| Game Type: | Pot Limit |
| Buy-in: | £30 |
Well! Gala Nottingham's local Sainsbury's must have been doing a special on sand paper, towels and baby oil yesterday after I witnessed not one, but two comprehensive and scandalously gleeful rub downs at the final table of last night's £30 PLH tournament - all in good humor I hasten to add - but I'll come on to those later.
56 hopefuls descended on the card room of Nottingham's largest casino for what always proves to be a bit of an anticlimactic tournament following the previous night's £100 PLH event, which attracted 115 players (only 108 could play!) and a prize pool of over £25,000. Nevertheless, a quality and ever-lively game ensued producing many a moment of madness (you can count on that!), discussions on fish complimenting herbs and some occasional smatterings of half decent play.
The 56 would be whittled down to 10 who would fight like dogs and gentlemen (depending on your style) for a prize pool of nearly £6,000 - but who would be in that final 10?
It was rather a case of after the Lord Mayor's Show for 'big' Dave Smith, winner of the previous night's entertainment, who for a man with £9,000 in his pocket didn't exactly try and gamble his way to a deep stack and was rather subdued for a current champion. He eventually disappeared into a 'free' salad donated to him by a tired 'landlord' Bob and out of the door to contemplate his new year's resolution to not wear that god dam suit and Simpson's tie anymore!
Serial finalist, 'the Sheffield weasel', Max Hussein was defeated and sent packing by 'bouncer' Kevin Ward when his set of Aces was snapped by the doorman's four kings! Julian 'yoyo' Thew managed to duck and dive and yoyo his way to a large and enviable stack early doors only to have it cruelly demolished by an unknown's Ace on the river against Julian's pocket 7's. An early stack for Julian usually means an early night for the rest of us but following this defeat he suffered another couple of minor beats before taking a stand and managing to conjure up successive double-ups with J-Q versus Dave Smith's 9-9 and then A-A versus Moody's A-K. Julian was more than healthy again and looking bound for the final when one of those things just happened..
16 left and with the blinds at 600 - 1200 Junior Hill found himself with AK in the SB and with just Thewy to negotiate he attempted a little feeler raise of 2,500. Thewy wasn't in the tank for long before reaching with that un-nerving crane-like motion for the green ones at the bottom of his stack. He came back at me for 5,500. I thought for about three and a half milliseconds before I swiftly (as all players would) moved all in for another five thousand, unwilling to be bullied by these professionals I thought this was the correct move! Jules called in the very same second and flipped over his third pair of aces of the evening and I screeched - (oh yes I screeched, like a big girl!) - Surely I was done for! A board of Q, 4, 10 made for an interesting moment when Radio Ali FM whose constant in-running commentary of every hand kept the crowd and himself entertained declared "kid needs a jack" which he promptly dealt me on the turn and it was all over, no need for the river and the crowd go wild! - Well, not quite, but I had doubled up rather fortunately and Thewy was low chipped again.
Following this hand it became a bit of a grind for all until we were down to 12. Alex 'the sneezer' Ryan, winner of last month's £200 PLH departed stage left and we were all in need of the bubble man to do his stuff - an unlucky unknown sacrificed himself to the haunting sound of 'hit that cherry baby' (read on - you'll understand) - something of a common call throughout the night! - And we were there - the only place to be - the final table.
This is how it stood:
Seat 1: Moody - 47,000 Seat 2: Luigi - 29,000
Seat 3: Tikay - 31,000 Seat 4: Scotty Rock - 11,000
Seat 5: Jon Dowe - 14,000 Seat 6: Julian 'YOYO' Thew - 21,000
Seat 7: Greg 'junior' Hill - 20,000 Seat 8: Hit that 'Cherry baby' - 14,500
Seat 9: 'KGB' Sean - 36,000 Seat 10: Rocky - 28,000
The strong favorite had to be Moody; he had played an excellent game all night and coupled with some very good starting hands he had built up a nice stack without breaking sweat or looking like getting into trouble. A regular finalist and very solid player, with the chip lead and a full round to look at before an investment was required - he was where the smart money was. Tikay found himself in a good position for his game with two short stacked rocks to his left and the chip leader to his right so again if you were picking a winner you didn't need to look much beyond Moody and Tikay, however Julian had won himself a nice pot just before the final was called and is always a danger with anything more that a handful of chips in front of him. I was sitting tight waiting for others to make mistakes and this seemed to be the game plan of both Rocky and KGB. The wild card was a man who seemed to go by the name of Cherry, who looked like a cross between a children's entertainer and a fourth division footballer but seemed up for a laugh and was friendly enough. The final started unusually early (about 1:30am) and with the chip count not until 4:00am there was plenty of time remaining. With this in mind the blinds were kept at 1500 - 3000 for two full rounds. There was plenty of play left in the game and it had the makings of a quality final.
