blonde poker forum

Jerome Bradpiece -- 608,000
Peter Evans -- 596,600
Ganesh Rao -- 362,600
Mohammed Shafiq -- 340,900
Chris Bruce -- 270,400
Raj Patel -- 246,300
Adam Wilkinson -- 239,300
Joe Beevers -- 237,600
Dan Carter -- 232,200
Des Jonas -- 225,700
Billy Ngo -- 178,600
John Conroy -- 132,200

Play resumes at 2.30pm.

Be there or Blue Square!  ;thankyou;

My pick's still in, so I'm sicking with local boy Des Jonas.

Who's ya money on, folks??

Pass on my best wishes to The Bandit - he's on form !

Chris Bruce as hes local, if not him Joe Beevers, due a big win

The Beaverman to make it top 3.

Greg

Anyone else think it's ridiculous that after 18 one hour levels players complain about it being a crapshoot? And the decision to freeze the antes at 600 whilst still increasing the blinds is absolutely farcical. Surely they should stick to the advertised structure, and if players don't like increasing blinds and antes they should be pointed in the direction of the cash games.

id like to say shaf, ive got a feeling he will be moveing early while they are short handed try get in a good pos for final,

but id love to see pete bandit to win it, grew up watchin him play on tv :)

my pick dezzys still in so i am sticking to my guns

Great updates as usual from Jen & Snoops...............nice to see 1 of my original boks/picks is still.......Good luck to John Conroy.........if I had to pick anyone else I'd go for Joe Beevers on the strength of his experience............as to the structure it apppeared in the 1st hour yesterday with the number of departures that they were playing a turbo crapshoot as for later on in the night obviously the blinds and antes started to catch up on the shortstacks and I'm sure that the tour organisers will take note of this and hopefully make adjustments to the future tournaments in the tour.

My pick Dan Carter is still in. Go on my son! (surprisingly someone asked me if he actually was my son the other day. Do I look that old!?)

I think anything done for the good of the game, with the consent of the players, is fantastic.

Just like to pass on my good wishes to John "punk floyd" Conroy.

im going for dezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzy man.,.,.,.,hes a top guy.,.,.and due a win,.,.,.,.,he will be lively early on imho.,.,and get a lead.,.,.,gooooone dezzzza gl m8

 Whilst totalling agreeing with Red's general point..... yesterday,knowing the approaching structure, I made a decision to make some moves before I got too low for comfort. Unfortunately Dan Carter was on fire at the time and took me out with Aces, .....but the point is that if I KNEW the structure was going to alter it would have affected my decision.

 the odds on bluesq
 
Jerome Bradpiece (608K) 4/1               Des Jonas (225K) 12/1    
Peter 'The Bandit' Evans (596K) 4/1     Dan Carter (232K) 12/1    
Mohammed Shafiq (340K) 7/1              Adam Wilkinson (239K) 14/1  
Ganesh Rao (362K) 8/1                       Raj Patel (246K) 14/1    
Joe Beevers (237K) 8/1                      Billy Ngo (178K) 16/1  
Chris Bruce (270K) 12/1                      John Conroy (132K) 25/1  
 
so wot do we all fancy

My three selections are.....

Shaf

Chris Bruce

Peter Evans

Dan Carter

Des

Punk Floyd

Forced to go for just one, I'd select Chris Bruce, for Notts, & Shaf, as a win for him would be superb news for the Cash Game.

HOVAH HOVAH HOVAH

That's a good point too ripple. Who would organise a tourney eh?

Come on Chris Bruce.  ;cheerleader;

2 tricasts in a week? would have loved to see the seating draw beforehand but will go for.

shaf
bruce
conroy

conroy at 25-1 is just ridiculous with his mtt experience online, hes only a couple of hands from the bigstack and he will be out early or have a stack for the final. Shaf at 7-1 is also too high as he is a streak/form player and nobdoy can doubt his current run. Those will be the 2 bets for me.

Nope certainly not easy......but really enjoyed my first visit to Walsall... very well looked after by both staff and Blue Square.....good luck to those left, especially Blondite Chris Bruce.. at 12/1 my fiver is on Dan Carter.

...and kol tuv to you Sir.

I think at least 5 of those remaining are blondes -

Definites are....

Dan Carter

John Conroy

Joe Beevers

Chris Bruce

Des Jonas

Not sure about the others.

who is conroy online

Punk Floyd, of BadBeat.

Normally i would go for des and i hope he wins being a regular at walsall but usually i'm not a good dealer for him if u believe in that sort of crap and rumour has it i'm one of the final table dealers  SO GET UR CHIPS EARLY DEZZIE

Punkfloyd-he has won so many comps on ladbrokes, pokerstars etc so will not be bothered by being the shortstack. If he wins his first allin he will make the top 3 imo.

Good luck Dan Carter. The Bristol Boys are watching and expect

bluesq are offering odds on when the 1st  deal will be done on the final table                 no deal    100/1
2 players    9/2
3 players    2/1
4 players evens
5 players    6/1
6 players    14/1
7 players    28/1
8 players    33/1
9 players    66/1

Mango99 and myself will be there to cheer Dan on! :)

I think Tourney Structures SHOULD slow down as the comp progresses. Reasons are that as less and less players involved, the rising blinds do NOT keep pace with the average stack , so the longer a comp goes on, the more of a crapshoot it becomes.

I hope that makes sense

We're here and the setting up is continuing, both on the TV stage (which is growing like some kind of mushroom taking over the cardroom, the Casino and probably the world like in Akira) and the two 'regular' tables which will be recommencing play in about 15 minutes.  Seat draw on its way (redraw at every new day at the GUKPT)...

Brilliant updates from jen and snoops aka the A-Team.
best of luck to John Conroy a real gent, and a mean player too. my 3

Shaf
Codpiece
Conroy

On the crapshoot line, i would like to see them tweak the structure a bit, i feel its got a bit to one move style to it.
Best of luck!!

Break a leg Danny boy!

 :hello: ;sleep; ;surrender;

y r u not at work blue nose

Redraw sees the players in these positions:

Table Bandit

Ganesh Rao    362,600
Dan Carter     232,200
Chris Bruce     270,400
Peter Evans     596,600
Billy Ngo         178,600
Joe Beevers     237,600

Table Big Name

Jerome Bradpiece  608,000
Des Jonas             225,700
Mohammed Shafiq   340,900
John Conroy           132,200
Raj Patel                246,300
Adam Wilkinson       239,300

I start at 8.45 tonight until 6 for the comp tonight. Can't remember what it is though. £100 rebuy i think???

The players are braced for action!

100/1 WOW.....maybe the payout stucture need looking at?.... ;ifm;

These are tired smiles, folks.

 I can't believe some of the things I've read and heard about the structure here.

 Let's first look at what the organisers are trying to achieve.

 The first decision they have made is that these are four day events. It was to be that some would be three days, but it seems this is going to be a very popular tour. I think four days is just right as it gives normal working people a chance to partake and gives the pros the chance to play all the events without spending their whole lives on it.

 This is a very popular tournament with more people wishing to enter than spaces. The organisers have tried to physically squeeze everyone in, and have also tried to squeeze the tournament into the time available. The tournament is four days long and basically Sunday is intended to be just for the final. In my view this is a correct deciion as it means that enormous numbers of extra players do not have to stay longer, putting in more hours, building up extra expenses and receiving little or no prize money. It also means that the final will start at a reasonable time allowing the big money decisions to take place earlier on, while people are not exhausted from a marathon day. This will also mean that a live audience will be on hand and awake to add atmosphere, and that the TV crew and casino staff will be not have to work on late into the night. If any hitches occurr or if the final becomes a really long battle, there will be no time pressure and the threat of a chip count will be averted.

 Given that they have made that decision to try and get very close to the final by the end of play Saturday then they just need to construct a structure to do that. As they started at 4pm, got down to 12 players by 3.45am and the casino is legally bound to close at 4am I don't see how they could have squeezed much more play into the time available.

 The only choice left to them now is to take play away from the early part of the tournament in order to make a better game later. It is possible that by bringing the antes in slightly earlier or by skipping the odd level they could give themselves leeway to slow things down later. The problem here is that more people would be affected by the quickening of the structure leaving more people to complain.

 There may be some tweeks that can be made but they should only be tweeks. Basically the GUKPT have got it right.

 The people who have commented already have covered a lot of good points. A lot of the people who have complained are simply not used to tournaments with running antes. I think it is a great development that the bigger UK tournaments are all starting to have antes now. All American and online NLH tournaments have a running ante and to me it just isn't a proper NLH tournament without them. I have no idea why they have not always been used in past Grosvenor festivals but I think a lot of the rocks who are not used to antes, and who were unable to adapt to a new situation were the ones shouting the loudest.

 The second really good point is that changing things that have been advertised because people are shouting and moaning is generally bad. The time for these people to complain was either when the structure was first displayed on the website or long after the end of the tournament. I thought one quote yesterday was very telling. Top tournament player, wily super agggressive veteran and altogether classy individual Alan MacLean had taken considerable risks to accrue an enormous stack, possibly because he realised that the pace of the tournament was rising fast and that people had not realised. He did not shout and scream like some, but was heard to quietly exclaim:

 "The rocks have won."

 Any time you change the structure midway, even if you think you are benefitting the game, you are penalising somebody else. In this case it was the people who just got on with it, adapted to the structure they were facing and played to win. Some of those were knocked out on gambles they may not have taken and others had won chips with gambles that were now not as valuable as they thought.

 The final person who made a lot of sense to me was Rob Sherwood. The sentiment he was trying to get over was, I believe, this one. Its a poker tournament. The blinds have to go up, people have to be knocked out, that's what happens. It has to finish sometime. If you don't like the idea of that go and play a cash game, which is exactly what I'm off to do now.

nc  

My picks for the top spots:

Jerome (pictured with Des Jonas, who's looking the least sleep deprived of them all)
Dan Carter  (delighted to be inches away from getting sponsor logo on TV)
Billy Ngo   (crazy, but good to get his picture online now as he may be out within the next few minutes)

These three (four with Des) would make the most entertaining final, in my opinion, from the point of view of the second TV show in which a large proportion of the Final is shown. 

