| Game Type: | Pot Limit |
| Buy-in: | £100 |
The first Sunday of the month saw February's renewal of Gala Notts' increasingly popular £100 PLH tournament. Once again, all records were broken, with a capacity 108 runners, & a total prize pool of £33,600. A dozen or more players were turned away, &, incredibly, seats were being sought at up to £150 each by unlucky latecomers.
All the usual Notts suspects were on hand, led by man of the moment Julian Yoyo Thew, Kim Costa, and #'s 1 & 2 in the Gala Notts League, Dave Smith & Ian Oldershaw.
Amongst a small raiding party from Walsall were Micky Wernick & Big Roger. Lawrence Gosney & a few hardy Yorkshire folk had ventured south, including half a dozen from Sheffield, and that inveterate traveler George Geary was present. But the money invariably stays local at Notts, so the traveling boys had it all to do.
The comp started bang on time, with blinds starting at 25-50, rising to 50-100 for the second & final level of rebuys. There were 228 rebuys & add-ons, so 672,000 chips were in play, meaning an average 67,200 for the 10 man final.
Early Exchanges
Big Roger had an awesome 55,000 at the freeze - only 10k short of the average required for the Final! Despite nursing his big stack for a long period, Roger eventually busted out well before the final.
Ian Oldershaw was in good shape all night, gradually building his stack, but suffered cruelly when he exited in 11th as bubble boy when his all-in call with AK failed to hit.
Big Dave Smith had his normal share of buy-ins & held above average chips all night, but he exited 4 tables out.
Julian Thew had a barren rebuy period, & more rebuys than he would care for, and he had no chips to speak of at the freeze. But then in true Thewy style, he found AA with an early raiser betting in to him, he RR'd, & promptly got RRR'd by a third player...! In a three way pot he faced JJ & QQ, & his AA stood up to give him a playable stack. But his luck then deserted him, & he busted out 4 or 5 tables from home when his small pocket pair failed to hold on.
The winner apart, the best performance of the night was probably that of 18 year old Sarah Smith. Sarah, who could pass for younger but already possesses the maturity of someone twice as old, had made the Final in 2 of her last 3 comps at Notts, but those had been £20 jobbies, & this was a big step up in class. Encouraged (& chauffeured) by her father, Nigel, Sarah seemed overawed the first hour, & played "scared". But suddenly realising that a £100 comp is probably an easier game than the £20 comps for someone with her natural ability, she began to settle down. Low chipped throughout, but doggedly patient, she was still hanging in with a mere handful of chips when it got to 2 tables. Then she started to catch some hands, and, as has become her trademark, she played them quite beautifully to ensure she got maximum value, and with 13 players left, she was amongst the chip leaders with 50k plus. So she must have thought it was her birthday when she found AA, & the persistent & deep-stacked Chris Procopiou RR'd her, & all the chips went in, "on their backs". Sarah was a massive 92% to 8% favourite when Chris turned over A-Q, but she could not bear to watch as the flop was dealt. She is immensely popular in the Notts cardroom, & the table was surrounded by rail birds all wanting her to Final in her first big comp, but Chris somehow caught a set of Q's, & Sarah had been cruelly outdrawn. But she took it like a real lady, & never complained. Sarah has a huge future in poker if she maintains her progress, she seems to have a natural feel for the game.
"Final" was eventually called at 3.55am, & our Final Table looked like this:
Seat 1 - Ali "Bag of Bollocks" Ahmed, 55k
Seat 2 - Paul Hayward, 14k
Seat 3 - Ross Stewart, 71k
Seat 4 - Paul NG, 99k
Seat 5 - "Greek Jack" Dionysiou, 59k
Seat 6 - Ed Bailey, 56k
Seat 7 - Louis Costi, 23k
Seat 8 - Chris Procopiou, 155k
Seat 9 - Micky Wernick, 86k
Sat 10 - Greg "Junior" Hill, 48k
Form Guide.....
Ali "Bag of Bollocks" is a tremendous chip getter, but he can dispose of them equally quickly, & he would need to get lucky if he was to go deep.
