The Main Event of the GBPT Bournemouth started with the first two Day 1's Event of the Tour. 140 runners started the £550 sit-down event over Day 1A (Friday 15th) and Day 1B (Saturday 16th).
There was a healthy mixture of local regulars at the Gala Bournemouth Casino, satellite winners (including, as ever, a strong contingent from Teesside), online qualifiers and of course a selection of well known pros and celebs.
Gerry O’Farrell (2nd in Edinburgh) and Steve Holden (Nottingham winner) sat down with England ruby stars Mike Tindall and Matt Dawson, ex-footballer and broadcaster Tony Cascarino, comedian Norman Pace, newsreader Fiona Foster, snooker legend Willie Thorn, as well as pros Paul ‘Actionjack’ Jackson, Jen Mason, James Dempsey and Tour regular Joe Beevers.
9 levels were played on each day, with 13 players remaining and 54,000 in average chips on Day 1A, and 16 and 44,000 on Day 1B. Mike Tindall (106,400 chips) was in a very strong position as chip leader as play entered the third and final day.
Day 2
Starting chips, top 10:
1. Mike Tindall -- 106,400
2. Owen Lock -- 88,100
3. Jen Mason -- 77,000
4. R Robinson -- 72,300
5. Paul Jackson -- 68,300
6. Grub Smith -- 67,000
7. B Pottiwal -- 65,500
8. Luke Wilson -- 65,000
9. Angie Evis -- 60,300
10. Dave Beasley -- 54,300
29 players returned at 2pm with blinds 1500/3000 and a 300 ante. 12 places were paid, and 8 would make it to the all-important TV table. The action started early with 3 going out in the first 30 minutes of play.
Mike Tindall took an early hit from Jen Mason, falling back to around 40,000 chips, however he was soon back in a commanding position winning a number of decent pots. Ultimately, however, his T-T was beaten when Grub Smith called his all-in, after much deliberation, with A-A. Mike walked away with £1,050 in 12th place and the first cash position. From then on Grub stayed well ahead, playing his large stack extremely well as we approached 9 players.
As we entered the final table, positions were:
1. Grub Smith -- 590,200
2. Luke Wilson -- 165,500
3. Pete Singleton -- 148,500
4. Robert Butt -- 117,100
5. Baly Pottiwal -- 106,400
6. Paul Jackson -- 96,900
7. Dave Beasley -- 91,400
8. Muzzy Dehgham -- 88,200
By level 15, just 4 remained. Luke Wilson had gained nearly 260,000 chips to take a chip lead with Grub Smith falling back to second, following the loss of Robert Butt:
1. Luke Wilson -- 430,000
2. Grub Smith -- 390,000
3. Paul Jackson -- 370,000
4. Pete Singleton -- 210,000
Level 17:
1. Luke Wilson -- 864,000
2. Grub Smith -- 369,000
3. Pete Singleton -- 167,000
At 4am, after a mammoth final table session of over 7 hours, Pete Singleton and Grub Smith were finally heads up, lasting just one hand, with Pete winning with a pair of Kings.
Final standings and prize money (deal made by top 4):
1st Pete Singleton -- £20,000 + bonus seat in £2,500 Grand Final
2nd Grub Smith -- £15,000 + bonus seat to Leeds GBPT £500 Main Event
3rd Luke Wilson -- £13,000 + bonus seat to Leeds GBPT £500 Main Event
4th Paul Jackson -- £10,000 + ticket to £100,000 Gtd ‘Big Deal’ on Galapoker.co.uk
5th Robert Butt -- £4,420 + ticket to £100,000 Gtd ‘Big Deal’ on Galapoker.co.uk
6th Dave Beasley -- £2,920
7th Bally Botiwal -- £2,550
8th Murray Dengham -- £2,100
9th Owen Locke -- £1,650
10th Ricjard Dawson -- £1,200
11th George Mockford -- £1,120
12th Mike Tindall -- £1,050