Raj Patel is gone in 12th

Jerome Bradpiece raised pre-flop, Raj Patel moved all-in from the big blind with A-K and Jerome called, for quite a chunk, with Pocket Threes.

7-5-J-9-5 board means we've lost one of the local, a quiet and reserved Midlander who's genuinely done well to make it so far.

prbably the best structured event you will get to play in without going to a 10k buyin. The moaners are people who aren't used to running antes (most players in the UK don't like them), if people want to go play in the wsop/wpt type events and do well they better adapt their games and get used to running antes, they are used everywhere else in the world. I think changing the structure from the advertised one during the event is wrong as players who have played and taken gambles according to the advertised structure are then being penalised for playing correctly.

While that was going on, there was a couple of all-in (maybe moves?) on the other table from aggressive young player Ganesh Rao.

Firstly, Chris Bruce raised from under the gun to 35k, only for big blinder Ganesh Rao to ask "Stealing my blinds?"

No comment from Chris led to Ganesh wsiftly announcing "all-in" adding "I told you not to nick 'em"

Chris Bruce folded, although somehwhat reluctantly.

The next hand, Ganesh was at it again, raising Joe's button raise of 35k to 85k. Joe also folded.

Chris Bruce is down to the felt while Dan Carter doubles his stack out of the 'middling' ones...

Ganesh Rao raised on the button, kicking off a large pot as Dan Carter pushed all-in on the small blind.  Thinking he was at it (and fairly enough) Chris Bruce re-raised all-in, getting rid of Rao while Dan was happy to see his Qs Qd up against Chris Bruce's Ac 9d.

Flop:  Aspades Ad 2d 
Turn:  7s  (Dan is looking ready to bow out)
River:  Qc  ("Online!"  mutter the railers, continually horrified by how similar the live game is.)

And just as he's got em, Jerome's lost em, doubling up fan favourite Des Jonas.

Battle of the blinds (Jerome small, Des big), all the chips manage to fly in with Des's A-5 in hot water against the domineering Fives of Gutshotter Jerome.

And with a J-Q-Q Flop it wasn't looking good until the Jack Turn surprised everyone by pairing the board, thereby counterfeiting Jerome's pair.

The two levels 75-150 and 150-300 are a total waste of time.

Without those two levels, they would have 2 extra hours to add extra levels when they are playing for big money.

Meanwhile, on the other table, short-stacked Chris Bruce finds a much needed double up with A-7 vs. the A-2 of Dan Carter.

Very good post by Neil Channing (not just because he's the first person to say I talk sense). The decision taken to freeze the antes last night, whilst benefitting the short to medium stacks and tight players who are not used to playing NLHE tournies with running antes, is at the same time going to disadvantage the loose aggressive large stacks who can adapt to antes, as Neil hints at, players in the mould of Alan Maclean.

Maybe there is scope to do something along the lines of increasing the clock to ninety minute levels for the final table in future, so there is more 'play' when the serious money is being decided (in fact isn't this what they do for every WSOP event final table). However, messing about with the structure to the benefit of the rocks and short stacks who are trying to scramble into the minor money places to win two buy-ins is a bit silly, and to me seems unfair on the players who are capable of taking advantage of the running antes around the bubble.

conroy at 25-1 is just ridiculous with his mtt experience online, hes only a couple of hands from the bigstack and he will be out early or have a stack for the final. Shaf at 7-1 is also too high as he is a streak/form player and nobdoy can doubt his current run. Those will be the 2 bets for me.

[/quote]


agreed.

Double up heaven for Conroy. Also shorstacked, John perhaps though Shaf was on a complete steal and so moved all-in on his pre-flop raise, but Shaf called and revealed Ad 9d, which was well in front of John's A-4o. However, a Q-4-4-x-x board meant that Punk Floyd lives to fight another day.

There's that double up that you guys think will lead him to the top 3.

The Camel and I often disagree, but this is the first time that I have felt compelled to say "Poppycock!"

thought shaf had 8d9d on the conroy hand snoops. the flop of k44 was quite emphatic anyway, 25-1 still on offer by any chance?

Jerome Bradpiece -- 535k
Des Jonas -- 525k
Mohammed Shafiq -- 205k
John Conroy -- 360k
Adam Wilkinson -- 180k

Lady from Bad Beat (hamsterboy's mrs who is following Conroy told me it was Ad 9d), but she could have made a tikay mistread. Either way, result is the same.

Nope, I misheard her, it was 9d 8d.

yeh set of fours still good nomatter what shaf had. I have one of my sneaking feelings on this one now and conroy will be a force to be reckoned with.

Red, if for example you had a choice of there either being a 75/150 level or say a 2.5k/5k ante 500 level (in between 2k/4k and 3k/6k obviously, this is about where people started to shout crapshoot last night). I would vote for the 2.5k/5k every time, but I guess this is where agreement won't be reached.

Despite being relatively quiet, young Ganesh Rao has been gradually upping the aggression throughout the tournament, and is clearly not keeping a tight grip on his stack at the expense of opportunities to increase it.  He's nicked several blinds, and released when he's found serious opposition, just now showing that he can even lay down a reasonable hand when the timing is right...

He raised, and found Billy Ngo re-raising all in out of the blinds, and launching the high-speed verbal at him (with absolutely no effect).  Ignoring the "I'll show you my hand if you pass.  You see it either way..." he thought for a while, saying, "I got you beat..."
"Do you want a side bet?" pipes up Ngo instantly, prompting the floor to squash the idea.  Ganesh passed Ahrt Qc face up, shown Jd Jc by Billy.   

I don't know whether he would have wanted to take that straight gamble if he'd known exactly what his opponent's cards were.

Adam Wilkinson finishes in 11th place, winning  £3,600

Straight all-in+call scenario, quick as you like, with Adam finding 9d 9c at the same time as Jerome found Ts Tc.  A third Ten just iced the luckbox chip leader's cake.

Ganesh Rao -- 395k
Dan Carter -- 385k
Chris Bruce -- 115k
Peter Evans -- 470k
Billy Ngo -- 260k

Hand for hand now, but I can't see it taking too long, as reflected in Chris Bruce's comment, "Have we even had a walk yet?"

Which makes it slightly more interesting that the betting went (preflop) - Raise from s.b. Shaf, re-raise all in from Conroy, call from Shaf.  Guess he thought that 140k was a small enough stack to take a stab at knocking out.

Jerome Bradpiece is your current chip leader with 740,000

 I'm sure some tweeking can be done Keith as I said. I'm also sure that if there are going to be changes then making things slightly faster early so that it can go slower later is the best way. However, I would mention that removing early levels means that many more players are faced with less play and given something to moan about. It is noticeable generally how people often speak in hushed tones about tournaments with a 75/150 as if this is the Holy Grail of tournament structures. These people are often total rocks and I find it's often best to try and move away from them and get to the bar quite quickly.

 The changes I would recommend would be to bring in the ante one level earlier at the 100-200 level, not to have two levels of 150-300 and to make the dinner breaks staggered (half eating while half play on) thus immediately freeing 75 minutes over the two days.

I would negotiate with the 75/150, but the 150/300 is a sacrosanct.

In all honesty I think a lot of good points have been made, especially by Mr Channing.

How is Joe Beevers doing?

We had at least one level early on, which was the same amount the level as the one before , but with an added anti.....this could make way for a 2.5/5k level later.

 Kind of you to say so Red Dog. I have to go out and play poker now, but I'll be reading this thread when I get in, and I have assured Mr Raab of an extra long 'phone call and a succession of emails this week, so if anyone has an input it would be welcome.

Please send a Good Luck to Chris Bruce flying the flag for Notts.

Also Good Luck to Gerome. I was sat on his direct left for most of the first day. Good bloke and very solid player.

Cheers,

Nick

Shaf escapes elimination now - Jerome raises on the button to 50k, and big blind Shaf instantly moves all in.  He's in between saying "all" and "in" when Jerome calls, flipping Qs Qd.  Shaf has Ad Td.

Flop:  3c 5c 2c  Shaf says, "Club, club please."
Turn:  8c
River:  Kc

He got what he asked for.  Should have said "Ace or a Four, please, or a million pounds."

One way to look at it is to assess the calibre of the players left in. Of course, it could be sheer coincidence, but looking down the list, I don't see too many fish, in fact I don't think I've ever seen a final 10 as strong as this. The cream has risen to the top, so it can't be too much of a crapshoot.

Ganesh button raises to 35k, Carter makes it 115k from the small blind, Ganesh folds.

"Everytime this kid raises, someone re-raises," comments hotdog.

Carter shows Queens.

Some very interesting discussion on the structures.

The decision to freeze the antes at 600 until the end of the day was one that was not taken lightly. At this point in the tournament the average stack had just 6 rounds of the table, which by most definitions is a crapshoot. I pained me to have to change it, but it had adversely affected the game and in this instance while not suitable for absulutely everyone, was a neccessary action. It was certainly not as drastic as tinkering with the blinds. Having spent a lot of time thinking about what can be done going forward I feel it will be neccessary to make some tweaks to the strcuture ahead of Cardiff and I thank you all for your opinions. They are all very helpful and we will consider all the options available to us before deciding on which changes need to be made.

If anyone wishes to read my Tour Diary on the GUKPT site you will see that my views largely concurr wth Neil's. Many people are not used to running antes and need to adjust their tactics to adapt to this sort of event. My feeling is that one or two of the levels were slightly too aggressive with their running ante increases and by changing these we should be able to get it right. However, every game is different. Some move slower than others, so minor changes during each event cannot be ruled out for the future.

In Bolton the main issue we had was that when the final started the average stack had just 9 rounds of the table and we addressed this by adding in a 7k-14k level here at Walsall. We also introduced a rule that the final will start at no more than this 7-14k level, ensuring that we get more play on it regardless of how long it takes us to get down to it.

I would welcome all opinions on which changes we should make for next time. If anyone wants to PM me their views feel free.

Do we please the rocks or the aggressive players? Well, we want to find a happy medium really.

That hand when Jerome split with Shaf, there was a bit of controversy - noticed by the rail - the hand was being dealt and Jerome wasn't in his seat.  In fact, the cards got all the way round once, and then the dealer kind of slowed to allow him time to get back to his seat - hotdog says "hand should be dead," and I don't actually know what Grosvenor rules are (first card out/last one to button) concerning when a player is deemed "out of seat" and his hand mucked.  Surely the chip leader should stop hobnobbing with the spectators and get on with accumulating all the chips.

