blonde poker

Last week, the blonde update team landed in Nice, a short hop by train, bus, taxi or helicopter from Monaco's gambling hotspot Monte Carlo. As I was travelling with a lateish-registering Dave Colclough, we opted for the instant taxi option, but the way back saw a little persuasion getting Tikay and Marc Goodwin onto the helipad, a truly exciting experience for me, and a slightly unsettling one for the senior blondie… But this was after the tournament, a 4 day affair, was all over, the millions of prize money awarded, and a good deal of astonishing sights seen.

When we arrived, it was just in time for the players to pick up their welcome packs (which, in keeping with the luxurious surroundings contained things like a crystal card protector, silver cufflinks and an Ipod shuffle) and prepare for the seat draw which took place at a champagne reception in one of seemingly endless grand reception halls. This remained filled as the players checked one another out and chatted in little knots until about the time that the Devilfish decided to join the live band.

The hotel Hermitage was a sprawling palace-type affair, all sumptuous furnishings, floating floral decorations and long mirrored hallways, with rooms that despite being on the –3 rd floor somehow popped out overlooking the bay. I don't know how that worked, but it was beautiful, and I felt a bit overawed by it all. The players looked like they were taking it in their stride, however, and as the names were read for the seat draw, it sounded like a who's who of the top players from the biggest games around: Erik Sagstrom, Johan Storakers, Erik Seidel, Jani Sointula, Jan Sorensen – and they were just some of the ‘S's.

It was when they took their seats for Day One that we realised just how many of the faces there we recognised, from the instantly visible hat of Chris Ferguson, to the less obvious but no less formidable Patrik Antonius and Per Ummer. Tikay also pointed out Johnny Lodden and Martin de Knijff as players to be noted both for ability and general good-bloke qualities, whom he has had the pleasure of playing in the past. Players like Phil Laak, Tony G, Phil Hellmuth and Mike Matusow pointed themselves out.

The eight-handed tables (dwindling to six-handed later on) made for a slightly different feel to the tournament as a whole, and despite the phenomenal chips-to-blinds ratio (50,000 starting stack with hour and a half levels) there was enough action to keep us from just gawking at the storey-high golden columns etc. After two days I sort of began forgetting that all card rooms don't have such backdrops… but the focus of players like Howard Lederer and Phil Ivey (plenty more about him later), John Juanda, the Boatmen and all the others you'd expect to turn out for such an event was clearly on the cards. Perhaps it was because it was my first visit to Monte Carlo while the touring pros have stopped off here before, but it was hard to keep focused on the game when there were small winged cats holding up candles which supported women holding more candles on the wall, for example.

As for the poker, it was Scandinavian wunderkind Bengt Sonnert who took a very early lead, almost doubling his stack in a remarkable first two levels. For the second year in a row, Antonio Esfandiari was one of the first out, although the innovative ‘Second Chance' format nearly saw him make spectacularly unlikely headlines by getting back into the final table. But I'm getting ahead of myself – the field had to dwindle to just six before the final, to which the winner of the Consolation Tournament received direct entry, with 10 big blinds and a guarantee of $100,000. This innovation received mostly positive comment, and I for one don't see any harm in tournament organisers trying this kind of thing out. It certainly kept the players interested even after elimination from the main tournament.

Joining Bengt with a big early stack was Iwan Jones, who was nearing the 100k mark (along with fellow team Badbeat member Ron ‘Mad Yank' Fanelli) just as El Blondie took a rather horrible beat himself with A10 on an A 10 6 board, getting it all in against eventual third place finisher Marc Goodwin, whose AK rivered that King to give him a boost in chips which presumably kick-started his final table-making progress, eliminating Dave early in the process. Marc's knockout force hit Sealey - Conor Tate- next, whose AA looked good against 10 10 until all the chips went in on a 10-high flop. And with over 200k, Marc looked to be chip leader and remained so overnight.

Upon returning, it was boss blondeite Dave Colclough who kept the Live Updates coming live, as, expensive or not, fish can make you sick, and it's advisable to remember that. Poor old Richard Gryko looked like I felt but managed to make himself come and play – and despite not making the final missed out by the smallest of margins and would, I dare say, have gotten further had he not felt so unwell. I missed action like self-proclaimed Best Player In The World Phil Hellmuth's QQ being busted by K6 and his subsequent ‘taking it like a gentleman.' Even from El Blondie, no one believed that… but his eye for a good update story is clearly sharp. Good for me that he's usually playing, then.

The early leaders shuffled around a bit, with Iwan Jones hitting a drier patch and eventually doubling up Joe Beevers' A10 with his 77. This was the time when the man referred to as “Paul Jacko AcionJack Jackson” started to accumulate chips and never really let them go until they propelled him into second place. Marc ‘Mr. Cool' Goodwin had over 200,000 chips by the middle of Day Two, and so, half to my surprise and half to be expected, did Phil Ivey, who'd risen from a comparative short stack to one of the leaders. He makes it look easy.

Kevin Daly and Ron Fanelli were both busted with the old KK which looks good until one sees the AA. Meanwhile, there was a camera set up in next door's salon which caught the players upon exiting in all their irritation or Stoic acceptance - mainly irritation. As well as those superfamous poker names, there were a couple of interesting stories from those players who had taken the satellite route into Monte Carlo, like personable Jatinder Singh whom we found to be a very popular online player. He was on ‘Unabomber' Phil Laak's table, and I wanted to give him an umbrella to shelter from the continual cascade of chat and trash talk which came from Phil, although they were spotted having a chat and a laugh in the café in the break. Also in said café was Mrs. ‘Granite' Ioannou, who was clearly delighted for John and must have been pleased with the Gutshot overseer's excellent near-finalling result.

