| Game Type: | Limit |
| Buy-in: | £500 |
7000 Starting chips - 3500 in chips, and a slip for another 3500, which can be exchanged at any point in the first 2 levels.
63 entries giving a prize pool of £31,500
No sooner had I walked in the door, John 'Texas' Hewston has tapped me for 40 quid. It took about 10 yards and 5 seconds. New year, but some things don't change. Let's hope I can change my recent disappointing sequence of results though.
The number of runners is low due to the Notts. Gala £100 tourney. Only Rumit has travelled over from the East Mids. The rest, including tikay have chosen to play locally (which is the reason I have been lumbered with writing the report for blondepoker).
Plenty of the Northern crew have turned up though. Ip Man being one of a large Blackpool contingent. (Simon Nowab, the other half of the John Falconer team, won the previous nights £100 rebuy, pocketing £6,500. So the boys are putting John's big cash in the Vic's EPT event to good use).
As the play gets underway, the usual comments of appreciation are heard for the slow 1-hour levels on the clock. It should also be noted that the tourney kicked off promptly. New Year, big change for Walsall. My starting table has three of the local heroes: Elius Katzi, Phil Peters and Steve Au Yeung. The trio always adorn the top five of any Walsall poker league.
Even though the Stacks to Blinds ratio are huge, players fall thick and fast for the first three hours. Perhaps everyone wanted to get back to the turkey leftovers. Not. We are down to 3 tables of 10 in a ridiculously short time. Andy Gomm is a clear chip leader, after his Kings stood up against a pair of Jacks held by a very attractive young lady with a large bosom. Andy has about 60,000. Mr.C.Ihle is probably second with about 40k.
The revolving exit door slowed right down though, as everyone began to smell the money. Alan McLean and Steve Jelinek are representing Manchester in the latter stages, as usual. Fari Badiemansour is beginning to show on one of the other tables. I am now sat with another local hero; the entertaining D.Sami. I was watching 'Sami' knock off tourneys in Wolverhampton's Rubicon almost 20 years ago.
Tonight is not Sami's night though. Shortly after informing Derby's big Mick, that 'the coaches are in the car park', he played A10 against Simon Nowab's AQ. He flopped a 10, but the ensuing 8,9,J gave Blackpool the pot. Sami was out the revolving door looking for a bus.
As we drop down to two tables, Peter Seager, the ex- professional snooker player from Birmingham is building chips with his usual methodical and patient game. Andy Gomm loses half of his stack with AK v Emilios Aresides JJ, and with it the chip lead.
The exit door has practically stopped spinning as we go into the early hours of the morning. Ash Hussain is probably the only player doing any hoovering and ironing. As he cleaned up the chips, he ironed out Mr Ihle, Big Mick and a couple of other short stacks, ending the day a very healthy chip leader.
Play was called to a halt at 5a.m. with 14 players remaining including El Blondie hanging onto a short stack. The complete list of Day 2's runners and riders was.
Ash Hussain 100,900 Emilios Aresides 67,100
Andy Gomm 51,200 Trevor Reardon 50,000
Chris Pike 32,200 I. McFarlane 21,200
Fari Badiemansour 18,500 John Kriskinans 18,200
Peter Seager 17,100 El Blondie 16,900
Simon Nowab 15,700 Devon Shearer 15,000
A. James 9,200 B. Callinan 8,000
A good night's sleep seemed to loosen the game up, as several players returned all guns a firing. Ash took care of another couple of short stacks to extend his chip lead, and Simon started to make his move, winning a couple of coin flips.
On the other table, it was a table of two passes. Emilios declined to play pocket 3s in an unraised pot. He would have flopped quads against the blinds who both flopped top pair. Andy Gomm also missed a 150,000 pot opportunity, passing Queens to a raise and a re-raiser, who had AK and AQ. Andy's loss was Trevor's gain.
Eventually, Fari baby was eliminated 12 th and Devon on the bubble, to leave a final table looking like this.
Ash (seat 3) 105,000 Emilios (1) 61,500
Big Trevor (5) 55,000 Peter Seager (10) 46,000
Simon (2) 41,000 Chris Pike (9) 30,500
John K (8) 30,500 Blondie (4) 30,000
Andy Gomm (7) 29,000 I McFarlane (6) 13,000
The short stack managed to move all-in on the very first hand with two 8s, but he found Simon with AK on the big blind. Simon hadn't lost any 50/50s all weekend, and he wasn't going to start now. A King on the flop was the demise of I McFarlane.
The next major hand is a classic example of how to play badly. El Blondie limped with AQ and John K followed likewise. The flop showed 66Q and both players moved all their chips in. John's A6 was a huge favourite until the turn showed another Queen. John was eliminated in 9 th place shaking his head in disbelief.
Andy Gomm doubled through with AQ having been called by Ash's pocket 10s. Big Trev showed the other two 10s as he passed, so an Ace on the flop was unbeatable. The very next hand, Andy decides to play his rush, calling an all-in raise by Chris. His KQ looked a dog against Chris's AQ.until the King flopped. Chris was another unlucky looser as he collected £900 for 8 th place.
