blonde poker forum

Chip counts and the odd story will be making its way on here through the day as the 1C Players (sounds like a Big Band) attempt to reach Day Two with all the chips.  For the interactive thread: http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=28269.0
 (http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=28269.0)
Play has just commenced for the day, with alternates still able to sneak in for the first two levels of play.

Welcome back for day 3 of the London GUKPT.

The usual mix of celebrities, professionals, amateurs, affluent business men, hoody wearing Lak-alikes and assorted poker players will be eyeing each other up and devising devilish strategies to acquire each others chips as we speak.

We're about to kick off, so good luck to all the players and let's see them cards...

We haven't yet received the full player list although scanning the tables, I noticed Brighton GUKPT Winner Dave Smith, finalist and well known chip mover and shaker Albert Sapiano, Scott (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=394) O'Reilly (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=394), who made the final table of the plymouth GUKPT and many others.

Julian (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=225) Thew (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=225) is here too apparently although i missed him - he's probably obscured by crowds of well wishing fans after recent exploits.

And amazingly we already have out first exit...

IAN FRASER became involved in a pot with mateyboy. The board read Th 5h 2h and somewhat suprisingly himself and mateyboy managed to get allin on the flop, Ian holding T9 for top pair, no kicker or "TOP BAD" as Jamie (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=839) Gold (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=839) might refer to it, whilst mateyboy was "all over the flop" like a rash with Ah 3x or the nut flush draw with a gutshot.

The 4s on the turn, completing the gutshot straight draw was good enough to defeat Ian's top pair and he is the first casualty of what will prove a bruising day if it continues in this vein!

The press were strangely drawn to Albert Sapiano's table, perhaps due to his previous performances in the GUKPTs where he has not been shy of getting his chips in the middle early doors. Indeed as we arrived we caught Albert in a big pot.

With the board reading Th 7h 8d Tc, Albert was betting 1500 into the pot and was called by the player 3 seats to his left.

The river came a J and a check by Albert prompted a bet of 1500 from mateyboy. Albert reluctantly called and there was a collective gasp of breath as he didn't show us bottom pair but revealed quite a strong hand....QT for trips...which had been somewhat unfortunately rivered by his opponent's T9 whose trips had improved to a straight on the river. An unlucky start for Albert there...

Jen has some photos of players to follow shortly once her recalcitrant computer has been brought to task...

The stacks are already uneven and some are looking downright precarious already, after just 20 minutes or so.  One of these is Roberto 'The Mouth' Romanello, pictured here after just winning a hand by calling on the river with 5d 5s after a fourth diamond appeared on the river (the board Ace high) and his opponent bet a few hundred with a now no longer good Aspades Qc.  "I can't resist the call for value," said Roberto as he happily threw in the call.  Moments later and he was slightly less happily check-calling with two pair on the river against another tablemate, only to find said opponent on a higher two pair.  Down to just 2,600 - but bewilderingly cheerful, as always. 

(http://www.blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2284&g2_serialNumber=1)

Yes, if you'd like to know where your supportees are sitting - now it is possible with a glance down this nearly complete start of day Player List, in Table Order.  Thanks Jon Raab and Team... There have been two alternates so far in today, but if you want a fashionably-late entrance you only have about an hour left in which to make it...

1   1   Lock, Owen
1   2   Barraclough, David
1   3   Pennetta, Giovanni
1   4   Oshea, Jerome
1   5   Libertini, Martino
1   6   Harris, Mark
1   7   Herbert, Ian
1   8   Laronde, David
2   1   Omahoney, Denis
2   2   Smith, David
2   3   Artemis, Michael
2   4   Trimby, Michael
2   5   Ford, Zachary
2   6   Allen, Danielle
2   7   Callow, Kim
2   8   Patel, A
3   1   Sareen, Anooj
3   2   Rathbone, John
3   3   Trodd, Amy
3   4   Oreilly, Scott
3   5   Frazer, Ian
3   6   Gurnam, H
3   7   Tatupu, Shem
3   8   Bracey, Johnel
4   1   Ashby, Richard
4   2   Bradpiece, Jerome
4   3   Johansson, Mikael
4   4   Tung, Man Kit
4   5   Ringe, G
4   6   Poulengeris, Antonis
4   7   Thew, J
4   8   Khajuria, Lalit
5   1   Talkington, Keith
5   2   Jackson, Paul
5   3   Shantra, Mark
5   4   Trigg, Rick
5   5   Hicks, Nichiei
5   6   Brevik, Jan
5   7   Moore, William
5   8   Koumi, Joseph
6   1   Kirton, Hugh
6   2   Altham, Glen
6   3   Whitehead, Glen
6   4   Moodie, Andrew
6   5   Smurfit, Peter
6   6   Zeb, Zaheer
6   7   Grech, Joseph
6   8   Annan, George
7   1   Atkin, J
7   2   Constantinou, Costas
7   3   Mccloskey, Michael
7   4   Mlynek, Craig
7   5   Scullion, Alex
7   6   Davies, David
7   7   Hussain, Arshad
7   8   Keown, John
8   1   Bointon, Mark
8   2   Arnesen, Marius
8   3   Milbey, David
8   4   Nawab, M
8   5   Francis, Nicholas
8   6   Chatterton, Gary
8   7   Green, Martin
8   8   Harris, Sid
9   1   Simpson, Terry
9   2   Horn, Anthony
9   3   Cavanagh, Martin
9   4   Ullah, Ibrahim
9   5   Nowab, Simon
9   6   Goodman, Gary
9   7   Palmer, Daniel
9   8   Welch, David
10   1   Davies, Alan
10   2   Lee, Nathan
10   3   Chandler, Steven
10   4   Arnold, Micheal
10   5   Arees, Tariq
10   6   Cox, Ian
10   7   Mulla, Reyaaz
10   8   Price, Robert
11   1   Wan, S
11   2   Pavlou, M
11   3   Donnelly, Andrew
11   4   Karelas, Konstantinos
11   5   Flood, William
11   6   Fletcher, Michael
11   7   Taunton, Kevin
11   8   Morris, James
12   1   Broadrick, Ian
12   2   Dwyer, John
12   3   Herbert, Richard
12   4   Altynbaev, Olzhas
12   5   Zach, Simon
12   6   Rudd, Daniel
12   7   Martin, Jonathan
12   8   Ronanello, Roberto
13   1   Baldwin, Alfie
13   2   Ell hoss, Ghassan
13   3   Ozkarapinar, D
13   4   Taylor, Robert
13   5   Tabatabai, John
13   6   Sapiano, Albert
13   7   Mcdonald, George
13   8   Kennedy, S
14   1   Hogg, S
14   2   Mitchell, Chris
14   3   Linton, Peter james
14   4   Palanca, Manuel
14   5   Gabriele, Carlo
14   6   Butters, Jonathan
14   7   Shellum, Jason
14   8   Mills, Stephen
15   1   Muldoon, Michael
15   2   Rokach, Lucy
15   3   Sherwood, Robert
15   4   Trickett, Sam
15   5   Parhizkar, Hossein
15   6   Mohammed, Barkatul Hassan
15   7   Abery, T
15   8   Schwartz, Lucas
16   1   Yilmaz, Huseyin
16   2   Kabbaj, John
16   3   Nagrecha, N
16   4   Javoski, Bogden
16   5   Assomull, Gaurav
16   6   Parker, Paul
16   7   Cascarino, Anthony
16   8   King, John
17   1   Ngo, Billy
17   2   Wilson, Barry
17   3   Romanello, Nicholas
17   4   Guy, David
17   5   Lalvani, Nirbhay
17   6   Exley, John
17   7   Dionysiou, Kyriacos
17   8   Jones, Iwan
18   1   Mcdowell, Owen
18   2   Davies, Gary
18   3   Thomson, Neville
18   4   Ogunmakinwa, Jamil
18   5   Boyle, Alan
18   6   Campbell, Leon
18   7   Hepburn, George
18   8   Herron, Mike
19   1   Nijar, Bally
19   2   Sudworth, James
19   3   Waresh, Michael
19   4   Renoldi, Simon
19   5   Hayes, M
19   6   Sadarangani, Davijay
19   7   Louis, K
19   8   Macit, Ergun