FINAL!!!...

the rule for these events jen is that you have to be in your seat when your 2nd card is dealt to you or your hand is dead.

The final will start with the blinds still at 7,000/14,000 ante 800, if I understood Jonathan correctly earlier. 

I think hotdog's problem was with the dealer artificially giving Jerome extra time to get back before dealing the hand-is-dead last card...

Prizes for the last Nine...

1 £111,600
2  £59,400
3  £39,600
4  £28,800
5  £21,600
6  £18,000
7  £14,400
8  £10,800
9   £7,200

Dan Carter made it 28k (twice the big blind), Chris Bruce moved all-in for what I believe was 165k.

Then, with all the cameras swarming round, Billy Ngo stood up and took a deep inhale of breath, clearly burdened by a tough decision.

A few minutes in the think tank passed, and Billy was still thinking, Peter Evans commenting, "If you just turned the camera off he'd pass" which prised a few giggles from the crowd.

Then Chris Bruce said, "Do you want some advice?"

Billy nodded.

"You can find a better spot."

With this Billy made the call and showed Qc Qh.

ooooooh went the crowd.

Chris revealed Kc Ks, after Dan had folded.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooh went the crowd.

Flop = 9s 8c 2h

Turn = Qd

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh went the crowd.

At this point, Billy lost control and jumped up and down in celebration, shouting at the top of his voice.

River = 7d

Ngo punches the air and releases a yelp that was heard right through to the press room.

"Take it quietly," an onlooker exclaimed.

"You don't need to ask who won," added someone else.

A dejected Chris Bruce, meanwhile, simply tapped the table and said nice hand, clearly crushed to have missed out on the televised final table, and to be dealt such a crushing blow too.

Well teething problems not withstanding, the GukPT is the best and most ambitious initiative British poker has seen in a long time. Congratulations to all involved.

Classy guy Chris Bruce, he must be gutted. :(

Ul chris, great effort and well played

 in blackpool my hand was deemed dead because i wasnt in my seat for the first card dealt,

and that was one hand before a chp count ,and my blind .

Blackpool was not a GUKPT Event.

rules here are different barry. They are a hybred of the tda rules from what i can see but the rule about hand being dead if you werent sat down when your 2nd card was dealt was announced before comp started clearly over the tanoy.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
bluesq are offering odds on when the 1st  deal will be done on the final table                 no deal    100/1
2 players    9/2
3 players    2/1
4 players evens
5 players    6/1
6 players    14/1
7 players    28/1
8 players    33/1
9 players    66/1

From what I understand, the final is due to kick off at 5pm.

I was about to say the same thing there Tikay. The usual Grosvenor rules don't apply to this event as it has its own. Which for this particular issue is not in seat when your 2nd card is dealt means your hand is mucked.

Apparently, Peter Evans wasn't too keen to sign the release form in Bolton, but was eventually persuaded to so. It will be interesting to see if he is arkward today with regards to interviews, the cameras the general razzmatazz of it being a televised event.

Final Table chip counts:

Jerome Bradpiece -- 918,400
Billy Ngo -- 547,600
Des Jonas -- 505,400
Peter Evans -- 447,600
Dan Carter -- 444,000
John Conroy -- 255,800
Mohammed Shafiq -- 202,500
Ganesh Rao -- 181,000
Joe Beevers -- 134,200

Now that's what I'm talkin' bout!

Thats Class reportage right there, it doesn't get any better than that.

Well telled that man!!

From time to time, 425 had problems with players who, quite legitimately & reasonably, did not wish to sign away their image rights. That's their absolute right, unless the Tournament Rules, available in advance of entering, make it clear that it's compulsory, in which case, the player knows the score in advance & can hardly complain. I respect players rights to protect their image rights, but equally, if the Rules say "you have no choice" then it's maybe best not to enter the Tourney if it's a problem.

In any case, 425 would just say to the objecting player, "fine, no prob, we'll just edit out any footage of you", & in every single case, they said "OK I agree to be filmed"!

Photos coming up...

Register with forum guests so you can view them.

Seat 1: Jerome Bradpiece -- 918,400

Seat 2 - Dan Carter  440,000

Seat 3:  John Conroy -- 256,000

Seat 4: Mohammed Shafiq -- 203,000

Seat 5: Joe Beevers -- 135,000

Seat 6:  Peter 'The Bandit' Evans -- 448,000

Seat 7: Ganesh Rao -- 180,100

Seat 8:  Billy Ngo -- 548,000

Seat 9: Des Jonas -- 506,000

Just a small point but during the £500 the previous week while attempting to get to my seat I had to ask a player on the table behind to move his chair. As he was in a hand he ignored me while concentrating on his hand. i got the dealers attention and she noted my dilemma. She then shuffled up and dealt the cards. Was I
A.....Allowed to take my seat
B......hand dead
C......told to slim down for easy access
D......Other

its got to be C told to slim down.

Please tell me it was C.  :D

I would have had you taken outside and shot .... but Grosvenor rules arent that harsh. so I guess B :)

D.....Other - they employed the little known Closest to the Hand rule - the player blocking your way can turn round and play your hand too, with any winnings split fifty-fifty.

Just a few comments on the structure for Jon and anyone else interested....

Running ante's are a must as a couple of others have stated it's not a true NLH tournament without them. I think maybe the level of these ante's does need to be tweaked slightly. From my vast experience of playing online tourneys it is done well on some sites and badly on others. Pokerstars has a very simple but to my mind excellent and extremely playable formula. The running ante is always 10% of the small blind so on a 9 handed table you have total antes of just less than half the big blind. The best thing about this ante structure is it's consistency always being x% of the SMALL blind means that the pace of the tournament isn't made slower or faster on a level by level basis by the ante's themselves. Compare Cryptologic who don't seem to have a set formula where sometimes the total ante's exceed the value of the BIG blind and sometimes they fall just below this level. This leads to periods of the tournament where the structure noticeably increases in speed.
I am of the opinion that the total ante's in the pot should not exceed the value of the BIG blind otheriwise they are speeding up the tournament too much.
It would be lovely if you could follow the Pokerstars ante model, although i would be an advocate of the ante being exactly 10% of the BIG blind but of course you are hindered by chip denominations in some of the levels. In that scenario to maintain a more balanced structure the ante's should maybe not increase at every level at certain points but every 2 levels as the World Series and EPT events do. This will lead to minor shifts in the speed of the tourney purely down to the ante levels but it will not lead to a situation where you need to freeze the ante's as happened in Walsall. It does sound like they got ridiculous at one stage if what i'm told is correct they were vastly outweighing the total blinds in the middle late on on day 2. It may of been for the good of the tournament that they were frozen but i don't think anything should be changed mid tournament as people's past decisions are often based on how they see the structure developing in front of them in the next level or 2.
Maybe a couple of little timesavers along the way could lead to an extra level or 2 or reaching the goal of final only on Sunday, such as splitting the dinner break to have half the field still playing as the EPT do and removing a break or 2, i didn't see the need for the last 15 minute break on day 1 to come back for just 1 more hour playing 3 hours straight through the last session shouldn't be too much of a hardship.
Also the dealers need a bit more training with regard to ante's many of the are obviously not used to it and a dealer competent in there collection is dealing a lot more hands per hour than one who is not leading to more play. On top of this some of the players need to wake up a bit and have them ready to put in, it is tiresome that the same 1 or 2 players are waited on every hand to put them in and it delays the game for everyone else.
Generally a big well done to Jon and everyone else, make a few tweaks in the right places and you will have a very fine tourney.

The answer is D

The dealer went to kill my hand but two other players on the table turned their cards over which led to a redeal. I was then dealt QQ to knock out one of the two gents to stand my corner. oops

still say you need to lose weight dinis lol

We're braced!...

Yes, 'C' still applies.  :D

We've got our nice plasma TV with live feed from the table (sound too) so there will be less darting down corridors to fight to the front of the stands and more hands reported, probably.  At first, our sound was apparently coming straight from the van, in which the spotters look at everything (hole cards included) and direct the action.  We hoped this would escape them, but no, we've got sound from the table now.  I was hoping I'd be able to make 'astoundingly accurate reads' on the final table, but we've lost our illicit extra information.

While they get ready for the Walkons (you know, when the players walk on) here's my view in the press room - the TV and Phil, who's birthday it is.  At least there was cake at the buffet just now, if he has to spend today blogging...

45 mins till the $3 rebuy on blonde guys.

Hope to see a few of you there.

Just got home and would like to thank those with support and good wishes for me. What can I say its been an emotional and enjoyable weekend. I am very happy to have nearly made the final and good luck to those still in.

very ul m8

The Walkons have brought us a little surprise - the Seat Draw has been redone (apparently a computer problem -?) and the actual seat order is now:

Seat 1:  Joe Beevers         135,000
Seat 2:  Des Jonas             506,000
Seat 3:  Peter Evans          448,000
Seat 4:  M. Shafiq             203,000
Seat 5:  John Conroy         256,000
Seat 6:  Dan Carter            440,000
Seat 7:  Ganesh Rao          181,000
Seat 8:  Billy Ngo               548,000
Seat 9:  Jerome Bradpiece  918,400

Great updates as usual.....  just avin a right rivitin read as im flicking through some old Jimmy Sommerville LP s that Snoops want s to borrow

GO ONNNNNNNNNNNNNN PETER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There speaks a man who showed how to lose with class & dignity in the face of table banging & hollering.

And Chris must be devestated, leading from Day One, until the wheels came off just before the Final.

Top Bloke.

Shaf wins the first hand, taking the blinds with a 60k.

"That was easy, innit?" comment Shaf.

You must be mixing me up with someone else.  :dontask:

Sad story now.

The dealer on the TV table is so short that he has to stand up.

aaah

Very unlucky......but very well played. ;applause;

$3 REBUY feeder to the $30 , $500 added comp ...starts at 6pm .. get in quick and snap up the valloooooooooooooooooooo ...IM IN :D

Er... there may be an edit.

Shaf: "Do you think he got them chips from being a pussy?"

