blonde poker forum

Hi, this is the no-frills 'lite' update for the Gala Poker Tour Final. Only updaters will be allowed to post here. If you wish to interact with the updaters and ask about any player in particualr, then please head over to the interactive thread here: http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=28775.0

The event begins at 2pm Wednesday.

Welcome to the Gala from the Cat.

Much has been said about this event, the steep buyin/ clash with amsterdam and location have all served to produce a scarcity of numbers. With what looks like only 55-60 ish runners confirmed at the moment (although this number could rise depending on last minute entries), it would appear justice is not being done to a competition with an excellent structure.

HOWEVER, let's dwell on the positives for a moment. The gala casino itself is polished and sparkling, sympathetically lit, plushly furnished, part of the wave of new, gleaming casinos that are moving poker in this country out of the dark ages and giving the game we love a respect and recognition it deserves.

The field itself is peppered with a glittering array of talent. Bejeweling the field are such names as Jamie Gold, the controversial 2006 champion, the cheeky Phil Laak, his glamourous missus, Jennifer Tilley, who looks amazing even before you realise she is closing in on half a century. (I'm sure you'll agree!)

(http://www.movie-cast.com/Jennifer_Tilly.jpg)

Phil Laak's good friend and fellow high stakes american pro, the goateed magician Antonio Esfandiari is also playing and if they share a table, the banter and action should be explosive...

From the UK, the Hendon Mob are out in force with Ross the only mobster missing from the action, but I'm sure Barney Boatman, Ram Vaswani and Joe Beevers are willing and ready to pick up the slack.

The star-studded field may work against last minute entries as people won't be seeing masses of value in this field but it is sure to make for some great poker and personally, I'm champing at the bit for this event to get started...

....players have just been called to the tables so it should be starting soon.

GOOD LUCK ALL!

Here are the runners for today...1st in alphabetical order and I will post again in a moment with the table numbers.

43 runners signifies there have been a number of last minute entries bolstering the field and raises hopes that the total number in the tournament will exceed 100 by tomorrow. Perhaps some enthusiastic exitees from Amsterdam will evade the lure of the coffee shops and high heeled women in windows, fly back over and rush to sign up for tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

Rob Akery
Richard (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=367) Ashby (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=367)
Joe (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=204) Beevers (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=204)
Ben Blackmore
Barny (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=41) Boatman (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=41)
John Bousfield
Peter Cockayne
Roland (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=384) De Wolfe (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=384)
Pat Donegan
David Edwards
Carl Eglintine
Marcus Farthing
Andrew Feenan
Andrew Flemming
Eddie Gaines
Omar Ghandur
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)
Richard Haile
Paul Hardwidge
William Haughney
Rshad Hussain
Kh Khoo
David Maudlin
Ian Mcwilliam
Fiachra Meere
Andrew Mitson
Mika Ollila
Passantino Benedetto
Colin Pearson
Guiseppe Pillitteri
Bobby Rach
Chris Royle
Mark Seagal
Rob (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=382) Sherwood (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=382)
Pete (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=346) Singleton (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=346)
Daniel Smith
Mark Stewart
Johnathan Tabatabai
Jitesh Thakker
Alex Torrance
Paul Walsh
Ian (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=176) Woodley (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=176)
Xanthos Charalambos

Here is how they the tables have been drawn today.



101   Andrew Mitson
102   Omar Ghandur
103   Marcus Farthing
104   Pete Singleton
105   Xanthos Charalambos
106   Ian Mcwilliam
107   Passantino Benedetto
108    Khoo
109   Richard Haile
201   Mark Stewart
202   Daniel Smith
203   Fiachra Meere
204   Ian Woodley
205   Barny Boatman
206   Pat Donegan
207   Colin Pearson
208   Jitesh Thakker
209   Johnathan Tabatabai
301   Alex Torrance
302   Bobby Rach
303   Andrew Feenan
304   Guiseppe Pillitteri
305   Peter Cockayne
306   William Haughney
307   Paul Hardwidge
308   Andrew Flemming
309   Richard Ashby
401   Jamie Gold
402   Mark Seagal
403   Rob Akery
404   John Bousfield
405   Rshad Hussain
406   Chris Royle
407   Joe Beevers
408   Ben Blackmore
501   Rob Sherwood
502   David Edwards
503   David Maudlin
504   Roland De Wolfe
505   Paul Walsh
506   Eddie Gaines
507   Mika Ollila
508   Carl Eglintine

And we've lost our first player already...

Colin Pearson bets 500 on a Tc Jc 8s flop, Mark Stewart makes it 2,000. Pearson re-raises to 7,500 and Stewart moves all-in and is insta-called.

Pearson:

Qs 9s

Stewart:

Js Jd

Turn:

2h

River:

Th

Stewart has Pearson covered and we down to 42 players.

