The World Poker Tour has visited the United Kingdom on numerous occasions, but September will see the debut of the Prime circuit. The first edition of the WPT Prime UK will take place from September 11-16 at Dusk Till Dawn in Nottingham, England and will feature a massive £620,000 ($817K) guaranteed prize pool across all events.
The WPT Prime UK Championship will kick off on September 13 with two opening days and will feature a huge £260K ($342K) guaranteed prize pool. There will also be a Warm Up event with £50K ($65K) guaranteed, a High Roller with £100K ($131K) guaranteed and a DTD Cup with £50K ($65K) guaranteed.
The WPT Prime UK Championship Event
Schedule:
- Day 1A: Friday, September 13 at 12 PM (14 levels)
- Day 1B: Saturday, September 14 at 12 PM (14 levels)
- Day 2: Sunday, September 15 at 12 PM (until the final table of 8 players)
- Day 3: Monday, September 16 at 12 PM (final table)
Structure:
- Buy-In: £1,100 ($1,450)
- Re-entry: 1 re-entry during late registration
- Starting Stack: 40K (200 big blinds)
- Blind Levels: 40 minutes during Day 1 and 60 minutes during Days 2 and 3
- First Level: 100/200 with 200 Big Blind Ante
- Guaranteed Prize Pool: £260,000 ($342K)
- Late Registration: 9 levels
- Payouts: 12.5%
Qualifying satellites with £60 buy-ins will be played on September 11, 12, and 13 at 8 PM. The final day of the tournament will be live streamed and can be watched on the DTD Player YouTube channel. The champion will receive the lions share of the prize pool, have their name enshrined on the Perpetual Trophy, and also claim a seat to play in the 2024 WPT World Championship in Las Vegas in December.
The WPT Prime UK Festival
The festival will feature 11 events with buy-ins ranging from £120 to £2,200 for the High Roller. Eight of the tournaments will have guaranteed prize pools totaling £620K. There will also be £60 satellites to the WPT Prime UK Championship and €90 satellites to the High Roller.
These are all the events that will be played at the festival:
| Event | Day | Time | Buy-In | Stack | Levels | Guaranteed |
| Deepstack Opener | September 11 | 6 PM | £120 | 60K | 20 | – |
| High Roller | September 12-13 | 6 PM | £2,200 | 150K | 40 | £100,000 |
| Bounty Hunter | September 12 | 6 PM | £120 | 30K | 20 | – |
| Prime Championship | September 13-16 | 12 PM | £1,100 | 40K | 40/60 | £260,000 |
| Warm-Up | September 13-15 | 12 PM | £175 | 40K | 30 | £50,000 |
| NLHE Turbo | September 13 | 7 PM | £560 | 30K | 20 | £20,000 |
| NLHE 7-Max Turbo | September 14 | 7 PM | £560 | 30K | 20 | £20,000 |
| DTC Cup | September 15-16 | 12 PM | £340 | 40K | 30 | £50,000 |
| High Roller 7-Max | September 15 | 2 PM | £2,200 | 150K | 30 | £100,000 |
| Pot Limit Omaha | September 15 | 7 PM | £120 | 30K | 20 | – |
| Closer Knockout | September 16 | 12 PM | £340 | 30K | 30 | £20,000 |
You can see the complete calendar with events and satellites via this link.
Satellite in via WPT Global
If you live in one of the countries eligible to play on the WPT Global platform, you can take advantage of the satellites being played there to win yourself a seat to play at the WPT Prime UK festival. Qualifiers take place every Sunday at 2:40 PM ET and have a $110 buy-in, which puts WPT Prime Passports worth $1,500 at stake for use at any stage of WPT Prime. If you’re looking to qualify for a smaller fee, there are also $11 satellites that provide buy-ins for the $110 satellites. You can check the WPT Global lobby for start times.
The WPT Prime UK Venue: Dusk Till Dawn
The famous Dusk Till Dawn poker club opened its doors in 2007 and is located on the outskirts of Nottingham, England. Owned by Rob Yong, the venue is known as “The home of UK Poker”. The spacious facility has capacity for 45 poker tables and hosts daily and monthly tournaments, cash games and important festivals. You can find out about the venue’s rules and dress code on their website.
The World Poker Tour in the UK
Since 2013, the UK has hosted World Poker Tour tournaments in its various formats: National, DeepStacks, WPT500 and the Main Tour. The last time the WPT visited Britain was last year with the WPT500 played at Dusk Till Dawn. It was one of the largest WPT events in UK history, boasting 895 entries. Based on the numbers that the WPT Prime circuit is doing this year, there’s a good chance they’ll surpass that total!
Below is a chart of previous World Poker Tour events that were played in the UK; we’ll see whose name gets added this year!
| Year | Event | Buy-In | Entries | Prize Pool | Champion | Prize |
| 2013 | WPT National UK | £200 | 510 | £91,800 | John Ventre | £20,250 |
| 2013 | WPT National UK | £200 | 292 | £52,560 | John Gudger | £12,750 |
| 2014 | WPT National UK | £200 | 260 | £137,340 | Laurence Houghton | £26,900 |
| 2014 | WPT National UK | £200 | 412 | £74,160 | Darren Mapley | £17,500 |
| 2014 | WPT National UK | £200 | 577 | £103,860 | Gabriel Tuna | £22,000 |
| 2016 | WPT National UK | $1,100 | 886 | $1,000,000 | Andrew Jankowski | $195,394 |
| 2016 | WPT UK | £2,200 | 522 | £1,044,000 | Luis Rodriguez | £200,000 |
| 2018 | WPT500 London | £420 | 1,810 | £626,550 | Gary Miller | £114,000 |
| 2019 | WPT UK | $3,300 | 690 | $2,007,900 | Simon Brandstrom | $330,000 |
| 2019 | WPTDeepStacks UK | $1,500 | 403 | $527,729 | Michael Tureniec | $105,000 |
| 2023 | WPT500 Dusk Till Dawn | £560 | 895 | £500,000 | Aleksandrs Golubevs | £100,000 |
The last WPT champion in the UK, Aleksandrs Golubevs