I went to catch up with Redbull and Actionman and Redbull is off to a flyer...

Holding JJ he flat called a raise by Rick Trigg which was called behind. On a 3 4 8 flop with 2 hearts he riased a bet from mateyboy which was called. The offsuit Jd on the turn was a nice moneycard, giving him the nuts with top set and he managed to eke a bet out of his opponent on turn and river to increase his stack nicely and he looks to have 18k-19k at the moment, putting him up with the early pace setters.

Rick was looking confident and ready for a good day's poker, although still clearly holding a grudge against my flatmate James Dempsey for thieving his beloved sunglasses. GIVE THE RAYBURNS BACK FLUSHY! With Rick and Redbull sharing the felt, this table should be good for banter!

Julian is on the same table as Jerome Bradpiece, winner of the Walsall GUKPT. Likely two of the early favourites in the competition, their face offs could prove very interesting, although the are seperated by half the table, which might limit the occasions they come into contact with each other. At the moment though, the pace of the last few weeks looks like it may have caught up with Julian slightly as I caught him staring vacantly into space. He has a pretty good excuse for a few late nights recently i guess...

Ian Cox, blonde's crapper, was looking relaxed and composed in a grey hoody. His form has been very impressive as of late and being so familiar with the GUKPTs as well as running well, he has to be in the running as one of the likely candidates to reach the latter stages of this event.

Richard Herbert vs. Simon Zach

The Dusk Till Dawn player Zach has gotten into a bit of difficulty early on, dropping down to 4,600 in Level One. A pot which took a pretty big chunk was against Richard Herbert: 6,200 had made its way into the pot with the flop already out: 3d 9s Kc.  Herbert checked, Zach bet 2,300, and found a check-raise of another 7k back at him.  He declined, in the end, to call all in, after a bit of a tortured think and an enquiry: "If I pass, will you show?"  Herbert just slowly shook his head..."Show just one of them?"  The head shook again.  So, no information, no chips.


(http://www.blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=2292&g2_imageViewsIndex=1)

(http://www.blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2295&g2_serialNumber=1)

It looks like heading towards the first break we have a Leading Lady - it's Lucy (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=251) Rokach (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=251).  Already climbing nicely, she just received a push up to over 35,000 after raising preflop with A-J and finding Hoss (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=165) Parhizkar (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=165) calling her.  He ended up flopping the broadway straight while Rokach hit two pair (this leaves a little, but not too much ambiguity about Hoss' hand - I didn't actually see it).  He bet out the nuts, and she promptly put in a big stack of 1k chips - he was all in and happy... until a second Jack came on the river to house Lucy up and give her one of those head starts she uses to push people around with.

Pictured here next to Muldoon pre-exit (I think)... and either pondering something or inserting chewing tobacco.

(http://www.blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2301&g2_serialNumber=1)

Roberto Romanello, who guarentees to liven up any table he is on, is sadly OUT!

Having got somewhat short following an earlier hand with 2 pair against a better 2 pair, he had to go for the throat and managed to find a spot to get his chips in ahead with 99 v AK. However once the race was run and the dust settled, the King on the river decided his fate and the amiable Welshman was ejected from the tournament. Still wearing an ear to ear smile, an unperturbed Roberto immediately launched himself toward the cash games.....


Richard Ashby has also been knocked out, it appears that Julian Thew was the executioner and Lalit Khajuria appears to have also been involved in the hand, rumour having it that Julian knocked HIM out too at the same time!