Paul Hayward in 2 is very solid, & inevitably get his chips in with the best hand.
Russ Stewart is something of a wild card, fearless & a big gambler.
Paul Ng was one of the likely winners, with his big stack & attacking game, and most of the table would be wary of Paul.
Greek Jack in seat 5 only knows one way of playing, that's sheer aggression, & he has made plenty of Festival Finals in the last 6 months.
Ed Bailey in seat 6 is one of poker's deep thinkers, & has the game to match anyone on his day.
Louis Costi, brother of Kim & Pete Costa (Costa & Costi are variations on an abbreviated& completely unspellable Greek name!) is hard to read, but aint shy of getting all his chips in with any pair, & he rarely lays any pair down no matter how the betting goes.
Micky Wernick - poker veteran, been there, seen it, done it, & probably the class act of the field.
Greg "Junior" Hill, whose game has come on leaps & bounds the last 6 months, has the uncanny ability to find the right spots to move his chips in, & has the perfect game for Finals. Greg is also a contributor on blondepoker, & 2 of his articles are featured on our William Hill sponsored Tournament Reports page.
So once again the raiders had been repelled by the Notts boys, with the sole exception of Micky Wernick, who must have fancied his chances of a decent payday.
True to form, when play began, it was Greg Junior Hill who was first out of the blocks, taking down 2 of the first 3 pots uncontested, then winning a third with TT in the hole.
Russ Stewart was first to bust out, when he had found himself drawing mighty thin against Paul Ng's KK. So Ross departed 10th, £670.
Greek Jack then clashed with the busy Junior Hill, Jack played his 77 strongly, as is his wont, but Junior's AQ was massive on a Q-x-Q flop, so Jack was down but not quite out, & now Junior was chip leader & in tremendous shape.
Greg was in action again the next hand, this time a 3 way affair against the short stacked Greek Jack (K-5) & Ali B of B with A-6, Greg's 9-8 coming out best, so Greg had killed two opponents in one hand. Jack out ninth for £850, & Ali 8th for £1,000.
With a chip count looming, play then quieted down, and it was fairly pedestrian stuff from here on in. Paul Hayward took down 3 nice pots with premium hands, Louis Costa doubled up, and Micky Wernick chose the right situations to move in.
But it was Greg Junior Hill who ended the final as he had began it, R-ing time & time again without reply, it was extraordinary how often he found a hand when that little white button was in his vicinity. And throughout the Final, he only once showed a hand, so we have to take Greg's word for it when he says he never ever, under any circumstances whatsoever, steals, except maybe sometimes. With the chip count now 10 minutes away, Greg just kept raising, the others just kept passing, & Greg's dominance grew. So, as the last hand was played, and the Chip Count announced, the 7 remaining runners chips & prizes were as follows:
7th, Louis Costi, 45k, £2,640
6th, Chris Procopiou, 55k, £3,070
5th, Ed Bailey, 65k, £3,390
4th, Paul Hayward, 105k, £4,590
Equal 2nd, Micky Wernick, 110k, £4,790
Equal 2nd, Paul Ng, 110k, £4,790
WINNER, 205k, GREG "JUNIOR" HILL, £7,710.
Greg's talents are not limited to the poker table - he plays golf off +2, which for the benefit of non-golfers, is about as good as it get as an amateur. His grandfather, Geoff, is also a handy golfer & a regular in the Gala Notts comps. But incredibly, they both support Mansfield Town, which takes a bit of explaining. Greg's poker game has come on a bomb in the last 6 months, & we can expect to see him on the Festival circuit sooner rather than later. There can be no dispute that he outplayed the entire Final Table tonight, starting as 3rd lowest chip with 48k, but finishing with an awesome 205k. Well done Greg!
We cannot close without paying tribute to Rob, who runs the card-room at Notts these days. Rob has presided over a massive increase in numbers of players & prize pools these last 4 months, and the only problems have been those created by his success in attracting bigger & bigger fields. Tonight we were cramped 12 to a table, but Rob assures me that his request for additional tables before next month's comp looks like succeeding. And if he can somehow bring the start time forward to about 8,30, thus avoiding 7 player chip counts such as we had tonight, there is no reason why the numbers should not continue to forge ahead.
