blonde poker

 
Since I’ve been working for blondepoker.com, I never imagined a day where I’d be glancing down at our very own branded tables, riffling blondepoker chips and watching in amazement as a hologram of the company logo darts across the wall.

But that’s exactly the sight I bore witness to last week as blondepoker.com, in association with Big Slick Productions, held its inaugural festival of poker, the blondepoker.com Waterford Winter Festival in, yep, you guessed it… sunny Waterford.

Previously unknown as a poker hotspot, the quaint, picturesque town of Waterford cemented its spot on the poker map by luring in an impressive 275 players for its €500 No Limit Hold’Em freezeout. With 15,000 in starting chips, a 60 minute clock, and every blind level imaginable, the Main Event was well received and widely acclaimed as one of, if not the, best structured events around – and for an affordable price too!

The event was well supported by a number of familiar names from within the world of poker, Padraig Parkinson, Roy Brindley and Irish Open winner Marty Smyth all helping to raise the tournament’s profile. Even the world renowned Sideshow Bob put in appearance, as did several blondeites including the_duke, Dewi, AndrewT, M3boy, Snatiramas, Karabiner and TV’s own Tony ‘tikay’ Kendall.

With the Guinness, and consequently the ‘craic’, in full flow, it didn’t take long for the field to be sliced and diced, and by the end of Day 1, it was a familiar face who led the field, blondepoker’s Jen Mason flying the flag with over 80,000 in chips.

Day 2 was to prove a lengthy affair and one that would see the demise of yours truly at around the 50 mark, alongside Paul ‘HornswaggleU’ Higgins whose A-K failed to improve against Ken Corkery’s Pocket Jacks. Those who made it into the money, but failed to book a seat on the final table, included John Quinn, Collette Murphy, Hou Man Chin and Irish Open finalists Nicky Power and Brian ‘The Fox’ O’Keeffe.

With Welshman Jay Danter forced to lap up the final table bubble when his A-J was outgunned by Michael Trimby’s 6-7, we were left with a final line up of:

Seat 1: Anthony Lynch -- 335,000
Seat 2: Thomas Nolan -- n/a
Seat 3: Rob Taylor -- 761,000
Seat 4: Michael Trimby -- 499,000
Seat 5: Ian Whitty -- 403,000
Seat 6: Jimmy Kiernan -- 217,00
Seat 7: Derek Thorpe -- 147,000
Seat 8: Jen Mason --1,076,000
Seat 9: James Kenny -- 209,000
Seat 10: Ken Corkery -- 137,000

After interviews had been conducted, the players returned eagerly to the felt only for Anthony Lynch to fall in 10th when his flopped set of Kings were outdrawn by Thomas ‘Bomber’ Nolan’s flush draw. Soon after, we were met with the demise of the Macau Club’s Ken Corkery, his Jacks no match for Ian Whittey’s Pocket Queens.

In what was undoubtedly a testament to the wonderful structure, it would take a good 2 and a half hours to lose our 7th man, that unfortunate role falling in the hands of Rob Taylor who called all-in with top pair on a K-5-T-7-2 board only to run into Nolan’s T-2. Double ups galore couldn’t stop Derek Thorpe taking 6th for €6,000, followed by fellow short stacker Jimmy Kiernan whose Q-J was no match for Trimby’s (right) A-T.

After being subjected to The Bomber’s unrelenting DAG (drunk aggressive) style and seeing her chip leading stack bisected in half with Sixes versus Trimby’s Kings, Jen Mason would eventually snap up €8,500 for 5th when her K-Q was outdrawn by Trimby’s K-J, the Flop giving Mason’s nemesis a timely, yet gut-wrenching pair of Jacks.

With Jen Mason out of the way, it was time for a deal, and one that may have raised a few eyebrows in the process. Moments later, the chips flew in aimlessly leaving former WSOP finalist Michael Trimby to raise the trophy as the official victor.

1st  Michael Trimby (Ire) -- €31,500
2nd  James Kenny (Ire) -- €11,500
3rd  Ian Whitty (Ire) -- €15,500
4th  Thomas Nolan (Ire) -- €24,500
5th  Jen Mason (Uk) -- €8,500
6th  Jimmy Kiernan (Ire) -- €7,200
7th  Derek Thorpe (Ire) -- €6,000
8th  Robert Taylor (Ire) -- €4,500
9th  Ken Corkery (Ire) -- €3,000
10th  Anthony Lynch (Ire) -- €2,200

Congratulations to Michael Trimby for becoming the first ever blondepoker.com Waterford Winter Festival, but also to Big Slick Production’s Neill Kelly, who was not only subjected to continual abuse from the forum who compared him to Tony Slattery, The Joker and Buzz Lightyear (among others), but also hosted a tremendously enjoyable festival. Many thanks to him and his team, and also to Denis O’Mahoney, Richard Prew and Kevin Shepherd from blondepoker who ensured that blondepoker’s opening festival was the huge success it was.