A great start for Thewy then. As I am dressed mainly in black today, maybe I should cross Julian's path at some point just to even out the cosmic balance of luck. Knowing how Julian's running though, I'd probably time it so I took the full brunt of  a pint someone was accidentally about to spill on him. Maybe I'll just join the throng of admirers Julian has had ever since entering the casino.

Request Update Chip Counts:

Michael Trimby -- 9,800
Danny Palmer -- 23,600
Chris Mitchell -- 11,350
Pete Linton -- 11,200
Johnel de Bracey -- 11,000
Martin Cavanagh -- 4,250
Tariq Arees -- 9,750

Doing pretty well (i.e. more than doubled through already) are John Kabbaj and Nick Hicks.

Here's some relevant numbers for you to mull over while I go and check on events.

138 runners remain out of an initial 157 including alternates...

The blinds are now at 75 150...

The average stack is at 11,400...

Names of the late joiners, boosting the numbers at the last minute:

Matt Novak (out already)
Rajendra Choraria
Dave (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=113) Penly (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=113)
Kourosh Nikahahe
Darius Terrani

Actionman and Redbull have had differing fortunes in the early stages.

Whilst Redbull is ticking along nicely, Actionman has had a few early setbacks and looks a bit frustrated with his shortstack at the moment. (Given the current state of play Booder, I avoided mocking Rick's hair on your behalf, for now anyway)

He is well capable of turning this round though so come on Rick...

Yes indeed you can make out Jerome jsut above Michael Muldoon's head, no doubt desperately trying to avoid playing pots with the chosen one Julian Thew.

I saw Paul Parker, but he was quieter than usual, just playing his cards and toddling along on about 9k or so...

Amy Trodd, more often seen in the press room, is playing today. I caught a pot she was in with a few hundred chips in it. With lots of low cards being dealt out her and her opponent checked the pot down to the river, where Amy revealed AK and her opponent AQ, allowing Amy to take the pot down with her marvellous kicker.

Right, haha sorry, he has thoughtlessly been moved from table 8 without the cat being informed. Tut Tut!

As fate would have it though I was just watching a pot involving the player you have in your picture, and I was wondering who it was, so now I know.

He looks to have lost about half of his stack but he jsut won a pot where on a Ac 5d 8s flop, he raised an early position bet of 400 to 1700, enough to convince the early better to fold and increase his stack slightly.

Better news is available for Rick Trigg fans, or Triggermaniacs, as I like to dub them.

After his early set back he was faced with a host of limpers and completed with K9 in the small blind.

The flop came a somewhat marvellous Ts Js Qd. There was a bet of 500, called in one spot which Rick repopped to 2k, called by one of the limpers and shoved by the other to create some big pot 3 way action. Rick also called no doubt praying no spades came. The turn blanked and the river was an offsuit A. Rick expected to see a chop so was delighted when the other players showed JQ for top 2 and Axs for the nut flush draw and his straight was good enough to scoop and propel him back to a worthy stack.

While at his table he also played another interesting pot. With a few chips in the middle and Rick having bet the turn of a 5c 6s 4d 6c board, the river 3d was checked down by both, Rick's opponent showing down 88 curious to what Rick had.

Rick showed the mighty 62 offsuit which had turned trips and rivered the straight and he seemed to be chuckling to himself a bit as he raked in the pot. My how quickly things can change!

Big Hand for the Joker...  Joe Grech set off a pretty large pot when he re-raised on the button to 1,200 after an early position raise from Hugh Kirton and a subsequent flat call from Glen Whitehead.  Both of them called the Joker (who had an impressive 34,000 or so at the time) and they saw a flop:
9c Kh Kc  Check to Grech, who bet 1,200 again.  Hugh then re-raised all in, and must have been disappointed when not just Grech, but Whitehead too got all their chips in the middle.  Joe Grech covered both of them easily, and showed Kd Qh.  But Glen Whitehead had Ad Ks - both were therefore ahead of Kirton's Ts Tc.
Turn: a club - giving the Tens another few outs
River: Ad - taking all hope away, even if that hadn't been the last card to come.

So treble up for Whitehead, knock back to 24,000 for the Joker, knock out for Hugh Kirton (pictured).
(http://www.blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2315&g2_serialNumber=1)

Chip counts from end of level 2 courtesy of the majestic moguls at blue square.

Please note some of these counts will now have changed but this will give a flavour of the current state of events...

