| Game Type: | Pot Limit |
| Buy-in: | £20 |
It's quite a long one folks so if you just want to see the result head for the bottom of the page.
Gala Casino Nottingham really is becoming the place to be for the hardened value seeker, especially on a Thursday night. 86 hopefuls pitched up with their hard earned £20 to compete for a share in what was to be another excellent prize pool. A total of 285 re-buys and add-ons (yes - it does get a bit manic at times!) meant the prize pool stood at £7,420.
Play began the statutory 15 minutes late as we waited for the stragglers, drinkers and loss chasers to make their way from the bar and main room and find their seats. The usual suspects were all present, which included 7 of the top 10 from the newly created Gala Notts poker league so it was all shaping up for another fun and banter packed night.
Following the 90 minute re-buy period, we were left with 81 players on 8 tables and it was already 11pm - those with deep stacks knew they were in for a long night and probably yet another competition disappointingly settled by way of a chip count. This may change in the future as murmurs of possible earlier starts have been heard through the grapevine, which in mine and many of my fellow player's opinions would be for the better.
As anticipated it was a long old slog and at 2:45am we still had 12 players left. A decision was taken by all to offer those that finished in 11 th and 12 th a conciliatory £100 pay off to try and speed up the action. This had the desired effect and by 3a.m. the foreplay and teasing was over and we were assembled for the main event - the Final!
Chip counts and seating arrangements were as follows:
Seat 1 - Nick Whitten (68,000 chips)
Seat 2 - Geoff "senior" Hill (50,000)
Seat 3 - D. "Jimmy" Nicolaou (36,000)
Seat 4 - Tony "Tikay" Kendall (12,000)
Seat 5 - Alex "The Sneezer" Ryan (21,000)
Seat 6 - Nigel Smith (45,000)
Seat 7 - Andrew Woods (74,000)
Seat 8 - Eric Skaret (30,000)
Seat 9 - Chris Reynolds (11,000)
Seat 10 - Greg "junior" Hill (31,000)
Our runners and riders:
It was pleasing to see 2 members of 'Team Blonde' in the final with Tikay and Junior in full blondepoker.com apparel representing the site so stylishly. Greg won the monthly £100 PLH event the previous Sunday pocketing almost £8000 so was obviously the man in form and the man with the confidence going into the final.
Geoff Hill in his fourth final of 2005 had made a good showing all night and although two hills do not make a mountain, father and son would do battle on the same final table for the second time this year.
Our chip leader was the extremely quiet and un-assuming Andrew Woods who had played quite beautifully all night and had looked solid all the way from 3 tables-out right through to the final and he would invariably get his chips in with the best of it. In hot pursuit was poker tourist Nick Whitten whose game is ever improving under the partisan guidance and encouragement of his great friend and co-tourist Rob Yong. Nick would be a force to be reckoned with in the final.
One of the other favorites was Nigel Smith. Nigel has been a serial finalist this year and proudly sits in the top 5 of the current poker league standings. Nigel loves to gamble his chips and is a fearless competitor, which as we all know is a good mix to have in a poker player.
With a chip count scheduled for 4:00am, we would have only 50 minutes play in the final to try and get a winner so players must chose between a "shovel em in and lets try and get lucky" strategy or a more subtle "hang on for dear life" ladder climbing strategy. Only time would tell what these baize-based gladiators would have in store for the usual flock of on-looking railbirds.
The blinds are 4-8K - let battle commence!
Hand 1 - Tikay under the pressure of only having 12,000 chips to his name after skulking and grinding his way to yet another final and having to post the big blind of 8,000 the very next hand moved all in barely even consulting with his hole cards. Sneezer Ryan RR'd all-in, everyone passed, & it was 4-4 against Tikay's 2 overs, tikay hit, & Alex went off on the first of several full volume tilt speeches.
