2016 Cash Game Festival London
Day 1 Completed
2016 Cash Game Festival London (Spring)
2016 Cash Game Festival London
Day: 1
Pictures From the 2016 London Cash Game Festival Day 1
The first day peeked at over 20 tables, with many more tables expected for the remaining days. Action will continue to run overnight and the PokerNews Live Reporting Team will catch up on it again tomorrow afternoon.
Here are a look at a few pictures from Day 1.
Straddle on the Feature Table
The £10/£25 no-limit hold'em feature table is actually even bigger than it sounds with a £50 straddle effectively making it a £10/£25/£50 game.
It is also the liveliest table thus far at the poker festival with constant emotion being heard from all sides of the room.
You can check out the stream via the Cash Game Festival Twitch channel linked here:
Fishes Creating Action in Six-Plus Hold'em
Fishes on the six-plus hold'em table! Well, maybe not fishes, but the organizers and others associated with the Cash Game Festival are all playing in a £1/£1 game. Rules for six-plus hold'em are a bit different than regular hold'em with 2's through 6's removed from the card deck and a flush being stronger than a full-house.
Players on the table starting at seat 1 include Cash Game Festival co-founder Enri Orav, Jimmy Lundberg, Andro Loos, co-founder Martin "Franke" von Zweigbergk, and Björn Gustafsson.
Four Deuces Worth £200
The first hand hand bonus period just ended with a player winning £200 with 
. The bonus has been reset with the highest hand in the next three hours winning another £200.
Also, the next feature table is about to kick-off with streaming to begin in about 25 minutes on Twitch linked here. The stakes are a bit higher at £10/£25.
Most players were able to win or lose a small amount on the first feature table with one player "Jose" winning over £1,000 and Chris Yong losing about the same.
A Look Inside the Feature Table
The 2016 Cash Game Festival London is as much about lower-stakes games than higher stakes games. As we already mentioned, the first feature table is a £1/£3 affair of mostly recreational players having a good time while trying to leave the table a little richer.
The feature table is a mix of self-described amateurs and pro's. Here is a quick look:
United Kingdom's Vinnie Anderson describes himself as a gambler by profession and has played poker for more than 30 years, while fellow country-mate Eric Napier Ramkeesoon has been playing for a much shorter three years and works as a security officer.
Also from the UK is Chris Yong who explained poker is a temporary career while he is training to be a lawyer. Asper's regular Jack Molyneux is a teacher by day and a regular ring-game player when outside of the classroom.
The last player from the UK, who is currently a barman that loves playing poker, just wanted to be referred to as "Tim".
As many players came from outside the UK to join in on the exciting action, it isn't surprising that the remaining three also came to Aspers Casino from outside the country.
Sweden is represented on the feature table by two players in Michael Graucob and Sebastian Lexander. Graucob describes himself as a poker pro while Lexander explained that he is a semi-pro with a day-job in a food store.
Turkey's Jem Misirlioglu is another full time poker player who traveled far to be part of the first ever Cash Game Poker Festival in the UK.
High-Stakes Pineapple Open-Face Chinese Action
Pineapple open-face Chinese Poker has arrived to the 2016 London Cash Game Poker Festival! While it shouldn't be surprising to see this poker variant - even this early in the festival - it is surprising that it broke out as the highest stakes game in the festival with stakes at £10 a point.
So far two self-described recreational players are battling it out with Mark Wraith taking on Mario, Austrian professional football player who didn't reveal his last name. He did share with us while he plays football for a career he isn't a star for his club and is working hard to regain some early losses.
Live Streaming Begins!
The Cash Game Festival now has more than a dozen tables running with the a £5/£10 no-limit hold'em table representing the biggest action thus far.
The £1/£3 no-limit hold'em feature table just began streaming on the Cash Game Festival Twitch channel linked here. The current feature table will be running for two hours before being replaced by a higher stakes game later on in the evening.
Welcome to Day 1 of the 2016 Cash Game Festival London at Aspers Casino Westfield Stratford City
Today history is being made in the United Kingdom with Aspers Casino Westfield Stratford City hosting the country's first ever Cash Game Festival.
The Cash Game Festival features 120-hours of non-stop cash game action from March 30 to April 3. The stop in London follows a successful festival in Tallinn, Estonia that took place late last year.
Already activity is heating up at Aspers Casino with eight tables of exciting low-stakes action including one £1/£1 Omaha game and seven no-limit hold'em games at £1/£1 and £1/£2. As a twist, the Omaha game features a unique dealer's choice element with players being able to decide whether there are four, five, or six hole cards.
This is just the beginning as the festival officially kicks off with its feature table at 6;30 p.m BST. The charismatic Marc Conway will be the lead commentator for the live poker stream, which will be broadcasted on a twenty-minute delay starting today at 7:00 p.m BST. on the Cash Game Festival website linked here and on the Cash Game Festival Twitch channel linked here.
Festival organizers expect at least 20 tables in play at peak points during play today with more players expected on the remaining four days. Demand to get in on the action is high with more than 250 players reserving spots in the festival.
Players should expect a faster and more exciting pace than they normally might be used to with tables being capped at eight players. While right now, games are just running in two of the most popular poker variants, we expect to see throughout the festival many other games running including six-plus hold'em, six-card pot-limit Omaha with three boards, and Sviten Special otherwise known as Drawmana. Depending on player requests we could see other poker variants during the five-day festival as well.
Additionally, starting tomorrow £1/£2 and £2/£5 Cash-Game Tournaments will be available to players offering a unique format which includes a two hour structure without blind levels increase. The only structure change throughout the tournament will be in the last 30 minutes of the match when antes are introduced in hopes to create more action with the clock winding down.
All the stakes leading up the the festival are currently small, festival organizers have shared that there will be action running at £10/£25 once some of the higher rollers show up with some requesting during pre-registration to play at tables featuring bigger stakes including £25/£50.
The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be providing updates with some 2016 Cash Game Festival London highlights a few times a day throughout the five-day festival.
2016 Cash Game Festival London
Day 1 Started