Meanwhile Joe Beevers and Jamie Gold have been battling away, Beevers raising Gold's bet from 275 to 1,175 on a Qc Jd 5s 9d 5d board getting the WSOP champion to fold. Then a few hands later on a Q-J-9-Q-J board Gold tried to bluff the river with 8-6 offsuit but was quickly caught by Joe's K-J.

With blinds of 25 50, Daniel Smith raises from UTG to 175 and is called by Pat Donegan and Mark Stewart in the BB.

The flop comes Ad 2h 8h.

Daniel bet out 225, and was called by Pat.

The Ad fell on the turn and both players checked.

River: 9h.

Check from Daniel and Pat bets out 300.

"I'll call just to see what you had...." says Daniel throwing 400 chips over the line generously before the dealer returns 100 to him.

The hand played out as though Pat had a flush and indeed he turned over KhQh to take down the pot with his flush.

Meanwhile,  we have had another knockout!

I joined the hand as the chips were being passed to Omar Ghandur, the board showing 3-7-3-6-J, and Omar Ghandur holding 3-3 for quads. The unfortunate Kh Khoo was holding 6-6 for a full house that was no good. Although this looked like a standard cooler, because of the slightly idiosyncratic order in which some of the dealers deal out the cards, it was impossible to see from the board that the 3 had actually come on the river, meaning Khoo received a one out bad beat. Very harsh but he is our second exiter.

Jamie Gold, who looks both bored and tired, limps for 50, Rob Akery makes it 200, everyone folds back to Gold, he re-raises to 800 and Akery passes. Gold shows the 2h.

"Was that your highest one?" asks Ash Hussain.

"I have to do something to keep myself awake..."

John Tabatabai having bet all the way on a 2d Jd 5s Kh 4c board, bets 2,150 on the river. Barny Boatman, who had been check/calling him the whole way eventually makes the call saying, "show me a set of fives..."

Tabatabai flips Ahrt 3h for a very filthy wheel. Boatman mucks, claiming surprisingly a set of deuces.

Roland De Wolfe limps from the hijack and Eddie Gaines limps on the button, the small blind passes and Carl Eglintine checks his big blind.

Flop:

6s Kc 4h

Carl and Roland check, Eddie bets 200 into the 175 pot, Carl passes, Roland bumps it up to 700 and gets a quick pass from his opponent.

Jamie Gold look like he has woken up and was involved in an entertaining pot...

with a raise to 250 in early position by Rshad Hussain, Jamie reraised to 700 preflop. Sandwiched between the two aggressors in the big blind, John Bousfield called and Hussain also called.

The flop came Jc Jd 9c.

John checked, Rshad bet out 400 which Jamie gold raised to 1400.

John called Jamie's 1400, to which Jamie became more animated. "uh oh...I thought I was just playing with you" says Jamie, motioning to Rshad.

The turn comes the 6h, which prompts John to bet out 1500 or so. (I'm still struggling to get my head round the chip denominations. Being colour blind sucks when it comes to poker someitmes!)

"Of course now you bet" says Jamie, continuing his banter. "How many chips have I got left...not many..."

Eventually Jamie raises 5k more and starts firing out little comments to his contemplative opponent. "Don't riase me please, i won't know what to do!" ......"Is Ace-King of clubs good??"

Finally John passes and Jamie flips over the Ad, leaving his other card, which was highly likely to be a jack I'd have thought, unrevealed...well he can't always be bluffing.....can he?

More Jamie Gold news, but it also involves the exit of Ash Hussain. I missed the the preflop action but arrived to see a three-way flop of:

Tc 8d 5c

Ash bets 1,400, Jamie Gold asks how much more Ash has, it's roughly 10k. He also asks the third player in the pot, Rob Akery, how much he has too, Akery has around 15k behind and has Gold covered. Gold decides to just flat-call the 1,400. Akery then raises to 7,400 and after a dwell, Ash calls with only about 4,000 behind. Gold goes into a dwell, sighing, he tells Akery, "I was going to bet you $1000 that I could name your cards but I can't do it, now there's a third player in the pot...I'm sorry guys, I need a little time here." After a good think for a couple of minutes he mucks his cards, and we go to the turn.

3d

Ash bets 4,000 with a few hundred back that I think he forgets to throw in. Akery calls.

Ac

The rest of the chips go in, Ash shows his Ts Td but he's been rivered by Akery's 9c 7c and is OUT. Jamie Gold says he had a set of fives, "I thought one of you had Ac Kc and the other had a set of Tens, either way with that action, top set was definitely out there..."

Bobby Rach and William Haughney have jsut been involved on table 3.

In a raised pot, William in early position checked to Bobby on a flop of Ad 8h 5c, who responded by firing in a bet of 750.

William called.

