blonde poker forum

The final will commence at 2pm (1pm GMT).

Farid Meraghni -- 971k
Peter Jespen -- 498k
Marius Torbergsen -- 434k
Patric Martesson -- 305k
Frederik Pedersen -- 288k
Andy O'Flaherty -- 167k
Katja Thater -- 105k
John Conroy -- 73k

9th  Dennis Bejedal (Sweden) -- €18,726
10th  Dennis Plejdrup (Denmark) -- €18,726
11th  Benjamin Kang (Germany) -- €14,565
12th  Roberto Matic (USA) -- €14,565
13th  Ole Gammeljord (Denmark) -- €12,484
14th  Priyan De Mel (UK) -- €12,484
15th  Mikael Westerlund (Sweden) -- €9,363
16th  Henning Granstad (Norway) -- €9,363
17th  Paul Kristofferson (Sweden) -- €6,242
18th  Bertrand Grospellier (France) -- €6,242
19th  Ramsi Jelassi (Sweden) -- €6,242
20th  Anders Berg (Norway) -- €6,242
21st  Jes Bondo   (Denmark) -- €6,242
22nd  Lukasz Wasek (Poland) -- €6,242
23rd  Morten Haakenstad (Norway) -- €6,242
24th  Thomas Osmun (USA) -- €6,242

Payout:

1st €325,633
2nd €182,063
3rd €109,238
4th €78,027
5th €64,502
6th €50,978
7th €40,574
8th €29,130

Seeing as (I assume) we've all done so bad with our original picks, take your chance to redeem yourself by successfully picking the EPT Warsaw winner.

I'm going for Patric Martensson.

Some of you may recall Patric from last year's Deauville final. You may also remember his bio, which read something like...

"European Monopoly champion, possess Swedens biggest stamp collection and sells second hand cars for his dad at the weekend."

Well, it was recently revealed that all that was a load of bollox and that Patric does nothing of the sort. Apparently his mates were having 'a bit of a laugh' when Mads, the PokerStars media representative, was scouring for info on the young Swede. Oh those mischievous rascals!

Still, kinda funny though.

To view the gallery pics from this year's Warsaw EPT, please click the following link:

http://www.blondepoker.com/index.php?q=image/tid/236 (http://www.blondepoker.com/index.php?q=image/tid/236)

Marius Torbergsen was an olympic cross country skier and therefore my favourite

Marius Olypic what? ehere did u get that info???

same place patrics friend got the info on him had to make him sound eciting

and lets see how far that urban myth goes

just seen his photo sure looks like he could be an olympic cross country skier more likely that eddie the eagle edwards

Didnt he ski for the same County as Tikay??

yes but tikay was 60 years before him

infact tikay could of been his coach

He is an olympic anything as u are an WPT winner. Is that just a realy bad joke?

no a very good joke well i thought so

maybe it doesnt translate very well

but me a wpt winner sounds good but it will have to wait till i move up the stakes i think

Good luck today to John "Punkfloyd" Conroy.................following an excellent showing at Walsall maybe today will be the day..................1 early double up and he's definetely in with a chance.

top 3
winner: O´Flaherty
2. Martensson
3. Jepsen

...first to be eliminated: Conroy

aye, this is patric's 3rd ept final table so i'll plump for him,
gl to john & the irishman tho!

I'm going for Marius Torbergensen, purely because he has the best beard.

FYP

except for Katja of course.

Ok, they're not letting us down into the casino area just yet, I tried my old trick of saying, "Look over there, it's a squirrel with a gun..." to the bouncer, but he didn't understand my diversionary tactics and I couldn't get through. If someone can translate it into Polish, perhaps I can try again...  ;carlocitrone;

Try this:

Lookski overski thereski, it'sski aski squirrelski withski aski gunski.....bla bla bla

Word on the grapevine is that we're pretty close to starting, but that grapevine has let me down before. If it slips up this time, I'm getting a new one!

One of my early picks is still in, alive & kickin'

Go Swedish Monolopy champion and stamp collector !

Good job Snoop&Floppy

snoops,

luck and love to jon punk conroy from norman and bev. (if you get a chance)

great updates as always guys.

Will do.

Norman and Bev Norman and Bev Norman and Bev Norman and Bev Norman and Bev Norman and Bev

Yep, I think I've got it now.

The final has commenced. Blinds are 4,000 and 8,000 with an 800 ante.

Sigh, roll back the blinds for one level, so everyone gets the 100 grey chips for 1 hour before having to colour them up again.

