blonde poker forum

Welcome back to Walsall. Play restarts at 3pm.

We have 39 runners remaining and 30 minutes of the current level of 600/1200 remaining. 9 spots are paid as follows:

1st -- £39,200
2nd -- £20,580
3rd -- £11,270
4th -- £8,330
5th -- £5,390
6th -- £4,410
7th -- £3,430
8th -- £2,940
9th -- £2,450

The current chip leader is Alan McLean with 132.2k

can u try get the results from the week ? i know alot of local lads went down

Good luck to all the Walsall regulars - Ash, Andy J, Vince, Andy L, Engineer [1], Toni, Matt and Ben.  Can see the final table ending up just like the £15 rebuy  ;)

Ash is on fire at the moment - final table in the £300 on Wednesday, final 3 in the £500 on Thursday.

Non-bokking best wishes to all of them.





[1] aka Creepyboy. Or if you're Des Jonas, "Donkey!". ;D

just read the last day1 updates...top stuff!

Best of luck to Mantis and Red...although I think Red is a shoe-in for this one now..the man has been playing out of his skin lately.

Smoke me a kipper.....

Well played all week Tom..go win it now ...xxx

gl all blondes left in ,i must admit it was a strange game yesterday .

it was like a tenner rebuy ,got rivered twice when they was holding rubish ,

but like i allways say if the cards are on there back before a flop i would be over the moon .

my three tips .red dog (hes played brilliant all week)

                   alan maclean( very dangerous with chips)

                   shaft(brilliant at the table in more ways than one )

                     gl brilliant updates.

Finally a day off but i will be watching
GL to all the locals

gl  to  all locals
i agree with barry  it was a very poor tourny i tought    standart  was very bad   dc was on my table  even he couldnt  understand some of the play   i tried to catch them out but   kaput ,  any way  good luck   to ash ahmet if not the best ,  1 of the best in walsall

and dont forget andy j   when he goes  he goes no stoping  him   guy deserve a pay out  but  i hope he doesnt tilt   

GL to Ash Hussein, For me, its a brillant player and it is nice to watch him play

I am going for Ash Ahmed
as someone said earlier he is playing well this week

not started yet?

is it not started yet?

Phillip Green has doubled through Andy Johnson.

Ahrt Js Kd 4c

Johnson checked, Green bet 5k, Johnson made it 10k, Green moved in and Johnson called.

Green:

Aspades 7s

Johnson:

Kh 6c

River:

Ac

Red Dog has lost about 7k having to fold Nines to preflop limped Queens.

Well, they're off! There's a lot of yawning and ordering of cups of coffee going on, but there's some action too.

Early double-up for Ian Hotdog Fieldhouse, all-in with kings on a ten-high flop against Matt Porter's QT.

Incidentally, they've decided to play the whole 600/1200 level again today, so the players will have had 90 minutes at this level. Kind of easing them into the day. Oh, I want coffee now...

Tom (Red-Dog) just told me that the first orbit cost him 10k, but he's still comfy with 35k-ish.

He says there were SIX all-ins in the first orbit!

ffs  andy  do u have to play that cxxxp? keep your chips pal

The short stacks are wasting no time in getting involved, maybe so they can go back to bed or something.

Tim Flanders raises it up to 4k preflop; Patrick Murray, resplendent in his Johnny Texas Branded Promotional Shirt, calls, as does Mickey Wernick over on the button.

Flop -  Ac 5h 3d

Tim Flanders bets 6k, and Patrick Murray immediately moves in for another 13.5k, which just about covers Tim too. This makes Tim Flanders tense and sad, and he spends about 5 minutes spinning a 100 chip and staring into some sad place inside his mind, before he calls.

Tim Flanders -  Ahrt Th

Patrick Murray -  Aspades Ks

It's not looking good for Tim Flanders. But

Turn -  4c and people are already shouting split pot, and then

River -  2s and split they do.

Incidentally, when people get themselves sponsored for an event in a kind of you-must-wear-my-corporate-shirt-all-the-way-through-the-comp sort of way, do they get more than one shirt? I mean, I guess a 2 day event's fine, but surely during longer events, the shirt must get gross over the course of 5 or more days of gruelling sitting around in it and sweating. Hotels do not always have quick laundry services.

Mark 'Mantis01' Allden has knocked out V Madan, he'd apparently come over the top of Madan's raises a couple of times forcing the latter to fold, but this time Madan elected to call with Ace King, except Allden had Kings this time.

Mick Fletcher has doubled up with Ad Th against Anthony Nicholls' Kh Kc

Board: Jd Ac 4d 3d 6h


Alan Mclean has knocked out A Smith with Qh Qc against Ad Ks, Queen on the flop.

Craig Owen is OUT, his Jh Jc fell to J Moult's Aspades Ks with the harmless 7c 9d 7h 4d board turning nasty with an Ac river.

Lots of moderately-sized bluffing on the river followed by swift folds when somebody calls going on. Saw Mr S Walms or Walmsley, no-one's actually very sure what his name is, quietly fold when Toni Dicesare called his river bet with ace high, and I saw Andy Johnson just walk off as soon as his opponent started picking chips up to call.

