Friday, 29th March 2024 16:02
Home / Events / Six seats filled, two left: Join the Platinum Pass Experience

The line-up for the Platinum Pass Experience – London is taking shape, but there are still two seats left to fill.

In case you missed it, the Platinum Pass Experience will see eight PokerStars players heading to Asper’s Casino in London on November 9th to play an exclusive single-table tournament with the winner getting a Platinum Pass worth to the PokerStars Players Championship (PSPC) 2020, worth €26,466 (approx. $30,000).

That’s right: players at this exclusive table will have a one-in-eight chance of booking a seat in Barcelona, and the chance to play for a multi-million dollar prize. It’s also going to be streamed live online, so you will get your chance to fulfil your dream of playing on TV.

The journey starts online, with two £5.50 tournaments running this weekend whose winner will head to London. The winner of each of the qualifying tournaments will win a £2,200 package to the London Moneymaker Tour stop. This prize includes £200 in spending money which will be credited to your PokerStars account, plus £2,000 which will go into the live final prize pool.

This weekend is your last chance to join the fun, as six of the seats are already filled by winners of events running over the past three weeks. And what a fine group of players we already have in the mix.

THE LINE-UP SO FAR

Rob Sherwood is a familiar face on the UK poker circuit, with a list of results dating back 12 years. (He took up poker about 17 years ago because of the landmark British TV show Late Night Poker.) Now 41, Sherwood has made final tables across Europe and the United States, with his biggest career cash coming for fourth place in the Irish Open. On paper alone, Sherwood would likely be the favourite, but he has some stiff competition.

Opponents aren’t going to come much more tenacious than 59-year-old Clive Handy, from Gloucestershire. As he approaches his milestone 60th birthday, Handy has set himself some “bucket list” dreams, one of which is playing in a major poker tournament. Though he says the main event at the WSOP is his “primary listing”, he adds: “Playing with top pros in PSPC Barcelona would satisfy the criteria very nicely.” And who knows, the WSOP could follow that.

Ireland’s Fergal Brophy, who is also heading to London, is playing it coy when asked about his poker experience. “I’ve been known to min cash the Hot .55 from time to time,” he says. He describes himself as a “family man” and a “dog lover” but also says that he took up poker about 15 years ago, after watching Poker After Dark on TV. When you combine that with his other stated hobbies of being a Twitch streamer and a “slowrolling enthusiast”, Brophy’s presence on the Platinum Pass experience stream should make for some good TV. (As for the slowrolling, he even did that when talking about his own results, eventually copping to “the occasional low four-figure score in some live events.”)

Kevin Dean is another experienced British player, who has been playing poker for more than 15 years. Dean has cashed in the World Series Main Event (finishing 580th in 2009) and has a handful of other results from across Europe. He says he has also won three $20,000+ scores on PokerStars. “It feels great!” he says of his experience chasing the Platinum Pass so far.

Around 12 years ago, Joss Murdoch, then 17, was enduring a “boring Hogmanay” when a friend suggested a game of poker. Murdoch joined in, won £5, and things have never been the same for him since.

Murdoch, whose Scottish heritage is belied by his use of the term Hogmanay (that’s New Years, American readers), started taking the game more seriously about six years after that initial introduction, and now plays a healthy number of tournaments online and off. He won his first ever major live tournament for about $2,000, and also won the Micro Millions Bounty Shootout this year for $2,500.

Like all the others at the Platinum Pass Experience, he now has the chance of improving on that many times over. “A proper pinch yourself moment,” he says of his experience so far. “I’ve run so good to get here, let’s hope it continues!”

And the last seat? That’ll be occupied by Martin Pember. He’s playing it cool. The reason? He’s already been to one PSPC, having won a Platinum Pass last time.

Study Poker with Pokerstars Learn, practice with the PokerStars app