Rokach, Lucy   39700
Herbert, Richard   28175
Herron, Mike   28150
Hicks, Nichiei   27400
Nagrecha, N   27300
Artemis, Michael   25650
Thew, J   23875
Hayes, M   23800
Palmer, Daniel   22950
Yilmaz, Huseyin   21775
Grech, Joseph   20950
Fletcher, Michael   20450
Goodman, Gary   19350
Kabbaj, John   19325
Nawab, M   18875
Callow, Kim   18700
Ullah, Ibrahim   18675
Sapiano, Albert   17800
Rathbone, John   17200
Jones, Iwan   15975
Lee, Nathan   15800
Ozkarapinar, D   15325
Poulengeris, Antonis   14900
Shellum, Jason   14850
Dwyer, John   14325
Hepburn, George   14175
Mcdonald, George   14000
Bracey, Johnel   13950
Pavlou, M   13875
Harris, Sid   13775
Libertini, Martino   13350
Simpson, Terry   13350
Nijar, Bally   13125
Ringe, G   13100
Karelas, Konstantinos   13025
Gurnam, H   13000
Bointon, Mark   12850
Atkin, J   12775
Oshea, Jerome   12650
Romanello, Nicholas   12650
Mitchell, Chris   12550
Dionysiou, Kyriacos   12550
Ngo, Billy   12275
Kirton, Hugh   12225
Choraria, Rajendra   12200
Sareen, Anooj   12000
Mlynek, Craig   12000
Ford, Zachary   11975
Jackson, Paul   11925
Scullion, Alex   11800
Morris, James   11700
Linton, Peter james   11700
Taunton, Kevin   11550
Barraclough, David   11525
Francis, Nicholas   11500
Mohammed, Barkatul Hassan   11425
Kennedy, S   11300
Francis, Nicholas   11125
Mulla, Reyaaz   11075
Herbert, Ian   10800
Davies, Gary   10750
Altham, Glen   10725
Sherwood, Robert   10675
Hussain, Arshad   10650
Keown, John   10625
Tung, Man Kit   10400
Constantinou, Costas   10400
Wilson, Barry   10375
Smurfit, Peter   10350
Rudd, Daniel   10350
Sadarangani, Davijay   10225
Cox, Ian   10200
Tehrani, Darius   10000
Kourosh, Nikkhahe   10000
Chatterton, Gary   9950
Palanca, Manuel   9875
Penly, Dave   9750
Bradpiece, Jerome   9750
Trodd, Amy   9675
Mills, Stephen   9675
Price, Robert   9650
Sudworth, James   9575
Davies, Alan   9525
Green, Martin   9425
Annan, George   9375
Arees, Tariq   9250
Laronde, David   9125
Guy, David   9125
Trimby, Michael   9100
Parker, Paul   8825
Martin, Jonathan   8800
Welch, David   8600
Macit, Ergun   8525
Lock, Owen   8450
Koumi, Joseph   8400
Lalvani, Nirbhay   8200
Mcdowell, Owen   7900
Waresh, Michael   7775
Altynbaev, Olzhas   7650
Hogg, S   7650
Zeb, Zaheer   7600
Arnesen, Marius   7575
Oreilly, Scott   7500
Butters, Jonathan   7350
Moore, William   7250
Exley, John   7225
Mccloskey, Michael   7200
Nowab, Simon   7050
Abery, T   7025
Moodie, Andrew   6925
Trickett, Sam   6900
Talkington, Keith   6600
Ell hoss, Ghassan   6550
Smith, David   6525
Trigg, Rick   6475
Gabriele, Carlo   6450
Shantra, Mark   6425
Arnold, Micheal   6425
Taylor, Robert   6425
Harris, Mark   6350
Johansson, Mikael   6325
Campbell, Leon   6250
Whitehead, Glen   6200
King, John   6150
Ogunmakinwa, Jamil   6075
Tatupu, Shem   5750
Louis, K   5575
Allen, Danielle   5550
Davies, David   5475
Schwartz, Lucas   5025
Wan, S   4075
Flood, William   3900
Baldwin, Alfie   3650
Milbey, David   3225
Zach, Simon   3000
Cascarino, Anthony   2300
Donnelly, Andrew   1575
Chandler, Steven   1425
Renoldi, Simon   1400
Thomson, Neville   900

Someone a while ago asked if the big red hoody in the background of one of the pictures was Jerome (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=199) Bradpiece (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=199).  The answer is, no - Jerome is currently hoodyless and fluctuating in chips dramatically.  Saw him double up with Ac Aspades... apparently he re-raised a preflop raise of 625 to 1,675.  He was called, and saw a 6-high flop.  His opponent bet out 2k - Jerome just called.  The board paired the Six on the turn and Jerome now pushed all-in over the top of the next bet of 2k.  The extra 4.5k made its way in and he was shown Jc Js which stayed behind on the river.

But just now news has travelled up to the press room of another big confrontation which has sent him near the felt again... more soon.

Quote from: JungleCat03 on Today at 04:34:02 pm
Quote from: dalzini on Today at 04:12:30 pm


I havent seen the face but is that Jerome Bradpiece in the background with the red hoody on?

Yes indeed you can make out Jerome jsut above Michael Muldoon's head

Quote from: Djinn on Today at 05:34:18 pm
Someone a while ago asked if the big red hoody in the background of one of the pictures was Jerome Bradpiece.  The answer is, no - Jerome is currently hoodyless and fluctuating in chips dramatically.  Saw him double up with ... apparently he re-raised a preflop raise of 625 to 1,675.  He was called, and saw a 6-high flop.  His opponent bet out 2k - Jerome just called.  The board paired the Six on the turn and Jerome now pushed all-in over the top of the next bet of 2k.  The extra 4.5k made its way in and he was shown which stayed behind on the river.

But just now news has travelled up to the press room of another big confrontation which has sent him near the felt again... more soon.

OOPS! Got my angles a bit wrong there. All I can say is that you are very lucky to have the sharp-eyed, swift witted Jen poised and ready or you'd be left with my moronic ramblings and comical feline misreads all day...

Moving swiftly onwards, Rick's stack was decimated as I came over to check on his table. He related the hand to me. He had A9h and the flop came Q hi with two hearts. Rick played his draw very aggressively but was unable to get Kings to fold and unable to hit his draw either and a 30k ish pot went the wrong way. He's down to dust but won a few chips after raising to 600 utg and receiving a call from the BB. The flop came ATT, BB bet out 1k and rick moved allin for another 1.4k to which the BB passed....

Pete Linton has circa 15k and Simon Nowab has been busily beavering away successfully and is up to 23k.

Paul Jackson has just busted out, no doubt due to some "flair play" on his opponent's behalf. The players are about to break for an hour to gather their thoughts and relate their tales of glory and woe. We'll be back soon,,,

One Hour Dinner Break has Just Begun...

Before heading towards food somewhere that isn't here (players in these events now seem to be served at the table, complete with wine and then get an hour break afterwards, for some reason) here's a list of a few selected players counted before the full count comes in (it will probably be here at the end of the break)...

