What a day it was yesterday. Perhaps the air conditioning in Casino Manchester235 could have been slightly less arctic, but it was certainly one of the most colourful days of the festival. We had Tennessee Hold’em, the Poker.PRO Saturday Party Madness NLH Red River Bounty, the final chances to enter the Main Event, two more flights of the PLO Masters Main Event and a Faded Spade sponsored tournament.

With so much colour on display, it would be rude not to mention the colourful LGBTQ+ history that Manchester holds. In honour of Pride Month, which all organisations involved in the PartyPoker Tour proudly support, let me share a couple of interesting facts with you.

Manchester was the first city in the world to commemorate its LGBT past by commissioning a local artist to set rainbow tiles into flagstones across the city, marking historical LGBT places of interest.
In 1985, the UK’s first openly lesbian mayor, Margaret Roff, was appointed by Manchester City Council. In the same year, Manchester Pride was officially founded following a grant from the council to hold a two-week celebration.

The struggles are certainly not over, but we are grateful that Manchester flies the flag proudly and continues to do so.

With the fascinating facts of the day behind us, let us get down to business and see what happened on Day 8 of the PartyPoker Tour Manchester stop.

First things first, our very own VibeLive Event Coordinator, Alessandra Del Pino, has published another fantastic article, this time in interview format with the one and only PartyPoker Tour Team member Sam “Hooooooold” Acheampong, whom we all love dearly.

The article can be found on Poker.PRO and, if that wasn’t enough, you can now enjoy it in audio format too. Have a read, have a listen and get to know one of the biggest personalities on the PartyPoker Tour a little better.

At 11 am, the final chance to qualify for Day 2 of the £100,000 GTD £500 Main Event was underway. A final 21 entries tried their luck, with five players advancing. The top three chip leaders in this flight were Ricky Murphy with 346,000 chips, Kevin Remeile with 305,000 chips and Ronald Musson with 254,000 chips.

At 2 pm, Day 1B of the £20,000 GTD PLO Masters Main Event kicked off. Familiar faces included PLO Masters mastermind JJ Hazan, PartyPoker Tour Team members Barny Boatman, Sam “Hooooooooooold” Acheampong and Natalie Bromley, PartyPoker Tour Sheffield Main Event Champion Siddharth Sudunagunta, and regulars such as Jonathan Rees and Angelo Avanzato, all hoping to make it through to Day 2.

The top chip leaders in this flight were Stephen Murphy with 357,000 chips, Chris Nyilasi with 294,000 chips and JJ Hazan with 286,000 chips. To also make it through to Day 2 was PartyPoker Tour Sheffield Main Event Champion Siddharth Sudunagunta.
At 4 pm, players returned for Day 2 of the £100,000 GTD Main Event. The tournament attracted a total of 260 entries, generating a prize pool of £115,700. A total of 68 players took their seats as the battle resumed.

Players making it through to Day 2 included PartyPoker Tour Team members Barny Boatman, Dani Garcia and Barry Carter. Brothers and PartyPoker Ambassadors Jaime and Matt Staples were also still in the hunt. Familiar faces such as Paddy Power PRO Dara O’Kearney, Steffan Stroffek and reigning PartyPoker Tour Manchester Main Event Champion Deniz Orhan were also in the mix.

At 8:20 pm, the bubble burst, and the unfortunate bubble player was Matthew Cox. Have a read of what Poker.PRO reporter Christoffer Karlén had to say about it here.

From that moment on, every remaining player was guaranteed a payday.
As the day progressed, play ended at level 24, with the final table set. The top chip leaders heading into the Final Day were Mini Main Event Manchester Runner Up Imran Pirmohamed with 1.95 million chips, Michael Breen with 1.9 million chips and Endrit Geci with 1.88 million chips.

Then, at 5 pm, it was time for the NLH Faded Spade tournament. Reigning PartyPoker Tour Madrid Champion Darach Rogan had every intention of defending his title. He put up a good fight but it was not meant to be on this occasion. A fair few familiar faces joined in the fun, including Steffan Stroffek, PaddyPower PRO Dara O’Kearney and PartyPoker Tour Team member Barbara Jimenez.

In the end, it was James Dorward who won the event and, of course, the coveted PartyPoker Tour trophy.

At 6 pm, Mr Scott Hill himself, the man behind the Tennessee Hold’em format, arrived with all his charisma and style to welcome players to the Tennessee Hold’em Manchester Championship. The event attracted 15 entries, and the top three finishers were Gary Barton in first place, Peter Sweeney in second place and Ryan Wyvill in third place.

We are delighted to see this new format continue to grow because that is how innovation happens, and of course, PartyPoker is right at the forefront of it.
Well done, Scott. Here’s to many more successful tournaments.

At 8 pm, Day 1C, the final flight of the £20,000 GTD PLO Masters Main Event, got underway.

A fascinating fact: PartyPoker Tour regular and Irish poker legend Dr Angela Rogan entered her very first PLO satellite, despite never having played the game before, and successfully won her entry into Day 1C.
As you can imagine, many familiar faces took their shot in the final flight. We saw the likes of PartyPoker Tour Team members Barry Carter and Sam Acheampong, PartyPoker Ambassador Jaime Staples, and the PartyPoker Tour Queens, Natalie Bromley and Rebecca Hardisty. Regulars of the tour, such as Vadims Veksins, Angelo Avanzato and Jonathan Rees were also in the mix.

The top chip leaders were Anthony Mathias with 435,000 chips, Egor Gerasimchuk with 330,000 chips and Paul Spillane with 282,000 chips.

There were also great results for PartyPoker Tour Team member Sam “Hooooooold” Acheampong and PartyPoker Ambassador Jaime Staples, both of whom successfully navigated their way through to the Final Day.

At 10 pm, the final Poker.PRO sponsored tournament of the festival commenced: the Saturday Party Madness NLH Red River Bounty. Many familiar faces joined in the fun, including regulars Jordan Caplan, who was adamant he wouldn’t play, but, well, here we are, Vadims Veksins and Daniel Ryder. Flying the PartyPoker Tour Team flag was poker legend Barny Boatman, fresh from collecting his first PartyPoker Tour trophy just 24 hours earlier.

The tournament attracted a total of 44 entries, generating a prize pool of £1,100. In the end, it was James Buckley who became the final champion of the night, taking home the trophy and the glory.