Meanwhile, Alan McClean has been increasing his chip lead - he took down a pot on an x-x-K-K-x board with KJ against some unfortunate gentleman's KT.

But the real excitement is that Paul Jackson is OUT - "I took a bad beat," said he, and indeed he did. Finding himself all-in with the mighty 7-4 "Full Wilson" against John Burke's pocket kings, he somehow failed to hit, and was last seen wandering across the casino floor telling anyone who would listen about his astounding failure to win with the magic hand.

It'd be lovely to see blondeite "MANTIS01" go deep on this. He's been a breath of fresh air to the blonde "Poker Hand Analysis" Board, with some lovely Posts, & he's a nice lad, too.

See many of his Posts here.....

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?board=24.0

Cavalcade of action for you now.

First a short-stack Shaf pushes with Ad 8c, only to find Simon Zach pushing behind him with Ac Ks, but the board comes 6s Qh Js 8d 2s. "Sorry kiddo," says a slightly quieter than usual Shaf. (Pic1)

Next Mark Allden puts Tom Nightingale all-in on a 9s 9d 6c flop with his Td Th only to find himself up against Ad Ahrt (Pic2)

Turn:

7c

"Eight is good."

River:

Tc

Ouch. Mantis adds to his stack.

Womble puts enough chips in the pot to put Micky Pearce all-in on a Jh 5s 2h Ks board. Micky folds his Jc 7d. Womble shows his boogielicious Jd 5h

This is Phillip Green (Pic3), he bets 20k on the river of an 8d Ahrt Qh 6d 4c board, getting a caller in A Rasid who mucks when he's shown 8c 6c.

And here is A Psaras (Pic4) who doubled up when he rivered a flush against a rivered straight.
   
Finally Ash Hussain makes a 20k river bet on a Qc 4c 6c Td 6h and gets a quick call from Mark Allden who shows his Aspades Qd, Ash shows Ac Jc for the flopped nuts.

And is the man who caught a lucky break against the Full Wilson.

J Burke (They don't always give us the first names. :()

J Burke is John
Very nice guy and a regular at walsall

he had 13 rebuys in the sat yesterday.

Chip counts for Ash, Zach ann The Red dawg please.

He is also Aston Villa fan which makes him even better guy

gud da m8,no luck yesterda,u cumin 2 bolton nxt week?

what happened mat ,i knew the asian bloke would do his chips .

ul m8 better luck next time .

Blinds are 800/1600

Simon Zach is OUT, the AK vs A8 hand crippled him and he's departed since then.

Red Dog has 60k roughly having limp-called an Andy Johnson raise with Kd Jh and then, then when Johnson pushed the Kh Js 8d with 3d 3s, Red beat him into the pot and the turn and river were blanks.

Will check on Ash's stack in a sec.


Here's chip leader Alan Mclean with what looks like over 200k.

This is Brian Welby who just knocked out Ash Ahmed with Jacks against A-9. A Jack, an Ace and a Nine all hitting the board.

Jim Reid, looking effortlessly cool, that's despite having his hand glued to his face.

Finally N Hanmer has doubled up with Tens against N Hosell's Sevens.

3 tables left.

Hopefully pal- see u there?

Some more chips for Alan McClean or possibly Mclean depending on which bit of paper I look at. He raises to 3700 and Abbassi calls him. The flop is a pleasing raiser's  Aspades Qh Ad so they both check.

Turn -  3d - Abbassi bets and Mclean calls.

River -  3h - Abbassi bets 13k and Mclean calls - he shows his nice  Ahrt Jc full house and Abbassi mucks.

Great updates guys- Count for Paul 'rocket man' Gourlay too please.

Ash Hussain -- 80k

Here he is next to Matt Porter.

26 left. Average stack 56.5k

V Rasid is out, Andy Johnson's K-T beat his pocket Eights.

Red Dog bets 6.5k on a  9h 3h Td flop, only for Jim Reid to raise to 13k. Red Dog asks how many Jim has left - it's about 35k. "I'm either passing this or I'm setting you in," he says. Eventually he opts to pass, showing  Ts. Jim Reid shows  Tc. Says Ash Hussain, "oh no, you both have trip tens. Dealer, check the pack."

is there a break soon so we can get a full chip count and list of people still left?

Mr S Walms moves in, and it folds around to Tim Flanders. He folds too, showing T-2. "That's the third time in a row I've had T-2 and someone's raised every time." It's true as well, I'd been peeking all the while. "It was probably the winning hand," someone else pipes up.

dana its steve walmsley (womble bollards toryboy - he answers to all )

10 minute break currently in progress, we'll do what we can when the players come back.

Oh good, thanks for that, there was some discrepancy between the Day 1 seating and the names i copied off the chip baggies at 4am. I think I went to his house once actually. I recall I lost money.

Ok thanx

Paul Gourlay has 35k and is wearing glasses whilst keeping his Rocket Man glasses on his cap.