It must be said that these were long days: a good structure only matched by the WPT Final at Bellagio makes for marathon playing (and update) sessions. However the whole thing was planned and directed almost seamlessly. Finely tuned to player whingeing as I am, none of it was aimed at Matt Savage or the Monte Carlo Millions staff or directors, which was a bit of a change. I got the impression that if this tournament runs again, the pros will jump on the jets to give it another go. Speaking of jets, it had been agreed that if one of the Badbeat team made the final (Iwan, ActionJack, John Conroy, Richard Herbert, Ron, Kevin Daly, David Poole, Sealey, Skalie and Richard Redmond) then their return trip would be on a private one. Seeing as that is what happened (x2) they were duly treated, and reported the experience as “really nice.”

Close but not quite came Tyrone Zinman (of “Craaaaazy Poker” fame) (18 th ), Richard Gryko (14 th ), last year's winner Jani Sointula (17 th ) and extrovert lady Kristy Gazes (the bubble – 13 th ). Finishing in the money but shy of the final were Chris ‘Jesus' Ferguson, Bob Voulgairis, Sargon Ruya, Erik Sagstrom, Jean-Jacques Ghebali and overnight chip leader Tony G, who lost over a million in chips to exit before the final.

The Golden Ticket tournament was already underway as the final few went out, and there was a bit of a rush to the next room to take their Consolation seats. But it was nice guy (and great player) John Juanda who got the ticket, beating finalists Ken Lennaard, Johan Storakers, Antonio Esfandiari, Dave Ulliott, Victor Ramdin and Jesse Jones to get his well-deserved seat on the other final table. Perhaps unfortunately for John (who didn't have time to catch his breath) the Second Chance final thoughtfully ended just in time for the Final Proper to commence. All the televised stuff took place just down the hill from the Sporting d'Hiver which had seen the earlier action (everything in Monte Carlo is either just up or just down the hill) in the Casino de Monte Carlo. This was the first time that the humble game of poker took its place in the astounding 19 th Century palace of gaming, amongst the roulette and Chemin de Fer played for ludicrous stakes in the most opulent of surroundings.

The TV table's necessarily banal accoutrements of lighting rig and cameras were ingeniously disguised (the former behind flimsy but convincing gilded columns). The poker table looked a little incongruous amongst the candelabra, brocade and crystal, but the players soon settled in. After all, if suave TD Matt Savage could look so at home announcing the hands in front of the audience, crew and cameras, then they surely could play a little poker. A quiet start slowly warmed up, but despite noting that the players had started to chat a bit along with moving their chips around, the acoustics in the cavernous chambre were such that their voices were just lost in space.

Even though I'd managed to avoid deportation to the Café de Paris across the road with most of the other journos, I couldn't really see what was going on from the spectator area (I know that the spectators were all excited friends and relatives rather than interested members of the public – it's not exactly a thrilling live viewing experience). But supporters like John Conroy and the other Badbeat team members were there, as well as players who had pieces of, or just wanted to cheer on, their favourites.

Phil Ivey started the final table with more than twice the chips of the closest trailer (Richard Herbert with 908.000). Those who could have had a bet on the serious but totally gentlemanly player wished that they had, as he held on to and then started to increase that lead. But there was a good half hour before a single flop was seen, and it looked like short stack Juanda (starting with 160,000) would have to make a move fairly quickly. In fact it was Kenna James who exited first, having seen a 2 2 7 flop with Marc Goodwin, and considered his 33 might be good. In fact, Marc's KK busted him in 7 th , and John Juanda followed in 6 th when he gambled on his A6 and ran into AQ. They both took $100,000 for their efforts.

Bengt Sonnert got out of jail a couple of times, most dramatically when he took his top pair against Richard Herbert's flopped set, but caught runner-runner to make a bigger full house and double up. Perhaps in somewhat of a steamy mood Richard then made a move on Phil Ivey with his suited A5, but it just so happened that Phil was sat with the Aces and it was 5 th place for ‘Strummer,' and $175,000. There was really no stopping Phil after that, and his A10 cut short Bengt Sonnert's run (he moved in with K9 and although he caught the King on the flop, the 10 followed by the Ace let Phil overtake him) sending him out in 4th ($250,000).

With three players left it was the short-stacked Brits (400k and 900k) against the chip monster American (4.5 million), and although both Marc Goodwin and Paul Jackson did their level best to give Mr. Ivey a hard time, he eliminated them both within an hour. Marc found his J9 on a Jack-high flop a good point for the chips to go in, but Phil had J 10 and he took third place and $325,000. He looked delighted after the initial ‘I'm out' shock wore off, if a little the worse for wear the next morning… And ActionJack, a tough contender in any arena, put Phil to the test in a couple of extraordinary hands.

One in particular which deserves a mention is a flop of J J 7, two clubs. Paul bet 80k, Phil raised 150k. After a think, Paul re-raised another 150k and then after a couple of minutes, Phil moved all-in. Paul passed. You may have to wait for the old TV to see their hands, but I promise you they're not what you might think…

Eventually Paul Jackson got it all in with a suited JQ, and Phil Ivey's call with KQ finished him off. So it was $600,000 for the former, and a million for the latter, which, you might be surprised to hear, is Phil's biggest tournament win. They all proceeded to go out to a glamorous party venue (is there anywhere in Monaco which is not glamorous?) and everyone who hung out with the winner had nothing but good words to say about him. With perfect behaviour on and off the table, Phil Ivey is a great role model for the hordes of TV-watchers who will see him play this tough final table in a couple of months' time. A great show by the UK contingent too – proving that even when the American heavyweights fly out en masse to enjoy the world's premiere poker events, the experience and talent of the not-yet-televised players looks likely to make them as famous in the months ahead.