Hand 3 - We've lost one! Alex "The Sneezer" Ryan, who can't ever leave a poker tournament without a few words from the wise, (well! - the not so wise really!) departed in 10 th for £150. Alex, the hand previous, had asked Tikay "if I knock either of you two blonde Pu**ies out can I have one of them T-shirts"? (Not really the way to ask but never mind!) Tikay in true and typical dry style replied "well, I'll have to see. we may not have one big enough (Alex is rather a large chap!), although if you wait a while we are thinking of getting some tents... I'll hold one of those for you!" - There's laughter all round a few retorting insults and swear words and we are back to the action. Cue the tilt raise from Alex, cue the genuine call from one of our resident rocks (Chris Reynolds) and cue the departure and the speech from the big man. "Next time I come down here, I'm going to take all of you blonde Pu**ies out (there are only 2 of us but he could obviously sense an epic speech was on its way) and then I'll be a lion" - Alex's speeches never make sense but he is good value nonetheless and a poker comp wouldn't be the same without him. Alex exits stage left and we're down to nine.
Hand 7 - Junior moves in for a pot-size raise of 28k under the gun. Everyone passes apart from Nigel Smith in the big blind who decides he wants to mix it up and gamble. Nigel re-raises and Junior embarrassingly is forced to call for his entire remaining small amount of chips and with a red-face flips his 8-9s. Nigel had quite clearly got Junior's number and showed his A-9. To say the young thief was dominated would be an understatement! The flop of 6, 7, 2 brought hope and an open ended straight draw for Greg, which the in-form youngster filled on the river with the 10 of clubs. Nigel was outdrawn, Junior was doubled up and the small stacks were all reaching for their sick bags as we were still playing with nine.
Hand 8 - Nigel quite clearly steaming from the previous hand raised the pot with what looked like an obvious "get me outta here tilt raise" on which Jimmy Nicolaou picked up on. Jimmy re-raised Nigel all in and he immediately called the small re-raise and we were again on our backs. A massive and un-expected A-K for Nigel and a hugely dominated and surprising A-10 for Jimmy. The flop brought nothing for either player and Jimmy was gone in 9 th for £180.
Hand 9 - Time for Chris Reynolds to make a move. Chris was now the exposed short stack after losing out in an earlier battle of the blinds with Eric Skaret. Chris was obviously thinking "any ace and I'm in" as he raised all in under the gun with A-8 only to be called from the blinds by Nick Whitten with A-9. The flop came 8-high meaning Chris looked odds on to survive but the turn brought a 9 and the river an ace giving Nick the advantage and the pot. Chris played well and hung in but eventually pushed his luck too far. He would collect £210 for his 8 th place effort.
Next to go was blonde poker's own Tikay. Tony had played well all night, grinding away as usual and picking his spots in which to steal (although he insists he never steals just occasionally has a senior moment and misreads his hand!) Tikay at one point had been down to the felt but fought his way back up to 60,000 in chips prior to the final before losing a monster pot when down to 11 players, which meant it was going to be an uphill struggle in the final. Unfortunately an 'incident' occurred where Tikay chose to raise into his blonde counterpart's small blind with K-2o only to find the 'not to be bullied' Junior with 7-7. No help on the flop for either player meant Tikay was gone in 7 th for £280.
4:00 am had arrived and the last 3 hands were called. Normally this signifies one of two things. It is either a mad rush for chips as the antes alone can be worth up to £400 in a chip count, or it can mean total surrender as everyone realises it pretty much done with and we're all going to get a nice slice of the freshly baked money pie. Messer's Smith and Whitten had obviously decided they preferred the first option. Nick raised from early position and Nigel made an all-in call on the button. Nick showed his A-6s so surely he must be beaten by the all-in button call but amazingly Nigel showed A-2o. It was looking like a split pot when the flop came 9, 9, 4, and the turn brought a 3 but a king on the river meant the 6 in Nick's hand played and we were down to 5 players.
