Structure of the William Hill Poker Grand Prix

The game is No Limit Texas Hold 'Em Freezeout, the buy-in will be in the region of �6000 and the prize pool promises to be over EUR 500 000. The tournament details are based on the 2007 event, and should all things be equal, it could well be assumed that the third edition of the William Hill Poker Grand Prix will entice even more players than last year.

In 2007 fifty-six players took part in the event and the vast majority of them (44) were invited pros who had to buy-in to the competition. The remaining twelve players were lucky online and land-based qualifiers, who took part in satellite competitions run by the sponsors.

The event is made up of seven single-table satellites of eight players each. The winner of each satellite event moves forward to the final table. Runners-up of each satellite event move forward to a runners-up play-off and again the successful player moves on to the final table. Each player at the final table is awarded 80 000 tournament chips, and then it's just a matter of calling 'shuffle and deal'.

Grand Blind Structure - Finesse, not Speed

Since its inception, the William Hill Poker Grand Prix has emphasised a tournament structure which tests the skill and technique of the players, rather than having a structure which simply streamlines the event. For William Hill, premier British bookmakers since 1934, it is all about prowess rather than speed!

Every tournament relies on a preconceived blind structure to define when and how the blinds in the event are to go up, and all blind structures are time based. This means that each level has to be completed after a set number of minutes.

Three factors define a blind structure:

• The length of each level
• The blinds of each level
• The antes of each level - we need not be concerned about this factor, as antes only come into play with 7 Card Stud.

Types of Blind Structures

Although there are endless variations to blind structures, the most common are:

• Regular - this is the most prevalent blind structure used in most tournaments today, and it is all about speed. Four variations exist with 3 minute, 10 minute, 12 minute & 15 minute levels respectively.
• Grand - this is regarded as the very best tournament structure by many players, and William Hill bookmakers, who have opted for the Grand Blind Structure for the Grand Prix. It comes in two variations, one with 30 minute levels and one with 40 minute levels.
• Cannonball - this is a completely unique type of blind structure that creates the effect of changing level length midway through the tournament - it starts off with 3 minute levels but then slows down to 12 minute levels! It embodies both speed and the more traditional 12 minutes per level

2007 Schedules for Heats and Semi-Finals:

2007 Tournament Schedules for the Finals:

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