Seat 1: Frederik Holstrup Pedersen -- 288k


Seat 2: Peter Jespen -- 498k


Seat 3: Marius Tobergsen -- 434k

Seat 4: Andrew O'Flaherty -- 167k


Seat 5: Farid Meraghni -- 978k


Seat 6: Katja Thater -- 105k

Seat 7: Patric Martesson -- 305k


Seat 8: John Conroy -- 73k


And the Table in Full...

Early action:

Farid raises to 20k, takes the blinds.

Frederik raises to 30k, O'Flaherty dwells in the big blind and passes, Frederik shows Kc Js

Patric raises to 23k in EP and is called by Faradi in the big blind, the latter check folding to Patric's 26k bet on a 4c Qh 2s board.

Great news for Conroy fans!!!

John has trebled up.

He moved all-in with Tens, only to be called in two spots by Peter Jespen and Farid Meraghni.

Both players checked the Ac Kd Ts Flop, before Farid bet 25k on the 9c Turn with K-J.

Jespen folded.

River = Ac

John takes the pot.

Prior to that 'big hand', there was very little action with most pots going raise, fold, fold, fold... However, although on paper it may sound boring, it has actually been relatively entertaining to watch due to the broad range of characters at the table.

At the moment, the current chattiness ratings are as follows.

(1) John Conroy
(2) Frederik Holstrup
(3) Peter Willers Jespen
(4) Katja Thater
(5) Andrew O'Flaherty
(=6) Farid Meraghni, Patric Martensson & Marius Torbergsen

Those three players are equal last because they haven't said a single word between them.

To give you an example of the banter...

Peter: "It's just you and me Katja who haven't won a hand"
Katja: "What shall we do about it?"

Moments later, Katja wins a hand with an uncontested pre-flop all-in.

Frederik: "Do you feel all alone now, Peter?"

The very next hand after that all-in, Katja made it 30k to go in early position only for Frederik to raise it up to 85k.

After a cold stare from Katja, Frederik politely commented, "Oh Katja, I wouldn't do that to you."

"Are they suited?" asks Katja.

"No", replies Frederik in a flash. "This would be a big fold for you, you've given me a lot of chips there."

At this moment, the tension built as Katja seriously considered moving in. Frederik wet his lips, before rifling his chips. This was alternated with fiddling with his cards, crossing them over with each other whilst hovering them an inch off the felt.

"I will show," added Frederik.

After a while, Katja folded and Frederik did indeed show and they were indeed unsuited as he revealed Ad Kh.

Clearly enjoying the spotlight, and perhaps relaxed as the shortstack (not too many decisions to make when you're that low), John was very boyant during the early stages of this final (pre-treble up) and came across as a very laid back chap. Plenty of banter with his opponents, predominately made up of psychological warfare disguised as humour regarding the stealing of blinds. In one conversation with Frederik, the Dane offered a deal in which "I won't steal your blind and you won't steal min. "That sounds reasonable," replied a seemingly thankful John. However, the deal was smashed to smithereens when two hands later, the Scandinavian raised it up on John's big blind. "How much do you have?" joked John before confessing to being mischievous and briskly mucking.

Frederik showed 5-4s.

Conroy makes it 28k from the cut-off. Marius calls in the big blind.

Flop:

Jd 7d Ts

Marius checks, Conroy bets 45k, Marius makes it 125k, Conroy moves all-in instantly. Marius dwells a little but calls the extra 50k fairly quickly.

Marius:

Aspades Jh

John:

Jc Tc

Turn:

7s

River:

Td

And a boated-up Conroy is up to over 450k, and the guy I tipped is now short with about 120k. ::)

Just spoke to Brit (well, half) Andy O'Flaherty. He's remaining philisophical at the moment (I barely know what that means, but it sounds intelligent), commenting that he's had very few hands, the exception being a pair of jacks which won him the pot with a pre-flop re-raise.

"It's going pretty slow at the moment, but it's all about survival, plenty of time still," added the Dubliner now residing in Leeds.

go on jon my son

They've reached the end of Level 16 and are currently colouring up the chips, but there was a small hand just prior to that.

Frederik raised to 18k pre-flop and received two calls from both blinds, Farid (small) and Katja (big).

Flop = Aspades 5h 4c

The blinds check and Frederik bets 23k. Farid calls. Katja folds.

Turn = Ad

check, check

River =  Ahrt (followed by an inexplicable gasp)

check, check

Farid takes it down with Pocket Sevens.

"Nice hand," approves Frederik rather bitterly.

marius isnt talking so much now as he is recovering from a heavy training session last night

when it gets 4 handed he will open up with the banter


come on marius do this for your fans

Treble up followed by near double up must put him in a great position to start changing gears and boss the table................