All the usual Notts suspects were on hand, led by man of the moment Julian Yoyo Thew, Kim Costa, and #'s 1 & 2 in the Gala Notts League, Dave Smith & Ian Oldershaw.
Amongst a small raiding party from Walsall were Micky Wernick & Big Roger. Lawrence Gosney & a few hardy Yorkshire folk had ventured south, including half a dozen from Sheffield, and that inveterate traveler George Geary was present. But the money invariably stays local at Notts, so the traveling boys had it all to do.
The comp started bang on time, with blinds starting at 25-50, rising to 50-100 for the second & final level of rebuys. There were 228 rebuys & add-ons, so 672,000 chips were in play, meaning an average 67,200 for the 10 man final.
Early Exchanges
Big Roger had an awesome 55,000 at the freeze - only 10k short of the average required for the Final! Despite nursing his big stack for a long period, Roger eventually busted out well before the final.
Ian Oldershaw was in good shape all night, gradually building his stack, but suffered cruelly when he exited in 11th as bubble boy when his all-in call with AK failed to hit.
Big Dave Smith had his normal share of buy-ins & held above average chips all night, but he exited 4 tables out.
Julian Thew had a barren rebuy period, & more rebuys than he would care for, and he had no chips to speak of at the freeze. But then in true Thewy style, he found AA with an early raiser betting in to him, he RR'd, & promptly got RRR'd by a third player...! In a three way pot he faced JJ & QQ, & his AA stood up to give him a playable stack. But his luck then deserted him, & he busted out 4 or 5 tables from home when his small pocket pair failed to hold on.
The winner apart, the best performance of the night was probably that of 18 year old Sarah Smith. Sarah, who could pass for younger but already possesses the maturity of someone twice as old, had made the Final in 2 of her last 3 comps at Notts, but those had been £20 jobbies, & this was a big step up in class. Encouraged (& chauffeured) by her father, Nigel, Sarah seemed overawed the first hour, & played "scared". But suddenly realising that a £100 comp is probably an easier game than the £20 comps for someone with her natural ability, she began to settle down. Low chipped throughout, but doggedly patient, she was still hanging in with a mere handful of chips when it got to 2 tables. Then she started to catch some hands, and, as has become her trademark, she played them quite beautifully to ensure she got maximum value, and with 13 players left, she was amongst the chip leaders with 50k plus. So she must have thought it was her birthday when she found AA, & the persistent & deep-stacked Chris Procopiou RR'd her, & all the chips went in, "on their backs". Sarah was a massive 92% to 8% favourite when Chris turned over A-Q, but she could not bear to watch as the flop was dealt. She is immensely popular in the Notts cardroom, & the table was surrounded by rail birds all wanting her to Final in her first big comp, but Chris somehow caught a set of Q's, & Sarah had been cruelly outdrawn. But she took it like a real lady, & never complained. Sarah has a huge future in poker if she maintains her progress, she seems to have a natural feel for the game.
"Final" was eventually called at 3.55am, & our Final Table looked like this:
Seat 1 - Ali "Bag of Bollocks" Ahmed, 55k
Seat 2 - Paul Hayward, 14k
Seat 3 - Ross Stewart, 71k
Seat 4 - Paul NG, 99k
Seat 5 - "Greek Jack" Dionysiou, 59k
Seat 6 - Ed Bailey, 56k
Seat 7 - Louis Costi, 23k
Seat 8 - Chris Procopiou, 155k
Seat 9 - Micky Wernick, 86k
Sat 10 - Greg "Junior" Hill, 48k
Form Guide.....
Ali "Bag of Bollocks" is a tremendous chip getter, but he can dispose of them equally quickly, & he would need to get lucky if he was to go deep.
Paul Hayward in 2 is very solid, & inevitably get his chips in with the best hand.
Russ Stewart is something of a wild card, fearless & a big gambler.
