If I can draw your attention away momentarily from the terrible headline, the big news this week was the three-way split at the Broadway Festival of Poker’s £1,000 Main Event.With 12,500 in chips, an hour clock and every level under the sun, festivities at the Vic leading up to the London EPT were not enough to defunct the Broadway’s latest outing, many players recognising the superior structure and choosing the Midlands as their latest stop on the UK poker circuit.
In all, and given the circumstances, a rather commendable 77 players made it to the lavish Broadway Casino in Birmingham, the likes of Dave Colclough, Stuart Fox, Peter Evans, Des Jonas, Mickey Wernick and Stuart Rutter all deciding that their home turf was the place to be. Even stars such as Julian Thew, Matt Tyler, Ash Hussain and Rob Sherwood were lured from further afield, all eyes firmly fixed on that mouthwatering £25k first prize.
Whilst rising star/updater extraordinaire Jen Mason crashed out at the hands of Joe Pilade’s cutely played Pocket Kings, other early exits included George Geary, Chris Gavriel and Dazzling Con Cronin of Smethwick, not to mention Panos Panayi who was inquiring about a wooden spoon as he departed after just 4 minutes, the jubilant Matt Tyler eliminating the local with Queens versus A-K.
As we approached the end of the day, it was players like Neil Blatchley, Dean Mitchell and Ram Lakha who were starting to build stacks, but they would all pale in comparison to a seemingly invincible Julian Thew who saw off £500 sideevent victor Dave Colclough with a turned straight against a missed flush draw, Yoyo’s gamble leaving him with not only a magnificent 115,900 stack, but also the end-of-day chip lead.Day 2 tootered along at a leisurely pace, Mad Turk, Glynn Rees and Trevor Reardon falling by the wayside, leaving Thewy, Matt Tyler and Dennis Troake to build on their chip-leads. At times there were blogging concerns that we’d have a repeat of February’s marathon, but with the likes of Thew, Tyler and Artemis in the field, we held strong hopes of an early night.
With the in-the-cash exits being such…
12th = Rob Sherwood, -- £1,000 (J-J vs. Thew’s K-Q)
11th = Adam Wilkinson -- £1,000 (A-5 vs. Thew’s K-T on K-2-3 Flop)
10th = Stuart Rutter -- £1,540 (K-K vs. Thew’s A-Q)
9th = John Falconer -- £1,925 (A-9 vs. Artemis’ J-J)
8th = Michael Millas -- £2,310 (K-T vs. Artemis’ 9-9)
7th = Tony Cartwright -- £3,465 (A-Q vs. Lakha’s T-T)
6th = Ram Lakha -- £4,620 (A-7 vs. Hussain’s A-Q)
5th = Matt Tyler -- £6,160 (7-7 vs. Artemis’ A-A)
… we were left with just four in Julian Thew, Dennis Troake, Michael Artemis and European Rankings victor for 2006, Ash Husain.
Julian Thew, who had been up and down like a spring on a trampoline would be the first to fall, his incredible recovery from a nasty beat with Kings was all academic as he felt the wrath of Troake, the 2006 Broadway finalist eliminating the dangerman with Tens v A-7.With just three left and Thew out of the picture, an immediate suggestion from Ash to split the pot three-ways was quickly agreed upon by his opponents and we had our conclusion, each player taking home £15,760 with Liverpool’s Dennis Troake leaving with both the largest trophy and the prestige of being the Broadway Festival of Poker Champion.
A big well done to Dennis, Michael and Ash, but also to Keith and the rest of the Broadway staff who were excellent hosts throughout.