Living it Loving it and the World Poker Tour are sticking with their Multi Venue Series format for their Iberia National Event triumvirate, and Richard Lawlor wins the World Poker Tour National in Killarney, Ireland.
Living it Loving it (LILI) and the World Poker Tour (WPT) are rolling out a new and improved version of the Multi Venue Series (MVS) that proved so popular the last time they let it off the leash.
In May, the two organisations took on the difficult challenge of operating three events simultaneously in the Iberian Peninsula with 7% of the field in each of those events making it through to the Grand Final held in the Casino Gran Madrid.
494 players competed across the board, and the Portuguese player Jose Lopez was crowned the first MVS champion and rewarded with a €80,000 purse.
The second instalment also carries the WPT National Iberia tag, and will once again be a €675+75 buy-in event featuring a €333,333 guaranteed prize pool spread over three Day 1 events. The action takes place at the Casino Gran Madrid, Casino Barcelona, and Casino Vilamoura. The final will rotate during each season and this time the Casino Algarve will play hosts. The Main Event dates are 13-16 October with the final taking place 22-23 October.
I managed to grab a few words with LILI’s Managing Director, Neil Barrett, who spoke of the lessons learned during that first foray into new waters.
The addition of a €1,500 High Roller in Vilamoura last season was a great success so they will keep the same structure ahead of the Main Event in Casino Algarve.
The Spring Championships of Online Poker (SCOOP) affected numbers in the spring so the organisers were keen to avoid a repeat ensuring the MVS events take place after the World Championships of Online Poker (WCOOP) have stopped.
Feedback from the players has resulted in a change to the number of players who go forward to the Grand Final. The trip to the final is an expense, and so the players only want to see 5% of the field progress, instead of 7%. The ITM rule of 10% of the field remains in force.
There were also a few problems trying to get approvals for each region to pay players their winnings so they could use the money to cover travel expenses for the Grand Final. This issue has been ironed out with each player who makes the money receiving €1,000 in their starting location to be used for travel expenses to the final in the Algarve.
There are also plenty of activities added to the second series. There will be a golf tournament in Vilamoura, basketball tickets in Madrid, and a chance to win two tickets to watch Barcelona playing at the iconic Nou Camp.
Richard Lawlor Wins partypoker WPT National Main Event in Ireland
Richard Lawlor has emerged triumphant in a 260 entrant field to capture the first prize of €65,000 at the partypoker sponsored WPT National Main Event in Killarney, Ireland.
Partypoker ambassadors Tony Dunst (14th) and Natalia Breviglieri (13th) both made deep runs, and the final table housed recent United Kingdom & Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT) London runner-up Dara O’Kearney, and the father-son duo of Raymond and David Masters.
Lawlor defeated Alan Kelleher in heads-up action to take the title. It is his most impressive live tournament performance to date by a country mile.
Final Table Results
1. Richard Lawlor – €65,000
2. Alan Kelleher – €42,500
3. Raymond Masters – €27,500
4. Dara O’Kearney – €20,000
5. David Masters – €15,000
6. Laurence Ryan – €12,000