The turn brought the 4d. A further check by William resulted in Bobby betting 1500. CALL.

The river came the 8d. Check by William and Bobby stopped firing and also checked.

William showed A-Q for top pair, which was evidently good as Bobby mucked...

As I noted this hand down, I heard strange sounds coming from Jamie Gold's table..."One more deuce, one more deuce....a deuce is my only out!" before he was seen passing to a 1k bet from Ben Blackmore on a J-2-3-T board...

Funny little pot between Chris Royle and Ben Blackmore

Flop:

3s 9s 2s

Royle checks, Blackmore bets 1,500, Royle makes it 5,000 and Blackmore calls.

Turn:

9c

Check check. Curiouser and curiouser.

River:

5d

Royle bets 5,000 and Blackmore quickly calls. Both are incredibly reluctant to show their cards, there's almost a comedic 10 seconds before Royle relents and shows Qh Qd. Blackmore then shows his Qs Qc. Chop it up!

;kc;

Mark Stewart was just seen raising to 300 from the hijack, which was called on the button by Ian Woodley. Barny Boatman and Pat Donegan passed from the blinds.

The flop came Jc 4s Ts.

Mark checked and Ian checked.

The turn came the 8c.
Check from Mark, 350 bet by Ian which Mark called.

The river came the 3d.
Mark now thought a while before bettng out a bet that seemed to be 1,100.

"set of tens or set of jacks?" inquired Woodley, in his quiet, shy manner. "Which one of those 'ave you got?"

Mark laughed before saying "tens?" with a shrug.

Ian passed and Mark turned over Ac Kc leaving Woodley a tad miffed!

We're now on a 15 minute break. 38 players left, I'm going to try and get a few chip counts.

Incidentally, the multi-coloured stacks break down as follows.

Red - 25
Purple - 100
Green - 500
Yellow - 1,000
Pink - 5,000

I'm afraid he's OUT. Rob Sherwood said he raised Kc Ks and got 4(!) callers. The board came 7h 5h 3h and one of the players, Mika Ollila, was holding Qh Qd and hit the Qc turn which is when all the chips went in. Ollila looks to be the chip leader at this point with around 41k.

A few other chip counts:

Joe Beevers -- 20k
Jamie Gold (who seems a really pleasant chap and not the swearing machine that I observed at the World Series) -- 13k
Rob Akery -- 25k
Roland De Wolfe -- 12.5k
Richard Ashbu -- 16k

On a 7h Kc 8d board, Roland De Wolfe c/raises Carl Eglintine's 600 bet to 1,975 board. Eglintine calls and then bets 3,000 on the Ad turn, Roland moves all-in quickly for another 8,000 or so and is equally quickly called.

Roland:

7s 7d

Carl:

Ahrt 8c

River:

5h

Roland doubles through then, almost blissfully ignorant of that increase in chip stack to 25k, immediately starts a conversation with Joe Beevers about how much each of them weigh...

Meanwhile on the turn of a 6d 8s 4h Jc, Ian Woodley check/raises John Tabatabai's 1,300 bet to 3,000. Herein follows an exchange, of, "I know you have nothing," "Well I know you have nothing," "Well your nothing could be even less." The WSOP-E runner-up though, decides in the end that discretion is the better part of valour and passes.

"He didn't have nothing..." says Barny Boatman, referring to Woodley.

Barney Boatman's table is providing its fair share of laughter, much of it being generated by the banter between Barny and John Tabatabai.

I joined the table as the two were in the process of organising a prop bet whereby whoever makes a move with Q3 has to shout the other one dinner at a plush restaurant.

Barny , whose stack has dwindled somewhat partially due to Tabatabai's rivered gutshot versus his set earlier, raises to 375 UTG. Pat Donegan calls, as does Jitesh Thakker, before John Tabatabai reraises Barny's bet by 800.

Fold round to Barney who says, "Looks like I get a free dinner then" before shoving his stack of 4-5k over the line!

The two sandwiched between Barny and John get out of the way before john says, "The annoying thing is even if you showed me Q3 I couldn't call you!" before passing....

We've lost Daniel Smith on an action flop.

John Tabatabai (whose surname I still can't remember) raised it up with Aces and got callers in Mark Stewart and Daniel Smith.

The flop came:

Kh 9d Td

Not sure how the action went except I know that Smith and Stewart got it all-in, Smith holding Kd Th and Stewart with Qh Jh as Tabatabai passed his Aces. Running 3's of the diamond and spade variety send Tabatabai's verbal sparring (of the friendly kind) partner to the rail.

Jamie Gold has taken a bit hit to his stack. It looked like he had 4-5 on a 3-4-6-6-k board and called a bet on the river only to discover his opponent Rob Akery had K7, taking the pot down and leaving Jamie with only 5-6k....