No big hands as of yet. Most blind nicking.

Bloomin tea leaves!

Last 15 mins:

Name                                        Blinds Nicked
Billy the Kid                                      I
Peter the Bandit                               I
Shaf                                               III

Jerome removes his hat for the first time in three days, shocking the table with his surprise lack of hair.

Ah, the hat came off because of problems with the Puma logo, apparently... and now we have a break in which this latest crisis is surely being solved.

Sounds catastrophic

Peter raises to 30k, he gets some more blinds.  Then John Conroy makes it 45k... "How much you playing, John?" asks Billy Ngo.  He counts some chips out, then re-raises - 80k more, giving John a beaming smile.  But John really lets him stew for a while, and the smile fades after a good couple minutes of waiting to see if Conroy will go for it.  "You don't get so much time on the computer," says Billy.
"One time," says John, passing something good - A-K while Billy showed Q-Q.  "Queens have been good to me," he says.

Des's turn to nick some blinds, showing A-Q in the process.

Puntastic.

Or even cat-hat-strophic

It definitely warranted its own break, while the ingenious solution of some red-backed business cards stuck on Jerome's head with tape solved the problem.

The rarely seen pun re-raise.

While we await our first big pot of the final table, check out these 'at the table' pics.

Jerome raises to 50k...

"Gotta good hand?" asks Shaf, "I believe you."

John Conroy dwells it up in the small blind...

ALL IN!!!

Call from Jerome!

Jerome has Ad Ahrt

John has Ac Aspades

Flop = 6c 6d 5c

Turn = 9c

...............

Chance for a flush!!!

River = Th

oooooooooooh

Cutoff Bandit raises to 35k, Shaf re-raises on the button to 85k.  That's enough to win it.
Next hand, Joe Beevers moves in on other short stack Ganesh Rao's big blind.  Ganesh looks like he has around 240k or so... someone pipes up saying, "Is there any rule about two small stacks going against each other?"  If there is, Ganesh hasn't heard of it... Call!

Joe Showes Aspades Tc
Ganesh shows:  Kh Qd

Flop:  9h 3h 6s
Turn:  9d
River:  8c

So we have a double through for cool as cucumber Joe, and a really short stack in Ganesh Rao.

Joe passes, Des makes it 35k, Bandit passes, Shaf passes...

Conroy all-in!

Passed round to Des who, after counting up his chips, makes a reluctant pass.

Nice pot for Punk Floyd.

Ganesh knows he's got to do it, and now moves in on the cutoff.  It looks like Joe Beevers is going to call, and he does.

Joe shows:  9c 6c
Ganesh shows:  Qd Ac

Flop:  4d 6h 8c
Turn:  2c
River:  Kc

A flush, eventually, is what eliminates Ganesh Rao in 9th place, for £7,200

Dan Carter, who's been relatively queit so far, takes down the blinds with a 40k raise.

"Yeaaaah," shouts Matt Dale from the stands.

Still not too much action, we've had an exit, but the excitement bar hasn't been risen just yet, but this may be due to the razzmatazz of it being a televised event, which is certainly slowing things down with the various breaks and pauses.

TV or not, that Shaf don't half like to talk.

LOL

Joe raises to 35k...

"I'm going to have a dabble," says Shaf.

up to 85k from Shaf

John Conroy announces "all-in"...

Joe passes

Shaf asks for a count before going into the ol speech play.

"How big's you pair?"

Shaf folds.

Another 100+ sails over to John.

Any chance of some chip counts please.

This hand gets to the flop before the chips are all in!

Flop:  4s 2s Js
Joe bets 60k, Shaf says, "I'm all in," pretty fast, and it's enough to get rid of Mr. Beevers.

The next hand, Shaf gives it another go, raising to 55k preflop, but instantly releases when Billy the Kid moves in.

We can't see them at the moment, chip counts will arrive at the break... which is VERY shortly.

Many thanks...............and good luck to my original pick/bok John Conroy.

It sounds like John's really changed gears. Great updates guys.

Top reporting/reading, thank you very much SHEER CLASS.


COME ON MR CONROY

 at 25/1.......COME ON..... ;D

After the break, blinds will be raised to 8k/16k ante 1k.  Even the comfortable stacks must surely be intending to do something - I am waiting for The Bandit and Dan Carter to wake up (the latter is surprising us with his quietness, even though he can't be loving Shaf on the button when he's on the big blind, or the fact that it's Billy's big blind he's in position to nick).

Any chance of a chip count please

Joe Beevers -- 105,000
Des Jonas -- 456,000
Peter Evans -- 415,000
Mohammed Shaffiq -- 284,000
John Conroy -- 441,000
Dan Carter -- 381,000
Billy Ngo -- 679,000
Jerome Bradpiece -- 875,000

4 second answer, not bad, huh?  ;D

Billy the kid to win from here... seems to be tearing up this table.

First hand back, Shaf raises it up, only for Dan Carter to move all-in (he counted out 105k first for some reason) two seats down.

Cue the now infamous Shaf Chat.

"That's the first hand you've played you soft shit." (I bet a few TV peeps gasped at that point  :D)

"I wouldn't pass to anyone else, I still may not pass"

"I need a double up to be fair, what do you think Danny boy?"

And after all that tomfoolery, he decides to pass.

The announcers seem to be calling him Billy the Kid because they are scared of saying his name - no1 knows how to pronouce Ngo.  :D

For anyone who knows Walsall Grosvenor, the curvy wall coming down from the ceiling as you face the bar is where the seating positions are projected, and in fact the final table is projected live right now.  This means that when you come in to the casino, you're often greeted with a few rows of people who look like they're just standing in the middle of the floor gazing upwards like something out of Invasion of the Bodysnatchers.

Very very unlucky Chris. Really sorry to have just read how you went out. A superb achievement though and very well done on getting so far. Top bloke.

Jerome gets Shaf's small blind, with the minimum of abuse, but he does ask him, "Is it like the tinternet [sic]?"
----------------------

Shaf raises (so many pots seem to start like that) and says, "I've got exactly 180,500," before anyone can ask him.  Dan Carter thinks about it, before calling the 40k raise.  Billy says, "Tempting..." but was wary of the lack of raise from Dan  - saw him call a raise with KK yesterday which trapped two players with smaller pairs into getting all in against him - and leaves the two of them to see the flop.

Flop:  3c 2s 3h  Dan checks, Shaf bets 30k, Dan passes.

Shaf has now introduced the word 'piss' to the final table:

so that's...

piss
pussy
shit

I say he makes double figures before the end of the final.

I bet they've got the bleep button in the TV van permanently staffed with someone's finger over it...  He's definitely made an impression on the final, involved in a large percentage of hands despite his mediocre stack, and relentlessly talking.  Even Billy the Kid can't get a word in.

Shaf raises pre-flop and Jerome calls.

Ks 9s 4d

Jerome checks and Shaf bets 37k

"King Nine Four rainbow," says Shaf.

Jerome makes a horse noise (the exhale of air one) before passing.

"It's getting a bit sensible this," comments Shaf.

Dan gets one with a preflop raise.
Even when passing, Shaf has to commentate.  "Shaf passes." 

----------------------

Jerome calls on the button, and Joe does too on the small blind.  Check from Des on the big blind.
Flop:  6s 6h 5d  Check, Des Jonas bets something smallish and that's good enough.

It may be slow progress so far, but one thing that can be said, this final's certainly not a crapshoot.

Joe Beevers doubles up in style.

Jerome limps, shortstacked Joe moves all-in and Jerome decides to take a gamble with 8c 7c.

Joe Turns over Ahrt 3c, but is chagrined by the 3d 8s 5c.

His sorrow, however, translates into joy when the Turn brings the 3s and then amusement on the 3h River.

"It's good for TV," adds Joe.

"Ace kicker too," comments an anonymous voice.

Any chance of asking the Tournie Director to skip a few blind levels as some of us are getting a bit bored by the slowness of it all  ;)

Joe: "Everyone round the table was thinking 'shit' when that second Three hit the Turn."

So true.  :D

"Is that what you think of us?" ask Bandit.

Dan raises to 46k, pass round to Des Jonas on the button, who's acted fairly fast up to this point, deliberately re-raises to 160k.  Dan gives it up, and the crowd gives it up for the very popular local.

Shaf on the button, "I'm going to have a little stab at it and see what happens."  He gets the blinds of John and Dan (pictured, acting like a pair of synchronised swimmers.  These photos look hilarious on my camera when I flick back and forth quickly between them).

A few more action piccies...

lol

Agreed , this is sooooooooooooo slow.

Jerome gets some blinds with an under the gun raise, and the next hand informs the table that there's no shame in giving him a walk.  "Many a stack has been decimated in a battle of the blinds," he pronounces.  Wise beyond his years. 

Small blind Jerome re-raises 120k preflop over the top of Billy Ngo (on the button).  He doesn't look like he's enjoying it that much, asking, "Show me if I fold?"
"I guess..." says Jerome.  Then "Don't fold," in a plaintive voice. 
Billy loses his nerve, passes and gets shown 2h 3d, just like he asked.

Keep going Joe.
 ;applause;

Awesome to see Dan's still in,

What's his chip stack like?

- James

Well, he's moved in more than once, with no one wanting to give him enough chips to play with, so picking up 32k each time he gets no callers.

Difficult to tell because we can't get close to the table, but from afar, I'd say just under 400k.

excellent work as always Jen and Snoopy

Add 'poof' to the list.

We're on 4!

Any bets?

Thank you very much, who are you supporting?

That's cool, thanks man....Let him know I'm cheering him on from afar if you get chance :)

- James

87.......lucky this isnt the APAT ;scarymoment;

like to see Jerome do well .. hes certainly sick enough to do it.

thats assuming i have to pick one out ... given a preference i would like to see Joe and Jerome go heads up..

Billy Ngo has been put down to the felt by Peter Evans.

Billy raised pre-flop to 70k, only for The Bandit to make it 160k a few seats down.

Billy spent a decent amount of time in the think tanks before calling the extra 90k, and then moving in on the 7d 9h 7h Flop.

Peter called instantly and showed Eights, way ahead of Billy's Fives.

Turn = Jc

River = 9s

Hello

Thanks for the updates !