What a feeble attempt to make the font bigger..................answers on a postcard please of how to go largeeeeeeeeeee

A quick glance at the Brit/Irish chips tells me that John has 440k and Andrew has 185k.

Guests. Please support the free live updates by signing up as a member of the forum. It's free, plus you get to view the photographs we upload, such as the one below of the final table.

Good luck to the danish guys. Peter "Zupp" Jepsen and Frederik Hostrup :)))

Frederik raises to 35k on the button. Peter wakes up and makes it 205k. Frederik dwells for so long that I think he's going to call, but no, he passes.


Next hand Peter makes it 30k from the button, Andy passes his 9c 2d, (Lee Jones says, "Right cards, wrong table."), Peter shows Aspades.


This is then followed by Marius pushing two hands in a row, swelling his stack from 112k to 158k.


Peter limps, and Patric checks the big blind and then check/calls Peter's 30k bet on the Qs 4s Jc board, before folding to Peter's all-in on the 5s turn.

Farid (who limps far too much for my liking) makes it 22k from the cut-off. Katja pushes all-in for about 74k more. Passed back round to Farid who calls.

Farid:

Qc Td

Katja:

Ks Kc

Board:

Kd 6s Tc 4h Kh

Quads get a big round of applause here!

Farid hasn't let that hand knock him out of his stride, next hand, he makes it 22k again and everyone passes, he shows Ad Qd.

Incidentally, Lee Jones (who seems to have boundless enthusiasm wherever he is) has called this final, "Very old school," owing to the complete lack of cameras and TV table. Just a single rail around the final table, I'm not sure the players feel that cosy, but I think the atmosphere is better.

Back to the action, Farid limps again and Peter checks the big blind. The Kh 3h Ts gets checked, and then Peter bets 40k on the 9h turn which Farid calls, Peter then makes a 100k bet on the river, which Farid calls. Peter shows Kc 3d and takes down the pot. Nice river bet.

Finally Farid and then Frederik both limp and Peter makes up in the small blind and Marius checks.

Flop:

Js 2c 4c

Peter checks, Marius bets 20k, Farid passes, Frederik moves all-in and Peter and Marius quickly pass.

Chip counts:

Frederik Holstrup Pedersen -- 245k
Peter Jepsen -- 580k
Marius Torbergsen -- 135k
Andy O'Flaherty -- 210k
Farid Meraghni -- 820k
Katja Thater -- 170k
Patric Martesson -- 220k
John Conway -- 348k

WE HAVE ACTION!!!

(http://blondepoker.com/images/the_new_era/miscellaneous/action_shot.jpg)

Frederik makes it 25k, Marius moves all-in and so does Andrew!!!

Frederik passes.

Andrew = Ad Ks

Marius = 7h 7c

Board = 7d 3c 8s Jc Aspades

Andrew down to 75k.

Don't forget that this is an interactive update, so feel free to interrupt us with comments, requests and good luck messages.

During the 'action hand', play found it's way to Farid who laughed before folding, which led John to comment "Not even you, huh?" so Farid clearly has a reputation as a loose player.

According to my French source, Benjo of Team770.com, Farid is a high stakes cash game player who could easily get bored at this final table and lose his patience. This may explain why he plays so many hands.

For further information on Farid, check out his official PokerStars bio:

Like his friend Noah Boeken, Farid was a keen player of Magic: The Gathering winning a professional tour event aged just 17. When he saw all his fellow competitors switching to poker, he made the move himself and quickly became an expert online cash game player. Although he qualified with PokerStars for last year’s WSOP, he hasn’t played many live tourneys: he finds them way too slow – and he hates having to stack his chips.

Hopefully John can take them off him! GL John.

Go Marius!!!

i agree

Latest chip counts:

Frederik Holstrup -- 129k
Peter Willers Jespen -- 670k
Marius Torbergsen -- 431k
Andrew O'Flaherty -- 193k
Faird Meraghni  -- 749k
Katja Thater -- 166k
Patric Martensson -- 204k
John Conroy -- 336k

Marius took a few more chips off Farid, betting 50k on the Th Ahrt 7d flop and 100k on the 6c turn, getting the Frenchman to fold.

Last hand before the 15 minute break

Frederik raises the button and O'Flaherty pushes from the big blind.

Frederik calls.

Fred:

Jh Th

Andy:

Kc Jc

Board:

3c 7d 3s 4c Ac

Double up for the (half) Irishman, Frederik now the short stack.

GOOOOOOOO Norway..!!!

