Goliath Poker Live Blog

3/28/20223/28/2022

The great Goliath Poker Tournament is fast approaching, and if you’re coming to play in one of the highlights of the UK poker calendar for the first time, you’re probably wondering what to expect.

A couple of people on Twitter have asked what it’s like. The only way I can describe it is as close to playing in the World Series of Poker without leaving these shores. It’s even more like the WSOP than the World Series of Poker Europe was when it was held in London, and I made two final tables there!

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The venue is perfect.

Coventry’s G Casino is sumptuous, the nicest casino I’ve been in in the UK. It’s nothing like your local G, with palm trees, waterfalls and a small lake! It’s massive too, loads of room to chill out away from the tables, or get involved in the cash action when the tournaments haven’t gone to plan!

It’s a great festival, with a fantastic range of side events, from 4/5/6 Omaha to Blind Man’s Bluff (great fun, I chopped it last year!), team events to the first ever 50/50, just like the hugely successful 25/25 series, but twice as big!

However, the WSOP feel comes from playing in the Goliath itself.

The main conference room is akin to the Amazon Room at the Rio in Vegas, tables as far as the eye can see, people everywhere, and the gentle noise of riffled chips filling the air like the chirping crickets of the African plains.

I’ve never seen so many floor people, answering questions and directing players to their tables, and the tournament runs smoother than you could ever dream, with more than a thousand players all involved on just one of the day ones at times.

Players come from all over the UK and beyond to take on Goliath – I had one of a group of Norwegians who’d flown in for the week on my table – and the atmosphere, at least on the first day, is one of a fun, social occasion.

As you might expect with over 3000 players, not everyone is a world beater, but that’s not what Goliath is about. Even the most advanced poker player will have his skills tested , trying to work out where they stand and what their opponent is doing, and it’s a great game.

Where else can you turn a £120 buy-in into over £62,000, like last year’s winner Ryan Foster did?

Unlike other poker festivals, there’s plenty to do away from the tables, and a real feeling of fun. Last year there was a ‘fastest lap’ competition as you took on your pals on the remote control car course, a golf simulator with longest drive and nearest the pin contests, human roulette, entertainment in Lady G’s bar, and loads more…the magician even managed to make the Tower levitate!

The bar is bouncing every night as the players get together to tell their bad beat stories or prepare for the next day, jumping into the cash games and celebrating or commiserating in equal measure.

This year there’s the added promotion of Dave v Goliath, announced this week by Grosvenor.

A dozen players named Dave, David, Daffyd, Davidson or any variations will get the chance of coaching from me or one of the other Grosvenor pros, Joe Beevers and Ellie Biessek, before going on to take on Goliath.

You can bet there will be some friendly rivalry between me, Joe and Ellie as to how our ‘graduates’ do after boot camp, just another reason to get to Coventry for the full week of Goliath, starting August 8 with the first of the six day ones! Good luck everyone who will be playing.

Comments

comments

August 1, 2020The Poker Jungle

At this time of year, I’d usually be loading up the car and heading down the M40 to Warwick to stay with my friends for the next 2 weeks, just 20 minutes away from the Ricoh Arena.
While I still have the week off, I’d be lying if I said that my level of excitement and anticipation for the Online Goliath was anywhere near what it usually is for the live festival.
The Goliath has been a huge part of my poker calendar for the last 4 years and is how I choose to spend 2 weeks of my holiday each Summer. With the event now being held online, I’m interested to see how many of Grosvenor’s live event attendees will make the leap to the online felt for the Goliath 2020 Festival.
There’s no denying that online poker is different and there will be many live players who will give it a miss this year. This is because there’s more to the Goliath than just the events themselves: players come from all around the UK to play, meet old friends and catch up over a beer or two. The shine is taken off that a little when you’re sat at home by yourself in front of your laptop!
However, I am hopeful that many players will be attracted to the generous tournament schedule that’s on offer and that the series might even encourage a few more players to enter the online realm.

Tournament Schedule

As online events have no need for dealers and rarely have any time or space restraints put on them, it means they’re able to offer more tournaments within the same time-frame. With multiple tournaments running over each of the weekends and a new tournament each weeknight, you no longer have to use work as an excuse not to get involved in the full Goliath Festival! There are buy-ins from £5 all the way up to £560 which is perfect for the online arena and there really is something within everyone’s price range.

Tournament Structures

A slow structure for an online tournament is usually around 15 minutes per blind level. Interestingly, Grosvenor have chosen to use a ‘live clock’ for their bigger guarantees such as The Main Event, The Opener and The High Roller by choosing to use a 30 minute clock! This is unusual for an online event but with many players looking to get as much play as possible for their buy-in, I think they’re going to love the slow structures.

What I’ll be playing this year:

As I mentioned earlier, I still have the week off to play poker, so aside from Tuesday evening, when I plan on watching Brentford make their way up to the Premiership, I’ll be playing many of the lower (£55 and below) events plus the Main Event on Saturday 8th August.