....and as Jamie told his mate "could be over soon" he was involved in another raised pot.

After being checked to by John Bousfield on a Tc 3h 8s board, Jamie bet out 475 and was check raised another 1300 by John. "Gotta get lucky now" sighs Jamie before calling. The turn came a K and as Jamie said "You setting me allin then?" John did as he was told and set Jamie in.

Jamie INSTA-called with his turned 2 pair, Ks and 8s, with John just showing AK for top pair.

"He's got some big outs!" Jamie observed, referring to the T or A that would get John out of the hole....but a blank river appeared and Jamie doubled back into contention to 12k or so...

...Roland De Wolfe has been stood up watching various tables over the last five minutes which led to a mild ripple of panic amongst the press as it was thought perhaps he had been eliminated under our noses without anyone noticing.

Calm was restored though, as news filtered through Roland was still sitting prettily on 35k+, just taking a few momens out to stretch his hamstrings before re-joining his table...

And we're one WSOP Champion down.

Joe Beevers raised from the button, Jamie Gold pushed for what looked like 5k total and began his typical speech play drawing the rest of the tables to a stand-still, eventually Joe called with Aspades Qd, whilst Gold could only show 7h 5c

Board:

Kc 3d Js Ks 3c

Handshakes, a wish of good luck to the rest of the players and off he went.

Meanwhile former chipleader Mika Ollila has lost a few chips to, I think, Andrew Feenan.

Feenan's Kd Ks held vs the Scandie's Ad 5d on a Td 2d 4h board after a blank turn and river.

Blinds are now 100-200, 35 players remain and the average stack is 18,400.

Mark Stewart just took down a pot on a K-9-6 flop, his 700 bet into an 800 pot sufficient to take the pot down...

Ian Woodley, Barny Boatman and John Tabatabai all saw a flop of Td-Jc-2s, checked round to John in position who also checked.

The turn came an 8h to complete the rainbow and two mroe checks to John led him to bet 550.

Ian Woodley called, as did Barny Boatman.

The river came a Jh, eliciting a 700 bet from Ian.

"I wish you'd bet more" says Barny, umming and ahhing before ultimately passing what he said was a T.

John passed and Ian picked the pot up, giving Barny a verbal pat on the back "good pass" as he showed a J for trips. "I knew if I checked top pair twice to you [John Tabatabai] you'd bet..." says Ian.

Richard Ashby has jsut doubled up courtesy of Alex Torrance.

With Richard shortish, all his chips found their way into the middle preflop, as did Alex's.

Cards on their back, Richard showed KsKc, his hand dominating his opponent's Ad Kh and the cowboys held to give Richard a much needed boost and denting Alex's stack considerably...

Here's an odd one from Table 1.


Marcus Farthing raises to 700 UTG playing a stack of 7,525, it's passed round to Omar Ghandur, who has roughly 25k. He simply announces all-in from the big blind. Marcus calls after a few seconds.

Marcus:

Ad Ks

Omar:

Jc Js

Board:

5d 8c Kc Qc 3s

"Sorry mate, I had to," said Marcus. I'm not so sure myself...

Ok, and speaking of weird hands...

Pete Singleton raises to 500 in midposition. Roland De Wolfe and Richard Haile call in the blinds.

Flop:

Tc 7c 5c

Roland bets 1,200, Richard calls and Pete passes.

Turn:

3h

Roland bets 3,100 and is called again.

River:

2s

Both players check and bizarrely Richard's Aspades Jc is good as Roland mucks, shaking his head ruefully.

Pat Donegan raised to 600 preflop, called by mateyboy just to his left, and also Barney Boatman in the Big Blind.

Barney checked the 5d Qd As flop, as did Pat. Mateyboy took this as a cue to bet 500, which Pat called and Barney folded.

The turn came the 4h, which Pat checked before Mateyboy bet 1700, again  called by Pat.

The river was the 9s, and Pat bet out 2k, called by Mateyboy, who mucked as Pat showed his sneakily played Ad Kh...

It's all crazy on table 1.

A (http://tailgatingdoneright.com/library/ColemanPersonal8QtPoly-LiteCoolerBlue.jpg) for Roland De Wolfe against Pete Singleton.

On a 9-2-3-5-3 board, Singleton bets, Roland moves all-in with pocket Fives, only for Singleton to show pocket Threes pushing him up to the heady heights of 33k.

"It was a good call." Roland later confirmed.

Roland then had his own piece of good fortune, getting all-in with Jc Jd against Bambos' 9s 9d on a 5s Td 8h 2d board when it came a harmless Ts river.

Next Bambos knocks out Ian McWilliam sitting next to him with Qc 6c against Kings, all the money going in on the turn of Jd Qs 8c 6s  3d board.

"I was tilting," claimed Bambos, for the reason of his admittedly fishy call preflop.