Alan Smurfit -- 8,050
Joe Grech -- 23,500
Lucy Rokach -- 50,000+
John Kabbaj -- 32,000
Rick Trigg -- 3,450
Jerome Bradpiece -- 3,600
Nick Hicks -- 27,000
Julian Thew -- 18,000
Chris Mitchell -- 3,275
Rob Taylor -- 11,100
Simon Nowab -- 26,500
Paul Parker -- 5,400
Tariq Arees -- OUT (or disappeared)
Andy Donnelly -- 4,950
Martin Cavanagh -- OUT
Michael Trimby -- 21,400
George Hepburn 'slim99slim' -- 17,300   (League winner - so here's where your percentages are, blonde players - he's holding up well....)

Here are the chip standings as they start the 150/300 level...

Rokach, Lucy   44150
Grech, Joseph   38675
Nagrecha, N   33775
Herbert, Richard   33525
Libertini, Martino   32525
Callow, Kim   30700
Kennedy, S   28625
Kabbaj, John   28550
Hicks, Nichiei   28500
Jones, Iwan   28175
Herron, Mike   28100
Palmer, Daniel   26800
Scullion, Alex   26675
Goodman, Gary   25850
Koumi, Joseph   25675
Nawab, Maz   25475
Shellum, Jason   24700
Ringe, G   23400
Whitehead, Glen   23400
Yilmaz, Huseyin   22975
Ullah, Ibrahim   22200
Mohammed, Barkatul Hassan   22075
Trimby, Michael   21900
Davies, Gary   21100
Hayes, M   20450
Ogunmakinwa, Jamil   19350
Poulengeris, Antonis   19325
Campbell, Leon   19200
Karelas, Konstantinos   17525
Ozkarapinar, D   17125
Mulla, Reyaaz   17050
Hepburn, George   17000
Harris, Sid   16875
Gurnam, H   16775
Annan, George   16775
Cox, Ian   16700
Dwyer, John   16200
Thew, Julian   15900
Bracey, Johnel   15650
Omahoney, Denis   15625
Linton, Peter james   15575
Bointon, Mark   14800
Simpson, Terry   14800
Nijar, Bally   14525
Pavlou, M   14375
Mcdonald, George   14225
Romanello, Nicholas   14200
Sapiano, Albert   14125
Hogg, S   13625
Davies, Alan   13450
Mccloskey, Michael   13000
Rathbone, John   12875
Taunton, Kevin   12875
Ngo, Billy   12500
Keown, John   12050
Oshea, Jerome   11925
Sudworth, James   11925
Exley, John   11900
Tehrani, Darius   11700
Palanca, Manuel   11375
Ford, Zachary   11225
Trodd, Amy   11200
Taylor, Robert   11200
Rudd, Daniel   10525
Macit, Ergun   10500
Price, Robert   10500
Boyle, Alan   10450
Mlynek, Craig   10375
Shantra, Mark   10150
Smurfit, Peter   10150
Penly, Dave   9800
Kourosh, Nikkhahe   9475
Herbert, Ian   9375
Mills, Stephen   9175
Lalvani, Nirbhay   9100
Johansson, Mikaela   8875
Fletcher, Michael   8650
Tung, Man Kit   8550
Gabriele, Carlo   8425
Lee, Nathan   8275
Oreilly, Scott   8250
Sadarangani, Davijay   8175
Milbey, David   8050
Zeb, Zaheer   7650
Nowab, Simon   7550
Waresh, Michael   7425
Wilson, Barry   6950
Sherwood, Robert   6700
Sareen, Anooj   6700
Abery, T   6675
Martin, Jonathan   6475
Altynbaev, Olzhas   6325
Green, Martin   5275
Francis, Nicholas   5150
Chatterton, Gary   5025
Parker, Paul   5000
Donnelly, Andrew   4950
Guy, David   4900
King, John   4750
Davies, David   4000
Butters, Jonathan   3900
Trigg, Rick   3850
Bradpiece, Jerome   3625
Mitchell, Chris   3275
Moodie, Andrew   3250
Talkington, Keith   2825
Constantinou, Costas   2700

Michael Artemis, who went through a brief patch of being chip leader, is now out.  On the way to the top, he busted Danielle Allen, whose patience wasn't rewarded too well as Artemis called her large preflop raise with what turned out to be T-9 (she held Jc Jd).  The flop came Nine-high, and that's when most of the money went in, with Danielle promptly busting as a second Nine came as their cards were on their backs.  Quickly over 30k, Artemis continued to play fast and loose, eventually, on the way back down, doubling two players up, one who held Aces and whose overbet was called promptly.  A brief typhoon-like redistribution of chips, and Artemis is on the rail and his table's anxiety levels have probably come back to normal.

Some chip counts which might be out of date now as our internet has been off for a while due to Content Control Issues (is there a day that goes by which does not see Vodafone inconvenience someone, somewhere?).

Richard Herbert -- 14,750
Paul Parker -- 16,600
Simon Nowab -- 37,000
Sid Harris -- 19,350
Rick Trigg -- 11,000
Julian Thew -- 19,000
Amy Trodd -- 14,250
Denis O'Mahoney -- 37,000
Danny Palmer -- 22,000

Just now James Sudworth got it all in preflop with Tc Ts against Kim Callow's Kh Kd with the usual result - elimination.  He was down to under 7k and after raising 2k preflop, found himself committed when Callow threebet him all in.

A harsher sort of situation occurred on Table Nowab, where Simon appears to have consistently gained chips through the day until the high point of nearly 40k he's hit now.  He raised preflop with just Stephen Mills interested, and then bet 2k on the 8c Ts 3c flop.  Mills gave it what Nowab described as, "The full needle," before moving in for a further 5,650. Call from Nowab.
Simon showed:  Ahrt 3s
Stephen showed:  Jc Js

Turn: Ad
River: Qc   and with the regulation amount of swearing, Mills headed out to 'The Terrace' (cold outdoor pen for smokers) followed by Nowab who was having quite an amiable conversation with him in spite of the busting.