Good luck Joe !

welcome to blonde claire

 :hello: ;welcome;

Go Joe

A few snippets of info...

John Conroy hates seat 5 opposite the dealer.

and...

The staff here at Walsall have never seen Des so quiet.

The last two hands before the break (which is an hour long - I hear wonderful rumours of roast beef), and Jerome raises to 50k both times.  Shaf remarks, "You're bullyiing now.  Don't worry, I'm passing."  I think he might have wanted a call there...

Anyway, back in an hour.

You're welcome/

And who are you supporting?...

Should do well on channel 4. Sounds like there material.... ;whistle; :o ::)

Yep, back at 9. Chips counts when they return.

Hi Claire (Thats's my most favouriteist name) Welcome to blonde!

   its my favouritists second name.,.,.,.,CLAIR
obviously my first favourititsts name is  E

Des quiet don't believe it....

Go Mr Beevers...

You have to do well now courtesy of the chip dump from your stable mate.

Keep it up Jen and Snoops.

Hi is there any chance that one of you in walsall could tell dan to turn his phone on please it would be much appreciated. Thank you

Big fan of E from the Eels?

(http://www.abc.net.au/rage/guest/img/eels.jpg)

erm....lets see...I'm not sure !? I'll have a think about it and let you know ! :-)

Yep, hats off to Snoop and Jen, outstanding updates and better than watchin it on the box! Cheers gang.
Not surprised in the slightest my tip (Jerome) is chip leader.....8 hours on his table on friday was enough to realise this lad had a big chance (likes his rockets though!)

Does anyone know in all the bubble confusion if Chris Soxy got a payoff and how did he go out?

Go on Jerome! 8)

Played with Jerome for a long time at Amsterdam. He seems like a nice bloke and a really good player.

He took a couple of bad beats stoically and with good humour.

It would e nice to see him get a top three finish here.

Your so slick RED  ;whistle;

just wondering where the pics go can anyone help?

I don't believe Soxy got a payout I'm afraid.

They only started discussing a saver when they'd actually unknowingly made the money due to a miscount.

Good luck Jerome, played with him down the Western before and would like to see him get a good cash.

Updated Chip Counts:

Joe Beevers     202,000
Des Jonas        496,000
Pete Evans      676,000
Shaf               341,000
John Conroy    379,000
Dan Carter       382,000
Billy Ngo          220,000
Jerome Bradpiece  940,000

If you want to post a pic, go to 'Additional Options' and browse and attach with abandon.  Hope that's what you were asking, as that's as far as my technical knowhow goes.

Also, photos aren't visible unless you're a member, and signed in.  It's free and easy and sometimes there's a funny one.

Please click the link below to visit our picture gallery for this event.

http://www.blondepoker.com/index.php?q=image/tid/230 (http://www.blondepoker.com/index.php?q=image/tid/230)

I hear Dave Colclough is playing the Blonde special on Tuesday night. Snoops what is the chance of a bounty on his head. What time does it start.

the reporting is excellent,thank you for all your hard work
cheers
jef rogers

Hi Jef   :hello:

Come on Jerome !!

                            For those of u that don't know him,he plays on Tribecca as Jehova or J-HZA i met him on Fri night and he's a top guy and needless to say an excellent player.   ;goodluck;

The Blonde comp is on TUESDAY 27th at 8.30pm ...Its a $30 Freezeout with $500 added to the prizepool ..... Download blondes very own poker room at www.blondepoker.com .... Take advantage of the blonde LOYALTY SCHEME and join up now.

Is that Jef from luton...if so can you send me your email please.

$30 Denis.

Colchester Kev's your man, but I'm sure he could arrange for El Blondie to don the circular target.

Been out for the afternoon and just spotted this post.

How do we get down from 360 to 9 in 3 playing days?

Either you have a fast structure at the start or at the end.

If you get rid of the fiddlearse levels, you could extra levels when you are playing for the money. Obvious really.

I suppose we could make it a 7 day tournament and make it virtually impossible for anyone with a job to play the tournament.

Thanks Jeff, very nice of you to say so.

Final day of a very long week indeed.

hi jeff

 :hello: ;welcome;

jim from luton

evening all
 dennis ill see you tomorrow
hi,tom jim and all
just getting ready to play the p stars sunday tourny

Its sorted...come an ave a go, if you're ard enuff
 ;nemesis;

Dan Carter raises the first hand to 40k from the button, but Billy Ngo takes the pot with an all-in from the small blind.

The inscrutable John Conroy raised preflop another 30k.  Big blind Joe Beevers moves in over the top, prompting a long think from John.  It's a call, and he says as he makes it, "This is a terrible call."  Well, he said it.

Joe:  Ahrt Jd
John:  Kc Jc

Flop:  Ac Qh Aspades
Turn:  Ad   (bringing the second set of televised quads for Joe in two hours!)
River:  5c

Double through for Joe, who's comfortable for probably the first time today with over 420k...

Joe raises, Des moves all-in, Joe passes immediately. No hamming it up for the cameras.

I'm surprised John called this, I can't imagine Joe would have too many hands that aren't dominating K-J, especially when he knows there's such a high chance John will call.

enjoying these updates,
ul chris, nasty way to go out but a good boost to your confidence

Also, 'cock'. We're on 5.

There was also a mention of 'brothels' but I'm not sure that counts.

nice result in the £500 julian well played

jim

Mad orgy of callers the next one snoops.

Jules are u safely tucked up in bed with some cocoa or are you actually playing some tourneys 2nite?!

Great work as always snoop/Jen and gl to John.

Jules

Des and the Bandit see a flop.  And a turn.

Th 8s 8c 6h  Des bets 20k, Peter calls.
River:  3c  Des bets 30k, Peter passes.  Another one for him after his uncalled all in just now.  Pre dinner break you almost forgot he was there...maybe the buffet has given him the energy to get involved. 

There's still no talker on the table to rival Shaf.  He's been quietened a bit (word has it he's been gently informed that cussing, making homophobic and racist jokes will rather hamper his TV exposure rather than the opposite...) but we expect him to perk up.

There was also a mention of 'brothels' but I'm not sure that counts.

i hope this is not what their thinking of spending their winnings on ???????/

John Conroy is OUT and becomes the 8th place finisher winning £10,800

Moving all-in from the small blind, John got caught with his panties down when Dan Carter woke up with Tc Ts, miles ahead of Punk Floyd's Jd 9s.

A Jack could still do it though, but not after the Ks Td 3h Flop, a Queen was required now, or even an 8 when the Turn brought the 7h.

But a Jh River and it was all over for the Irishman.

Down to 7.

Jerome raises to 70k under the gun (again, as noted by Billy, whose big blind it is).
"I've got a hand here," says Billy
"You're not the only one," replies Jerome.
He passes Ahrt Js to the chip leader, in the end, and Jerome said he had Tens.  Unverified.

We might have to nip down there and give the Bandit a poker, make sure he's still with us.

Hi all, Great coverage, regards to all the Luton Lads on here, see you all soon , playing on Stars at mo, keep well
Xpressman

Billy Ngo thinks for a moment before moving all-in for 244k.  Joe's all-in too, which gets rid of the players in the middle.

Joe shows:  Kd Kh
Billy shows:  Aspades Qs

Flop:  Ts 7c 8s
Turn:  2h
River:  Ks  Bringing the totally irrelevant trips for Joe Beevers, and the flush which doubles up The Lucky Kid to half a million.

tx dave77, u2 ))

& jules, horlicks at 10pm & not a minute earlier.
am grinding on mansion, but resolve is already waning...

x

well played John - great result mate!

"You're going to need a crowbar to get these chips off me," comments Billy.

"Shut up you imbecile," replies Shaf.

Joe is all in again (what a rollercoaster for the Mobster) - this time Shaf considers the 158k total bet but lays it down, while big blind Dan Carter passes with no soul-searching whatsoever.  His determination is admirable, and his experience shows through in the calm way he's getting on with it.

Billy, relieved at having most of Joe's chips, says, probably not truthfully, "It's going to take a crowbar to get these."
"Shut up you imbecile," says Shaf, in another great moment for at-the-table diplomacy.

Can't see the table too easily, but I can tell that Billy Ngo now has around 600k after that big hand with Joe.

How many runners in the side comp snoops ?? any blondes in it ?

The two blinds (Billy and Jerome) see a cheap flop of 8d Ac Ks

Both players check the Flop and the 9s Turn.

Billy then bets 35k on the Td River, Jerome folds and Billy shows 5s 4c.

"Are we even now?" inquires Billy the Kid.

don't know, sry

With the blinds at 10k/20k, Mohammed Shafiq's all-in pre-flop raise of 200k takes the blinds uncontested.

No messing from the Blackburn man.

I'm loving these photo's Jen & Snoops - really makes me feel as if I'm there - brilliant!

dos anyone know when it will be on channel 4?

Shaf moves in right away a second time, under the gun this time, and he manages it again.  I wonder how many times he'll do this before he's called - the blinds are 10k/20k so I'm sure he's fairly happy just to get them.

Make that 6.

"I've got a lot of f***ing chips"

piss
pussy
shit
poof
cock
f***ing

Several months, around October time.

can we have a rough chip count by any chance also anyone know when its on channel 4

Jerome makes it 60k to go now (Shaf can't move in first because he's on the big blind) but Shaf doesn't pass easily.  "Jerome, Jerome, what do I do with you?"
He does pass, however.

Make that 6.

"I've got a lot of f***ing chips"

piss
pussy
shit
poof
cock
f***ing


does beaver count???????????/

Shaf goes all-in once again, this time showing A-K.

"Just to prove that I'm not a pussy when it comes to showing hands."

I hope non of you believe shaf is hamming it up for the cameras. Anyone on here who has played with him for years will confirm hes just being himself. If the TV crew try and tell him to tone it down expect the bleep button to go into meltdown as he wont mix his words in how he declines their kind request.

You are still to get the threat to open a corner shop up at junction 9 if he wins this with his prizemoney or if he picks off a bluff  wait for his comments about "do you think im just a daft ****" .

Chip counts at the break as that is the only time we can get them, and the other question I've already answered.

Here we go again, Billy's raised 50k after small blind Dan Carter limps in.  "I'll call, go on raise me, I'll call."  Heard that before, but this time when Dan passes he shows Ad Kd.

piss
pussy (x2)
shit
poof
cock
f***ing

'shite'

We're on seven...