The last hand of the night saw a raise from the previously quiet Hill senior. It was looking like surrender all round but another all-in gambler's call came from Eric Skaret. On-lookers were again expecting two monsters to be flipped into the middle. Hill senior didn't disappoint with his A-K but amazingly Skaret turned over 8-9 (he had obviously been watching junior earlier!). Nothing came on the flop and we were down to 4 for the chip count. On reflection Eric should have held onto his chips and waited for the chip count but no-one was really sure whether he was familiar with the format even though all the players did try to explain what would happen come 4:00am. The call essentially cost him around £600, however if he had caught an 8 or 9 he would have come second and won a further £1000 so you decide whether he might the right play.
The chips were counted and the calculator employed, which left us with the following final result:
10th - Alex "the sneezer" Ryan (£150)
9th - D. "Jimmy" Nicolaou (£180)
8th - Chris Reynolds (£210)
7th - Tony "Tikay" Kendall (£280)
6th - Nigel Smith (£350)
5th - Eric Skaret (£420)
4th - Greg "junior" Hill (£1160)
3rd - Nick Whitten (£1195)
2nd - Andrew Woods (£1420)
Winner - Geoff "senior" Hill (£1655)
So, well done to Mr. Hill Senior who now moves into the top 10 of the poker league standings not too far from his son who extended his points lead at the top with a good fourth place result. Andrew Woods pretty much fell to sleep in the final and gave very little action but some would say with a dominating chip lead that could be the recipe for success and he took home a very respectable £1420 for 2 nd place - well done Andrew.
Nick Whitten watched and cheered all the way by mate and fellow player Rob Yong is making the final table on a much more regular basis now and finished nicely in 3 rd for £1195.
Another competition settled by way of a chip count seems so disappointing as players battle it out for nearly 7 hours only to settle for a result and payment schedule based on the percentage of the chips they have versus the percentage of chips in play, but hopefully as I mentioned earlier this can change by introducing earlier starts and upping the antes during the re-buy period - an idea which has been passed on to Rob and the management at the casino.
The competition was again run very professionally and efficiently by Rob, our Card Room Manager, who despite all the stick he gets from the players does a fantastic job and does so with a smile on his face. Rob is very forward-thinking in his views and is open to new ideas from the players. He tells us that Gala Notts will be hosting a festival later this year so keep your eyes out on blondepoker.com for details.
Gala Casino Nottingham really is becoming the place to be for the hardened value seeker, especially on a Thursday night. 86 hopefuls pitched up with their hard earned £20 to compete for a share in what was to be another excellent prize pool. A total of 285 re-buys and add-ons (yes - it does get a bit manic at times!) meant the prize pool stood at £7,420.
Play began the statutory 15 minutes late as we waited for the stragglers, drinkers and loss chasers to make their way from the bar and main room and find their seats. The usual suspects were all present, which included 7 of the top 10 from the newly created Gala Notts poker league so it was all shaping up for another fun and banter packed night.
Following the 90 minute re-buy period, we were left with 81 players on 8 tables and it was already 11pm - those with deep stacks knew they were in for a long night and probably yet another competition disappointingly settled by way of a chip count. This may change in the future as murmurs of possible earlier starts have been heard through the grapevine, which in mine and many of my fellow player's opinions would be for the better.
As anticipated it was a long old slog and at 2:45am we still had 12 players left. A decision was taken by all to offer those that finished in 11 th and 12 th a conciliatory £100 pay off to try and speed up the action. This had the desired effect and by 3a.m. the foreplay and teasing was over and we were assembled for the main event - the Final!
Chip counts and seating arrangements were as follows:
Seat 1 - Nick Whitten (68,000 chips)
Seat 2 - Geoff "senior" Hill (50,000)
Seat 3 - D. "Jimmy" Nicolaou (36,000)
Seat 4 - Tony "Tikay" Kendall (12,000)
Seat 5 - Alex "The Sneezer" Ryan (21,000)
Seat 6 - Nigel Smith (45,000)
Seat 7 - Andrew Woods (74,000)
Seat 8 - Eric Skaret (30,000)
Seat 9 - Chris Reynolds (11,000)
Seat 10 - Greg "junior" Hill (31,000)
Our runners and riders:
It was pleasing to see 2 members of 'Team Blonde' in the final with Tikay and Junior in full blondepoker.com apparel representing the site so stylishly. Greg won the monthly £100 PLH event the previous Sunday pocketing almost £8000 so was obviously the man in form and the man with the confidence going into the final.