The Rub Downs
Rub Down number 1...
Hand 2 - It took only until hand 2 before Tikay of all people decided to apply the sandpaper to Luigi for a particularly bad call he made gifting Tikay the pot. It was all in good humor and it was the first chip movement of the night. (Details required).
Rub Down number 2...
Hand 5 - Now I mentioned the wild card earlier - Cherry Baby! - This he shouted to signify the winning of every pot of the night. Low stacked and clearly in the mood to make a move Cherry raises the pot in second position for the full 10,500. An immediate re-raise to 34,000 from KGB Sean sends ground skimmers from all corners of the table as the players can't muck fast enough. Cherry deliberates for a while not quite sure what day it is let alone what game he is playing and throws the remainder of his 14,000 into the middle and shows A-3 of spades! - Sean turns over KK and Cherry shouts 'give me those spades all day long baby'. Before anyone can point out that he could also spike an ace to win the pot one appears on the flop and Cherry is the favorite. No king's arrive, the pot moves to Cherry and the rub down begins.. Sean is not impressed! " I knew that ace was coming, its been coming all day long baby - you've been a good man to me tonight, keep giving me all these chips" - "Hit that Cherry Baby" - (stands up) - "come on - cherry baby". As the dealer deals hand 6 and hand 7 Cherry has cracked the seal on the baby oil and warmed the towels as the rub down continues. "You've been great to me tonight young man (turns to Sean, who incidentally looks genuinely tearful!) - "you keep feeding me these chips, feeding me all the time!" - feed that cherry baby" - it continues for a couple more minutes and cherry seems like he is on auto-chirp. Finally, the sand paper is discarded as Cherry gets involved yet again in another hand he need not play.
Hand 15 - Cherry is predictably out in 10th for £120 and we are all richer! - Wow! - Oh how we missed that cherry baby.
Hand 23 - An early position flat call! - Yes! You heard it - but who could it be? - Of course! - It was Tikay. Now I put him on Aces (minimum!) but there were some non-believers in the chapel and three of them also called. Down came the flop. Q, 6, 9 Tikay checks! - (Now I know he has aces). Sean bets his queen, Rocky passes (I think he was onto something!) and in comes Tikay with an uncertain re-raise. Sean calls Tikay's all in bet and sure enough the aces are flipped over and Sean is dented again.
Hand 28 - We're still playing with nine and the action folds to Moody. He makes his first raise of the night only to be called by Luigi. The flop pairs 8's with a 2, Luigi checks. Moody bets and Luigi re-raises all in. Deep thought ensues and Moody reluctantly calls only to see Luigi's trip 8's kill his QQ. The early chip leader out in 8th! - well what do I know about tipping a winner?
Now, I thought the Oscars were over but clearly Tikay wasn't aware of this fact and a late bid was made by him for best supporting slow play. Luigi one before the button makes it the minimum raise to go and pumps it up to 6000. Cue the freeze and Tikay puts on his thinking cap and enters the think tank! - Tikay thinks, and then thinks again. Tikay decides to look up to the sky and poses a question to the Italian; "why the minimum raise - must be a big hand?" - Luigi declines to respond. Tikay thinks a little more before looking to his left at the blinds in rock city who have both clearly decided that this performance would be better caught on video at a later date and have opted not to be interested in Tikay's Broadway audition. A distinct smell of fish fills the air as Tikay declares, "I'll raise". The rocks are woken up by the dealer and asked to pass their cards. Now Luigi must know Tikay has aces but decides to re-raise all in (qu'e pasa?). Tikay quickly calls and I am expecting the classic KK versus AA only to see Tikay's Oscar nominated aces flipped, closely followed by Luigi's AA. - Well how often do you see that? - What are the odds? And they were sat next to each other! - Wow! - Anyway Tikay's late bid for Hollywood was deemed too over the top, no-one made a flush and we moved on to hand 33. By hand 35 the two rocks to Tikay's left have vanished, which leaves us down to six.