We deserve our third win this season….!!! :)

anyone knowing what the blinds are???

GL John/Punkfloyd Bring it home.

5K/10K

Wish John good luck for me fellas....go ahead punkfloyd, make my day

The last level was 5k/10k and I believe they will be 6k/12k when the next level commences, which is any second now.

can we get a mariuscam?

Floppy is eagerly awaiting action at ringside. In the meantime, why not check out the gallery pics from the last four days by clicking the link below:

http://www.blondepoker.com/index.php?q=image/tid/236 (http://www.blondepoker.com/index.php?q=image/tid/236)

And Frederik Holstrup Pedersen is OUT in 8th place winning €29,130

He pushed with Ks Ts and Andy O'Flaherty pushes in after him with Tc Th and everyone else folds.

Board:

Qh 7c 5s 3h 5c


We are down to 7.


Incidentally, Andy Black is now doing the announcing, should be interesting, seeing as it's St Patrick's Day...

is there any live viewing avilable like in the previous event?

Afraid not, legal issues and a general lack of space. You'll just have to stick with us. ;)

Top updates guys, great job all week :)up

We've had an exit, and one that resulted in a 500k pot going to the Frenchman.

Farid Meraghni raised 30k, Patric Martensson moved all-in and John Conroy dwelt, lowering his sunglasses in the process.

Cool as ever with his mouth slowly jolting up and down as he chewed away, the calm Patric barely moved an inch.

Although John passed, Farid called and we had our all-in moment.

Farid = Ahrt Qh

Patric = Aspades Ks

Board = Td Ts 7h 8h Qc

which means...

Patric Martensson is OUT and becomes the 7th place finisher winning €40,574

Prior to that exit, Andy Black was having a ball on the microphone, informing everyone that we had an all International table (7 different nations) including an 'Irish thing'.

"I love you too," responded an amused Conroy.

"Yeah they're not a bad band," replied Andy Black.

"Be careful you don't cut yourself," ended John.

Latest pearl of wisdom from Andy Black: "It's a sobering thought to think that just one of these pink 10k chips represents one human being."

Very true.

Rumour has it that we have another exit!!!...

Carnage Carnage Carnage!!! Seriously 4 consecutive hands now... we have 4 left!!!!


First.

Andy O'Flaherty is OUT in 6th place winning €50,978

He made his stand with 2h 2d against the Jc Jd of Farid. Marius raised, Andy pushed and Farid pushed behind him, Marius folded.

Board:

3c 8c 3d 8h 3s

VERY next hand.

Marius raises again to 32k. Farid moves all-in. Conroy calls all-in. Marius folds again!

Farid:

Ad Jd

Conroy

Aspades Ac

Board:

3h 8s 9c 5h Ts

Conroy up into 2nd place behind Farid now.

MARIUS to win the gold

c'mon jon it's your day....... whoop noise

Frenchy Farid is a winner, OBV

c'mon jon it's your day....... whoop noise

And the reason we have 4 left is that Katja Thater is OUT in 5th place winning €64,502

The very next hand after the Conroy double up she was pushing with 2h 2c, she ran into Peter Jespen's Ad Qd with the board coming:

Ac Ahrt 6c 7d Js


Here's the table just prior to her exit.

oh you lot i alreaydy told you marius will win so you guys are rooting for 2nd

Chipcounts, please ;)

Rough chip counts courtesy of Andy Black:

Peter Jepsen -- 810k
Marius Torbergsen -- 350k
Farid Meraghni -- 900k
John Conroy -- 800k

ty - quick response.. :) :)

Its in the bag now for punkfloyd Conroy, cmon BadBeat.....

Come on Marius! :)

Thanks for the updates!

quick story about peter jepsen. at the cpc in st kitts he called himself peter willy for tax reasons. (his mum's maiden name is willers) he came clean when he was massive chip leader at the final table.

down to three, peter had most of the chips at the table when they decided to chop it. peter took the fat end of the deal and was quickly out in 3rd.

quite the businessman.

spiny, u going to poker and golf this year?

if not working jas

Not too much action at the moment, mainly blind stealing. If they do reach a board, it's normally checked down or won with a continuation bet.

I did manage to catch some chip counts, although they are very approx due to the 2 row deep crowd.

Farid - 1 mil
John - 740k
Marius -- 300k
Peter -- 720k

Go Farid,he will made it !

DO YA FEEL LUCKY PUNK?

WELL...............  DO YA?

The Polish organisers received, and correctly so, a nice round of applause for their efforts this week.

As Andy Black commented, "This is there first major comp. I was told earlier that there biggest one prior to this week was 38 players, so I think it's fair to say they've done well."