Peter doesn't like to be called 'The Undertaker' any more, which is a shame, because it's a great nickname, and he killed Andy's rush dead in it's tracks. The third hand on the trot turned into a major confrontation as the two blinds moved all in with A10 (Andy) and KK (Peter). Peter doubles up and takes the chip lead with just over 100,000.
Andy can't slow down, and moves his short stack all-in with A6. His face drops as Emilios also moves all-in and is called by Simon. If Emilios's KK holds up we will lose two players, but a 10 on the flop matches Simon's pocket pair. Simon's luck sends him into a chip lead and shows Andy the exit door in 7 th place.
As the blinds had only just reached 1500/3000, there then ensued a 45-minute quiet period of tactical manoeuvring. Trevor was the main loser during this period, and eventually moved a short stack in with A8 on the blinds. Blondie's 99 held up though, and Big Trev trudged off in 6 th place. As we reached the start of the 2000/4000 level there were 5 players left: Blondie 166k, Emil 80, Simon, 79, Peter 65 and Ash 52.
Ash didn't manage to play a short stack as well as he had dominated with a big one, but was unlucky to find AJ in the blinds against Simon's KK. Needless to say, Simon also won this one, to send Ash back to Blackpool in 5 th place.
The next 10 minutes belonged to Peter. Blondie got busy with 10Q on a KJ6 flop, and the Undertaker relieved him of half his stack. Peter's K6 turned into a full house, and his double through gave him the chip lead with this 120k pot. The very next hand was a nightmare though. Raising with AQ, he was called by Emilios, but no problemo, an Ace showed up on the flop. The big problem though, was that Emilios was slow playing the other two Aces. This 120k pot swung the chip lead over to Emilios.
A short time later, it looked personal as Peter then came over the top of Emilios's next raise. The Coventry man was not for passing though. He called Peter's AQ down with a pair of pocket 4s. Peter could not find any help on the flop, and he exited in 4th place. When the dust settles.
Emilios (coventry) has 240,000
Simon (blackpool) has 120,000
Blondie (mecico) has 80,000
After ten minutes of manoeuvring, Blondie can't put A10 down in a battle of the blinds with Simon. This time I can't get lucky against Simon's AJ and I am collecting £3200 for 3 rd place. This is the last hand of the tourney as the two heroes take an even 10 grand apiece. Well-played Emilios Aresides from Coventry. Very well played Simon Nowab. Back to back victories in the black country by the blackpool man.Dylan Thomas eat your heart out.
63 entries giving a prize pool of £31,500
No sooner had I walked in the door, John 'Texas' Hewston has tapped me for 40 quid. It took about 10 yards and 5 seconds. New year, but some things don't change. Let's hope I can change my recent disappointing sequence of results though.
The number of runners is low due to the Notts. Gala £100 tourney. Only Rumit has travelled over from the East Mids. The rest, including tikay have chosen to play locally (which is the reason I have been lumbered with writing the report for blondepoker).
Plenty of the Northern crew have turned up though. Ip Man being one of a large Blackpool contingent. (Simon Nowab, the other half of the John Falconer team, won the previous nights £100 rebuy, pocketing £6,500. So the boys are putting John's big cash in the Vic's EPT event to good use).
As the play gets underway, the usual comments of appreciation are heard for the slow 1-hour levels on the clock. It should also be noted that the tourney kicked off promptly. New Year, big change for Walsall. My starting table has three of the local heroes: Elius Katzi, Phil Peters and Steve Au Yeung. The trio always adorn the top five of any Walsall poker league.
Even though the Stacks to Blinds ratio are huge, players fall thick and fast for the first three hours. Perhaps everyone wanted to get back to the turkey leftovers. Not. We are down to 3 tables of 10 in a ridiculously short time. Andy Gomm is a clear chip leader, after his Kings stood up against a pair of Jacks held by a very attractive young lady with a large bosom. Andy has about 60,000. Mr.C.Ihle is probably second with about 40k.
The revolving exit door slowed right down though, as everyone began to smell the money. Alan McLean and Steve Jelinek are representing Manchester in the latter stages, as usual. Fari Badiemansour is beginning to show on one of the other tables. I am now sat with another local hero; the entertaining D.Sami. I was watching 'Sami' knock off tourneys in Wolverhampton's Rubicon almost 20 years ago.
Tonight is not Sami's night though. Shortly after informing Derby's big Mick, that 'the coaches are in the car park', he played A10 against Simon Nowab's AQ. He flopped a 10, but the ensuing 8,9,J gave Blackpool the pot. Sami was out the revolving door looking for a bus.
As we drop down to two tables, Peter Seager, the ex- professional snooker player from Birmingham is building chips with his usual methodical and patient game. Andy Gomm loses half of his stack with AK v Emilios Aresides JJ, and with it the chip lead.