Ian 'hotdog' Fieldhouse and Anthony Nicholls are both OUT, they pushed with K-Q and Q-Q respectively but ran into the Aces of Andrew Psaras, (pictured).

Blinds are 1k/2k when we get back.

Double-up for Ben Callinan just before the break - all in on a  4h Ts 3s 6h board, Matt Porter called him with  4s 3h, no match for Ben's  6s 6c. River irrelevantly  Kd.

not the first and wont be the last. Stts round the coffee table with chubbs and co as well by any chance?

Womble runs a good STT ... and Aristons bacon butties are legendary :)

unfortunately I am bitch in wombles house when we have the festival at blackpool and I have all cooking duties. Womble is the bank manager for all reprobates that stay at his and Kev is washing up bitch (I cook which means I don't have to clean).

Any of you coming up for bolton next week btw?

And I do hope womble ran the prop stts when you where there. If we ever have any "non" pro players (random people picked up off the rail or staff etc) they only have to pay 1/2 the buyin for the stts normally. Also there is the rule where I am not allowed to deal but I will let Kev explain that one to you ;)

Rough Chip Counts:

Table Big Stacks

Andy Louca -- 45k
Andrew Psaras -- 205k
Phillip Green -- 40k
Brian Welby -- 100k
N Hamner? -- OUT
Ramazanali Abbassi -- 50k
Alan Mclean -- 240k

Table Blondes

Mark Allden -- 90k
Red Dog -- 40k
Ash Hussain -- 93k
Andy Johnson -- 145k
Ben Callinan -- 140.5k
Jim Reid -- 62k
J Burke -- 13.5k

Table Shorties

Micky Wernick -- 44k
Seat 2 -- OUT
J Moult -- 21k
Paul Gourlay -- 27k
Tim Flanders -- 17k (Just had to chop a pot with A-J vs K-J despite flopping two aces!)
Womble -- 26k
Micky Pearce -- 18k
H Mohammed -- 32k

Off to try and find those missing names.

I vaguely recall 3 tables and a kitchen full of snack foods. Mmm.

It's an exodus of probably not quite biblical proportions.

Matt Porter is OUT - he raised it up with AJ, Andy Johnson called with 78. Flop came 7-8-J and the chips went in. Another 7 on the turn.

N Hanmer, who said his name was Joe, is also OUT - chips went in on a  9c 7h 8s flop but his  Js Jh was no match for Abbassi's  8d 8h with useless  3s 4s turn and river.

And also Toni Dicesare has BITTEN THE DUST -  6d 6s against H Mohammed's  Ac Kc - board  Js 8h Tc Aspades 9s.

19 left now.

Toni Dicesare was lucky to make it to that last hand - a few hands earlier, he raised to 6k, only for Tim Flanders to move in for 8.5k more, covering Dicesare. After much dwelling and some fairly restrained cussing, he announced that he knew he was behind but he had to gamble. He turned over  Ks Jh and he was right about the behind bit - Flanders showed  Aspades Jd.

But the board came down  Ad Ac Qc Kh Tc for an extremely unlikely split pot. Tim Flanders screwed up his eyes and turned his face skywards, as if to spit in God's face.

Red Dog is OUT, Andy Louca limped on the cut-off, Red pushed in the small blind with Ts 9s and Ash Hussain woke up in the big blind with Queens.

Mark Allden just lost a big 100k pot or so, he had 2s 6d on a Tc 2c 2h board against Phillip Green's 9c 8c, the river was a club.

Micky Pearce is OUT, his Kd Jc was no match for Alan Mclean's Aspades 4c which hit both hole cards in a blind vs blind battle.

Ben Callinan limps, Andy Louca makes up and Mark Allden checks.

Flop:

2h 9s 3s

Andy bets 5k, Mark passes, and Ben raises for a whole stack of gold 5k chips. Andy passes, showing the 9d.

Paul Gourlay

'The Rocket Man'

Ramazanali Abbassi and Tim Flanders.

Incidentally this sounded quite gruesome. It was a mulitway limped pot, Mark checked, Phillip bet 15k, everyone else got out of the way, Mark moved all-in for I think about 70k - 80k and Phillip called for his remaining 47k.

Great turn of phrase Dana, but I can't help but feel that a gurntastic photo-opportunity slipped through your fingers  ;nanana;

Jim Reid is OUT. He raised to 10k under the gun only for Brian Welby to go massively over the top of him from the small blind. After some considerable dwelling, during which time I lost interest and went to look at the other table, he called, at which I scurried back.

Jim Reid -  Ad Qs

Brain Welby -  Ac Kh

Board -  Th 6d Td 4s 3s

Apparently that was the first time in a couple of hours that Brian Welby had raised, so not sure about that call there, he wasn't obviously committed after the 10k bet I don't think... Anyways, he's gone now.

It's not my fault! Jen provided me with an Update Kit consisting of a laptop with an unfamiliar operating system, a camera with dead batteries, and 3 kinds of painkiller. Chris is on gurnage duty today...

how many left please?

I just rang mr wernick.

14 left and he has 44k in chips, best of luck to him!

