blonde poker

 
With the TV cameras missing in action this season, it was feared that numbers would struggle to match previous successes as the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour enjoys its second run. However, this week at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino in London, the latest leg of the Tour was a sell-out, the 424 strong field proving that good structures, deep stacks and a bubbling atmosphere override any lust for the razzmatazz of the TV spotlight.

The occasion even managed to pull in a few big names and the odd celebrity, David ‘Devilfish’ Ulliott, Liam Flood, Vicky Coren and Barny Boatman joining the likes of Teddy Sheringham, Tony Cascarino and, low and behold, Elvis himself at the live felt! Of course, there were plenty of well-known regulars taking their place too, Dave Colclough, Julian Thew, Nik Persaud, Mickey Wernick and Dave Smith all eying up that £119,780 first place prize with the hunger of a starved bear.

With the opening days sorting the men from the boys, Day 2 would see the rise and fall of many of the major players, the Devilfish running a straight into the bigger straight of David Rudling, Jon ‘Skalie’ Kalmar stumbling headfirst into Aces and Dave Coclough being outflushed by 20-year old Londoner Tony Phillips.

Come the final day, Tony Phillips was the chip leader, but he would falter early doors allowing the likes of Ketul Nathwani, David Rudling and Dan Samson to take collective control.

After Norwegian nutter Marius Hogtun had snapped up the bubble courtesy of Dan Samson, our final table line up looked as such:

Seat 1: Dan Samson – 666,000
Seat 2: Steve Jelinek – 441,000
Seat 3: Maria Demetriou – 364,000
Seat 4: Fran Efan – 145,000
Seat 5: Lloyd Rees – 328,000
Seat 6: Tony Phillips – 458,000
Seat 7: David Rudling – 571,000
Seat 8: Colin Kennedy – 349,000
Seat 9: Ketul Nathwani – 984,000

The final table endured a slow start, but after Rudling saw off Kennedy and Phillips eliminated Rees, the action started to pick up with players dropping like lemmings on a tightrope.

Although heavily supported by the Irish contingent on the rail, Fran Egan was forced to settle for 7th, his all-in bluff with a gutshot draw being swiftly called by Tony Phillips’ top two pair. With the Irishman drowning his sorrows in the bar, he was soon to be joined by Steve Jelinek, and later Maria Demetriou, the plucky young lass from Grantham catching Nathwani with his hands in the cookie jar, but unable to fend off his 8h-6h with Ad-Td when the board came a cruel, rollercoaster 2d-8d-Qh-Ah-2h.

With David Rudling dropping in 4th (A-J vs. Nathwani’s Q-2), it was Dan Samson next on the Nathwani hitlist, his Tens failing to hold up against the latter’s A-J in what was a classic coinflip.

This left us with a somewhat youthful heads up encounter between Nathwani and Phillips, one which would last just the one hand. With a formidable 9-1 chip lead, Nathwani finally got the man that had caused him the most turmoil when his Pocket Fives survived Phillip’s A-2 on a raggy board.

Like many young stars before him, Nathwani has successfully transformed his online prowess onto the live scene with a victory that was believed to be well deserved by all who crossed his path. Aggressive but cool under pressure, Nathwani never looked in danger on the final day and was hotly tipped as a real favourite as the final table commenced. Judging by this supremely impressive performance, I think it’s safe to say that Ketul Nathwani is a name we’ll be hearing many more times to come.