blonde poker

The APAT Poker Association and Tour held the inaugural Pro-Am Masters in the G Casino Luton on 4th-5th October. The event had 78 entries, the majority new to APAT tournaments, paying £300 each for a registration fee free tournament. This was the first APAT event open to both amateur and professional players, not merely the recreational players eligible for APAT's traditional National Championships. The individual winner received significant added value from tour sponsors BlueSquare.com via the form of an entry package into the GUKPT Tour Grand Final event worth $8,000 in addition to their cash prize. Players began the event with 10,000 chips on a 40 minute clock.
 
The early chip leader was London's Claire MacGregor (pictured) and she was to remain near the head of affairs until near the final table. Dean Morris of Luton made dramatic progress when his flopped set of sevens knocked out Tracey Dell, who had pocket kings on the seven high board. Also doing well was Gala Poker Tour event winner Neil Blatchley from Leicester, a consistent performer in mid buy-in events.
 
Tom McCready (right) knocked out Linda Iwaniak with aces against queens but found his strong position compromised when Ian Bradley's button push with A-7 met McCready's aces in the big blind. A seven on the flop and the turn saved the day for Bradley. Both were to reach the final short-stacked after manoeuvring through the tense bubble period pre-final.
 
Regular festival player Paul King from Northampton was also going well, knocking out regular APATers such as Mike Bodman and Leigh Wiltshire late on Day One with premium pocket pairs and finding aces against Dave Baker on a king high flop. Baker himself was then very unfortunate. Holding A-K he was four flushed by the A-K of Carl Vernon.
 
Welshman Jason Jones, a former APAT Amateur Cahmpionship winner, and Dylan Herbert also put in strong performances on Day One, accumulating chips steadily. APAT World Amateur Championship finallist Briony Stone had a strong run from two tables out, knocking out MacGregor with jacks against queens, jack on the river, for example.
 
So the final table line up, in seat order, was as follows:
 
Briony Stone -- 75,000
Tom McCready -- 68,000
Ian Bradley -- 50,000
Jason Jones -- 88,000
Dylan Herbert -- 124,000
Carl Vernon -- 66,000
Neil Blatchley -- 127,000
Paul King -- 70,000
Dean Morris -- 113,000
 
Blinds for the final table began at 3,000-6,000 so action was always likely to be swift. The two most aggressive players at the table were Neil Blatchley and Ian Bradley (left) and they were to take early centre stage when Ian took his A-Q against Neil's pocket tens all-in preflop. Ian hit a straight on the river to double up.
 
However thereafter Neil really dominated the table through continued preflop aggression and finding good situations when he picked up hands. He knocked out Tom McCready in ninth with Q-Q versus A-K doing most of the damage before later finding kings on the button. Paul King found A-K suited in the small blind, understandably pushed but found that this time Neil had a genuine hand in late position and he was eliminated in eigth.
 
Briony Stone had had a quiet final table, found pocket sevens in the small blind in an unopened pot and was met by a call from the A-4 suited from Ian Bradley. An Ace flopped to knock Briony out in seventh. Ian Bradley then went on a roller-coaster. His stack was decimated versus Carl Vernon with A-7 versus A-9 and then he doubled through Jason Jones.
 
Neil Blatchley then won two vital races, knocking out Ian Bradley with pocket nines versus K-J and Carl Vernon with jacks versus A-Q. Four handed he had the majority of chips in play, at which point a deal was agreed in which Neil took the most money, and the four participants played on the the GUKPT Grand Final seat to the winner.
 
Soon thereafter Neil had knocked out Dean Morris in fourth, Jason Jones in third and Dylan Herbert in second to secure that seat, as well as the title of APAT Pro-Am Masters Champion 2008.