Quick Quick Whilst I have breached the restrictions preventing us posting here are some quick stories , counts and quotes from the players. Enjoy!

Simon Nowab is doing welll on 20k+.

Paul Parker on his table tells me "He pinched all those chips!"

Paul's in better spirits now and is back to his usual chatty self again..."Doing much better than I was before...up to 13k now!" before he breaks off to wangle some free wine out of the nearby valet. "We didn't get any at dinner, honestly" says Paul and his chirpy enthusiasm seems to have done the trick as a delivery of wine is promised...

..."OOhhh, bring us some cheesecake too" chimes in Simon, whose chip accumulation is obviously getting him hungry.

Rick Trigg is battling on with his shortstack and appears to be on roughly 6 or 7k now. Redbull pulls me aside "Had a bit of an accident" he tells me as he points to his depleted stack which is still around the 17k or so zone. "This gentleman outdrew me" he says placidly pointing to one of his neighbours. It's nice to see players behaving well even after a bad beat...


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

Red Bull and ActionMan have had their first significant face off. Rick's short stack meant that when the two found AK and QQ, the chips were destined to fly into the middle.

"Once I saw it was a flip I knew I was going to lose it the way I'm running!" said Redbull and his ominous premonition proved to be accurate as a K on the river sealed a much  needed double up for Rick who is now back to 10 or 11k whilst Redbull's stack has been torn apart bit by bit by bad beats and lost flips and he now sits on 8k or so after his promising start...

Amy Trodd is now down to 6 or 7k or so.

She was seen betting 2600 on a 2 2 3 J J river only to receive a call from AA and quickly muck her cards...

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

Ergun Macit takes on Lucy (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=251) Rokach (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=251)... it can't be a great seat with the two hefty stacks of Rokach and Kabbaj on his left, but he's not worryingly near the felt yet, and looks pretty relaxed.  Just now he bet out 4k on the river with the board standing: Qh 5d Td 4c Kc.  The pot wasn't particularly large, and I gather there had been some preceding checking.  Lucy (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=251) Rokach (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=251) now takes the 4k off the top of one of the chip towers (it's a barely noticeable removal) and plays with it while considering her opponent for a while.  Eventually she decides to pass, and is rewarded with her opponent showing the Kd Ks for a big set...

____________________________________________________________

Here pictured is a happy Paul Parker, after finally getting the attention of the wine steward guy for his benefit and that of his neighbours.  He's brought that peculiar magnetic set of twigs which are so compulsive to play with and provide a welcome relief for unstoppable chip twiddlers.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, imagine plastic twiglets which attach at the ends via strong magnets, which allow very satisfying linking of the twiglets and then breaking into smaller branches.  It's multicoloured as well, like Paul Parker's regular outfits. 

(http://www.blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2333&g2_serialNumber=1)

A few more selected counts....

Daniel Rudd -- 7,900
Ibrahim Ullah -- 25,000
N. Nagrecha -- 35,000
Martin Green -- 14,500
Leon Campbell -- 16,100
Johnel Bracey -- 15,600
Jason Shellum -- 33,300

End of level 6 chip counts, courtesy of those hardworking hamsters at blue square...

Callow, Kim   65700
Ringe, G   51000
Ogunmakinwa, Jamil   44900
Omahoney, Denis   43800
Pavlou, M   41900
Yilmaz, Huseyin   41350
Grech, Joseph   40975
Fletcher, Michael   40250
Rokach, Lucy   40000
Rathbone, John   37800
Koumi, Joseph   36650
Boyle, Alan   35850
Shellum, Jason   33050
Jones, Iwan   30325
Hogg, S   30300
Taunton, Kevin   30200
Goodman, Gary   28175
Macit, Ergun   27975
Sareen, Anooj   27700
Ullah, Ibrahim   27500
Lock, Owen   25900
Gurnam, H   25675
Thew, Julian   25275
Mohammed, Barkatul Hassan   24900
Herron, Mike   24600
Simpson, Terry   24575
Linton, Peter james   24500
Hicks, Nichiei   23475
Bointon, Mark   23375
Kabbaj, John   22675
Scullion, Alex   22325
Herbert, Ian   22075
Nawab, Maz   21575
Mulla, Reyaaz   21550
Smurfit, Peter   21525
Ford, Zachary   20500
Artemis, Michael   20200
Bracey, Johnel   20200
Rudd, Daniel   19850
Lalvani, Nirbhay   19825
Bradpiece, Jerome   19375
Hayes, M   19375
Mccloskey, Michael   19125
Ngo, Billy   18600
Shantra, Mark   18375
Annan, George   17425
Waresh, Michael   16500
Keown, John   15925
Trimby, Michael   15650
Poulengeris, Antonis   15075
Davies, Gary   14975
Dwyer, John   14500
Green, Martin   12475
Cox, Ian   12225
Ozkarapinar, D   12075
Kourosh, Nikkhahe   11050
Lee, Nathan   10950
Libertini, Martino   10725
Hepburn, George   10575
Guy, David   10125
Campbell, Leon   9175
Martin, Jonathan   9050
Nowab, Simon   7925
Kennedy, S   7450
Nagrecha, N   7275
Mcdonald, George   7025
Lalvani, Nirbhay   7025
Milbey, David   6100
Tung, Man Kit   2050

Sad to say the genial Paul Parker is out. Never managing to get a good stack going all day, he became crippled holding T9 on a T92 flop, only to find his opponent with pocket 2s leaving him in dire need of a 4 outer which never materialised.

Down to the felt he shoved his last few chips in with J9 and was rewarded by a call from KK. Never fear a J x J flop made him a comfortable favourite but a K on the river was the final nail in his coffin and Paul, his spangly waistcoat, chirpy banter and magnetic twiglets are OUT.