He's getting worse! Even after being told to calm it down.

yeah i was on his table week last wednesday at boardway, he was very rude then too, although he was 'pished'

For those of who don't know Shaf, here's what he looks like...

(http://www.mgnet.karoo.net/FATHER%20TED/jack2.jpg)

shaf aint rude hes a real sound bloke with just an individual table presence.

but shaf has a bit more hair on the top

I think shaf's beaver should count.  ;yellowcard;

This have nothing to do with me having a fiver on a final swear tally of over 11

We have a Flop!

Dan raises to 55k from the button and Jerome calls from the big blind.

Flop = 4s Js 3d

Dan bets 55k, Jerome calls.

Turn = Ac

Dan bets 70k, Jerome calls.

River = Ts

Dan checks, Jerome bets 200k, Dan folds.

Polite way of saying "Rude" without actually saying it?

i thought...............

There is a very short break whilst staff clean the table.

why dont they just have a new one off me?id be there in 30 min

The players have now reseated. Jen has approx chip counts to upload.

So brace yourselves!

nope not a polite way of saying rude as i dont think he is. He may be loud but i dont think hes rude.

shaf will make great tv anyway

Chip Estimates:

Joe Beevers       100k
Des Jonas          500k
Peter Evans       560k
Shaf                 220k
Dan Carter         300k
Billy Ngo            640k
Jerome Bradpiece  1,000,000+

Great updates Jen & Snoopy, hope the tv coverage is half as good as this, should be great viewing.

Joe Beevers is OUT and becomes the 7th place finisher winning £14,400

And just like that, we have another exit, this time the Hendonmobber who moved his shorstack in from the small blind with the paltry holding of 7d 4c. Des Jonas called instantly with Qh Jh.

Board = 6s Qc 4h Ks Qd

"I knew he was going to do that, that's why I call so quickly," said Des in the aftermath.

What are the blinds please guys?

Another member of the Church of Brian Wilson

The following is spreading far and wide.

15k/30k (2k)

There is yet another pause whilst they accommodate the recent departure of Joe, shifting players around the table and whatnot.

Thanks

im·be·cile (ĭm'bə-sĭl, -səl)
n.
A stupid or silly person; a dolt.
A person whose mental acumen is well below par.
A person of moderate to severe mental retardation having a mental age of from three to seven years and generally being capable of some degree of communication and performance of simple tasks under supervision. The term belongs to a classification system no longer in use and is now considered offensive.


Anyone expalain how calling someone an imbecile cannot be construed as rude??

Geo

Current chippy counts:

Des Jonas -- 701,000
Peter Evans -- 614,000
Mohammed Shafiq -- 293,000
Dan Carter -- 290,000
Billy Ngo -- 642,000
Jerome Bradpiece -- 1,096,000

That's a compliment in Bolton  :)

Anyone seen my dad Keith?

 8)

First hand back, the Bandit gets a walk in the blind.

Sorry, we're in the press room, can only see our TV and the other updaters, none of whom is your dad.

can we get a reminder of how much they are still playing for

i assume no talk of deals yet

LOL - not arguing that Shaf is not a good guy, however good guys can be rude.

Geo

Both Jerome and Billy are now sporting BlueSquare T-shirts, which is standard, considering they are both online qualifiers. 

Now short-stacked (comparatively) Dan Carter moves in preflop - for 224k more - and Pete the Bandit has a think after button raising.  "I think he's at it," says Evans, but obviously doesn't want to put his money where his mouth is (or had a bag of spanners) as he re-checks his cards, counts his chips and generally dwells for a while before passing.

and quoting meanings of words (just in case non of us knew what an imbecile was) including their Latin roots etc doesn't make you rude does it? Bumptious, facetious, superior maybe but not rude.
Think yourself lucky he didn't call you a quimbecile which would make you both stupid and a **** ( what does expalain mean as a matter of interest?)

1 £111,600
2  £59,400
3  £39,600
4  £28,800
5  £21,600
6  £18,000
7  £14,400
8  £10,800
9   £7,200

deals are unlikely with this motley crew

pls stop bickering, we've worked hard this week. ta

Billy limps on the small blind, Jerome checks.
Flop:  8h 5d Ts  check; Jerome bets 30k and it looks like Billy's passing, as long as "You show me yours and I'll show you mine."  Billy passes 3d 3h, Jerome shows 5s 2c.

"The powerhouse," he says as he picks up the pot.

 ;D

Don't you mean "has anyone seen my suave, more intelligent and better looking slightly older brother Keith"?

Seconded; Shaf speaks for himself.

I do really like the word Quimbecile, however, and would like it to be introduced into the Profanosaurus as soon as possible.

they getting paid to wear those blue sq shirts?

Everyone looked good on friday night  ;) even ariston  ;D

Im sat here chuckling to myself about the comments made by keith on his notes system. I dont expect kinghawko to be able to remember them but absolute class (not for a family forum though).

Des raises out of the big blind, getting rid of Peter Evans, while Jerome (button caller) considers the 105k it will cost to call.  He does call.
Flop:  Td Kc Jc  Des checks, Jerome asks the Question (How much are you playing?).  600k is the answer, and Jerome bets half of that.  It wins.  Des says, "If the King doesn't come, I get the lot off you..."

 :o russ just told me on msn

Jerome raises 90k, Peter Evans moves in for 503k.

Jerome dips into the think tank.

"Do you feel lucky, punk?" exclaims Shaf (not sure why)

"All right," says Jerome as he mucks.

wouldn't quite go that far

piss
pussy (x2)
shit
poof
cock
f***ing
shite

Up to eight with 'bollocks'

listen I always look good- I'm not built to atract the men thats all :)

Shaf asks big blind Billy "What should I do?" and then just moves in, winning some blinds.  He's still the short stack, however.


Peter raises to 60k.  Shaf says, "Mr. Evans, sir, I pass," breaking the trend.
Jerome calls.
Flop:  5s 9c 5c  Jerome checks, so does Peter.
Turn:  2c  check-check
River:  7s  check-check  "Nothing."  "Ace-high."  Jerome Bradpiece wins with the Ace.

....and Channel 4 thought they had a problem with Big Brother........ ;D

I think we can get Father Jack Shaf up to double figures.

Lots of raising and folding at the moment. We don't see the point of reporting every single one, could get tedious.

Break coming up soon, so we'll get the chip counts again when that time arrives.

New nickname for shaf. "Sweary Mary"

I was told they were showing the 1st leg starting August. Then running 2 , 1 hour shows of each FT leading up to the Final at the Vic. Should be good stuff. Looking forward to it.

Greg

We have just been told that if it does go to a 5.30am chip count, it's the player with the most chips that takes 1st prize, rather than a proportional allocation of monies.

It's been in the rules since the start, apparantly, but I'd be very surprised if the players are aware of this.

If no one says anything (they don't have to I guess), there could be a few raised eye-brows come 5.30.

Even if they do know, we'll at least garner a little excitement with everyone moving all-in.

Jerome makes it 90k, Des waves all-in and Jerome folds.

Big cheer from the crowd for the local lad.

Hang in there Dan. Wish I'd been able to get up there now.

is that matt dale?

Shaf's been all in on the button twice, winning the blinds and prompting Jerome to needle them, "Shaf owns you two..."
He raises from the cutoff next not all in this time), and big blind Jerome thinks, as Shaf tells him, "You think I take you on lightly?" and then after a good dwell announces all-in.  It was the right time - quick pass from the suddenly quiet Shaf.

No, I'm Matt Hewlett. Matt Dale is up there watching though. He text me earlier. I was hoping to get up there be we have had relatives round and I don't think it would have gone down too wel if I'd dissapeared on another poker game that I wasn't even involved with this time  ;angel;

disgraceful is that is how the chip count is decided imo. If its 3.30 am and 4 or 5 left with one huge chip leader it will slow play down becuase he can just take the maximum time on every decision and blind away slowly to first. That needs to be changed definately.

Jerome and Des check down a T-T-K-9-5 board in the blind, Jerome taking it with Ace high.

"You not raising with your hand there, an Ace?" asks a bemused Des.

Good point, forgot about that. Yep, I don't like it at all. The shortest stack will just go in with any two cards, surely?

The rule in question states:

43. In the event of a conclusion not being reached prior to the close of business, a chip count will take place to decide the winning positions, the player with most chips will take first place and so on until all prizes are allocated. Players will be given one hours notice of a chip count.

Not good IMHO.

u can go allin as many times as u want with any 2 snoops, If I'm big chip leader I am giving it the full Carlo before folding every hand meaning in effect I've won it with an hour to go by default.

Good point Ariston.  The problem is we think nothing has changed in these events. Once you introduce TV everything changes. I have to admit that I hate the fact that these things are done for the cameras and not the players. If the tv companies put up the money then no problem but until then the players need protection.
Rules should be in the interests and protection of the players.

Dont worry about it Russ, this rule will never in a million years affect you. :D

During Break Chip Counts:

Des Jonas       855,000
Peter Evans    527,000
Shaf              252,000
Dan Carter      196,000
Billy Ngo          513,000
Jerome Bradpiece  1,293,000

Just caught Dan at the bar. He told me a few hands he had at vital stages, but I don't think I can reveal. What I will say, however, is that he's been "absolutely card dead".

Well, for someone who isn't getting any cards, he's not doing too bad.

Snoopy, he has an uncanny knack of catching cards at just the right time  :P Possibly a long way to go for him yet. He showed earlier in the tourney how well he can play aggressively when short stacked. Fingers crossed

They've returned, and the blinds are now 20k/40k ante 4k.  Dan needs to get a move on!

Gasp. Dan moves all-in...

"You told me you were going to do this during the break, didn't you," comments Des.

"Yeah, when I get a good hand," replies Dan.

Everyone folds.

Peter Evans raises a chunk of chips on the button after giving Shaf a walk in the big blind.  No interest.  Shaf's button all-in gets similar passing. 

Next hand, Peter Evans makes a raise (meaning he's put a minimum of 80k in the middle), Shaf moves in yet again (340k) and Peter is looking like he might have to call.
Call.
Peter:  Qh Qc
Shaf:  Aspades Kd

Flop:  Ahrt 4h Kc
Turn:  9h
River:  2s  "GET IN THERE!"

