass roots event that generates life changing money.
Not that £500 is to be sniffed at.
I remember earning a basic salary of £45,000 per year, and that gave me £2,500 per month take home pay (and that was one of the best jobs in the area). So using a fifth of your take home pay to play in a poker tournament is not exactly grass roots, but with a nice fat six figure sum at the top, it’s well worth the punt.
Yong knows his customers too well, and that’s why he put on the WPT125 schedule at the club back in the summer. It was an opportunity for people to qualify for the WPT500 for an outlay of £125.
Satellites will be running constantly, both online and offline, as Yong does what Yong does best, and that’s push the game of poker to the people who have barely graduated from playing around Grannies kitchen table with a bag full of 2p coins.
The recent WPT500 tournament in the Aria Resort & Casino proved how successful this format can be. Not only can the mere mortals afford at least one buy-in, but also the professionals get to throw multiple bullets. Everyone is happy as Yong.
3,599 players crammed into the Aria Resort & Casino and Sean Yu walked away with $260,000. Now that’s a lot of dough for a $565 outlay. I call it life changing. You might think I am nuts. I am telling you that if I won $260,000 it would change my life.
So I’m not going to miss it.
The poker calendar, as always, is back-to-back, but events like this don’t come along very often. I love the DTD card room, and I will be turning my back on my annual jaunt to the GUKPT in Blackpool to make my way to Nottingham, as I believe that’s where the value lies.
So make sure you come and join me.
Rob Yong has done so much to help push and promote the game of poker in the UK, so let’s repay some of that graft and grit by making the WPT500 at DTD one hell of an event.
Take a Peek At What The WPT500 is All About
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