World Speed Poker Open

In September 2005, 72 players each paid £2,000 to participate in the World Speed Poker Open, creating a healthy prize pool of £144,000. Whilst on the surface it looked like a standard tournament, the name gave a clue that the players would have to adhere to speed poker rules.

Designed to give an online feel to live poker, each player would only be allowed 15 seconds, from when the action got to them, to make their decision otherwise their hand would be declared dead! If any of the players had a difficult decision to make, they could request a time-out where they would be granted 30 seconds but they were only allowed to request this twice during the entire tournament. The organisers even used two dealers per table so there would be no breaks in the action, again mimicking online play.

There were 12 preliminary heats, each of them played out by tables of six players. The winner of each heat was awarded £2,500 and a seat in one of the semi-finals. The winner of each semi-final again won £2,500 but the top three players would progress to the final, where they would start with the same number of chips as they had in front of them when play became three handed.

Each of the six players in the final were guaranteed their entry fee of £2,000 back as the tournament organisers decided to pay out the entire final table, although the pay structure was quite steep. Fifth place received £5,000, fourth was good for £10,000, third £17,000 and finishing as runner-up was worth £25,000. However, being crowned champion was worth double the second place money, £50,000, twenty five times the entry fee paid.

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September 2005 saw 72 poker players descend on London to fight it out for a possible £55,000 in the World Speed Poker Open. Organised into twelve heats, each containing six players, the tournament attracted both well-known professional players and little-known internet qualifiers.

Heat 1 could have been counted as the ‘group of death’ as it contained a number of seasoned professionals in Ram Vaswani, Donnacha O’Dea and veteran Liam Flood, but it was amateur player, Mike ‘Mad’ McFadden who outlasted his opponents to claim the £2,500 prize and a seat in the semi-final.

Tiffany Williamson had to be at her very best to come out on top of Heat 3, as her table contained Swedish pro, Mikael Thuritz and the fearless Englishman, Roland De Wolfe, the latter finishing in a disappointing fourth spot. Lynne Beaumont became the second female in the semi-finals after causing an upset in Heat 5, which contained Thomas Bihl, Ben Roberts and veteran, Willie Tann.

Neil Channing, John Kabbaj, Dave Colclough and Tony G won their respective groups to ensure the semi-finals would be full of household names, leaving in their wake the likes of EPT founder John Duthie, Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson, Jennifer Harman and Kathy Liebert. 2002 World Series of Poker Main Event winner, Robert Varkonyi and Roy ‘The Boy’ Brindley would have been disappointed not to qualify for at least the semi-finals.

The first semi-final caused a major upset when the three final places were taken by Mike McFadden, Emile Petit and Jac Arama, knocking out the much fancied trio of Neil Channing, John Kabbaj and Tiffany Williamson. Tony G won semi-final number two but could not continue his good run in the final when he busted out first to finish sixth.

The tournament was eventually won by Irishman Oliver Boyce who defeated Emile Petit heads-up to claim the £50,000 first place money.

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Heats 1 – 12

• The tournament buy-in is £2000.
• The tournament takes 72 players down to one winner, and begins with 12 heats, each consisting of 6 players.
• Each 6 person table will consist of 2-3 professional poker players and/or celebrities and 3-4 Internet qualifiers.
• The winner of each heat progresses to the semi finals and wins £2,500.

Semi final events

• No chips are carried forward from the heats.
• All players begin the semi finals with equal value of chips.
• Players will play at two tables, comprising of six players each.
• The winner, runner-up and third place players from each table will advance to the Final and carry their chip count forward with them.
• Chip count to be taken when only three players remain.
• The semi-finals will be played to conclusion, with the winner of each receiving £2,500.

Final event

• Each player at the final table will start with the chips they bring forward from the semi finals.
• Prize money:
  • 1st £50,000
  • 2nd £25,000
  • 3rd £17,000
  • 4th £10,000
  • 5th £5,000
  • 6th £2,000
• The winner of the tournament could take away accumulated tournament winnings of £55,000.

Blinds Structure

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