Hand 36 I get dealt the A-Q of hearts and move all in for my 21,000 that I had managed to maintain through a combination of guile and outright thievery. Rocky re-raises (uh oh!). He flips his KK into the middle, which turned into KKKK after the turn and I head home with £300 in my pocket and I am still down for the year!
Luigi is next to whittle away and slowly be demolished and then it is Tikay's turn to suffer the curse of raising into KK. Uncharacteristically he does so with a genuine hand (Q-Q) and like many gone before doesn't catch his set but earns a £440 payday.
The three survivors; Rocky, Julian and Sean all do a deal and take a nice £1200 each and start 2005 with a steady profit.
Julian, whose chips were up and down like a tart's knickers all night has his sights set on big things this year with a lucrative sponsorship deal with William Hill. This result is a reminder to all those challengers that you've got to be on your game to keep him out of the prizes.
Sean hasn't had the form recently that he has enjoyed in the past but this should pump his confidence back up as long as he can get all that baby oil off of his arms. Rocky continues to negotiate his way to finals in both Nottingham and Sheffield and looks like he could also be in for a good year.
In summary this was another good tournament run by Gala Nottingham - enjoyed by most but some more than others! - One minor gripe though - Why don't they put on house dealers? - with the recent allegations of cheating in the camp and increased bad feeling surely this would both improve the games and keep them honest.
Overall result
1 - Julian Thew (£1200)
1 - Rocky (£1200)
1 - Sean (£1200)
4 - Tikay (£440)
5 - Luigi (£380)
6 - Hill Junior (£300)
7 - Jon Dowe (£240)
8 - Scotty Rock (£210)
9 - Moody (£160)
10 - Cherry Baby (£130)
56 hopefuls descended on the card room of Nottingham's largest casino for what always proves to be a bit of an anticlimactic tournament following the previous night's £100 PLH event, which attracted 115 players (only 108 could play!) and a prize pool of over £25,000. Nevertheless, a quality and ever-lively game ensued producing many a moment of madness (you can count on that!), discussions on fish complimenting herbs and some occasional smatterings of half decent play.
The 56 would be whittled down to 10 who would fight like dogs and gentlemen (depending on your style) for a prize pool of nearly £6,000 - but who would be in that final 10?
It was rather a case of after the Lord Mayor's Show for 'big' Dave Smith, winner of the previous night's entertainment, who for a man with £9,000 in his pocket didn't exactly try and gamble his way to a deep stack and was rather subdued for a current champion. He eventually disappeared into a 'free' salad donated to him by a tired 'landlord' Bob and out of the door to contemplate his new year's resolution to not wear that god dam suit and Simpson's tie anymore!
Serial finalist, 'the Sheffield weasel', Max Hussein was defeated and sent packing by 'bouncer' Kevin Ward when his set of Aces was snapped by the doorman's four kings! Julian 'yoyo' Thew managed to duck and dive and yoyo his way to a large and enviable stack early doors only to have it cruelly demolished by an unknown's Ace on the river against Julian's pocket 7's. An early stack for Julian usually means an early night for the rest of us but following this defeat he suffered another couple of minor beats before taking a stand and managing to conjure up successive double-ups with J-Q versus Dave Smith's 9-9 and then A-A versus Moody's A-K. Julian was more than healthy again and looking bound for the final when one of those things just happened..
