UK-based Grosvenor Casinos has joined the Microgaming Poker Network, and Austrian Jannis Brauer wins the Microgaming Poker Network Poker Tour Main Event in Vienna.
Alex Scott and the gang over at Microgaming have a new buddy.
The UK-based Grosvenor Casinos has moved their online poker operation to the Microgaming Poker Network (MPN).
Established in 1970, Grosvenor Casinos services 110,000 digital customers and hundreds of thousands more who traipse through their 55 brick and mortar establishments throughout the UK.
Rory Cartwright, Head of Digital Poker at Grosvenor Casinos, talked about being impressed with Microgaming from the moment the duo sat down to talk business.
“We’re looking forward to marrying our strong retail poker presence with an online network which is growing month-on-month, year-on-year,” said Cartwright.
In March 2014, Ram Vaswani, Joe Beevers and the Boatman brothers Ross and Barny, sold their Hendon Mob database and brand name to Alexander Dreyfus, before reuniting (minus Crazy Horse) to join Grosvenor Casinos as The Poker Mob. The Vic Casino in Edgware Road, London, was also renamed The Poker Room.
The Grosvenor Casinos poker name is synonymous with the very best live poker tournaments in the UK. The Grosvenor United Kingdom Poker Tour (GUKPT) operates nine festivals per season. Leg 1 is currently underway at The Poker Room with the £1,100 buy-in Main Event taking place as I type. The 2015 GUKPT Goliath holds the record for the largest live tournament outside of Las Vegas (4,210 players).
The casino chain belongs to the Rank Group and featured heavily in their H1 fiscal report. Grosvenor’s brick and mortar business saw revenue rise 6% to £205.6m. The online arm saw a boost of 70% to £9.9m.
Alex Scott, Head of Poker at Microgaming was delighted with the partnership, and said that Grosvenor had been ‘fantastic to work with since day one.’
The move means Grosvenor Casinos can now offer their customers a full range of mobile, instant play and downloadable poker products for the first time.
Jannis Brauer Wins Vienna Prize
The MPN also has a live poker tour, and it recently did a little bit of business in the Austrian capital of Vienna.
Austrian Jannis Brauer topped a field of 483 entrants (431 unique entrants & 52 re-entries) to take the first prize of €54,000 after beating the Hungarian Laszlo Toth in heads-up action.
The Montesino Casino hosted the €550 buy-in event. The €234,250 prize pool surpassed the €200,000 guarantee.
Brauer’s win moves him to $140,875 in total live earnings. His previous cash was also a victory. Brauer beat out 244 entrants to take the €1,100 No-Limit Hold’em HyperTurbo event at the European Poker Tour (EPT) Season 12 event in Barcelona – Fernando Brito (2nd), Eli Heath (6th) and Jason Mercier (7th) also featured.
Final Table Results
1st. Jannis Brauer – €54,000
2nd. Laszlo Toth – €31,660
3rd. Miroslav Lelek – €21,180
4th. Tobias Salzer – €14,860
5th. Kaspa Sein – €10,540
6th. Zuhair Al Pachachi – €8,420
7th. Bartosz Jastrzebski – €7,080
8th. Marek Blasko – €5,860
9th. Ivan Sebeledi – €4,760
If you are interested in competing in an MPNPT event, then the next one is a €550 buy-in event held in Sofia, Bulgaria. The €125,0000 guaranteed event runs April 21-24.