Is Tim Flanders from Blackpool?

Another split pot for Tim Flanders - all in on a  7d Th 5s board, Alan Mclean calls. They both turn over 9-T off, and the  4s Jh turn and river are no help for anyone.

Mohammed Hassan is OUT in 15th place, he felt he couldn't pass his 9d 9h to the re-raise from Andrew Psaras who was holding Qc Qd. And after an unthreatening board, it was handshakes and exits.

And here is Psaras with his princely stack, whilst Mickey Wernick who has had to grind it hard today is left still nursing his pauperish amount of chips.

I'm sorry to hear that you are in pain (unless the painkillers are for recreational purposes ;))

But I hasten to add that the description was as good as a photo anyhow and in no way detracted from my enjoyment of the update  ;cupcake;

PS Any chipcount for Jim (Bookiebasher) Moult please ?

I don't know, and now have no way of finding out as he went OUT a few minutes ago. Not sure exactly what happened, but he ended up all in with JT against Paul Gourlay's AJ, the board reading Q-Q-Q-A-A.

By the way, blinds are currently 1500/3000, 13 left in, average stack 113,100. Blinds will be going up to 2k/4k in around 10 minutes.

Andrew Psaras and Ramazanali Abbassi both check a  Qs Th Jh flop, and then the  7d turn. Psaras checks the  8d river, and Abbassi bets, but Psaras doesn't take the bait. Abbassi shows his Q-J - Psaras says he has an ace, which shows some restraint there.

Incidentally, Mickey Wernick doubled up off of Psaras a little while back - KK against T9. Psaras is nowhere near short though - he has an absolute bunch of chips.

He's just doubled through Paul Gourlay with Nines against Fives. Up to 40k.

10 minute break. Blinds then 2k/4k

how is Mr Red doing? oh and Mantis?

Mantis is still plugging away but short after losing the big pot with trips vs a flush draw. Red went out a couple of pages ago.

lol..that's what I get for not reading 2 pages and watching F1 instead I guess.

Jim 'BookieBasher' Moult has just doubled up again, in an unraised pot, he was small blind vs Abbassi's big blind.

He bet out 6k on a Ts 7h 4s board and Abbassi moved in. Jim began to think, to the point that Micky Wernick and Paul Gourlay rushed off to outside the cardroom for a quick fag like a pair of schoolboys. I got a quick glance at Jim's cards, Th 6h. He dwelt for a while. Abbassi asked him what he had and, when Jim replied, "Top pair," Abbassi went quiet, but it looked as though Jim was too deep in concentration looking at the table to notice Abbassi's reaction to him saying, "Top pair."

Jim then stood up, and said, "I think I'm going to call...I'm going to gamble."

Abbassi turned over 9h 7c and Jim was rewarded by his call with blanks on the turn and river, he's on about 80k now. (He also looks like a slightly older Ben Grundy to me in this photo :D)


Andy Louca on the other table is OUT. His uber-short stack Ad Jc fell to Brian Welby's Tc 9c. Ten on the flop.

Woohoo nice one Jim, top bloke considering he's a bookie  ;yippee;

Brian Welby raises to 14k, and Ash Hussain reraises all-in for about the rest of Welby's stack. Eventually Welby passes, saying he had AK. "I thought you didn't play AK," says Ash. "Not against you," says Welby.

Meanwhile there's some raising over on the other table, and suddenly Andy Johnson announces all-in. Then he gets up and wanders off. "Andy!" somebody shouts, "Stay at the table! Oh, it's ok, he's passed."

I suppose there is only 2 tables now, is it ?

Can we have their composition ? with an assessment of the stacks if possible please?

;popcorn; ;popcorn;

Paul Gourlay is OUT.

It folds around to his button and he pushes. Jim Moult and Engineer Abbassi fold their blinds.

Next hand it folds around to him on the cutoff and he pushes again - this time Mclean and his super-stack make the call.

Gourlay -  5s 5h

Mclean -  Ac 3c

Board  -  Ks Ad ("F***!!!!" shouts Gourlay and slams his fist on the table)  Kh ("Five! FIVE!" squeals Gourlay)  8d Jc

And he is gone.

Ramazanali Abbassi is OUT, pushed from the small blind with 9h 8h, ran into Alan Mclean's Aspades Qd in the big blind.

Board:

Qc Jc 3c 5h 6c


Meaning!!!


STOP!

;mc;

BUBBLETIME!

Well, no messing around here. The bubble has burst already - in fact it burst before we could get back ot the card room. All I know is that our unfortunate bubble boy was Phillip Green, and I believe he went out with a pair of fours against Ben Callinan's AK. Floppy will bring you the full story shortly.

Phillip Green decided to push with a pair of fours from the button for 75k(!) and Ben Callinan called with Ace King in the big blind hitting an Ace on the river. According to Ash Hussain, Phillip was overbetting far too much and could've easily raised and got away from the hand.

Dana has the full final table chip counts, there's a 30 minute break and then we'll restart.

FINAL TABLE
in seating planny order.