16 left and with the blinds at 600 - 1200 Junior Hill found himself with AK in the SB and with just Thewy to negotiate he attempted a little feeler raise of 2,500. Thewy wasn't in the tank for long before reaching with that un-nerving crane-like motion for the green ones at the bottom of his stack. He came back at me for 5,500. I thought for about three and a half milliseconds before I swiftly (as all players would) moved all in for another five thousand, unwilling to be bullied by these professionals I thought this was the correct move! Jules called in the very same second and flipped over his third pair of aces of the evening and I screeched - (oh yes I screeched, like a big girl!) - Surely I was done for! A board of Q, 4, 10 made for an interesting moment when Radio Ali FM whose constant in-running commentary of every hand kept the crowd and himself entertained declared "kid needs a jack" which he promptly dealt me on the turn and it was all over, no need for the river and the crowd go wild! - Well, not quite, but I had doubled up rather fortunately and Thewy was low chipped again.
Following this hand it became a bit of a grind for all until we were down to 12. Alex 'the sneezer' Ryan, winner of last month's £200 PLH departed stage left and we were all in need of the bubble man to do his stuff - an unlucky unknown sacrificed himself to the haunting sound of 'hit that cherry baby' (read on - you'll understand) - something of a common call throughout the night! - And we were there - the only place to be - the final table.
This is how it stood:
Seat 1: Moody - 47,000 Seat 2: Luigi - 29,000
Seat 3: Tikay - 31,000 Seat 4: Scotty Rock - 11,000
Seat 5: Jon Dowe - 14,000 Seat 6: Julian 'YOYO' Thew - 21,000
Seat 7: Greg 'junior' Hill - 20,000 Seat 8: Hit that 'Cherry baby' - 14,500
Seat 9: 'KGB' Sean - 36,000 Seat 10: Rocky - 28,000
The strong favorite had to be Moody; he had played an excellent game all night and coupled with some very good starting hands he had built up a nice stack without breaking sweat or looking like getting into trouble. A regular finalist and very solid player, with the chip lead and a full round to look at before an investment was required - he was where the smart money was. Tikay found himself in a good position for his game with two short stacked rocks to his left and the chip leader to his right so again if you were picking a winner you didn't need to look much beyond Moody and Tikay, however Julian had won himself a nice pot just before the final was called and is always a danger with anything more that a handful of chips in front of him. I was sitting tight waiting for others to make mistakes and this seemed to be the game plan of both Rocky and KGB. The wild card was a man who seemed to go by the name of Cherry, who looked like a cross between a children's entertainer and a fourth division footballer but seemed up for a laugh and was friendly enough. The final started unusually early (about 1:30am) and with the chip count not until 4:00am there was plenty of time remaining. With this in mind the blinds were kept at 1500 - 3000 for two full rounds. There was plenty of play left in the game and it had the makings of a quality final.
The Rub Downs
Rub Down number 1...
Hand 2 - It took only until hand 2 before Tikay of all people decided to apply the sandpaper to Luigi for a particularly bad call he made gifting Tikay the pot. It was all in good humor and it was the first chip movement of the night. (Details required).
Rub Down number 2...
Hand 5 - Now I mentioned the wild card earlier - Cherry Baby! - This he shouted to signify the winning of every pot of the night. Low stacked and clearly in the mood to make a move Cherry raises the pot in second position for the full 10,500. An immediate re-raise to 34,000 from KGB Sean sends ground skimmers from all corners of the table as the players can't muck fast enough. Cherry deliberates for a while not quite sure what day it is let alone what game he is playing and throws the remainder of his 14,000 into the middle and shows A-3 of spades! - Sean turns over KK and Cherry shouts 'give me those spades all day long baby'. Before anyone can point out that he could also spike an ace to win the pot one appears on the flop and Cherry is the favorite. No king's arrive, the pot moves to Cherry and the rub down begins.. Sean is not impressed! " I knew that ace was coming, its been coming all day long baby - you've been a good man to me tonight, keep giving me all these chips" - "Hit that Cherry Baby" - (stands up) - "come on - cherry baby". As the dealer deals hand 6 and hand 7 Cherry has cracked the seal on the baby oil and warmed the towels as the rub down continues. "You've been great to me tonight young man (turns to Sean, who incidentally looks genuinely tearful!) - "you keep feeding me these chips, feeding me all the time!" - feed that cherry baby" - it continues for a couple more minutes and cherry seems like he is on auto-chirp. Finally, the sand paper is discarded as Cherry gets involved yet again in another hand he need not play.
