Poker Million Tournament

Poker Million is one of the largest and most popular European poker tournaments. Superseding the booming TV show, Late Night Poker, Poker Million's first season began in 2000. This main European tournament was first held on the Isle of Man. It all began at a Hilton Hotel, courtesy of poker greats, Ladbrokes and Barry Hearn's Matchroom Sport. 30 million viewers viewed the final, of which John Duthie from London was victorious.

Sky Sports 1 bought the tournament in 2003, the year when snooker master, Jimmy White, won the first prize of $150,000. Although Poker Million continues to be broadcast live on Sky Sports, it currently takes place each year in England.

The popularity of the Poker Million seems to grow each year:

• 2004 - professional poker player, Donnacha O'Dea won the Poker Million.
• 2005 - after 13 heats as well as the semi finals, Poker rookie, Tony 'Spider99' Jones rocked the poker scene by winning the $1 million prize over the well-known, Helen 'Hell's Bells' Chamberlain.
• 2006 - with Ladbrokes' addition of $1,000,000 to the prize money, bringing the amount of cash prizes to $4,120,000, along with $1,200,000 to the winner, Poker Million has the grandest prize ever presented at a European tournament.

Throughout a period of 4 months, 72 players will be selected for the televised tournament via a number of practices, among them the $150,000 Guaranteed Poker Million Weekly Final, where 2 winners will gain seats and $105,000 to split each week. In June, the lucky 72 players will play poker in London.

Each heat will be filmed and the 12 winners of the heat will come back to London in December for the semi-finals on December 13-14. The 3 leading players of the Semi-Finals will play at the live final on Friday, December 15th.

The preliminary rounds held to determine the finalists for the Poker Million 2006 have been filmed already and will be televised on Sky Sports 2 from September 19th at 10pm on Tuesday nights. From December 14-16, both the semi-finals and the grand finale will be broadcast live.

Michael Orwell - Editorial Board