Geoff Hill in his fourth final of 2005 had made a good showing all night and although two hills do not make a mountain, father and son would do battle on the same final table for the second time this year.
Our chip leader was the extremely quiet and un-assuming Andrew Woods who had played quite beautifully all night and had looked solid all the way from 3 tables-out right through to the final and he would invariably get his chips in with the best of it. In hot pursuit was poker tourist Nick Whitten whose game is ever improving under the partisan guidance and encouragement of his great friend and co-tourist Rob Yong. Nick would be a force to be reckoned with in the final.
One of the other favorites was Nigel Smith. Nigel has been a serial finalist this year and proudly sits in the top 5 of the current poker league standings. Nigel loves to gamble his chips and is a fearless competitor, which as we all know is a good mix to have in a poker player.
With a chip count scheduled for 4:00am, we would have only 50 minutes play in the final to try and get a winner so players must chose between a "shovel em in and lets try and get lucky" strategy or a more subtle "hang on for dear life" ladder climbing strategy. Only time would tell what these baize-based gladiators would have in store for the usual flock of on-looking railbirds.
The blinds are 4-8K - let battle commence!
Hand 1 - Tikay under the pressure of only having 12,000 chips to his name after skulking and grinding his way to yet another final and having to post the big blind of 8,000 the very next hand moved all in barely even consulting with his hole cards. Sneezer Ryan RR'd all-in, everyone passed, & it was 4-4 against Tikay's 2 overs, tikay hit, & Alex went off on the first of several full volume tilt speeches.
Hand 3 - We've lost one! Alex "The Sneezer" Ryan, who can't ever leave a poker tournament without a few words from the wise, (well! - the not so wise really!) departed in 10 th for £150. Alex, the hand previous, had asked Tikay "if I knock either of you two blonde Pu**ies out can I have one of them T-shirts"? (Not really the way to ask but never mind!) Tikay in true and typical dry style replied "well, I'll have to see. we may not have one big enough (Alex is rather a large chap!), although if you wait a while we are thinking of getting some tents... I'll hold one of those for you!" - There's laughter all round a few retorting insults and swear words and we are back to the action. Cue the tilt raise from Alex, cue the genuine call from one of our resident rocks (Chris Reynolds) and cue the departure and the speech from the big man. "Next time I come down here, I'm going to take all of you blonde Pu**ies out (there are only 2 of us but he could obviously sense an epic speech was on its way) and then I'll be a lion" - Alex's speeches never make sense but he is good value nonetheless and a poker comp wouldn't be the same without him. Alex exits stage left and we're down to nine.
Hand 7 - Junior moves in for a pot-size raise of 28k under the gun. Everyone passes apart from Nigel Smith in the big blind who decides he wants to mix it up and gamble. Nigel re-raises and Junior embarrassingly is forced to call for his entire remaining small amount of chips and with a red-face flips his 8-9s. Nigel had quite clearly got Junior's number and showed his A-9. To say the young thief was dominated would be an understatement! The flop of 6, 7, 2 brought hope and an open ended straight draw for Greg, which the in-form youngster filled on the river with the 10 of clubs. Nigel was outdrawn, Junior was doubled up and the small stacks were all reaching for their sick bags as we were still playing with nine.
Hand 8 - Nigel quite clearly steaming from the previous hand raised the pot with what looked like an obvious "get me outta here tilt raise" on which Jimmy Nicolaou picked up on. Jimmy re-raised Nigel all in and he immediately called the small re-raise and we were again on our backs. A massive and un-expected A-K for Nigel and a hugely dominated and surprising A-10 for Jimmy. The flop brought nothing for either player and Jimmy was gone in 9 th for £180.