Andy Johnson -- 290k
Mark Allden -- 28k
Mickey Wernick -- 148.5k
Brian Welby -- 98k
Ben Callinan -- 207.5k
Andrew Psaras -- 220.5k
Ash Hussain -- 102.5k
Alan Mclean -- 364k
Jim Moult -- 61k

3 Walsall boys on the final table thats what we like

..and at least 5 blondes......!

very nice
and i believe your winner be..........................................

Big Ben Callinan

nice to see mickys back ,go on now win it .

Which are they?

Ok, we've started. Dana is tableside. Blinds are still 2k/4k for another half hour yet.

Seat 1: Andy Johnson -- 290k

Seat 2: Mark 'Mantis01' Allden -- 28k

Seat 3: Micky Wernick -- 148.5k

Seat 4: Brian Welby -- 98k

Seat 5: Ben Callinan -- 207.5k

Seat 6: Andrew Psaras -- 220.5k

Seat 7: Ash Hussain -- 102.5k

Seat 8: Alan Mclean -- 364k

Seat 9: Jim 'Bookiebasher' Moult -- 61k

saw ben make a brilliant call against lawrance gosney yesterday ,

this man can play ,makes plenty of finals .

Maybe it's just me...

(http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=24474.0;attach=15561;image)

(http://www.supermanhomepage.com/images/george-reeves-biopic/hwl-max1.jpg)

Yes to what Snoopy just said, you are so right. And Psaras is Greek, too, which makes me happy for no particular reason.

Anyways, Chris and I are attempting to get every single final table hand. Probably we won't keep it up, but here it is so far.

Fairly cagey early play here. First hand it folds around to super-shortstack Mark Allden on the small blind - he moves all in and Mickey Wernick folds. Allden shows A7.

Next hand it folds around to Mickey on the small blind; he bets and Brian Welby gives up his big blind without a fuss.

Hand Three and It folds around to Mark Allden on the cutoff and he pushes again. Ben Callinan on the big blind considers it for some time, but eventually folds. "Oh. I'd like it if you called," laments Allden.

Great call snoops. lol0ol0l0l0ol0l

Then a bit of good old-fashioned big raising.

Mclean calls the blind only for Mickey to raise to 20k. With barely a pause, Mclean reraises 100k in blue 10,000 chips.

"Bloody hell," says Mickey.

"I thought they were ones," says Mclean, pointing to the blue chips. Mickey is not fooled and folds.

Perhaps this makes Mickey aggressive, as the next hand he raises to 16k, and he takes the pot unchallenged.

Brian Welby, whose name I mistype as Brain each and every damn time, calls, and Mclean checks.

 7d 6c 3d and they both check.

Turn -  Qd and they check again.

River -  5s and Mclean bets 10k. Welby dwells up most theatrically before raiisng to 30k. Mclean calls, and is most disappointed to see that Welby has made the flush with Kd Jd. He says he made the straight.

Little had happened on my watch. Jim Moult raised three hands in a row, the third time showing Tc Th.

Andy Johnson bet 30k in a three way pot against Micky Wernick and Jim Moult on a 8s 4c Kd to take it down.

Then...

Andrew Psaras makes it 16k to go. Ash Hussain moves in for 100k next to him, more passing then in the Brazilian 70's football team. Back on to Andrew, who Ash has moved in on before before saying, "Yeah, I'll call you." and he does for the majority of his stack.

Ash:

Ad Kd

Andrew:

Ahrt Qc

Board:

3s 9s Td 6c 9d

Ash doubles through and Andrew is left as a shell of a stack, with only slightly more than Mark Allden.

Ayarrrrr gooo on Ash!!!!

Well, we've givne up on the hand-by-hand thing already, onthe grounds that virtually nothing happens for ages and then loads of stuff tends to happen at once. Not much going on right this second, though. I saw Mickey Wernick button-nick some blinds (which incidentally are now 3k/6k). Plenty of folding. Some folds-around-to-Ash-on-the-small-blind stealing, which turns out not to be a steal when Mclean gives up his blind and Ash shows AQ.

Also a fairly big pot, largely by virtue of the number of people in it. Mclean calls utg, and then Welby calls in late-ish position, Psaras calls from the SB and Ash checks the BB.

Flop -  3c 3d Td - Ash checks, Mclean bets 10k, andWelby calls.

Turn - 2d - Mclean checks. Welby bets 20k, and Mclean folds.

Mark 'Mantis01' Allden is OUT in 9th place winning £2,450

Mark:

6s 6c

Brian Welby:

Aspades Ad

Board:

Ac 7s Qh Jc Jh

guys i have a story,brian welby i think his name    was talking to me about fate,he said friday night he had a bad beat oncash game or shootout i m  ot too sure  and he left casino to go home i ager as he went to the entrance of motorway it was very busy and he the decided to tur back to casino and played stt and wo his seat now he s on the final  is that saying something to you all? maybe he s the winner?

Yes, says he's an addict.

Sadly Snoopy's looky-likey is already out of date - Andrew Psaras now looks like a much sadder kind of Bob Hoskins as

Andrew Psaras is OUT in 8th place winning £2,940.

