A 27 year old bank worker from Leicester has beaten professional poker players to win the Nottingham leg of the Gala Casinos British Poker Tour (GCBPT) and landed the title of Nottingham GCBPT champion. Just as at last year’s Nottingham tournament, amateur poker player and IT analyst from Walsall, Steve Holden, beat the professionals to take the title, this year amateur player Rupinder Bedi, known to his friends as George, defeated professional poker player James Keys, 22, from Bury St Edmonds in Suffolk and scooped the £27,000 prize to show that anyone can play and win.
The Nottingham festival saw unprecedented numbers of players taking part in the aptly dubbed “people’s poker tour”, where 533 players of all ability battled it out for the chance to take the prestigious title and a share of the £161,000 prize.
This is the second year of the GCBPT which was created in response to poker’s ever increasing popularity across the UK. As well as a massive cash prize pool in excess of £1 million, poker professionals, amateur players and poker novices alike will compete for the ultimate accolade of GCBPT Champion 2008.
Rupinder Bedi will now go forward to the UK final which will take place at Gala’s Harbourside Casino in Bristol from 1st to 7th December, where he will compete with regional winners from across the country for the coveted GCBPT championship title.
When asked about the tour and becoming champion, Rupinder Bedi, said: “I’m thrilled to be crowned Nottingham champion as the standard of play was so high, plus there was such a great atmosphere and I’ve got to know so many nice people. My friends from Gala’s Leicester casino traveled to Nottingham to support me and one of them even managed to scoop a share of the £161,000 prize money too, so we’ve done Leicester proud!”
Of Rupinder’s win, professional poker player and runner up James Keys said: “It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy”.
Gala Casinos Maid Marian Way manager, John Birmingham, said: “This really is the people’s poker tour. The sportsmanship displayed by the players reflected the overall friendly atmosphere of the event, where amateurs and professionals play alongside one another for the chance to win.”
The success of this tournament paves the way for the next heat of the GCBPT, which takes place in Gala’s Bristol Casino from 18th – 22nd June 2008. Anyone can qualify free at www.galapoker.co.uk from today and there will also be live qualification events in Gala Casinos – for full details check www.gcbpokertour.com