*****************************Dinner Break 45 Minutes*********************************

ough chip counts as play restarts, courtesy of me angling my neck, and one of the friendly dealers, who I actually know from Gala Birmingham. I'm unsure of a couple of the names, so i'll edit the posts once I find them out.

Table 1:

Andrew Mitson -- 10,200
Omar Ghandur -- 27,000
Marcus Farthing -- 16,150
Pete Singleton -- 36,000
Xanthos Charalambos -- 26,300
-- Empty Seat --
Benedetto Passantino -- 19,300
Roland De Wolfe -- 25,000
Richard Haile -- 17,900

Table 2:

Mark Stewart -- 36,000
-- Empty Seat --
Fiachra Meere -- 10,125
Ian Woodley -- 24,500
Barny Boatman -- 16,700
Pat Donegan -- 43,000
Eddie Gaines -- 8,325
Jitesh Thakker -- 20,900
John Tabatabai -- 2,725

Table 3:

Alex Torrance -- 23,000
Bobby Rach -- 21,000
Andrew Feenan -- 11,550
Mika Ollila -- 27,200
Peter Cockayne -- 10,350
William Haughney -- 18,500
Paul Hardwidge -- 18,450
Andrew Flemming -- 14,400
Richard Ashby -- 5,850

Table 4

-- Empy Seat --
Mark Seagal -- 11,500 (see below)
Rob Akery -- 32,050
John Bousfield -- 5,025
Rob Sherwood -- 13,250
Chris Royle -- 24,800
Joe Beevers -- 33,875
Ben Blackmore -- 17,800
Guiseppe Pillitteri -- 11,525 (see below also)

William Haughney has knocked out Andrew Feenan with a brutal A-K vs K-K on a K-J-T flop. Queen on the turn.

The Strange Case of the Missing Players:

Over on table 4, there's a slight problem. Both Mark Seagal and Guiseppe Pillitteri have not turned up to the tournament, meaning, they are essentially playing 6-handed on this table. This, combined with the fact there are regular small and big blinds going uncontested, has completely changed the table dynamic here. Ben Blackmore is in the best position here since he'll always be in a position to steal or resteal. When I spoke to the Cardroom staff about this problem, they said that usually they'd have removed the stacks at the start of this tournament, but since the rules regarding this event are completely different they can't do anything except let the stacks blind away. Does this leave some players with an unfair advantage?

After the dinner break, play has resumed with the blinds at 150 300, meaning the pots are now starting to reach more chunky proportions...

As alluded to earlier John Tabatabai's chip stack, however artistically he arranges it, is looking a bit thin and when Barny Boatman and  Eddie Gaines limped in for 300, he moved his 4.2k-ish stack into the middle, taxing those pesky limpers.

Barny passed fairly sharpish and Eddie dwelt for a while, before passing, allowing John to receive a much needed boost to his stack...

Roalnd De Wolfe's stack is moving in the wrong direction.

I join his table as he faces a 3k bet from mateyboy on the river of a board of As Ad 4s 5d Jh.

He ummed and ahhed, prevaricating and procrastinating before asking his opponent "will you show if I fold?" which seemed to be greeted with an affirmative nod...

Roland ultimately passed and his neighbour showed Roland an Ace for trips. "I passed an Ace" claimed Roland" but it was only Ace Two" and seemed happy with his fold.

Next hand Bambos limped and Roland announced "you're in every pot!" before raising to 700.

The flop came 4c 3c 6h. Bambos checked and Roland also checked.

The turn was the Ac. Bambos checked and Roland bet 1700, which Bambos said "it's a bit expensive...." before calling.

The river was the 7d, checked by Bambos and Roland gives up and checks behind him.

"Your ace is good!" he tells Bambos. Bambos sneakily turns over a 6, to which Roland sighs and turns up KT. Bambos now reveals the other 6 in his hand for his flopped set!

"You're supposed to bet with a hand sometime you know" offers Roland as advice, but Bambos is possibly too busy giggling and raking in the pot to take this onboard...

As a booming mic voice announces that Bristol Gala has now become the first casino in the UK to be open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, Barny (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=41) Boatman (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=41) is contemplating a call on the river of a 9s 8s 6d Jh 7h board. He'd limped in the small blind and Pat Donegan had checked his option but bet 800 into the 600 pot on the flop. Both players checked the turn, before Pat fired 2,000 on the river. Eventually Barny did call, and Pat insta-mucked, Barny's 6c 5c obviously good.

Rob robs Rob news now. Rob, of the Sherwood variety, called a 1,400 bet on the turn of a Tc Js 7h 2c board from Rob Akery before both checked the slightly scary 8h river. Sherwood, who I'm guessing had a Seven, flung his cards in the muck at the sight of a rivered pair when Akery showed Aspades 8s.

