blonde poker

Sometimes, even the fish rise to the surface, and never has this been more evident than when yours truly made the final at this weekend's DTD Deepstack Festival.

At £500, the main event was a snip, yet offered a spacious 15,000 starting stack and 60 minute clock, the culmination of which lured 91 salivating poker enthusiasts into Nottingham with a spring in their step and a dollar sign in their eye. Of those, Pete Linton, Des Jonas, Mickey Wernick and Maria Demetriou looked menacing, as did recent GCBPT victors Rupinder Bedi and Neil Blatchley, but perhaps most frightening was the figure of Julian Thew, boasting an EPT title, two GUKPT triumphs and over two million in tournament winnings, yet still prepared to grind it out in the smaller festival events.

Although Simon Nowab, Allan Vinnicombe and Alan Stearn all begrudgingly hit the rail early doors, the wooden spoon went to John Shaw whose pocket kings were outgunned by jacks on a 2-2-J-6-Q board. Meanwhile, Rick Trigg propelled from the starting blocks with a fire in his belly, as did Irishman Mick McCloskey who became the first man to surpass the 50,000 mark.

Whilst Mick floundered, DTD Mini Festival finalist Richard Berridge began amassing a mountain of chips that would make Everest look diminutive. However, after his A-K was outdrawn by Paul Gourlay's (right) Kd-Jd on a king high, two diamond board, it was the Rocket Man who picked up the baton and launched into the chip lead.

At the other end of the spectrum, Dave Colclough would suffer a cruel set over set encounter, before being joined on the sidelines by Thomas McCready and Ben Pearce, the latter having witnessed his kings scuppered by Mick McCloskey's Big Slick on the final hand of the night.

Heading into day two, it was Gourlay who ruled the roost ,his 87,200 pipping McCloskey's 83,300 with pseudo Monkee David Jones a gnat's breath behind with 82,900. In poker, the rich get richer, and whilst Gourlay built on his lead by eliminating Adam Wilkinson with A-K versus A-Q, short stacks Fran Creed, Daniel Rudd and husband and wife combo Steve Jelinek and Irina Liepina quickly fell by the wayside.

One man whose patience would reap early rewards was Nick Hicks. Having grinded like a champion skate boarder the night prior, he witnessed his small acorns grow into a giant oak tree within just two levels when he doubled up with kings versus A-7 before fending off both a flush draw and top two pair with top set to take down an absolute mammoth of a pot.

The real story of the day, however, was one Andrew Tuxworth. A farmer by day, but terminator by night, Tuxworth began snipering down opponents like there was no tomorrow, disposing of Mick McCloskey with A-K versus J-J before eliminating poor Scott Byron on the bubble when his Q-T versus A-Q turned a ten, and then rivered another. This left Andrew with 512,800 and over a third of the chips in play.

The final was an eventful affair, Darren Chadwick's first hand elimination at the hands of Tuxworth, being succeeded by two hours of eight-handed play before your reporter hit the deck in eighth for £1,365. Although Tuxworth doubled through both John Sadler and Paul Murphy, his formidable stack was too much to handle as he went on to eliminate four more players in Hicks, Gourlay, Richard Hawes and Przemek Rusin to leave himself heads up with Paul Murphy and in touching distance of the title.

A back and forth tussle teased a Murphy comeback, but when he pushed preflop with a paltry 7-3o, he was snap-called by Tuxworth who quickly revealed two gun swinging cowboys. Forget Murphy's Law, this was Tuxworth's Law, and when a third king hit the flop, the fat lady started singing and Tuxworth was crowned Sheriff of Nottingham.

Having being accused of possessing 'calling station' tendencies, Tuxworth overcame his critics to prove that his strategy was a winning one, and one that baffled amateurs and pros alike. Although enjoying a fair share of fortune, his unpredictable style had his opponents constantly tied up in knots with even Gourlay confessing, "I had to rethink my whole strategy just because of him."

Meanwhile, Dusk Till Dawn proved yet again that they are major players on the UK poker scene. They might not have attracted the three figure field they were lusting for, but justified their reputation with splendid facilities, wonderful hospitality and a great tournament structure. Once again, Trumper came up trumps.

1st  Andrew Tuxworth -- £15,925
2nd  Paul Murphy -- £9,555
3rd  Przemek Rusin -- £6,370
4th  John Sadler -- £4,095
5th  Paul Gourlay -- £3,185
6th  Richard Hawes -- £2,275
7th  Nick Hicks -- £1,820
8th  Adam Goulding -- £1,365
9th  Darren Chadwick -- £910