Whilst blondeites were bleeding the Walsall bars dry, our intrepid stand-in updater, AlrightJack, was hard at work in Swansea, keeping a keen eye on this year's Welsh Masters.
Although only 41 poker nuts made the trip, (perhaps due to a combination of (1) blondeBash 3 (2) the slightly less accessible location (3) a clash with the Broadway Festival's Main Event and (4) the smaller entry fee of £500), there were still plenty of familiar faces in what was a pretty tough field.
Most notable in their presence were local boys Carl Thomas, Ian Herbert, Martyn Cavanagh, James 'sofaking' Fisher and Blackpool Bonanza winner, Jon Exley. Also playing were the likes of Nick Risdale, Roberto Romanello and Ed 'The Fonz' Aris, all fixing their glaze on that 8k first prize.
Although blonde's own James Fisher (left) opted for an all-out attack approach (a cheeky beat on Richard Wilcox when his Tc-4h rivered a flush on a Qh-Ad-Ah-6h-Th board against Wilcox's A-Ko was a memorable moment), it wasn't to be a winning weekend for the crazy, but highly entertaining 'sofa-king' who couldn't quite make it to the final table.
Instead, those 9 seats went to the following players, all of whom, incidentally, were flying the Welsh flag:
Ian Herbert -- 103k
Ed Morgan -- 79k
Alan Davies -- 73k
Nick Romanello -- 48.5k
John Marles -- 37k
Jamie Gubb -- 31k
Mike Williams -- 15k
N Jasim -- 13k
AP Hughes -- 12.5k
With Williams, Jasin, and Hughes taking 9-7th respectively in consecutive hands, early chip leader Herbert took 6th (K-J vs K-Q), Morgan lapped up 5th (A-K vs A-A on A high flop), Davies settled for 4th (T-T vs A-J, straight on Turn) and Romanello won £3,000 for 3rd when his 8-6 failed to outdraw Jamie Gubb's K-8 on a 8-5-7 flop.
This left two plucky survivors - mortgage broker, John Marles, and relative unkown, Jamie Gubb, who qualified via a £50 one table satellite.
Although Marles took top honours, our intrepid reporter informed us all of a three-way split in which each player took home 5k, leaving just the trophy up for grabs.
However, when push comes to shove, it's Marle's name that goes on the silverware, meaning that he is officially the Welsh Masters Champion for 2006.
Congratulations from everyone here at blondepoker and many thanks to AlrightJack for the excellent live updates.