Hand 15 - Cherry is predictably out in 10th for £120 and we are all richer! - Wow! - Oh how we missed that cherry baby.
Hand 23 - An early position flat call! - Yes! You heard it - but who could it be? - Of course! - It was Tikay. Now I put him on Aces (minimum!) but there were some non-believers in the chapel and three of them also called. Down came the flop. Q, 6, 9 Tikay checks! - (Now I know he has aces). Sean bets his queen, Rocky passes (I think he was onto something!) and in comes Tikay with an uncertain re-raise. Sean calls Tikay's all in bet and sure enough the aces are flipped over and Sean is dented again.
Hand 28 - We're still playing with nine and the action folds to Moody. He makes his first raise of the night only to be called by Luigi. The flop pairs 8's with a 2, Luigi checks. Moody bets and Luigi re-raises all in. Deep thought ensues and Moody reluctantly calls only to see Luigi's trip 8's kill his QQ. The early chip leader out in 8th! - well what do I know about tipping a winner?
Now, I thought the Oscars were over but clearly Tikay wasn't aware of this fact and a late bid was made by him for best supporting slow play. Luigi one before the button makes it the minimum raise to go and pumps it up to 6000. Cue the freeze and Tikay puts on his thinking cap and enters the think tank! - Tikay thinks, and then thinks again. Tikay decides to look up to the sky and poses a question to the Italian; "why the minimum raise - must be a big hand?" - Luigi declines to respond. Tikay thinks a little more before looking to his left at the blinds in rock city who have both clearly decided that this performance would be better caught on video at a later date and have opted not to be interested in Tikay's Broadway audition. A distinct smell of fish fills the air as Tikay declares, "I'll raise". The rocks are woken up by the dealer and asked to pass their cards. Now Luigi must know Tikay has aces but decides to re-raise all in (qu'e pasa?). Tikay quickly calls and I am expecting the classic KK versus AA only to see Tikay's Oscar nominated aces flipped, closely followed by Luigi's AA. - Well how often do you see that? - What are the odds? And they were sat next to each other! - Wow! - Anyway Tikay's late bid for Hollywood was deemed too over the top, no-one made a flush and we moved on to hand 33. By hand 35 the two rocks to Tikay's left have vanished, which leaves us down to six.
Hand 36 I get dealt the A-Q of hearts and move all in for my 21,000 that I had managed to maintain through a combination of guile and outright thievery. Rocky re-raises (uh oh!). He flips his KK into the middle, which turned into KKKK after the turn and I head home with £300 in my pocket and I am still down for the year!
Luigi is next to whittle away and slowly be demolished and then it is Tikay's turn to suffer the curse of raising into KK. Uncharacteristically he does so with a genuine hand (Q-Q) and like many gone before doesn't catch his set but earns a £440 payday.
The three survivors; Rocky, Julian and Sean all do a deal and take a nice £1200 each and start 2005 with a steady profit.
Julian, whose chips were up and down like a tart's knickers all night has his sights set on big things this year with a lucrative sponsorship deal with William Hill. This result is a reminder to all those challengers that you've got to be on your game to keep him out of the prizes.
Sean hasn't had the form recently that he has enjoyed in the past but this should pump his confidence back up as long as he can get all that baby oil off of his arms. Rocky continues to negotiate his way to finals in both Nottingham and Sheffield and looks like he could also be in for a good year.
In summary this was another good tournament run by Gala Nottingham - enjoyed by most but some more than others! - One minor gripe though - Why don't they put on house dealers? - with the recent allegations of cheating in the camp and increased bad feeling surely this would both improve the games and keep them honest.
Overall result
1 - Julian Thew (£1200)
1 - Rocky (£1200)
1 - Sean (£1200)
4 - Tikay (£440)
5 - Luigi (£380)
6 - Hill Junior (£300)
7 - Jon Dowe (£240)
8 - Scotty Rock (£210)
9 - Moody (£160)
10 - Cherry Baby (£130)