Racing at York today will be six horses running in the William Hill Poker Grand Prix Strensall Stakes, the UK bookmaker’s first foray into horse race sponsorship with its online poker site. The quality select field of horses has been compared to the William Hill Grand Prix poker tournament, to be filmed for television in October, which is restricted to 48 top professional players and 8 online qualifiers. The Group Three Strensall Stakes offers prize money of £50,000 but winnings for the William Hill Grand Prix poker tournament will be $450,000.

The Leeds-based bookmaker recently launched its first poker tournament on land rather than online. Top poker professionals have already confirmed their participation in the event including Andy Black from Dublin, a finalist at this year’s World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, and the current World Pot Limit Champion, Xuyen Pham. The televised tournament will be broadcast later this year.

At the beginning of August the William Hill acquisition of Stanley Leisure’s retail bookmaking operations was approved by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), subject to the disposal of 50 licensed betting offices (LBOs). At the time William Hill expressed disappointment at the number of LBOs the company would have to relinquish, but it remains the biggest bookmaker in the UK.

The Poker Grand Prix heats and finals will be held in Cardiff between the 17th and 25th October. So far 5 online players have qualified for the tournament finals, with just three Sunday night super-satellites to run. The Grand Prix is William Hill’s first major table tournament and is scheduled for airing in early December on the Poker 425 programme of Sky TV. (E-08.31.05)

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