The exit door has practically stopped spinning as we go into the early hours of the morning. Ash Hussain is probably the only player doing any hoovering and ironing. As he cleaned up the chips, he ironed out Mr Ihle, Big Mick and a couple of other short stacks, ending the day a very healthy chip leader.
Play was called to a halt at 5a.m. with 14 players remaining including El Blondie hanging onto a short stack. The complete list of Day 2's runners and riders was.
Ash Hussain 100,900 Emilios Aresides 67,100
Andy Gomm 51,200 Trevor Reardon 50,000
Chris Pike 32,200 I. McFarlane 21,200
Fari Badiemansour 18,500 John Kriskinans 18,200
Peter Seager 17,100 El Blondie 16,900
Simon Nowab 15,700 Devon Shearer 15,000
A. James 9,200 B. Callinan 8,000
A good night's sleep seemed to loosen the game up, as several players returned all guns a firing. Ash took care of another couple of short stacks to extend his chip lead, and Simon started to make his move, winning a couple of coin flips.
On the other table, it was a table of two passes. Emilios declined to play pocket 3s in an unraised pot. He would have flopped quads against the blinds who both flopped top pair. Andy Gomm also missed a 150,000 pot opportunity, passing Queens to a raise and a re-raiser, who had AK and AQ. Andy's loss was Trevor's gain.
Eventually, Fari baby was eliminated 12 th and Devon on the bubble, to leave a final table looking like this.
Ash (seat 3) 105,000 Emilios (1) 61,500
Big Trevor (5) 55,000 Peter Seager (10) 46,000
Simon (2) 41,000 Chris Pike (9) 30,500
John K (8) 30,500 Blondie (4) 30,000
Andy Gomm (7) 29,000 I McFarlane (6) 13,000
The short stack managed to move all-in on the very first hand with two 8s, but he found Simon with AK on the big blind. Simon hadn't lost any 50/50s all weekend, and he wasn't going to start now. A King on the flop was the demise of I McFarlane.
The next major hand is a classic example of how to play badly. El Blondie limped with AQ and John K followed likewise. The flop showed 66Q and both players moved all their chips in. John's A6 was a huge favourite until the turn showed another Queen. John was eliminated in 9 th place shaking his head in disbelief.
Andy Gomm doubled through with AQ having been called by Ash's pocket 10s. Big Trev showed the other two 10s as he passed, so an Ace on the flop was unbeatable. The very next hand, Andy decides to play his rush, calling an all-in raise by Chris. His KQ looked a dog against Chris's AQ.until the King flopped. Chris was another unlucky looser as he collected £900 for 8 th place.
Peter doesn't like to be called 'The Undertaker' any more, which is a shame, because it's a great nickname, and he killed Andy's rush dead in it's tracks. The third hand on the trot turned into a major confrontation as the two blinds moved all in with A10 (Andy) and KK (Peter). Peter doubles up and takes the chip lead with just over 100,000.
Andy can't slow down, and moves his short stack all-in with A6. His face drops as Emilios also moves all-in and is called by Simon. If Emilios's KK holds up we will lose two players, but a 10 on the flop matches Simon's pocket pair. Simon's luck sends him into a chip lead and shows Andy the exit door in 7 th place.
As the blinds had only just reached 1500/3000, there then ensued a 45-minute quiet period of tactical manoeuvring. Trevor was the main loser during this period, and eventually moved a short stack in with A8 on the blinds. Blondie's 99 held up though, and Big Trev trudged off in 6 th place. As we reached the start of the 2000/4000 level there were 5 players left: Blondie 166k, Emil 80, Simon, 79, Peter 65 and Ash 52.
Ash didn't manage to play a short stack as well as he had dominated with a big one, but was unlucky to find AJ in the blinds against Simon's KK. Needless to say, Simon also won this one, to send Ash back to Blackpool in 5 th place.
The next 10 minutes belonged to Peter. Blondie got busy with 10Q on a KJ6 flop, and the Undertaker relieved him of half his stack. Peter's K6 turned into a full house, and his double through gave him the chip lead with this 120k pot. The very next hand was a nightmare though. Raising with AQ, he was called by Emilios, but no problemo, an Ace showed up on the flop. The big problem though, was that Emilios was slow playing the other two Aces. This 120k pot swung the chip lead over to Emilios.
A short time later, it looked personal as Peter then came over the top of Emilios's next raise. The Coventry man was not for passing though. He called Peter's AQ down with a pair of pocket 4s. Peter could not find any help on the flop, and he exited in 4th place. When the dust settles.
Emilios (coventry) has 240,000
Simon (blackpool) has 120,000
Blondie (mecico) has 80,000
After ten minutes of manoeuvring, Blondie can't put A10 down in a battle of the blinds with Simon. This time I can't get lucky against Simon's AJ and I am collecting £3200 for 3 rd place. This is the last hand of the tourney as the two heroes take an even 10 grand apiece. Well-played Emilios Aresides from Coventry. Very well played Simon Nowab. Back to back victories in the black country by the blackpool man.Dylan Thomas eat your heart out.