888Live Local Series Targets Recreational Players

Recreational online poker players who dream of playing at live events with the big boys but are saddled with employment commitments during the week, as well as limited budgets, have reason to celebrate.

A new tour put together by 888poker known as the 888Live Local Series is now underway with stops scheduled all across Europe in 2015. Other destinations include Australia and Canada.

The first tour stop was held at the Aspers Casino in London on January 30-Feb. 1 and was a smashing success, shattering the £50,000 guarantee with a prize pool that reached £120,000. At a buy-in of £220.

Next on the schedule is the ClubPoker in Dublin, Ireland from February 20-22 with a similar low entry fee of €220. In fact, all the events on the 888Live upcoming schedule are fixed at right around that buy-in, and all are scheduled on weekends so that casual players can both afford and attend the live poker events.

While the trend in online poker has shifted in favor of recreational players, we may see that same trend take hold in the realm of live poker. An idea whose time has perhaps arrived, making live events with big fields and good-sized prize pools doable for those who want to play but can't plunk down the entry fees found at the WPT or WSOP.

Making the situation even better are the online satellites at 888poker where players can win their way into the live tournaments for as little as one cent ($0.01). For those who would rather not work their way through a handful of step tournaments, $30 direct satellites are available.

After the Dublin stop this weekend, the next destinations on the 888Live Local tour include Spain at the end of February; the Czech Republic, Australia and UK in March; Portugal and Austria in April; and back to Spain and the UK again in May.

The rest of the 2015 schedule has yet to fix exact dates, but most of the venues are already known. A number of Aspers Casinos throughout the UK are featured, as are locales in Estonia, Croatia, Montenegro, Cyprus, Slovenia and Canada. 888 players can find the tour stops nearest them by clicking here.

In all, 888Live Local has scheduled more than two dozen events in 13 countries. The Main Events also allow for plenty of maneuvering with a deep stack of 25,000 in chips, and 30-minute blind levels that begin at 50/100.

Other added bonuses to the whole 888Live concept are that players who satellite their way into a live event can choose which tournament to enter since buy-ins are practically the same, and that seats won can be transferred to other 888poker players.

Players who want to buy-in directly to the live events of their choice can do so online or at the live event. However, there are fixed player capacities set for each day, so it is advisable to preregister online so as not to get shut out from the event and day of your choosing.

Click here for answers to FAQs and to learn more about the 2015 888Live Local Series.