Wizardry Up North

by snoopy
Submitted by: snoopy on Tue, 05/09/2006 - 2:26am

Although Sir Ian McKellen couldn't quite make this one, there was plenty of excitement nonetheless as this week I bring you a selection of 'magic' hands from Bolton, each one integral to the tournament in their own little way.

First up...

 
Hand 1 

Probably the biggest pot of the first few levels... At around 10:15 we saw two regulars, in Iwan Jones and Jim Reid (right), lock horns with a local lad... affectionately known as Mateyboy.

Why was this hand so important? Well, not only was it a chunky pot, but, in my humble opinion, if Jim Reid had been victorious by the River, he would have been a major contender and a virtual guarantee to make Day 2. Jim Reid plays the big stack very well, so you don't want to be handing the man chips. But, as it turned out, the poker gods weren't smiling upon him as the fifth and all important card hit the felt.

With Iwan Jones all-in due to some heavy preflop action, Jim Reid and Mateyboy saw a raggy flop. With just a few thousand left, Jim Reid chucked his shrapnel in, and Mateyboy, who had both players outstacked, made the call.

Jim Reid = K-K

Mateyboy = A-Q

Iwan Jones = J-J

No Ace or Queen arrived, but as Iwan Jones began to rise from his seat, that magic Knave hit the River. Iwan looked gob-smacked whilst Jim Reid seemed slightly pissed off, but refused to moan as so many others would. 

Mateyboy takes a big hit, Iwan wins a tasty pot and Jim Reid is left with just 5k, a position from which he never really recovered, finally running A-Q into a set of Eights.

 
Hand 2 

Rumour has it that in true Karate Kid fashion, eventual runner-up, Iqbal Patel (left), is currently receiving one-on-one tuition from none other than renowned circuit player, Alli Mallu - and it certainly showed in the following hand.

Over to Jen...

Stuart Rutter in Shock Threes Out-ing News Now -

After a raise from John Huckle and a call from a rather perpetual caller in Iqbal Patel, Stuart on the big blind decided now was the time to pick up 3,000 with a steal-y type all-in re-raise (7,500 more) - he held 3d-3c. 

After a while, the original raiser to 1,500 passed, and Stuart was ready to pick up the pot, but no - the other caller, Patel, called, for a good proportion of his stack too, with 4s-5s!  A five on the river, and a shocked Rutter comes to tell us what happened...

I guess we can coin a new phrase... "I've been Patelled"

 
Hand 3 

As we already know, Mick Fletcher walked away with the title, but at one point, he didn't have that massive stack that he took into the final.

For quite a while, Mick was hovering around the 60-65k mark whilst Iqbal and Goodwin dominated the field. But then came the hand that really got the ball rolling - a near unavoidable cold deck confrontation with Gerald David, who was consequently eliminated from the Event.

From then on, Mick never looked back, and he soon had a gigantic 160k+ stack and the clear chip-lead.

Back over to Jen who reported the hand...

Sharp elimination news now - Gerald David is OUT

Holding Ah-Jc on an Ad-6h-Ac flop, he must have been fairly happy to shove his chips in, but Mick Fletcher called in a microsecond - he held 6s-6d and had flopped the House!

A quiet exit from Gerald, while Mick got a bit shouty "Come ON! No ACE!" etc. before admitting that this was because "Big hands excite me."