He then went on to say (he's not a quiet lad this Black fellow), "It's nice to see no television cameras. I'm sure that'll all change next year if Poland becomes a permanent part of the Tour, but I'm sure we'll all look back on today with a fond sadness."

Mark, please could you the beers away from ya dad.

regards,

snoops

any sign of a chop chop yet?

I notice quite a few viewers have tuned in for the final four.

Who's everyone supporting.

Meanwhile, the blinds are now 8k/16k.

Only pot wise between John Conroy and Farid. Both held an Ace Rag.

Andy Black tried to explain the best five cards but got in a muddle. After bumbling his way through, "That means they both have Ace Ten... no hold on, Ace Queen, Seven. Nope... Er... it's a split pot."

Well i hope to see Marius get lucky

jon boy. punk punk . he's the man.

Go punkfloyd!!


GL
Geo

It's been a very fast table, but looking at Marius, you'd think they'd been there all month.  ;hide;

ps. general consenus in the press room is that he perhaps could pass for that bloke out of Abba.

I aint gonna attempt the large moving font thingy again after the last feeble attempt..........sooooooooooooooo

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO PUNKYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

He looks like Frida??

Geo

Mark's in Southern Ireland for the err................ Northern Ireland Poker Championship that didn't take place after the police intervened last night....

Cmon John "the executioner"  Conroy

No doubt Peter Jepsen will take this down :)

Know that lots of danes has bets on him as winner to odds 500!!!!

I have been sent back up to the media room by Floppy who reports, "Nothing to see here", so I'm afraid we don't have too much action to provide you with from the last ten to fifteen minutes. Perhaps it's just a case of the blinds being small compared to the stacks, as you'd expect with so many exits early doors.

What I can report, however, is that Andy Black has been replaced as announcer by PokerStats big wig, Lee Jones. Whether Andy was sacked or not, I'm unsure...

Snoops to save us all scrolling and in the absence of any norkage perhaps you could give us apprx. chip counts, blind levels & remind us of the payout for 1st to 4th please.................now if you feel obliged to post some norkage please feel free as I'm sure Kev wont object ;)

Well, to keep you entertaining during this brief spell of actionless poker, have a read of John Conroy's bio...

John, a PokerStars cash qualifier, is – like his fellow final table opponent Andrew - another Dubliner who lives in Leeds. He started playing poker 20 years ago; his first forays were draw and stud cash games in Dublin card rooms. He then stopped playing until the poker internet boom kicked off two years ago. He made the final table of the Monte Carlo Millions consolation event but for no prize money. His biggest win to date was last month at the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour in Walsall for £10,800. He runs the Bad Beat hedge fund which invests in high-roller poker players.

but he is no olpymic  cross country skier


come on marius take this down for all olypiams worldwide

slight correction required, BadBeat invest in winning poker players, not high rollers, if players are winning at $.01/$0.2 they can still get sponsored........

And how about this for a lookeylikey? Agree? Disagree?

Actually, looking back, they don't look anyhting like each other.  ;djinn;

Come on the punk - bring it home m8!

ps. Spiny the K's have jusy left here heading to yours via Spalding in a couple of days. You will notice skalies game has improved after a couple of sngs with Hazel!! lol

Are you saying that 'The Don' looks a bit like a punk?

No he's saying The Don looks a bit of a punk ;)

Tim,

Have you told the K's to wake up and smell the tulips or where they going via Spalding anyway?

After 20 pints of guinness yesterday and a curry last night - smell the tulips?? lmao no!

lookalike contest

Farid limps from the CO/UTG. Conroy passes, Peter makes up and Marius checks.

Flop:

5h 4c 6s

Peter checks, Marius bets 50k, Farid folds. Peter makes it 200k putting Marius all-in. Marius dwells for a while, BA and I have already agreed that he's not able to pass for his last 120k or so with so much already in the pot and sure enough, he is forced to call all-in.

Peter shows 8h 7h. So just the nuts.

Marius shows Qh 5d. He needs a hand...

Turn:

Qd

A modicum of hope for the all-in player.

River:

4d


So Marius Torbergsen is OUT in 4th place winning €78,027

MEDS....

YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS??    rotflmfao rotflmfao

Revised Chip Count (Approx):

Peter Jepsen -- 1.1 millionish
Farid Meraghni -- 900kish
John Conroy -- 850kish

unlucky marius you fought a brave fight

GGGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPUNK

Very approx chip counts:

John -- 700k
Farid -- 1.1 mil
Peter -- 1 mil

tim,

skalie's had a couple of snogs with hazel? it would affect anyone's game

wohooooooo hope for me yet

With John and Peter being relatively solid players, and all three being deep stacked, I wouldn't be surprised to see a lenghty spell of three way action.

aye - she insisted though that he didn't go all in! Tongues yes, all in no

winning, Iron.

i have doubled my blonde roll since the move

(http://www.carryonline.com/carryonline/images/castandcrew/portrait-williams.JPG)

Oo-er missus...

And here is Marius making that fateful decision to push...

John bets 42k from the button and Farid calls from the big blind.

Flop = 5c 7d 9h

Farid checks, John bets 66k and adopts the 'Phil Hellmuth' posture. Farid folds.

Gooooooo Punky

Rumour has it that Conroy is gone. A-K vs. Peter's Aces.

I'll leave Floppy to fill you in with the details.

How many beards left in ?

I sat on John's first table and there were a few ept and wpt winners... we were both wondering at the time if we could get our money back. Brilliant performance m8 gl

John Conroy is OUT in 3rd place winning €109,238


It's a total cooler I'm afraid.

John raises on the button, Peter re-raises from the small blind. Farid dwells and passes (Eights I'm told). John moves in and Peter calls.

John:

Aspades Kd

Peter:

Ac Ahrt

Board:

5s 7d 7s Qc 5s

Peter apologises to John profusely for having such a good hand. We are now heads-up and on a 15 minute break, blinds 10k/20k when we get back.

The current chip counts are:

Peter Willers Jespen -- 1,695,000
Farid Meraghni -- 1,495,000

although Lee Jones has a slightly bemused look on his face, perhaps the maths isn't adding up...

None, both Katja and Marius are out.

Congrats and well done m8.
Impossible to get away from the last hand, so show the polish how to celebrate St Patrick

not speaking to you as you ruined my rep for picking winners had you down to make day2

Guests, sign up for blonde and you can see the below pictures:

Peter re-raising John's bet with Farid about to check his cards.

Peter and Farid starting the HU just before the 15 minute break

Finally, note the subtle differences between the way Peter stacks his chips uniformly and Farid builds up his in a style I like to call 'Crazy Forests'.

Well, soon, we'll be heading into heads-up action, and, in my opinion, we have two contrasting players. Whilst Farid is laid back, chips sprawled everywhere and seemingly without a care in the world, Peter is upright, shades locked in and seemingly unmovable - as meticulous with his chip stacking as he is with his choice of female companion.

From what I've witnessed, Peter is a very solid player. Yes, he makes moves like many a Scandie, but he seems to have his head screwed on just that little bit tighter, making calculated decisions rather than cavalier and sometime suicidal all-ins. Farid, meanwhile, chooses a different approach - he likes to call, and quite frequently, even limping into many pots. Often I have seen him call pre-flop raises, rather than re-raise, only to outplay his opponent on the Flop. He may appear to be a calling station to some, but he seems to frequently know where his opponent is in the hand, a skill that many of us would love to have in the arsenal.

very well played John

Play has restarted and Snoopy is back ringside...

Peter is a very good player in my oppinion.

He plays online highstakes poker and took down a tournament (they made a deal) a few months back.

He is pretty aggressive - but the man told every1 to bet on him at odds 500 at bet24 because he felt he would tyake it down... that is balla in my opinion!:)

Remember when I said Snoopy was ringside...

(http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/images3/goofs/commando.jpg)


I lied....

After the 15 minute break had been completed, we all got settled at ringside with baited breath, eagerly anticipating the start of the heads-up battle. Photos of the spondoolies were taken, the players were seated yet, at the last minute, the TD informed everyone that we were going on a 40 minute dinner break.

It's like reaching Christmas Day only to be told it'll be on Boxing Day.

great updates guys...should be interesting HU

A lot of unfamiliar members viewing. Are they Peter fans or Farid fans?

or snoopy fans?  ;angel;

Okay, forget the last line.

Go Peter!

Snoopy fans! :D

So rigged. :(

please dont he is already struggling o get his head through his door at home

his mum and dad have already invested in double doors :D

We have small doors!

FYP jammer was on the phone your folks have had the builders in so that you can get in when you get home

Loos like we're close to kick-off.

Are you holding your breaths?

nope but i wish i was holding the nurses brea........................

nevermind

where are the pic of the lovely ladies today?