John Tabatabai is OUT. Ace King against Jacks, with a third knave on the flop for good measure. At least this means I don't have to try and spell his name again..

Bambos, having raised OOP in the small blind against a number of limpers bets 3,000 on a Jh 3s 7d board. Two of the limpers have called before the flop, the first folds but Pete Singleton calls, quickly enough.

The turn is the Qs and Bambos bets 3,000 again. Now, from despite wearing glasses, you can see that Singleton doesn't like this bet at all, Bambos has gone from betting around 3/4 of the pot on the flop to betting less than a third on the turn, sensing he's beat he folds and Bambos, says, "Ok, I'll show this once." He turns over Qh Qd for the set and rakes in the 10k pot.

Play seems somewhat cautious at the moment. Nobody seems massively keen to get too many chips in preflop....there is a lot of limping occurring, and less late position raising than you would expect.

One such pot involves Jitesh Thakker, who limps in from middle position on Barny Boatman's big blind. Ian Woodley completes from the small blind.

The flop comes Ac 7c 7s and you would find more action from a dead hamster in a freezer as it goes check check check.

The turn 2c leads to a little more action, Barny betting 500 which is called by Jitesh and also by Ian Woodley.

The river is the 7h and again the iced-hamster comparison looms over the action as all three players check it down.

"Well I've got a full house" announces Barny..."anyone beat that?"

"I've got a house too" says Jitesh.

"You win" says Barny as Jitesh turns over his slow-played Q-Q. Ian shows the Kc and Barny doesn't show his house, which was probably, although not certainly, a deuce.

The next hand, Ian Woodley abuses the button after it is passed round to him with a vicious limp.

Barny completes and Pat Donagan checks.

Flop Ks 7h 2d.

Check check, Ian bets 625 and Barny passes. As soon as Pat also passes and Ian prepares to sweep up the pot, Barny reaches back into the muck to retrieve his cards flipping up Q3.

"I nearly went for it!" he tells the table (referring to the earlier prop bet he had to bluff with Q3.) The absence of the now eliminated John Tabatabai no doubt contributed to his reluctance to run a move in this spot though. Come back John with your funky stacks, all is forgiven!

Blinds have now risen to 200 400.

I join a table to witness a hand between Bobby Rach and Peter Cockayne.

In a preflop raised pot and on a Jd 4h Tc board, Bobby has evidently checked the flop to which Peter has responded by moving ALLIN for 9k. Although this seems a big overshove with the pot in the region of 2.5-3k, it seems bobby only has 6k or so in his stack.

After thinking for a while and eyeing up his opponent, Bobby eventually reluctantly folds his cards and Peter adds to his stack.

Meanwhile Barny is seem contemplating a button raise by the ponytailed and so far fairly quiet Fiachra Meere to 2k or so on the button.

I see Barny's cards and am suprised when he folds A-Q. Apparently Ian had been dwelling in the small blind and Barny felt he had an ace "that made the fold easier."

ALthough Fiachra doesn't show his cards after the hand, he indicates to Barny that it was a good fold and he seems genuine, but with poker players, well you never know do you!

Richard Ashby has been eliminated apparently. His exit hand is unknown to me at the moment but I will sniff about like a bloodhoundcat and see what I can find out about this.

Fiachra Meer is now out, his Sixes no good against Pat Donegan's Jacks. Also gone from the same table is Edinburgh Champion Eddie Gaines, whose push for 4,400 with Ac 3c was looked up by Mark Stewart's pocket Fives.

28 players remain, apparently we're playing 10 levels tonight, which more than likely means we'll be short-handed very soon. At the moment it's 7-handed, but we'll go to 3 tables of 9 as soon as one more player is out.

Fiachra Meeres is OUT.

I gleaned this information not from the poker tables but by overhearing him talking on his mobile away from the tables.
All I managed to discover was that he got his chips in preflop with pocket 6s and found himself dominated by his opponent and removed from the tournament. I wanted to have a chat with him about the tournament and his exit but his phone call went on an extended time.

I am committed to getting as much info as possible for you faithful blondites but I thought interrupting the man on a call when he's just been knocked out would be pushing it a little too far.

I did overhear him say "The dream is over...." and for him it is, although 28 gladiators remain doing battle across the bloodied arena of the felt (actually the tables are quite clean) and for them the dream lives on....for now.

EDIT: apologies for repeating Homer's information. The man is like a wild animal, stalking fallen poker players like a lion before pouncing with lightning speed, leaving the bones of their carcass for me to sweep up. He has to be admired for this.

Play continues with 14 minutes of 200-400 left before the 200-400 with 25 ante level begins....

And just as I was having a moan about a lack of action, we've lost two more players.

