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We are now three months in to the running of the 2005 Gala Notts. Poker League and we have a new leader! - Ali "Bag of Bollocks" Ahmed.

'Radio' Ali, AKA "Bag of Bollocks" to his friends is so called because he is constantly re-counting key hands to fellow players in a hauntingly accurate radio commentary style (I am told by his fellow car sharers that the early morning journeys back to Derby are not exactly quiet!) Ali's other nickname is gained through his ability to play with such bad cards, which he calls with affection a "bag of bollocks" - but they are more often than not seeming to come good for him.

Ali has his own unique style of playing that not many have tried to or would want to copy (re-raises with 6-3, and re-re-raises with 8-4 off!). Ali has made 10 finals in 2005, which is fantastic stuff! - only one other player has reached double figures this year for final table appearances and that is the extremely consistent Nigel Smith who sits waiting in second place. Players that achieve the 10 final mile-stone are to be awarded 100 'consistency' points, which they will gain for every 10 finals they make - this should give an edge to players like Ali and Nigel who are the regular stalwarts of Gala Notts over those 'once a month' £100 attendees.

Despite consistent showings from a lot of the regular locals, the weighting of the points scoring in favour of the big competitions is really proving to have a bearing on the league table. 'Radio' Ali finished second in the March £100 competition, which boosted him right up the leader board to the top and all of the top 8 players in the current league standings have made at least one of the three £100 final tables this year. In fact 10 th placed Oscar Rana has only achieved one result this year, which was victory in the March £100 competition but this netted him over £8500 and 1000 points.

153 different players have now 'finalled' in 2005, which proves the popularity of the game here in Nottingham and the wide variety of players that are capable of achieving a result. The table is really shaping up now, however there are a few players who would expect to be near the top that are currently under achieving. William Hill sponsored Julian Thew is languishing down in 46 th , serial Notts finalist Ash Abdullah is way back in 44 th, the Sheffield Weasel, Max Hussein is almost unregistered in 120th and blonde poker's own Tikay can only stare at his disappointing 20 th but no doubt these guys will pull off a few results in the near future. - The cream, I am told always rises to the top!

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