I'm afraid the nurses haven't made an appearance today.  :dontask:

well any of the lovely ladies on the rail or the waitress or even the policewoman on the street for crying out loud man some of us are stuck in bed

Peter told me to bet him at 500-1. Apparently he also posted this in his blog, so a lot of people have done it :) That might be the reason you got some new signups, wohoo. I think the odds was set so high because he recently had a few rough weeks in Vegas... and the bookmaker didn`t really believe in him :)

Unfortunately the max limit was 25 dkk, rougly 3 euro. Still would be ok if he can finish this off :)

As usual thanks for the great updates snoopy.

They've definitely started, but there have been no huge hands as of yet.

I hard murmurs of a deal among the crowd, but I think it was just speculation. By the looks of it, and assessing the conservative start, I'd be very surprised if the pot had been split.

Wow, this is reminiscent of when Jerome Bradpiece bet on himself for the GUKPT in Walsall, which he won - so that was 15k on top of the 115k he'd already won.

500-1 sounds quite high, especially for a Scanide player. There were less than 300 players after all, which, if my logic and I are correct, means that the bookies consider him a less than average player.

Ok so the running antes have been dispensed with, so it's just 10k/20k now, and with almost 2.9 million chips, there's a lot play to go. So far Farid has been doing all the running, raising pretty much every pot on the button to 60k. Peter is playing slower and more conservatively, just waiting to pick his spot I think.

Just before the action started I caught with Peter talking amicably to John Conroy, Peter was thinking with hindsight he might have called the initial raise with the Aces, and Farid might then have made a move with Eights, and we could have seen an end to the tournament.

John told Peter, "Just play small pots against him, you do that and you'll win."

I think the high odds was meant as a publicity stunt and not so much because they rate Peter as a bad player.

Good luck to Peter. (Unfortunately I didnt place a bet on him myself).

Thanks for the updates.

Here's the World Cup trophy they are playing for, (I think I spotted a novelty cheque too).

Heads-up action.

The spectators include a hungover Johnny Lodden, (that's another story, you might have to wait for my tournament report :D)

Apparently, (Peter told Andy Black earlier and Andy announced it) it was because he recently lost a lot of money in Vegas, so they said he was on tilt and made him 500-1. But he told all his friends to back him and 50 or so have!!

I wonder if the bookmaker will consider it as a successful publicity stunt or not if Peter wins. :)

Apoligies for the lack of hands reported of late, but I can genuinely say that there have been none to report. Although I shouldn't admit it as a live updater, I have to remain honest and confess to witnessing a real paint job. I just sat down there for circa 30 minutes, watching 35 hands, yet not one single re-raise, pre-flop or post-flop. Quite remarkable.

Ok thought those guys would play looser, apparantly not. Anyways, just keep us updated if anything happens :)

To give you a brief idea of how slow it is going, here are brief write-ups of 25 consecutive hands at the 10k/20k blind level:

(1) Farid folds his small blind.
(2) Farid raises to 50k, Peter fols 7-3o, Farid shows A-9o.
(3) Cheap 7d-3c-9d Flop, Peter bets, Farid folds.
(4) Peter folds his small blind.
(5) Cheap 8c-6d-7c Flop, Farid bets 30k, Peter calls. 4d Turn, Peter bets, Farid folds.
(6) Peter folds his small blind.
(7) Farid raises to 60k, Peter folds 6-2o.
(8) Peter raises to 60k, Farid calls. 9s-Qh-9c Flop, check check. As Turn, check check. 4c River, Peter bets 100k, Farid folds.
(9) Farid raises to 60k, Peter folds.
(10) Peter folds his small blind.
(11) Cheap 6c Ts Ks Tc 7h board, Peter bets 40k, Farid folds.
(12) Peter folds his small blind.
(13) Farid raises to 50k, Peter folds.
(14) Peter raises to 60k, Farid folds.
(15) Cheap Kh-3c-Ad Flop, Farid bets 20k, Peter calls. 4d Turn, Peter checks, Farid bets 80k, Peter folds.
(16) Peter raises, Farid folds.
(17) Farid folds his small blind, Peter shows K-Jo.
(18) Peter folds his small blind.
(19) Farid folds his small blind, Peter show A-Qs.
(20) Peter folds his small blind.
(21) Cheap 2h-9c-6h-7d-Kd board, Peter wins with T-6o, Farid shows 5-4o.
(22) Peter raises, Farid folds.
(23) Farid raises to 60k, Peter folds.
(24) Peter raises to 60k, Farid folds.
(25) Cheap Jd-6c-9s-Js-7h board, Farid wins with what looked like Q-7o.

After that, it still didn't truly pick up, the biggest pot being when Farid's Flop bet of 80k was called by Peter on an Aspades 3c 4c board, before they both checked the 9s Turn and 2s River, Farid taking it down with Ac 6h.