Now Peter might be the one having to get a double through, having been in comfortable second place for a very long time.

Shaf has 742k.

Great updates snoopz and djjin.
Wish the bandit and des , good luck from Raj

What was Shaf's other card?

Expectedly, Shaf raises to 180k the next hand.  "Come on you f***ers.  Let's see if you can re-raise me out this time!" (Jerome gives up his big blind).
"Couple more like that, it'll be all over."

-------------------------------

Peter Evans now has around 100k, and it looks like he's going to be committed to call in the small blind when Billy announces all in (for the second time in a row).  Oh, no, I'm wrong.  Pass.

Cheers - it looks like Des is on for a good finish, while Peter needs a good couple of double throughs to be back in with a chance....

Des raises it up to 130k.

Dan Carter counts his chips, separates them into piles and nervously rifles some chips in his hand before putting his head in his hands in deep thought.

With a pained expression on his face, the youngster lifts up his head and pushes them all-in with one single motion.

Des makes the obligatory call.

Des = Ac 8c

Dan = Aspades Ts

Board = 3h Ahrt Kd 5c 4c

Carter doubles through.

Ahhh, the king of diamonds has gone missing from my panel.

Surely your not allowed to use that kind of language in a major final and in front of the cameras or is it allowed in Walsall !!!!!

Peter Evans is OUT and becomes the 6th place finisher winning £18,000

Peter Evans moves his micro stack in and Dan Cater pushes behind him with Ad Ks.

"Kings," gloats Bandit as he turns over Qs 4d.

Board = 2c 6c Tc

"Club please," asks Bandit.

Turn = 6d

River = 2s

Down to 5.

I think now might be a good time to remind everyone that all four players I picked in the first half hour of play are still in.
Jerome
Dan
Des
Billy.

:)

Is that as good as tipping Jerome early saturday Jen??!

Including one that I picked last Thursday!  ;sark;

incredible play by Billy considering he was down to just over 2 big blinds last night.
great effort reporting guys.

Shaf has been warned by the staff to keep it down (prompting a round of applause).  So he resorts to violence, "I'll get my kit off.  Dazzle the audience."  The mind boggles.

------------------------------

Button Dan Carter raises, and Billy Ngo quickly reraises all in from the small blind.  It's a 447k call, and Dan, newly chipped up or not, backs off. 

------------------------------
Threeway pot -
Aspades Jh Kc flop:  Jerome (sb) Des and Dan check.
Turn:  5d  Jerome bets 60k, Des calls, Dan raises all in.  Jerome passes instantly, and Des says, "I'm going to make an amazing pass here" showing J-5!

Dan shows the 9h.

No, no it's not.  Thanks for reminding me.

Unfortunately im not reminding the bookies :-(  !!!
He had to be a goodun, he knocked me out without outdrawing ;-)

Des Jonas is OUT and becomes the 5th place finisher winning £21,600

Jerome raises pre-flop to 130k and Des moves all-in for another 225k.

After mulling it over for a few minutes and saying, "If you have an overpair, I'm dead in the water", Jerome decides to gamble with Td 3d, behind but far from dead against Des' Ahrt Qc.

Exciting Flop = 4d Qd Ks

Killer Turn = 8d

Academic River = Kc

Look at Dan Carter go!!!!

:)

Now four-handed, Shaf makes it 123k to go.  Dan Carter moves in from the small blind - it's his.  Then Billy gets the next one.  I've ordered crumble.

He's not gone anywhere, he's still there.

Stop mis-reporting.  8) :P

Thanks for the updates guys and girls; much appreciated.

^^Just read that hand!!!

Dan's a lucky boy lol....nice work

I'd like some crumble :)

hehehe

Just overheard Dan saying he had J-9 here.

Approx chip counts:

Bradpiece -- 1.5 mil
Shaf -- 600k
Carter -- 800k
Billy Ngo -- 700k

Name                         Blinds Taken                With a re-raise?
Jerome                              III                                  (one walk)   
Shaf                                  I

Dan and Billy check it down as blinds, both end up with King high and Dan's 8 kicker takes it.  "I think I played that quite well," he says.

That's pretty much it for the last 15 mins.

****************15 minute break**************

Come on the Thundercat!  What spoilsport made him put a Blue Square shirt on?  ;)

Cooler time

(http://www.flogster.com/Graphics/Products/MiniFridge/Fridge%20door%20open.jpg)

Dan makes up the small blind and Billy checks.

2-K-K Flop

Dan bets 40k, Billy calls.

Ten turn

Both check

Nine River

Dan bets 80k and Billy makes it 180k.

"I really think you've got K-2," says Dan.

"I swear to God I don't have that," responds Billy.

Dan moves all-in and Billy calls.

Billy takes the pot with K-T, Dan has Nines.

Dan down to the felt with under 100k.

Ouch.

Dan is all in for 97k (what a surprise)... Jerome calls the 72k extra from the big blind.
Qc 5c vs Aspades 5s - ooh, not a good match up for a double through, and with an Ace and two Tens on the flop, Dan was already standing up as the turn and river came out.

So Dan Carter finishes 4th, winning £28,800

It has been agreed in the pressroom that f***ed and f***ing are two separate words, so that brings the Father Jack Shaf swear count to 9.

Almost in double figures, can we make it??

What a filthy soddin' river :(   GAYYY

OK OK Sweary Mary Jr.   Is what Shaf has catching?

is this swearing?????

4th, surely ;ifm;

I've got a question.

Billy Ngo announced "second nuts" in the earlier hand with Carter.

Is K-T second nuts on a K-K-2-T-9 board?

Isn't it the nuts? Cos you know the other person can't have KK.....


Well done Dan, awesome performance mate, shame you got so cold decked at the end but still great work...

FMP

kk

It is if the Ten and the Nine are the same suit as one of the Kings (meaning QJ of that suit is the nuts).

Yes, if you hold it, it is the nuts.  But the 'nuts' as in, best possible hand on that board is quads (no straight flush possible).  In that instance, because he had the top house of kings and therefore one of the Kings, the nuts was changed to his hand (which could theoretically tie).

Three-way Chip Counts:

Mohammed Shafiq -- 684,000
Jerome Bradpiece -- 1,639,000
Billy Ngo -- 1,277,000

Shaf just has a mild case of poker tourette's. It comes with years of outdraws and all it means is some of the terminology used to describe certain hands or certain players may be just a little colourful. Channel 4 better hope he doesn't get too worked up or the ten profanities you are looking for could become 110 ;)

this is nuts

Assuming no flushing cards for a JQ straight flush.....

Rainbow board.

No idea what that means, but it looks rude :o

It's been a long day...but not as long as it has been for those at the felt (respect).

Nuts

To him, he's holding the nuts, but to the other person he's holding the second nuts (if the other person didn't have a K).

Basically, can K-T be described as the nuts seeing as K-K isn't possible because there are two on the board and there are 1 in his hand.

ie. Two nut hands.

Well, Dan got his read right... apart from the 2.  Hard to get away from a rivered set, but a poker player who says " I swear to god" should be avoided like the plague!

OK OK back to the game - it's restarted...and during the break preceding they've discussed and, it looks like, done a deal.  No surprises there.  Remember that all the nice extras - the £10,000 added by BlueSquare and the £3,000 seat in the Final are for 1st only.

Deal details if we can find them.

doing well Jeff!

Not long to go now Jerome....

Interesting observation.

The 10k extra for the winner means that there is ALWAYS something to play for, even if they split the entire pot.

This must surely avoid a complete all-in fest at the end, which can only be a good thing, especially when it's televised.

serious are you joking????hes got the nuts if the flop is rainbow.,.,the only way he can lose it is to a split so HES GOT THE NUTSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Yeah good point, definitely a good idea by Blue Sq...

Not as good as making me their 3rd sponsered player mind :-P 

BREAKING NEWS - - - - THERE IS NO DEAL

Shaf wanted to split 60% between them and play for the rest.  Jerome, quite rightly, told him where to go.

Deal or No Deal?

That's the question at the moment.

(http://www.inthenews.co.uk/photo/noel-edmonds-$6805$180.jpg)

I heard you overplay flushes....  ;)

Billy raises it up pre-flop and goes all-in on a Tc 7c 7s.

Jerome folds.

Lol ;)

WELL DONE LOLyou gotta watch the italian version of this lmao the host sneaks look in the boxes before the player decides.,.,the host got a good poker face .,.,get my drift?

Blinds are now 25k/50k  Shaf goes all in two hands in a row and picks up a pile of chips in blinds.

Good work on the reports guys, I'm off now, lookin forward to seeing this on TV though!

Jerome raises it up, Shaf pushes all-in and Jeromes asks for a counts.

He sounds serious...

Bradpiece raised with Th Ts, Shafiq announced "all-in" with Ad Qc and Bradpiece, after a momentary dwell, called.

Board = Kc 3d Jc 6d 7h

A good and brave call Jerome, gl u deserve to win it, been chipleader all day

cmon J bring it home

The players are now on a break. I wouldn't be surprised if they're discussing a deal in the loos.

Come on Jerome.........

I can't see at the moment, but I'd estimate that the chip stacks are 2.5 mil to 1.1 mil or something similar. Either way, Jerome is well ahead.

lol

Well, I wasn't too far away...

Jerome Bradpiece -- 2.3 million
Billy Ngo -- 1.3 million

come on jerome...bring home the bacon..!! :)

Okay, Billy and Jerome have to undertake some media duties taking photos, undergoing interviews, etc and will return in about 15 minutes.

No word on a deal yet, which I guess is one way in which this Tour has succeeded thus far.

Snoops was there a deal in the end?

did anyone get on for 100/1 no deal?

can u tell billy gl for me pls and wat his chips count

Hmm, I can hear the discussion about a deal. Jerome is talking to one of the crew, I don't think they know we can hear them with their mikes still on.

All very interesting - not sure if I can say why Jerome has decided to reject a deal, but he has. So, it's game on!