First William Haughney takes out Paul Hardwidge, calling his all-in on the turn of a Qs 4s 5h Kd board with Qd Jd which held against his opponent's Aspades Js after a blank 9c river. Then after a checked flop of Jh 9d 3h 8s, Joe (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=204) Beevers (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=204) bets 3,200 out from the small blind in a 3-way pot. John Bousfield calls for his last 2,125 with Kh Td but missed his straight draw and overs.

11 more minutes of 200/400 and then we'll be on 200/400 with a 25 ante.

YES! The ;ra; will be kicking in!

Ben Blackmore, cut out of the picture to the left is OUT. Jacks against Alex Torrance's Kings.

15 minute break. Blinds 200/400/25 when we come back.

Whilst floppy soaks up the action occurring like a sponge, all the action seems to die whenever I join a table. I'd like to think that the players all tighten up their game in front of me, keen not to make an error and appear foolish, although this is highly unlikely to be the reason...

Whatever, in 10 minutes of walking round the tables, the best hand I could find to comment on involved Pete Singleton limping under the gun. Joe Beevers, DaMatrix, and Roland De Wolfe also limped before the small blind completed and big blind checked.

"What have i started!" asks Pete exasperatedly at the limpathon occurring behind him.

The flop of As 7s 8d is checked around to Roland, who picks up 2 yellow chips and 2 100 chips and spins the 2,200 bet out fluidly. Everyone folds to his wolfish aggression and he shows the table 8s 5s for a flopped pair and flush draw...

Just as a side-note, whilst Barny has been grinding away hard all day, struggling to get a stack going after various set backs, his fellow mobster Joe has been increasing his stack in imperious fashion and now has a tower of 35k+ in front of him. He is no doubt not massively happy to have been moved to Roland's table though, especially as Roland has position on him.

Floppy's animal hunger for action is currently being muffled by his internet connection which has just gone down.

Whilst he vents his wrath on vodaphone operatives, I'll tell you about a big hand that just took place between Rob Akery and a player whose face is unknown to me and unfortunately is not on the player list I have in front of me. For originality's sake let's call him mayteaboy.

I joined the action on the turn of a hand just as Rob in position bet 4k in chips on a Ah 8c 6c 5c board which mayteaboy called. The river came the 2h. Mayteaboy checked and Rob now bet a whopping 10k, which mayteaboy called.

Rob showed Jc Qc for the turned flush, whilst mayteaboy mucked, with his stack severely and most probably critically damaged by that hand...

A big hand just transpired between William Haughey and Peter Cockayne.

Peter raised the 400 BB to 1300 UTG and William called.

The flop came down As 9s 6c.

Peter checked and William bet out 2k. Peter check raised this bet to 4k, leaving 4k or so back and William went allin for 6k more or so. Peter called instantly.

Cards on their back and Peter showed Ac 9h for top 2, whilst William showed Ad Jh for just top pair.

The turn and river blanked out and William stood up got his coat, wished everyone luck before it was pointed out to him that he actually had Peter covered by 2k or so, and sat back down again.

Peter apologised to William for outflopping him but surely was inwardly shouting "get it!"

Yes, having sent Vodafone a long and ranting email about there useless system seems to bring up content control whenever I need to use my vodafone card, (this has failed off the back of Gala's wireless not working at all). I'm now on Rod's laptop where we'll take it in turns

We've lost William Haugney, he held King Ten on a T-x-x board but Rob Akery had Ace Ten.

Some rough chips counts from a short while ago:

Joe Beevers -- 52,000
DaMatrix -- 17,325
Roland De Wolfe -- 28,000
Pete Singleton -- 16,000
Mark Stewart -- 50,000
Ian Woodley -- 31,000
Barny Boatman -- 30,500
Bambos -- 45,0000

Outstanding picture Dana.

I don't know if you do requests but if so, can we have a picture of spoons being played on Jen's head if possible. I know it's one of her lifelong ambitions...

Moving on with the poker, how about some hands!

First off we had an amusing hand where Roland de Wolfe passed facing a bet from Andrew Mitson on a Td 4d 5d 6d Qs board.

He realised his opponent hadn't noticed he passed though and asked him "How much have you got back?" to which Andrew replied "about 10k."

"I'm allin then" said Roland cheekily, to which his opponent somewhat strangely said "I guess i call then" before flipping over 7d 8d for the nut straight flush!

The table pointed out to Andrew Roland had passed some time ago to which he said "Thought i'd done him like a kipper there!" but Roland wasn't the one who ended up associated with a kipper.

J
******************************

Next I see Bambos involved in a pot with Jitesh Thakker.

Bambos bet out 2k on a Jh 3s 9c board and Jitesh raised this to 8.8k total, allin. Bambos thought a while before deciding the pot was too large for him to fold his Q-T open ended straight draw.