Whilst I nip to the loo, have a gander at what PokerStars had to say about Peter:

Peter took up playing poker after serving in Iraq and being sent home injured. Desperate to rekindle “the rush” of army life, he discovered online poker and in a relatively short time had worked his way up from low 0.5/1 NL Hold’em to high stakes play, both cash and tournaments. In 2006, Peter won $165.000 at the Caribbean Poker Classic in St. Kitts. Like Frederik Hostrup, he is a member of Pokerteam.dk.

If anything can add any more, then please feel free to do so.

Really well don to John Conroy, we had a couple of quiet beers on thursday night, un-fortunately we also had a dozen loud ones too (my head still hurts). Great fella, and he has a great game.

Superb updates as usuall guys, see you in Cardiff!!

Word from Conrad of PokerStars (who is one of the few here in the cardroom), is that Farid is all-in and has been called.......................

????????????

Updates???

It's over!!!

Ok two big hands in my watch...

First:

Peter raises to 60k and Farid calls,

Flop:

4s 9s 7d

Check check

Turn:

3s

Check, Peter bets 80k, Farid raises to 240k, Peter calls after a dwell.

River:

Aspades

Now Farid bets 280k and Peter calls, Farid shows Ac 9h and Peters 7s 6c was good. This hand is super interesting, Peter must think that a spade is an out because unless Farid has a made flush why is he check/raising the turn and betting the river?

Although Farid doubled up with 2 pair (9-2) on a 9-2-K-A board against an Ace, he was involved in a monster pot soon after.

Pre-flop, Peter made it 65k and called a 140k re-raise.

Flop = 2c 5c Td

Check, check.

Turn = 5s

Farid bet 100k, Peter made it 300k, Farid moved all-in and Peter called.

Farid = 2d 3h

Peter = 5h 9h

Farid was drawing dead, so the Qh River was academic.

This put him down to 170k when, on the next hand...

... Farid moved all-in pre-flop with Aspades 5d only to be called instantly by Peter's 7h 7s.

Board = 9c 6d 7d 4s 2s

Peter wins!

Floppy's raced downstairs to take some photos, so watch this space.

very nice Peter :)

thanks for the updates - good job

I heard more than 300 000 extras chips were on the final table : how a so much extra amount could be there without massive fraud?

I'm afraid I have no information on this except I recall some confused faces (Lee Jones in particular) when they were totting up the chip counts heads-up.

Great updates as usual from the Blonde team. A big Congrats to John Punky Conroy on another excellent finish, it definetely won't be long before he wins a big live tourney.
Just on another note Snoops & Floppy need to get the finger out with this lack of norkage lately, I think we might have to wait until Kev becomes the chief photographer on live updates.

Great job again guys, really appreciated.

Geo

Quite a reckless move on that 2-3 vs 9-5 hand, he was either a total non-beleiver or simply lost his patience. Either way it was incredible hand (just look at the pre-flop action!) considering how slow the game had been prior to that.

        Ditto

photos on their way...

And here is a few shots of our winner, trophy, and novelty cheque...

Thanks for all four days' reporting, you two.  A different sort of final table, without the distance of the TV stage - perhaps sacrificing live feed to the press room, but definitely conceding nothing by way of atmosphere. 

Some definitely unexpected twists in the heads up - but I wanted to congratulate Snoopy on that list of 25 consecutive fold-y hands.  Now that's dedication.

For a full gallery of all the photos taken over this week, please click the following link:

http://www.blondepoker.com/index.php?q=image/tid/236 (http://www.blondepoker.com/index.php?q=image/tid/236)

I guess...
(http://www.bibi.org/box/2005/abril/thats_all_folks.jpg)

I've immensely enjoyed the last two weeks, hard work and all, but I'm dying to get back to my own tournaments. Snoops' flight is at 7am, so I doubt he'll be going to bed tonight. Time to go and drink some overpriced beer methinks...

Like James Bond, The Blonde Updates Will Return, In "The Cardiff GUKPT, Next Weekend."

 ;stickaforkinme;

Bit tired, so won't say too much in closing. Most of my thoughts are in this news item, which you may wish to read.

http://www.blondepoker.com/index.php?q=node/8208 (http://www.blondepoker.com/index.php?q=node/8208)

What I will say is that this was a thoroughly enjoyable tournament and I firmly hope that John Duthie gives the Polish Open a permanent slot in the European Poker Tour.

 ;stickaforkinme;

Thank you all for all your support. Can't yet decide whether to be thrilled or gutted .. felt like I could win after the start I had on the final table... But I guess thrilled wins...