PokerStars have revealed details of the forthcoming UK and Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT) which will begin in December 2009 and will run through to October 2010. The Grand Final will take place in the Metropole Hotel in London On 2nd to 8th October 2010 with buy-ins of £5,000 + 300. This is the first season of this event.

Buy-ins vary through the tour. The lowest buy-ins are £500 and these are available at the G Casino event in Manchester 11th to 14th February 2010 Manchester February, the G Casino in Coventry between 8th and 11th April 2010 and the Dusk Till Dawn event in Nottingham between 13th to 16th May. There are also several events with £1,000 buy-ins and the first event of the tour takes place at the Radisson Hotel in Galway, Ireland from 11th to 14th December 2009 where the buy-in is €2,000.

There will be special bonuses at each one of these events with guaranteed prize pools of £100,000 for the £500 + £50 buy-ins and a €250,000 guaranteed prize pool for the €1,000 buy-ins at Killarney and Dublin. Each event winner will be awarded a free seat at the Grand Final in London.

It is anticipated that the tour will also feature a number of high roller events and given the fact that it is certain to attract some of the top professional players, there is a strong possibility that at least part of it will be televised, though no announcements concerning this have been made to date.

Qualifiers for the first event at Galway are already in progress at the PokerStars website. UKIPT leader board points will also be given and the season’s best players will receive prizes with first place being a free seat and hotel expenses at all of the main events in season two of the UKIPT.