What happened, y'see, is that Jim Moult raised up a hand preflop to 16k and everyone folded. Then the next hand he raised preflop to 18k. This time, Psaras moved in for another 37k. Moult had maybe 50 or 60k left at this point. He munched on his lower lip for a bit before calling.

Jim Moult -  Qh Qc

Andrew Psaras -   Aspades Js

Board -  5s Ahrt 6c then oh the pain in Psaras' eyes  Qs and  5h

How cruel the deck can be.

This is quite a line-up actually, we all know about Mickey, Ash and the great Alan McLean... Jim and Ben have been making there fair share of finals of late... but look out for Andy Johnston as well. If memory serves me correctly he knocked off 2 tourneys at the Bellagio during last years WSOP and knows how to finish....
so one of the others will undoubtably win  ;carlocitrone;

Play has slowed down a little, no-one is dangerously short anymore, even with the blinds at 3k/6k.

Mickey just had his 22k raise re-raised to 60k by Ash and mucked his Ahrt Jd face up. Ash showed Qd Qs.

From what I've seen, Andy Johnson seems to spend almost as much time on the rail chatting to people as he does playing. He's been away from the table a number of times, so much so that's he must've missed at least ten or more hands on the final so far. Though, it's not a total surprise, he's often gone off for 5-10 minute periods throughout the comp over the last two days. Perhaps he has the runs? ;carlocitrone;

Nah he just smokes alot and apparently passses a lot of winners so he needs to regroup or talk to himself
lol

GOOOO OOOONNN ASSSSHHHH ;slavedriver;

Bizarreness now.

Folded round to Jim Moult on the button who min-raises to 16k. Small blind Andy Johnson re-raises another 50k. Micky Wernick folds. At this point Andy Johnson is staring at the chips like he misses them already and Jim Moult looks like he totally hates him, before announcing all-in for another 68k. Then Andy dwells so long, the final table buffet appears, it looks much nicer than the other one.

Andy Johnson says, "You've got Aces but I can outdraw you....I'm in too deep..." He looks like's he's going to throw the 68k in, but doesn't. At this point Alan Mclean is so bored he's inspecting the buffet, (which has a fruit buffet).

Jim Moult says, "You've got to let go..." Andy Johnson keeps picking up the stack of 68k and Mickey Wernick points out it's still 68k. And amazingly, given the odds, he folds.

Ash shouts, "3-1, you're getting young man!"

Photos:

Dwellage

Dwellage

More Dwellage

Short Break:

Chip Counts, thanks to Chris the Dealer.

Andy Johnson -- 290k
Micky Wernick -- 39k
Brian Welby -- 169k
Ben Callinan -- 151k
Ash Hussain -- 241k
Alan Mclean -- 375k
Jim Moult -- 206k

if chris is dealing u might want someone else to verify the chip counts :)

Go on the mickey! Knew we went 5% for a reason :D

;hide; ;yippee; ;shitfanhit;

Hello, Dana here, using Chris' laptop because my connection has gone mad.

A moderately-sized pot. Mclean, Johnson, Wernick and Welby all call; Ash checks.

Flop -  5s 6c 6d - they all check.

Turn -  Jc - and again they check.

River -  2c - Johnson bets 15k, but it is clear that he is trying it on. Mclean calls, and his  Ahrt Kh is miles ahead of Johnson's  Qd Th.

Micky Wernick has doubled up twice.

Having dwindled down to 19k, he pushed and got an automatic call from Alan Mclean in the big blind. (Blinds 4k/8k)

Micky:

Ks 8c

Alan:

9h 8d

Board:

7h 5h Ac 8h (Nice turn!) 2d

Then he pushes again from early position and Andy Johnson calls pretty quickly considering he has only Qh 4h. Micky shows Ts Tc

Board:

Ad Th 7h 2d 7d

Micky now up over 80k.

Yes go on the wernick, he is the best short stack player ive come across in my opinion.

Dana here again.

Ash makes it 38k from the button; Andy Johnson calls.

Flop -  7s 4s 5h

Andy checks, and Ash asks the dealer for Andy's chip count - Ash covers him by 7k. He announces all in, and Andy passes.

Andy seems to have dropped some more chips since his disastrous and bizarre pass a few hands back. Could be he's gonna be in some serious trouble soon...

I don't know his hand, but Ash's acting (asking andy's chip count) is for me a bluff or an "half bluf" (sorry don't know the correct word). WP Ash !!

Ayarrrrrrr gooooo on ash... the shadows are on the rise again....

Moving in on Andy on a bluff is very risky as hes very likely to call. I think Ash knows that too

He's not a short stack anymore.

Alan Mclean limps UTG. Micky makes it 30k from mid position. Blinds pass, Alan moves all-in, Micky beats him in the pot.

Alan:

Aspades Kc

Micky:

Kd Ks

Board:

3d Jd 9s 3c Qd

Micky doubles his stack, he's on about 228k now. And we still have 7 left. It's going to be a late one...

Go on Micky

LOL i love alan.

Dana again.

