This week, I spent a most delightful 4 days at the Gutshot Club in Barbican, London. Although I was there to win, my main prerogative was to have some muchly belated fun, and, in all truth, I received it by the bucketload.
One of those buckets came in the form of the Main Event, a rather splendid £500 No Limit Hold'em Freezeout. Spanning over two days, the comp's 1 hour clock and excellent blind structures were enough to lure in 168 poker fanatics, all dreaming of that £27,000 first prize.
With an incredible 57 players returning for Day 2, it looked as though we were in for a long night. 
Unfortunately, my night only lasted 1 hour, as I crashed out in spectacular style just before the end of the first level. Severely gutted, I briefly railed the 40 or so remaining competitors, of which included the likes of Jamie Lillywhite, Ade Bayo, Arnaud Mattern and blonde's own Paul 'ActionJack' Jackson, Simon 'ACES' Trumper, Jeff 'Jaffacake' Kimber, Nick 'vodkaredbull' Hicks (left) and, of course, Mr Tony 'tikay' Kendall.
But with tikay and vodkaredbull falling at latter hurdles (the second of the two hitting the unfortunate bubble for £1,372), it was left to the likes of Simon, Jeff and Paul to win top honours, thereby giving blonde a prestigious winner at the Gutshot. And, as they prepared for final table action, it looked as though they were in with a great shout too!
Arnaud Mattern -- 372,000
Zahir Aslam -- 446,000
Simon Trumper -- 420,000
Ergun Macit -- 162,500
Ropesh Chehetry -- 141,500
Paul Jackson -- 122,000
Grant Mercado -- 95,500
Jeff Kimber -- 58,500
Roger Jones -- 57,000
With Jeff Kimber and Roger Jones taking 9th and 8th courtesy of 'ACES' Trumper, it looked as though Simon would be the man to bring home the bacon, but it was Paul Jackson who began to show signs of winning the Event - first outdrawing Zahir Aslam with A-T vs A-J on an A-K-Q flop (Jack on the River), before doubling up courtesy of Arnaud Mattern (8-8 vs 7-7).
But, with Ropesh Chehetry, Zahir Aslam, Ergun Macit, Simon Trumper and Grant Mercardo winning 7th-3rd prizes respectively, it was the Frenchman who would have the last laugh in what turned out to be a brief, but entertaining heads up encounter.
Paul, obliged to call his shortstack all-in with any two cards, could only manage to unearth a paltry 6-2 off, no match even for Arnaud's J-8. And with the board reading J-T-K-A-7, it was all over. That was all she wrote and the Frenchman was our Main Event victor, thereby earning himself the title of 'London Poker Masters Champion for 2006'.
Recognised by few and known by even less, Arnaud is someone who I have met briefly on the circuit 2 or 3 times. To see him in the Gutshot was quite a shock, as I didn't assumed a £500 comp would be unable to lure someone across the Channel Tunnel and into the murky depths of London, but it appears I have been proved wrong.
A thoroughly nice chap and a deserved winner, I am almost certain he was humble and modest in victory. Well done to the French lad!