blonde poker

A bright sunny afternoon, a gentle breeze whistling through the air – what to do? Spend the whole day inside a dark musky room playing cards with big sweaty men, surely? Well, that’s what 98 poker enthusiasts had their hearts set on as they braced themselves for a weekend of poker fun at this year’s Midlands Medley (in association with Blue Square Poker).

Not shunned by (1) the World Series and (2) GUKPT domination, the Midlands Medley stands firm on the poker calendar, perhaps due to taking place in one of the country’s most popular and accessible venues. Peter Evans, Paul Jackson, Dave Colclough, Lucy Rokach, Mickey Wernick and Ash Hussain all showed their pro mugs to join the likes of local players Andy Louca, John Burke, Satnam Sandhu and Ian Fieldhouse, all vying for that adrenalin inducing £39,200 first prize.

Whilst Howard Plant, Mad Turk, Jon Hewston and GUKPT Manchester runner-upper Barry Neville enjoyed/suffered early baths, it was the combined maniacal force of Andy Johnson and Alan McLean who took chip leads into Day 2, M Porter, Anthony Nicholls, Neill Hossell and potty mouthed (and proud of it) Mohammed ‘Shaf’ Shaffiq making up the meat of the chasing pack.

39 players kept their eyes firmly fixed on the silverware come Day 2, but unfortunately, not everyone can be a winner, and as Tom McCready, Patrick Murray (left), Simon Zach and Grand Prix de Paris finalist Paul ‘Rocket Man’ Gourlay all had their dreams dashed, it quickly emerged that no one was going to stop the overnight chip leader, Alan McLean.

And with Philip Green departing at the hands of Ben Callinan come bubble time (a nasty Ace on the River with Fours vs. Big Slick sealing his bubbly fate), Alan would boast the big stack of 364k with just one table remaining.

Andy Johnson -- 290k
Mark Allden -- 28k
Mickey Wernick -- 148.5k
Brian Welby -- 98k
Ben Callinan -- 207.5k
Andrew Psaras -- 220.5k
Ash Hussain -- 102.5k
Alan Mclean -- 364k
Jim Moult -- 61k

Slow progress at first, but after we lost Mark ‘MANTIS01’ Alden in 9th and Bob Hoskins spit, Andrew Psaras, in 8th, a deal was done for 10k each and play for the rest, thus meaning the inevitable lemming finish was on the cards.

In relatively quick succession, we lost Callinan (K-7 vs. McLean’s 5-5, K-5-8-7 board), Johnson (A-7 vs. Moult’s J-J) and Wernick (Tens vs. Ash’s Kings), before McLean, the Human Eliminating Machine, really took the bull by the horns, seeing off both Jim Moult (A-Q vs. J-J) and Brian Welby (A-A vs. 9-9) to leave a mouth-watering heads up prospect with 2006 Rankings winner, Ash Hussain.

But with such a big chip lead, their one on one counter wouldn’t last long, Ash eventually being forced to push all-in pre-flop with the almighty 7-2, which unsurprisingly failed to outdraw Alan’s Pocket Sixes.

Not official, but it is believed that Ash was offered 2.5k at the end leaving Alan to take home the remaining prizepool for an impressive win indeed. A real force a year or two back, but lacking winning form of late, Alan once again proves how dangerous he can be at the felt, his Mallu-esque style and uber-aggressive play being more than enough to take down the title and comedy cheque. One for the old guard.