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Europe's biggest poker festival, Poker in the Park, took place in Leicester Square with free tournaments and lectures given by the best British poker players.

Players had their first taste of professional quality poker with special guest commentator Dave Ulliott overseeing the final table of the Championship event.

Ulliott was joined by Neil Channing, Nik Persaud, Mark Goodwin, Paul Jackson, Tony Holden, Tom Sambrook and Liv Boeree as they covered everything the budding poker fanatic needs to improve their game.

Seminars ranged from a beginner's guide to No Limit Hold'em to the pro's guide to online poker, an analysis of cash games versus tournament poker, a guide to pre-flop play: hand selection and playing position, playing poker the professional way, the future of poker, how to dominate short-handed games, an insight into Omaha, reading opponents through body language and other tales plus Ulliott on dominating the table using table talk.

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The World Series of Poker Europe tour will also be heading to Leicester Square for an event to be held from September 19 to October 2.

There will be three three-day events, £1,500 No-Limit Hold'em, £2,500 H.O.R.S.E. and £5,000 Pot Limit Omaha, before the concluding five-day £10,000 World Championship No-Limit Hold'em event.

All-time WSOP bracelet leader Phil Hellmuth, who has won 11, will be joined by at least three men who are chasing this year's Main Event victory - Ivan Demidov, Peter Eastgate and David Rheem.

"I would like to make history by being the first American to win a bracelet in Europe," Hellmuth said.

World Series of Poker marketing director Ty Stewart added: "We have enhanced the schedule to provide more variety and game play, greatly broadened the worldwide television exposure and have brought the event under one roof to better the player experience for this prestigious and premiere event."

Last year's inaugural event was won by Norway's Annette Obrestad who beat a field that included Doyle Brunson, Hellmuth and Johnny Chan.

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Talking of Brunson and the latest event on the Asian Poker Tour in Macau has been boosted by the news that the Godfather of Poker will be playing in the tournament.

Brunson, the first player to earn $1 million in poker tournaments who has won ten World Series of Poker bracelets, will play alongside his son, Todd, at the event which starts on August 27.

Other big names in attendance in the second leg of the 2008 Asian Poker Tour include J.C. Tran, Nam Le, Quinn Do and David Saab.

There is a guaranteed prize pool of $1,500,000.

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In more tournament news, the European Poker Tour's 2008 schedule has been announced with the London leg in October to have a guaranteed prize pool of £1 million.

That means the buy-in will be the third-highest of the year, behind only the $50,000 World Series of Poker H.O.R.S.E. event and the Aussie Millions $100,000 buy-in event.

The fifth season of the EPT begins on September 10 in Barcelona with an 8,000 event and is followed by eight more events before finishing with the 10,000 EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo next May.

There are two changes in location with the tournaments in Baden and Dublin replaced by those in Budapest and Deauville.

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The Irish Poker Championship has been bolstered by a variety of preliminary touring events throughout the year.

The qualifying tour started in Galway and will also visit Cork, Dublin, Waterford, Mayo, Athlone and Letterkenny.

The 2,000-buy-in Irish Poker Championship attracted nearly 300 players last year including Marcel Luske, Noel Furlong, Bruno Fitoussi, Robert Williamson III, Tom Franklin, Padraig Parkinson and Mike Sexton.

Angus MacKenzie / Eurosport