blonde poker

 
Manchester is like, the toughest place ever in the history of time to get a hotel room booked for the weekend. It's as though all the operators have a running bet each week that whoever can open the fewest number of rooms wins. And so it was that, with Snoopy and Jen unfortunate enough to be forced (kicking and screaming) to travel to Las Vegas, where they'd suffer gruelling six hour days, warm conditions and good food. I with the (relative newbie, but quickly becoming a wizened scholar) Danafish, would end up in sunny Salford commuting to the brand new G casino. The casino certainly has an odd placing, it's surrounded by a huge fence in middle of an area no doubt designated for re-development, the only thing being is that nothing else has been redeveloped just yet, that and it's nigh-on impossible to get a taxi at 3 in the morning on a Saturday night. The actual casino itself is extremely pretty, especially the bar area, though they do seem to lack basic logic on occasions as I found out when getting Dana and I a couple of drinks...

"Can I have two pints of Coke please?"

"Sorry sir, we don't do Coke in pint glasses."

"Ok can I have four halves?"

"Sure."

Sometimes, the mind truly boggles.

Not having covered a GUKPT event before, I was anxious to see how they compare to similar 4-day structured EPT events, early on in both, we tend to prowl around, half like vultures waiting for the weak and weedy to get knocked out and half like school teachers, making notes of 'troublemakers' who are sitting close together and might cause early action. One area was the table with Lawrence Gosney and Mick Fletcher, surely an area where one would gather a mountain of chips and the other would leave in the first level or so. This indeed happened when Mick McCool grabbed me and then proceeded to write down the reasons for Gosney's early demise.

"Lawrence raises to 300 from 2nd position with 6c 9c, Paul Wilson calls with 5-5 and Mick Fletcher calls with 6-8.

Flop: 6-6-5

Lawrence bets 200, Paul Wilson calls 200, Mick raises to 600, Lawrence re-raises to 3700, Paul Wilson moves in for 11,000. Mick mucks after much muttering, Lawrence calls for remaining 2300.

Turn 8.

Mick muttered some more after that.

River J."

Elsewhere Paul Gourlay's trip sixes on a Q-6-5 boad couldn't hold up against Q-9, well not after the 7 turn and 8 river anyway. Barry Neville on the other hand was going remarkable well, flopping a straight in one hand and a flush in another, and getting paid off fully in both. Ryan Fronda had Aces cracked by Kings all-in preflop but managed to recover somehow and make it into day 2, not so lucky was Praz Bansi who missed a flush draw and went out, he promptly then decided to go down to London grab his passport and fly to Vegas to play the WPT main event and still managed to cash (but that's another story...).

Day 2 began slowly, and I couldn't believe it, despite the increasing blinds, people seemed intent to hang on for as long as possible, as oppposed to the EPT where on day 2, it seems to me that any ace or pair is good enough to re-raise all-in with, (but against the scandies that's probably true). Barry Neville took the chip lead quite early on, knocking out Mike Lacey with Nines against Ace Queen, the biggest cheer coming from James 'Royal Flush' Dempsey, who had proudly won his £100 last longer against the Irishman. Dave Colclough, who was according to Dana, 'achieving a Zen-like state' managed to get George 'Wellchief' MacDonald (top right) to release Kings preflop, having limped with Queens, and seen a late position raise re-raised by MacDonald, Dave pushed and MacDonald reasoned that Dave could only have Aces at this point, and that he could pass his Kings and still have above average chips. Dave would follow up this with some more luck, raising with J-6 and finding Matt Tyler pushing for about the same amount again with Kings, he called hoping for live cards but was a massive dog until the flop came J-J-6.
 
He continued this carnage busting Ian Woodley, Rudders and Steve Bovis all in a short space of time to cement his chip lead, he was admittedly hit in the face by the deck in the later hours of day two, but most crucially he was winning the majority of his races which led him to the enviable position of having over a quarter of the chips in play when they reached the final table, indeed, between himself and Barry Neville they held over half the chips in play and it was difficult to see anyone else coming close. But there was hope for the others, in particular Ryan Fronda, who had come back on the first day from the shortest of short stacks  before repeatedly doubling up with just two tables left including one time flopping quads! Still short on the final table, he had somehow grinded like no other. Also making the final table was Chris Bruce, a Notts based player who had knocked out fellow Notts players' Chilli and Nick 'Redbull' Hicks, he was genuinely delighted to have just made the last 18 but had now secured himself a bigger payday.

The final table looked as follows:

Tom Sambrook -- 161,000
Richard Ashby -- 358,000
Barry Neville -- 795,500
Ryan Fronda -- 76,000
Victor Kaye -- 80,000
Chris Bruce -- 139,500
Nick Slade -- 216,000
Greek Jack -- 178,500
Dave Colclough -- 874,000

Victor Kaye would go out first, his push with K-4 from early position looked strong, but Tom Sambrook's Kings were much stronger. Play continued for a while after this with Barry and Dave's threatening stacks forcing the other players to keep their games in check, unable to make too many moves unless they had a hand. But even if this was the case, then it still might not be good enough for when Greek Jack pushed Queens after Dave's UTG raise with Ace King (who quickly called), the turn brought down a King, putting El Blondie's chip count at close to 40% of those in play. He quickly added to his stack, knocking out Chris Bruce with a made straight against Bruce's top pair plus gutshot, whilst in the following had Barry Neville's Three's spiked a third crab on the river to knock out Richard Ashby (who held Sevens). Ryan Fronda subsequently went out in 5th, laddering himself well up the money list, whilst Nick Slade then lost a race to Dave, Dave's Nines' hitting the river after Nick had already spiked two pair with his Ace Jack. Tom Sambrook was out in third when Barry Neville rivered the nut-flush giving us the expect heads up between the two original monster stacks...

There was a quick break, in which I managed to speak to both players, who told me their strategies:

Dave's Strategy: "I'm going to cross my fingers, toes and not make him angry, otherwise he'll go crazy and start pushing every hand."

Barry's Strategy: "I'm gonna 'it him."

Dave held close to a 2:1 lead, but those expecting the former European Player of the Year to press home his advantage would be surprised as Barry battled back bringing the counts to close to even. The banter between them was special, and this final is already the one I'm most looking forward to in the autumn when it's shown on TV. Usually we'd report hands, but the talking was arguably much more enjoyable. Snippets such as:

Dave betting the river of a Q-8-Q-x-J board and then showing a Jack.

Barry, "Ahh so next time you bet, you'll have it, right?"

Dave, "That's exactly right, you can read my mind."

Dave managed to eventually grind Barry down, but then Barry's Queens doubled him through against Dave's A-9, but the chips were in the middle once again shortly afterwards. On a 3c 8c 9h board, Barry moved all-in, with Jh 9d and Dave called with 9c Tc, the turn brought another Eight losing three of Dave's outs, (although he gained many splits) but the river was the Jack of clubs, making Dave's flush and giving him the title. Equally delighted for both Dave and Barry, (who just hopes the J-6 HU hand is on the TV), it's always good to see a proper lengthy heads up battle with decent stacks and Jon Raab and the GUKPT team have to be commended for this.

Until the next time GUKPT fans...