'he is the better player'  at a guess?

well done shaf (top man ),hes a good man to have on your table ,never a dull moment.

come on snoops ...spill it son..!! lool

NO DEALS ------------------------------------------------------ EXCELLENT FOR POKER

Actually, I might as well say. Jerome's had a bet on himself and he said that he thought doing a deal and winning might be probelmatic to his bet as 'outright winner'. I can understand his reservations.

No deal 100/1    were they serious odds earlier?

Yes i had a cheeky 12 quid on it. lol

wow, fair play to him.. confident, i like it...!!!

"All in blind?" suggests Jerome laughing.

"There's no need for that," replies a reluctant Billy.

Ah yes I remember him saying last night now.  Best of luck to the both of them - sterling effort from online qualifiers to heads up for the title!

I have also laid the field so come on Jerome !!!

Soxy - quick question. Were you the official bubble, did u get a saver?

how much has he had on himself and at what odds?  hello snoops and jen btw, just come back from iceland, about 3 stone lighter from by pockets. £150 for a bottle of vodka in the bars

damn - wish i'd put a tenner on at 100/1 no deal

300.00      £100
330.00      £4
400.00      £6
480.00      £4
500.00      £9
600.00      £10

£50 @ 300/1

im not sure snoops, as soon as i got done i was STRAIGHT  to the bar for some serious brandy drinking..!!! :)

Heads Up!

Jerome Bradpiece vs. Billy Ngo

Cagey start, 1 x walk for Jerome, then:

1) Jerome raises on the button - +100k.  Billy re-raises all in.  Pass. 
2) Billy flat calls, Jerome raises another 140k.  Billy moves in. "Really?" asks Jerome.  "Absolutely."  "No messing about, huh Billy?"  Jerome debates out loud whether he can pass the hand he has heads up - and worries about the evening of stacks which will occur should he call and lose.  CALL -

Jerome shows:  Ac Jc
Billy shows:  Ahrt 8d

Flop: Ts 2h 4h
Turn:  2s
River: 6s

Which means Billy 'The Kid' Ngo is 2nd place finisher, winning £59,400............

                                  .......and Jerome Bradpiece is THE CHAMPION, winning £111,600, BlueSquare's £10k and a seat in the Final.  And a watch.

After only 12 hours of play we have our (outright) winner, who credits his hat ("I'm never taking it off again.")

Well played Jerome fully deserved.

Thank you snoops and Jen excellent coverage.

well done jerome i laid the field u just won me £1500 thank u and well played

Thanks for the updates. 1st time on here this week and will be back for sure, Great Stuff.

1200 for no deal also makes it better :)

fantastic result, n1 jerome..!!

nice work blonde, good to meet you all again :)

great work   jen and snoopy  as ever

what was the final swearing count???

well played nice result ,and no deal .

Nice result Jerome! What did I tell you?!

Unbeatable updates Jen and Snoops.

well done billy !!!not bad for $25,

fantastic coverage as usual guys ...... many thanks.

see you in cardiff

well played all and wd to the champion
next stop CARDIFF look out all lololol
ty jen and snoops your amazing.,.,.,..,.,.,.,.,.,.,.

thx for the updates jen snoops ,brilliant as usual.

all i said was that meal was good enough for jehova...!!! :)

 ;applause;  thx for all the updates really great stuff

Thanks all, great to see so many people watching this event.  One of the fastest paced Day Twos on record, and a pretty entertaining, if unconventional, final table. 

Congratulations to everyone who came back and played today, and a few more for the fearless champ Jerome.

I have to get back to London before the M6 fills up (i.e. leaving now) so that's about all from us here in Walsall, and blonde's next update stop will be the EPT Dortmund in March.

Excellent updates Jen and Snoopy.. see you at an event in March

Get some rest...

Greg

One last word - Billy just came backstage and tried to buy the press all a drink.  Two thirds of us have scarpered already, so he tried to leave us money.  Like gentlemen (or idiots) we all refused, but he gets extra marks for not just running off to bathe in his money, and remembering the little guys with the notebooks.

Cheers!

Here's the little rascal. £50 bet on himself apparantly for an extra 15k. Not bad!

wdone to all the press team you work so hard and make it all so good for the people that aint ther

congrats to all the finalists.ther was only 1 winner when jerome took dez out. well done

c you in dortmund jen

Anyone remember that random guy from Bolton that sneaked into the back of the Praz photo when he took the inaugural title??

Well look at this, he's creeped in again!!!

Anyone know who he is??

Mr Jerome Bradpiece.  ;tightend;

Same losing hand in both finals.....if anyone picks it up headsup in Cardiff be sure to pass...

LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL  rotflmfao

nice one snoops ;D

Was pleased to see Billy the Kid did well, I was sat with Jamie watching and noticed he was chuffed just to make the final so coming 2nd he must be over the moon.

Well played to both him and Jerome. Make sure you join the 3rd leg of this great tour in Cardiff!!!

nice photoshop skills Snoop

He sure does get about. Something tells me we might see him at the next GukPT too in Cardiff.  :D ;carlocitrone;

Time to go, thank you to everyone for supporting the updates and offering your thanks at the end - it makes a big difference.

Well done Jerome!

 ;stickaforkinme;

Well done kids great result for Jerome. Real key hand for me is Des laying down the J5 on that board.....not sure about that.
Still, cracking updates as ever.

I limped which looked unusual so it looked like i had a strong hand. I checked a flop of AKJ and when the 5 has come ive re-raised allin. Think J5 looks good now? I knew he would fold which is why i pushed, he doesnt have Q10 because he would bet on flop or at least raise on the turn.

Just finished reading - cliffhanger to the end and what a prize!!!!!  Great updates - I think the best ever - sad as it is I'll probably read these again   ;D

Ladies and gentlemen, will you please put your hands together and join me in thanking Blue Sq for this amazing concept. A 4 day event with added money and a televised final table gives everyone something extra to play for, and online satellites give everyone a chance to play. 
;applause; ;applause; ;applause; ;applause;

Thanks also to everyone at Grosvenor Walsall for all their hard work in hosting this superb event, Grosvenor casino's have been he life-blood of poker in the UK for many years, where would we be without them?
;applause; ;applause; ;applause; ;applause; ;applause;

Last but not least, let's hear it for the blonde updaters. Come on guys, be honest, how good was that? We are all so privileged to have such dedicated, talented people bringing the big games to our small screens. Very well done
;applause; ;applause; ;applause; ;applause; ;applause;

100% Agree Red Dog - Fantastic stuff - Its going to be a real battle to get a spot for some of the events. Suggest people try and win a seat early and not leave it to the last minute.

Can't wait to see the coverage on Channel 4.


Well done Dan for your showing.

Greg

Couldnt agree more tom.
Fantastic updates as usual.
Looking forward to cardiff......

 The A team as usual !!....fantastic coverage Snoops and Jen.

 Well done!

Congratulations to the final table and the winners.

Excellent updates Jen and Snoopy! I read them all in the way back in the car, even though I was at the event itself, as I love the writing style. Some excellent reporting - especially some of the hand descriptions - i.e. Dan Carter 75s vs Joe Beevers AA. Awesome :)

Also, massive congratulations to our sponsored pro Dan "Lucky Scrote" Carter (I doubt they'll be using his nickname on the Channel 4 coverage, though it's not worse than any of the stuff Shaft was coming out with....) on his 4th place £28,800 finish. A truly awesome player I think, and one to watch for the future!

nice updates tkx u2,   wd shaf he gona be hell to play now,

and that guy who keeps poping up i know him pretty well lol,

Cheers for the updates, top stuff.

Brilliant event again from the GPT team, i would play 50 of these a year if that was possible! They really are great events. Just need to get a result in one now! lol

Stewart i will reserve comment on Shaf, lol. Except to say his best investment might be in lottery tickets.

Complete and utter oversight. The rules should never have stated this. If we had gotten close to this situation I can assure you that we would have 'reserved our right to change the rules for the good of the game.' I would NEVER have allowed the prizes to have been decided in this way.

We have a rules committee meeting in a couple of weeks time and this and several other issues will be addressed then.

Well done JR. Tinker by all means (I liked Dave Penly's take on Ante sizes), & yes, change that thing you mentioned, but generally, leave well alone. You have given birth to a stunningly successful series, don't be throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Whatever you do you'll get criticised, it's impossible to please Rocks & LAG's equally, but you have got it just about spot-on.

Please can someone tell me that the 100-1 for "no deal" was a joke post! I tried to get £250 on at 100-1, but was told by the Blue Square guys that they would never run a bet like that, as it would be undermining Grosvenor's policy of not recognising deals.

Infact, having written that, it's obvious it was a spoof post. Doh.  Who would offer 100-1 for "no deal". They wouldn't would they....., right?

Not in a million years.....

spot on Tom what a superb series of tourneys these are, hats off to Jon and the updates have been superb too, real quailty everywhere in this event.

Thanks for all your hard work Jen & Snoopy, fantastic updates, brilliant detail & insight into what is going down.  A million thanks.

well done great updates again you are the best . cant believe you rung up asking for 100/1 sorry mate it was just a bit of fun especially the 100/1 no deal rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao

Lol rotflmfao :)

I didn't ring up. I was there and asked John Rabb if he'd take the bet off me. Even more embarrasing lol  ;ashamed;

Yep Don't muck around with it too much this is already fantastic....

Maybe some secret bounties would be good on the Blue Sq pros or something like that - you have a great event.

I agree (with the event being fantastic, not the secret bounty bit). A truly excellent event. I even loved the structure - including the antes. :)

Thanks a lot Matt, it's not easy when you're short on time and absolutely knackered, but I think it would be boring if we just reported the facts and figures - hopefully that sets us apart from the competition.

Well done to Dan 'Sideshow Bob' Carter, nice lad - although annoying youthful, grr!

Summary of events can be found here...

http://www.blondepoker.com/index.php?q=node/7693 (http://www.blondepoker.com/index.php?q=node/7693)

Snoopy and Jen youve done a great job on the updates.

snoopy, you cant call me sideshow bob when my hair isnt long :b

lol james you got to remember he is a cash game player not a tourneyment player, in the 4 years i known him i only ever seen him in maybe 4 finals (not inc the last 2)

many think he is a fish at the cash tables but he is one of the best around if you ask myself he allways puts u to a decision every single hand

All i can say is i hope he plays the rest of them :D

lol