blonde poker

 
Earlier this week, novice poker enthusiast Anthony Arlott defeated Jim O'Connell heads up to take down the Gala Casinos British Poker Tour's latest leg in Teeside. Arlott, a 45-year-old financial adviser from Leicester, battled through four days of tough competition at the Gala Casino Teesside to win the £30,000 first prize. He will now go forward to the UK final which will see the Tour return to Gala’s flagship Harbourside Casino in Bristol from 1st to 7th December. Here Arlott will compete against regional winners from across the country for the coveted GCBPT championship title.

With 212 runners and a packed reserve list, the GCBPT has continued its over-subscribed form and with a massive Main Event prize fund of £111,000 there was much to play for at Gala Casinos Teesside. Arlott said: "It’s very difficult to put into words right now, I think it’ll take a while to sink in, but I still feel brilliant. It’s been a marathon four-day effort at a brilliant tournament with very high standards of play; the GCBPT is a really prestigious competition."

To achieve his goal, Arlott had to conquer a tough final table that included a number of familiar names from the poker circuit. As well as blonde's own Richard 'Action Man' Trigg, Arlott also faced the likes of Keith 'The Camel' Hawkins, former GUKPT finalist Billy Ngo, and GCBPT Edinburgh champion Colin Wu. However, Arlott remained cool under pressure, ultimately picking up the lion's share of the £155,950 and leaving Teeside as champion.

Gala Casinos Teesside manager, Stephen Andrew, said: "This really is the People’s Poker Tour. The sportsmanship displayed by the players reflected the overall friendly atmosphere of the event, where amateurs and professionals play alongside one another for the chance to win.”

This is the second year of the GCBPT, which was created in response to poker’s ever increasing popularity across the UK. As well as a massive cash prize pool in excess of £1 million, poker professionals, amateur players and poker novices alike will compete for the ultimate accolade of GCBPT Champion 2008. The success of this tournament paves the way for the climax of the GCBPT Grand Final, which takes place at Bristol’s Gala Harbourside Casino from 1st – 7th December 2008. Anyone can qualify free at www.galapoker.co.uk from today and there will also be live qualification events in Gala Casinos – for full details check www.gcbpokertour.com.

 

1st  Anthony Arlott -- £30,000
2nd  Jim O'Connell -- £24,000      
3rd  Keith Hawkins -- £16,550
4th  Richard Trigg -- £9,000      
5th  Tony Caygill -- £6,300      
6th  Colin Wu -- £4,800
7th  Billy Quang Ngo -- £3,750      
8th  David Dring -- £3,000      
9th  Ceri Rees -- £2,400