Er... that's because he is no more (in the tournament) - It was Flushy, playing in a Chinese game near the people actually still in the tournament who let me know this nugget of information.  "Trigg's in the cash game, Paul (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=334) Parker (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=334)'s in the cash game - there goes my interest."

(http://www.blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2341&g2_serialNumber=1)

____________________________________________________________________

And in answer to a long-ago query (we try to get to your questions here on blonde, if there's time in between making instant coffee and stealing items from the player bufffet) - the spectacular hoody belongs to Al Boyle, according to our seating list.  He wins a double prize today, that of least expected item of clothing in a poker room combined with getting the hood element of it past the MI6-trained staff near the entrance to the Vic.  He's got 6,275 in chips currently, but I hope he makes Day Two.

(http://www.blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2345&g2_serialNumber=1)

At 200 400 with a 50 ante, this level is having its fair share of casualties as expected...

But it's working out nicely for Blonde's redbull who is building his stack very ncicely and looked to have roughly 30k when i joined his table.

He was also involved in another pot...on a K 5 5 flop his opponent bet the flop after Redbull checked which he called.

a 2 came on the turn and Redbull check called his opponent's bet again.

A 7 river was an effective blank and the hand went check check with Redbull's KQ well in front of his opponent's A8. Another nice chunk added to his stack which is now 35k+, Redbull is starting to develop into a threat...

There are currently 63 players remaining and the next level 300 600 -75 is just about to begin.

Let the blind pinching commence!

Julian Thew is currently on 18k or thereabouts. I grab a quick chat with him and he tells me "It's not gone entirely to plan but I'm just glad to be here. It's a good table actually...", Julian hinting he sees some value at the table...

...but probably not in the form of Jerome Bradpiece whose chipstack has fluctuated so rapidly, he looks as if he is trying to grab Julian's coveted "yo-yo" title off him. Jerome is currently on 11k or so...

Meanwhile, tragic news for Redbull, who had built his stack up to the 40k mark before making a stand against an aggressive opponent with AK, only to run into the Kings of Billy Ngo for a 60k pot. An Ace on the flop left Billy hunting a one out (The flop was also all hearts with Redbull holding the Kh decreasing the outdraw possibilities) but the final K in the deck unfortunately popped out and Redbull is left nursing a much smaller stack of 12- 13k. Still workable...jsut....but it must have been tough to see that King. One card away from the chip lead in the competition. That's poker folks.

In other developments George Hepburn 'slim99slim' has been on life support for a while so no surprise when he shipped his stack of 5,300 into the middle UTG. All folded to the button who made the call and the big blind showed a pained expression before folding.

Slim showed 7 7, and his opponent AQ.

The flop came Qh Th Jd 4d......and slim put his coat on ready to leave before the river came................

A BLANK...well no in fact it came.......

........a 7! Yes George spiked the river for a timely, double up + set of blinds and antes. He's still relatively short but at least he has a shot....I can hear all you 2.5%ers out there cheering and cracking open a few of these...

(http://laughingsquid.com/wp-content/uploads/anchor_beer.jpg)

UPDATE: I've just heard Julian has lost a big pot and is now very short....he did tell me before i left "Let the raping and pillaging begin" but looks like he's the one who has had his valuables pinched and trousers pulled down. Still, it's too early to write off Julian as we all know...

Here are the Full Counts from the end of Level Six (again, a little on the not-current side, but still give you an idea of who the front runners and bottom lurkers are):

Callow, Kim -- 65700
Ringe, G -- 51000
Ogunmakinwa, Jamil -- 44900
Omahoney, Denis   -- 43800
Pavlou, M -- 41900
Yilmaz, Huseyin   -- 41350
Grech, Joseph -- 40975
Fletcher, Michael -- 40250
Rokach, Lucy -- 40000
Rathbone, John   -- 37800
Koumi, Joseph -- 36650
Boyle, Alan -- 35850
Shellum, Jason   -- 33050
Jones, Iwan -- 30325
Hogg, S   -- 30300
Taunton, Kevin   -- 30200
Goodman, Gary -- 28175
Macit, Ergun -- 27975
Sareen, Anooj -- 27700
Ullah, Ibrahim   -- 27500
Lock, Owen -- 25900
Gurnam, H -- 25675
Thew, Julian -- 25275
Mohammed, Barkatul Hassan -- 24900
Herron, Mike -- 24600
Simpson, Terry   -- 24575
Linton, Peter james -- 24500
Hicks, Nichiei   -- 23475
Bointon, Mark -- 23375
Kabbaj, John -- 22675
Scullion, Alex   -- 22325
Herbert, Ian -- 22075
Nawab, Maz -- 21575
Mulla, Reyaaz -- 21550
Smurfit, Peter   -- 21525
Ford, Zachary -- 20500
Richard Herbert   -- 20200
Bracey, Johnel   -- 20200
Rudd, Daniel -- 19850
Lalvani, Nirbhay -- 19825
Bradpiece, Jerome -- 19375
Hayes, M -- 19375
Mccloskey, Michael -- 19125
Ngo, Billy -- 18600
Shantra, Mark -- 18375
Annan, George -- 17425
Waresh, Michael   -- 16500
Keown, John -- 15925
Trimby, Michael   -- 15650
Poulengeris, Antonis -- 15075
Davies, Gary -- 14975
Dwyer, John -- 14500
Green, Martin -- 12475
Cox, Ian -- 12225
Ozkarapinar, D   -- 12075
Kourosh, Nikkhahe -- 11050
Lee, Nathan -- 10950
Libertini, Martino -- 10725
Hepburn, George   -- 10575
Guy, David -- 10125
Campbell, Leon   -- 9175
Martin, Jonathan -- 9050
Nowab, Simon -- 7925
Kennedy, S -- 7450
Nagrecha, N -- 7275
Mcdonald, George -- 7025
Lalvani, Nirbhay -- 7025
Milbey, David -- 6100
Tung, Man Kit -- 2050