Jitesh showed the ahead but slightly vulnerable Q-Q which he had slowplayed. A blank turn and river ensued to give the 20k-ish pot to Jitesh.

"Well played" commented Barny Boatman admiringly.

*****************************

Incidentally, we now have 22 players left and one small, ever diminishing stack from one of the players who didn't turn up.

The blinds have just risen to 300-600-50. I imagine that thievery, large pots and all round general carnage will now become more and more prevalent.

LET BATTLE COMMENCE!

(http://www.amlwch.net/images/vikings1.jpg)

No sooner do I say this than I see the sight of Pat Donegan vacating the area. Having missed his exit (although floppy may have witnessed it) I ask a fellow press member "did you see how he went out?"

"He lost his chips"

"Thanks"

It's wonderful how the press help each other in hard times!

This will be the last level incidentally. Let me pass you over to Floppy who will fill you in with some photos and stories....

Pat Donegan's exit was to Mark Stewart

The board was:

Ad 7d 5d

Pat held Ahrt Jd against Mark's slightly vunerable Ac Qc until the board bricked out with a Kc turn and a 3c river.

Incidentally, it's flooded with women in the casino here because...

(http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/DES/D1298~Ladies-Night-Posters.jpg)

Free drinks for all women, which has slightly upped the 'trashy' factor by a fair number... ::)

Just now when they announced that this level would be the last, Bambos was very unhappy stating that he wanted to play 10 levels and they shouldn't finish at the end of this one. Roland told him that it was Ladies Night and all the girls in the casino would be very disappointed if they didn't get to spend any time with Barny Boatman...

A sick hand just played out between  Omar Ghandur, who you might remember hit a one out for quads earlier in the competition, and Marcus Farthing, who after being reduced to 2k early on had recovered quite remarkably to 16 k or so.

I joined the action on the turn of a 7c 5c Ah 3d board. Marcus had bet out 7k and been checkraised the remainder of his stack by Omar, another 7k or so.

He looked uncomfortable and eventually said "I'm committed, I have to call" as he flipped 7-6 for 2nd pair and a gutshot. Omar was no doubt mightily releived as he showed his A-6 for top pair with the gutshot, leaving Marcus looking at only 2 outs to win the pot and four to split.

Marcus runs good though and the river came a quite unlikely 7 though to give Marcus one of the two outs he needed to win the pot and Omar's earlier good luck was reversed on him.

"That's disgusting" he commented.

"Sorry but i was committed" responded Marcus.

Rob Sherwood was just involved in a hand with Andrew Mitson.

Rob sitting on about 18k called Andrew's raise to 2,300 from early position on the button.

The flop came 9h Td 6c.

Andrew immediately moved allin for 8k or so.

Rob had a tough decision and dwelt up thinking for a while before eventually calling.

Rob showed 8d 8c for a brave call and Andrew showed Js Qh for 2 overcards and a straight draw.

"He's got lots of outs" commented Rob and his astute observation proved correct as a K on the turn left him drawing dead, allowing Andrew to scoop the pot and leaving Rob in trouble on 8k-ish...

And one of the 'dead stacks' (one of the guys who hasn't turned up) was just all-in in the big blind for his last 475 against Barny Boatman's Fives.

Ian Woodley was on card flipping duty, he turned over the Kc, then the Tc too.

When the board came:

Td Ac 2h Qh 3c, a cheer came from all the players, putting Mr dead stack up onto around 2k meaning he's probably going to make it to day 2(!)

Play has now finished for the day, we lost Rob Sherwood just before the end, he bet around 2,500 on the river of an A-6-K-A-6 board but was set all-in. Eventually he called but was shown A-J by Rob Akery. Rob Sherwood flashed a 6 before leaving. Roland De Wolfe knocked out the other 'dead stack' with Aspades Ks against 6h 4s.

Chip counts are going to follow shortly. Day 1B will start at 2pm once again, we're thinking we'll probably have another 50 or so players. Perhaps some coming back from Amsterdam, still needing a fix.

;stickaforkinme;

Chip Counts:

Omar Ghandur -- 19,050
Marcus Farthing -- 27,800
Pete Singleton -- 12,775
Joe Beevers -- 54,950
Benedetto Passantino -- 21,425
Roland De Wolfe -- 29,950
Richard Haile -- 20,950

Alex Torrance -- 13,825
Bobby Rach -- 12,975
Andrew Mitson -- 20,650
Mika Ollila -- 42,850
Peter Cockayne -- 28,875
Andrew Flemming -- 35,200
Rob Akery -- 72,325

Mark Stuart -- 55,225
Mark Segal (the Dead Stack) -- 1,000
Ian Woodley -- 34,775
Barny Boatman -- 36,500
Bambos -- 36,800
Jitesh Thakker -- 36,625
Chris Royle -- 33,475