Paul Ng was one of the likely winners, with his big stack & attacking game, and most of the table would be wary of Paul.
Greek Jack in seat 5 only knows one way of playing, that's sheer aggression, & he has made plenty of Festival Finals in the last 6 months.
Ed Bailey in seat 6 is one of poker's deep thinkers, & has the game to match anyone on his day.
Louis Costi, brother of Kim & Pete Costa (Costa & Costi are variations on an abbreviated& completely unspellable Greek name!) is hard to read, but aint shy of getting all his chips in with any pair, & he rarely lays any pair down no matter how the betting goes.
Micky Wernick - poker veteran, been there, seen it, done it, & probably the class act of the field.
Greg "Junior" Hill, whose game has come on leaps & bounds the last 6 months, has the uncanny ability to find the right spots to move his chips in, & has the perfect game for Finals. Greg is also a contributor on blondepoker, & 2 of his articles are featured on our William Hill sponsored Tournament Reports page.
So once again the raiders had been repelled by the Notts boys, with the sole exception of Micky Wernick, who must have fancied his chances of a decent payday.
True to form, when play began, it was Greg Junior Hill who was first out of the blocks, taking down 2 of the first 3 pots uncontested, then winning a third with TT in the hole.
Russ Stewart was first to bust out, when he had found himself drawing mighty thin against Paul Ng's KK. So Ross departed 10th, £670.
Greek Jack then clashed with the busy Junior Hill, Jack played his 77 strongly, as is his wont, but Junior's AQ was massive on a Q-x-Q flop, so Jack was down but not quite out, & now Junior was chip leader & in tremendous shape.
Greg was in action again the next hand, this time a 3 way affair against the short stacked Greek Jack (K-5) & Ali B of B with A-6, Greg's 9-8 coming out best, so Greg had killed two opponents in one hand. Jack out ninth for £850, & Ali 8th for £1,000.
With a chip count looming, play then quieted down, and it was fairly pedestrian stuff from here on in. Paul Hayward took down 3 nice pots with premium hands, Louis Costa doubled up, and Micky Wernick chose the right situations to move in.
But it was Greg Junior Hill who ended the final as he had began it, R-ing time & time again without reply, it was extraordinary how often he found a hand when that little white button was in his vicinity. And throughout the Final, he only once showed a hand, so we have to take Greg's word for it when he says he never ever, under any circumstances whatsoever, steals, except maybe sometimes. With the chip count now 10 minutes away, Greg just kept raising, the others just kept passing, & Greg's dominance grew. So, as the last hand was played, and the Chip Count announced, the 7 remaining runners chips & prizes were as follows:
7th, Louis Costi, 45k, £2,640
6th, Chris Procopiou, 55k, £3,070
5th, Ed Bailey, 65k, £3,390
4th, Paul Hayward, 105k, £4,590
Equal 2nd, Micky Wernick, 110k, £4,790
Equal 2nd, Paul Ng, 110k, £4,790
WINNER, 205k, GREG "JUNIOR" HILL, £7,710.
Greg's talents are not limited to the poker table - he plays golf off +2, which for the benefit of non-golfers, is about as good as it get as an amateur. His grandfather, Geoff, is also a handy golfer & a regular in the Gala Notts comps. But incredibly, they both support Mansfield Town, which takes a bit of explaining. Greg's poker game has come on a bomb in the last 6 months, & we can expect to see him on the Festival circuit sooner rather than later. There can be no dispute that he outplayed the entire Final Table tonight, starting as 3rd lowest chip with 48k, but finishing with an awesome 205k. Well done Greg!
We cannot close without paying tribute to Rob, who runs the card-room at Notts these days. Rob has presided over a massive increase in numbers of players & prize pools these last 4 months, and the only problems have been those created by his success in attracting bigger & bigger fields. Tonight we were cramped 12 to a table, but Rob assures me that his request for additional tables before next month's comp looks like succeeding. And if he can somehow bring the start time forward to about 8,30, thus avoiding 7 player chip counts such as we had tonight, there is no reason why the numbers should not continue to forge ahead.