Monster pot of the Tournament!*

A crowd gathered as Billy 'The Kid' Ngo stood up to contemplate what could be a very large call...  The board: Jh Qc Tc 6c, with the Six having come on the turn.  There was already over 20k in the pot, and now it looks as though his opponent, Barkatul Hassan Mohammed had raised all-in, or shoved if it had been checked to him.  To call: 27k, most of Billy's stack.  He went for the Full Dwell, standing up, actual head scratching, some sighing, saying, "That was the perfect flop for me..." eventually calling the clock on himself.  The countdown started....thirty seconds....ten seconds...five...four...three, "I call!" shouted Ngo suddenly:
He showed: Aspades Kh
Mohammed showed: Jc 8c

And Billy Ngo was drawing dead to the river and is now down to just 8k (Nick Hicks, his neighbour, lamented having lost a huge pot to Ngo earlier...)



*Day 1C, actually viewed by me - please do not be offended if you were involved in a bigger pot and it went unannounced. 

In a horror few minutes for blondeite fans it appears the wheels have fallen fully off both for Thewy and Redbull...

Thewy, after having his stack cut severely earlier looks like he went for the blinds with KJ but ran into AQ and couldn't hit this time and exits after a good effort...Bad luck Julian.

And details of Redbull's hand are unavailable at the moment but he will no doubt be upset that he couldn't capitalise on his great position mid tournament. Nonetheless he played a good game and gave himself a shot...

50 players remain, the average is 31400

and the blinds are a whopping

400 800 with 75 ante now as soon as the short break ends...

Iwan Jones, with his under-average 21,725, has still been putting his chips to aggressive use.  With a raise to 2,100, and a call, he made it 7,100 to go on the button and was rewarded with some folding and some unchallenged chips.  He flashed the 5s as he mucked.  "I didn't want to show them the Five of diamonds," he said, which could mean that he couldn't actually have shown another Five if he'd wanted to.  But let's believe him.

Meanwhile Kim Callow has found his left hand side neighbour Jamil Ogunmakinwa has built up a tidy stack of his own.  Just now in a blind vs. blind confrontation, Callow raised preflop and Ogunmakinwa called.  The flop came 4s 8s 3h - when Callow bet out 1,600, he was quickly raised to 8,000.  A bit of a dwell, and he passed 6d 6h face up - and was shown 5d 5h for his trouble.

Tablemates....
Joe Grech -- 40k
Lucy Rokach -- 48k
John Kabbaj -- 35k
Nirbhay Lalvani -- 58k

Also:
Jerome Bradpiece -- 5,500
G. Ringe -- 66,000
Jonathan Martin -- 16,000



Joe Grech, taking it easy for all us sinners...

(http://www.blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2349&g2_serialNumber=1)

This is indeed the table of death at the moment, not made any easier by the presence of Ian "Purple Patch" Cox.

As I watch the table, I see John Kabbaj raising from the cutoff to 2.5k. Nirbhay Lalvani, the man with the strangely patterned hoody calls on the button and both blinds fold.

The flop comes 6s Qc 7s. Check, check. Qd turn. Check, bet 4k......call by John.

River 7h.

Check, check.

Nirbhay turns over JJ which is good for the 15k pot whilst John Kabbaj had 88 i do beleive.

20 minutes of the level remain with 48 players remaining and an average stack of 32k.

With just 20 minutes left on the Day 1C clock - we lose George 'slim' Hepburn:  He moved all in over the top of Terry Simpson's preflop raise with his very short 12k or so and 8s 8c - but Simpson beat him into the pot as he held Ks Kd.  A Ten-high board full (but not full enough for a chop) of hearts meant that the league winner's run comes to an end so close to the end of the day.  Still cheerful, he headed to the rail, saying, "It was time to double up, get some chips for tomorrow, or go home," and words to that effect.

When play ends in a few minutes we will be rushing off to see if we can still get some kind of handy public transport home - so full proper counts will come when they are emailed to us, as per usual.  But to tide you over, here are a few counted roughly right before the end of play:

Ian Herbert -- 28,300
Iwan Jones -- 46,600
Kim Callow -- 55,000
Martin Green -- 20,000
Joe Koumi -- 39,200
Joe Grech -- 25,000
Lucy Rokach -- 63,000
Huseyin Yilmaz -- 51,500
S. Hogg -- 37,000
Daniel Rudd -- 38,000
G. Ringe -- 62,600
Jan Brevik -- 100,000
Mick Fletcher -- 54,000
Jonathan Martin -- 36,000

Yilmaz, Huseyin   78625
Rokach, Lucy   70800
Fletcher, Michael   70700
Rudd, Daniel   68675
Mulla, Reyaaz   68250
Rathbone, John   60525
Koumi, Joseph   58550
Hayes, M   58275
Callow, Kim   57825
Ogunmakinwa, Jamil   57600
Ringe, G   54625
Poulengeris, Antonis   53475
Simpson, Terry   43900
Sareen, Anooj   41800
Herbert, Richard   40675
Zeb, Zaheer   37925
Nikkhahe, K   35725
Boyle, Alan   34400
Herbert, Ian   33225
Green, Martin   32375
Bracey, Johnel   31350
Linton, Peter james   30250
Kabbaj, John   29975
Cox, Ian   27975
Pavlou, M   27000
Martin, Jonathan   26625
Herron, Mike   25625
Taunton, Kevin   23875
Jones, Iwan   23225
Shantra, Mark   21525
Scullion, Alex   21025
Hogg, S   19325
Macit, Ergun   18875
Shellum, Jason   15575
Omahoney, Denis   14400
Grech, Joseph   12450
Dwyer, John   11975
Trimby, Michael   11000
Lock, Owen   10150
Gurnam, H   9675
Libertini, Martino   7325