Hand 9 - Time for Chris Reynolds to make a move. Chris was now the exposed short stack after losing out in an earlier battle of the blinds with Eric Skaret. Chris was obviously thinking "any ace and I'm in" as he raised all in under the gun with A-8 only to be called from the blinds by Nick Whitten with A-9. The flop came 8-high meaning Chris looked odds on to survive but the turn brought a 9 and the river an ace giving Nick the advantage and the pot. Chris played well and hung in but eventually pushed his luck too far. He would collect £210 for his 8 th place effort.
Next to go was blonde poker's own Tikay. Tony had played well all night, grinding away as usual and picking his spots in which to steal (although he insists he never steals just occasionally has a senior moment and misreads his hand!) Tikay at one point had been down to the felt but fought his way back up to 60,000 in chips prior to the final before losing a monster pot when down to 11 players, which meant it was going to be an uphill struggle in the final. Unfortunately an 'incident' occurred where Tikay chose to raise into his blonde counterpart's small blind with K-2o only to find the 'not to be bullied' Junior with 7-7. No help on the flop for either player meant Tikay was gone in 7 th for £280.
4:00 am had arrived and the last 3 hands were called. Normally this signifies one of two things. It is either a mad rush for chips as the antes alone can be worth up to £400 in a chip count, or it can mean total surrender as everyone realises it pretty much done with and we're all going to get a nice slice of the freshly baked money pie. Messer's Smith and Whitten had obviously decided they preferred the first option. Nick raised from early position and Nigel made an all-in call on the button. Nick showed his A-6s so surely he must be beaten by the all-in button call but amazingly Nigel showed A-2o. It was looking like a split pot when the flop came 9, 9, 4, and the turn brought a 3 but a king on the river meant the 6 in Nick's hand played and we were down to 5 players.
The last hand of the night saw a raise from the previously quiet Hill senior. It was looking like surrender all round but another all-in gambler's call came from Eric Skaret. On-lookers were again expecting two monsters to be flipped into the middle. Hill senior didn't disappoint with his A-K but amazingly Skaret turned over 8-9 (he had obviously been watching junior earlier!). Nothing came on the flop and we were down to 4 for the chip count. On reflection Eric should have held onto his chips and waited for the chip count but no-one was really sure whether he was familiar with the format even though all the players did try to explain what would happen come 4:00am. The call essentially cost him around £600, however if he had caught an 8 or 9 he would have come second and won a further £1000 so you decide whether he might the right play.
The chips were counted and the calculator employed, which left us with the following final result:
10th - Alex "the sneezer" Ryan (£150)
9th - D. "Jimmy" Nicolaou (£180)
8th - Chris Reynolds (£210)
7th - Tony "Tikay" Kendall (£280)
6th - Nigel Smith (£350)
5th - Eric Skaret (£420)
4th - Greg "junior" Hill (£1160)
3rd - Nick Whitten (£1195)
2nd - Andrew Woods (£1420)
Winner - Geoff "senior" Hill (£1655)
So, well done to Mr. Hill Senior who now moves into the top 10 of the poker league standings not too far from his son who extended his points lead at the top with a good fourth place result. Andrew Woods pretty much fell to sleep in the final and gave very little action but some would say with a dominating chip lead that could be the recipe for success and he took home a very respectable £1420 for 2 nd place - well done Andrew.
Nick Whitten watched and cheered all the way by mate and fellow player Rob Yong is making the final table on a much more regular basis now and finished nicely in 3 rd for £1195.
Another competition settled by way of a chip count seems so disappointing as players battle it out for nearly 7 hours only to settle for a result and payment schedule based on the percentage of the chips they have versus the percentage of chips in play, but hopefully as I mentioned earlier this can change by introducing earlier starts and upping the antes during the re-buy period - an idea which has been passed on to Rob and the management at the casino.
The competition was again run very professionally and efficiently by Rob, our Card Room Manager, who despite all the stick he gets from the players does a fantastic job and does so with a smile on his face. Rob is very forward-thinking in his views and is open to new ideas from the players. He tells us that Gala Notts will be hosting a festival later this year so keep your eyes out on blondepoker.com for details.