Ben Callinan calls from the button, Ash makes up the blind and Alan Mclean checks.

Flop comes  8s 7h Jc  and it checks around to Callinan, who moves in. The others both fold.

Next hand, Mickey makes it 25k and Callinan calls.

Flop -  Kc Ts 6h - and Mickey checks. Ben puts in 20k and Mickey folds, showing AQ. Ben shows AK.

Beyond that, not much has been happening interesting-hand-wise. However, things should hopefully speed up a bit now, as I believe A Deal Has Been Done. Looks like it's going to be 10k each and the remaining 22k extra for the winner.

Meanwhile, Red Dog's not having much fun in the £100 freezeout. He's tired, but refuses to have coffee unless he gets some chips first, otherwise he says there's no point and he'd rather sleep. Tough one, that. I told him to have half a coffee.

Alan Mclean limps for 10k. Andy Johnson makes it 50k total in the small blind. Micky Wernick moves in for 170k more. Alan and Andy pass. Micky shows Kh Kd.

Dana again. We have lost one!

On a flop of  Ks 5d 8c Ben Callinan checks and Alan Mclean bets 25k; Ben calls.

Turn -  7s - Ben checks and Mclean bets 40k; this time Ben announces all in.

Ben Callinan -  7d Kc

Alan Mclean -  5c 5h

River -   Aspades

Which means that Ben Callinan finishes in 7th place, officially winning £3,430 but I think probably actually winning £10,000. Nice.

Jim Moult makes it 45k in the small blind. Andy Johnson raises 86k more, enough to put Jim all in.

Jim gets his cup of tea out and begins to drink and think. He drinks (and thinks) for a while, to the point where he finishes his cup of tea. He announces, "I'm going to gamble, I call."

Jim:

5h 5s

Andy:

Kd Js

Board:

8h 3c Ac 7h 7d

Jim doubles up, Andy now short.

Another one down! Andy Johnson did indeed get himself in some trouble.

He raised preflop, and Jim Moult reraised all in. Looks like he sort of gave up, because he called with  Aspades 7h against Jim Moult's  Jc Jh.

Board -  Qh Kd 3h 5s 9h

Andy Johnson finishes in 6th place officially winning £4,410 but actually in reality winning £10,000 post-deal.

Micky Wernick lost some chips check/raising a 20k bet by Brian Welby on a Ahrt 2d Th board to 80k. Brian insta-pushed and Micky insta-mucked his Qd 7c hand. Brian showed Kh 7h

Shortly afterwards Micky pushed with Td Tc but found Ash Hussain pushing behind him on the button with Kh Kd

Board:

Jh Qd 5h Js Kc


Meaning Micky Wernick is OUT in 5th place winning £10,000

Go on Ash !!!!!

Can we have informations about the stack sizes please?

Ash in the small blind calls and Alan Mclean raises 20k; Ash calls.

Flop - 6d 2d 8c and they both check.

Turn - 8s - check, check.

River - Td - check check.

Mclean shows  Ahrt 9h and Ash mucks. "You got me."

Play is still very cagey. What they need is to do another deal to liven things up a bit.

Our final four are on a break now. CHris will be back with some counts shortly. Meanwhile in the £100 event, Red Dog has made back a few chips, but the blinds have gone up too and he's still looking exhausted. He assures me that he's ordered drinks, but this could mean anything.

Chip counts thanks to Jim the dealer:

Brian Welby -- 128k
Ash Hussain -- 500k
Alan Mclean -- 588k
Jim Moult -- 245k

10 minute break. Blinds 6k/12k when we return.

The reason Ash is up to 500k, is the last hand before the break.

Brian raised to 30k in the small blind. Ash called.

They both checked the Jh 8s 6d flop

Brian check/called the 5s turn for 25k before betting out 50k on the dangerous 9h river.

Ash eventually made the call and Brian showed Kd 6c, and Ash's Ad 8c was good.

Jim 'Bookiebasher' Moult is OUT in 4th place winning £10,000

Jim:

Jh Js

Alan:

Ad Qh

Board:

Qd 7s 8h Qs 7d


3 left.

Alan Mclean calls from the button. Brian Welby on the small blind announces all in. Ash folds, and Mclean calls without a moment's hesitation. As you do.

Alan Mclean -  Ad Ahrt

Brian Welby -  9h 9c

Board -  8c 6d 7d Kh 3c

Which means that Brian Welby is OUT in 3rd place officially winning £11,270 but I guess he's only getting £10,000 of that.

Nice one Mr Bookiebasher  :)

A deal has been done - the remaining £22k after everyone's had their £10k is being split £9k to Ash Hussain and £13.6k to Alan Mclean, who had roughly a 2:1 chiplead over Ash last I checked. The pointy glass trophy has been put on the table now, and the comedy giant cheque is waiting by the coffee machine.

On a  7s 2c Jd flop, Ash checks and Alan bets 40k; Ash calls.

Turn -  Tc and again Ash checks. Alan bets 80k, and, after some hesitation, Ash calls.

River -  9d - they both check, and Alan shows  Qd Jc - Ash mucks.

And after that chunkyish pot. Alan Mclean has really blitzed into top gear, anytime Ash has bet, Alan has either shown him a better hand or re-raised him off the pot. The end is near, Ash is down to his last few chips...

...And then it's over.

Ash moves in almost immediately, and Alan calls just as fast.

Ash -  2d 7s

Alan -  6d 6s

Board -  Qh 5d 4d 4c Qd

So Ash Hussain is OUT in 2nd place officially winning £20,580 but actually winning £12,500...

which leads me to the obvious conclusion that the WINNER of the 2007 Midlands Meltdown Main Event is ALAN MCLEAN, officially winning £39,200 but actually winning £29,600. Many congratulations, that man.

Floppy should have some giant-cheque-and-handshake photos shortly.

 ;applause;  Fantasic updates as usual, i used to play tourneys with alan a
few years back the man is real gent great to see him in the top spot.

         Neves.

To clarify, this deal was discussed but wasn't actually done. In the end, Alan when chipped up and Ash down to just 60k offered the latter £2.5k and took the remaining £19.6k.

Here's some of the last photos.

The trophy.

Heads Up battle.

The Presentation

Hurrah! It's Novelty Cheque Time!!!


That's everything then. Dana and I are off to the bar. Congratulation to Alan and Ash, and thanks to all to super helpful and friendly Walsall staff who made the update so easy to do.

 ;stickaforkinme;

Yes yes, congrats to the winners, big old thank-yous to the fine Walsall staff for their kindness and nice buffets, and I have a beer now!  ;applause;

 ;stickaforkinme;

Well done Floppy & Dana, lovely & sometimes quite beautifully eccentric prose by both of you.

And well done all the Finalists, a great Comp, well played.

Special "well done's" to Lord Wernick, Ash - a well overdue big draw - Jim Moult, (kind enough to give the blonde Updaters a nice "drink" from his winnings, only Lord Wernick & Thewy does that usually), and a very special "well done" to the great Alan McLean.

And thanks to Grosvenor, & all the Walsall Team, for a wonderful Fessie. Long live Grosvenor Fessies.

well done floopy and dana, great updates. chuffed for mickey, he was greta support last week in barcelona, good to see him where he belongs, nursing a short stack at a final table :)

Just like to say what a thoroughly enjoyable festival of poker I participated in this weekend at Walsall.

I for one look forward to the bigger monthly tournaments and regional festivals because it offers me the chance to test my game against some of the better players in the country. As a thinking-player it is a real joy to play against quality opponents, and these games offer me that chance.

A starting stack of 15,000 chips and 1hr levels mean bags of play and this suits my game far more than the 1,000 chip £20 re-buy comps that populate the weekly schedule.

The best thing about events like this though is that you get scores of poker enthusiasts converging under one roof so you feel sure a challenging game awaits. The cranking up of the standard together with more attractive than usual prize money and the attendance of Blonde make this a real event rather than just another game.

Some people have said that the standard wasn't great this time. One of the first things I learnt was never to bemoan your opponent's bad play and so I wont. I will say however, that in these big events bad players are always welcome at my table.

There was no doubting the quality on display as we reached Day 2 though. I was in seat 1 with RED-DOG to my left followed by Ash Hussain, the phenomenally stacked Andy Johnson and local boy Ben Callinan. As the day progressed I was looking to trap either the ultra-loose Andy Johnson or a player called Rasid who was in seat 10. In the blink of an eye McCready had done Rasid up like a kipper trapping him with a well-played top set of Jacks and that plan bit the dust just as quickly. The quality on display was evident throughout.

It was really nice to share the table with a couple of fellow regular Walsall players. Ben Callinan is a quality opponent. He has a similar style to me, being tight-aggressive and a good reader of the game. If you are all-in with Ben you know you are facing a hand. Andy Johnson could not be more different. Andy is one of those players that can be impossible to read and could literally show atc's. But it was thoroughly entertaining to watch him put on a near master-class of loose-aggressive poker. In some spells he just refused to concede defeat and took down pot after pot with pure aggression....It was good to see all three of us make the final.

Quality players to battle, a range of styles to combat , high-drama, good fun and 2 days of action-packed poker was mine for just a £25 outlay in a Satellite. So I for one love the festivals and look forward to the next one.

The staff from Walsall were terrific as always and the Blonde team gave us fantastic coverage of the event. So thanks to them and of course the messages of support from fellow members.

Long live the Fessies!!!!

Thank you Mantis, we were aching for you to go deep in this.

Please see....

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=24536.new#new

top stuff Mantis, very well played!

Hey Snoops, Dana,

Does this mean I can complain about the comment that I look like Bob Hoskins? lol

Joking aside I thoroughly enjoyed the thoroughly enjoyed the tournie and thanks for the excellent coverage.

Andrew 'Bob' Psaras

Don't YOU start, too!

Seriously Andrew, welcome to blonde, & very well played in Walsall.

As you can see, we have a little fun with everyone, but, as Kenny Everett used to say, it's all in the best possible taste.

Great updates again!!! WD!