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Welcome back to Day 1B for another 2pm start.

Numbers have steadily improved, at the list from the Gala site of people who definitely are playing today are as follows:

1   Ashiq Abdullah
2   Alain Bauer
3   Tim (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=431) Blake (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=431)
4   Emmanuel Blanca
5   Nicholas Bower
6   Johnathan Butters
7   Darren Campbell
8   Neil (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=302) Channing (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=302)
9   Charles Chattha
10   Michael Clees
11   Anthony Croalla
12   Matt (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=272) Dale (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=272)
13   Priyan (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=354) De Mel (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=354)
14   Danny Dodds
15   Andy Doran
16   Antonio (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=815) Esfandiari (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=815)
17   Stan Essen
18   Jeffrey Flewitt
19   Ian Fraser
20   Paul Gardner
21   Marc (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=257) Goodwin (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=257)
22   Peter (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=344) Gould (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=344)
23   Josh Gould
24   Paul (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=325) Gourlay (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=325)
25   Rakesh Gupta
26   David Harris
27   Steve Holden
28   Ian Holwill
29   Kevin Hudd
30   Jani Johanson
31   Neil Kilgour
32   Phil (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=710) Laak (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=710)
33   Mark McGill
34   Carl Erik Michael Wahlberg
35   Trevor Pearson
36   Lee Richardson
37   Stuart (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=421) Rutter (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=421)
38   David (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=115) Smith (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=115)
39   Surindar Sunar
40   Jim Tierney
41   Jennifer Tilly
42   Luke Trottman
43   Matt Tylar
44   Ram (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=359) Vaswani (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=359)
45   Samuel Wan
46   Robert (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=723) Williamson III (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=723)
47   Daniel Wilmer-Brown
48   Huseyin Yilmaz

No doubt a few more will be added in due course.

If you want us to follow anyone in particular then please let us know on the interactive thread.

Play is nowhere near starting just yet, it'll be at least another 15 minutes or so, we have a confirmed 53 entries so far.

Hi there folks.

Back for day two and once again there is a plethora(I love that word!) of talent on show.

Jennifer Tilley and Phil Laak have just arrived....In fact I got to share a lift with them. There wasn't much room i must say. I'll leave you to speculate why exactly.

As Floppy mentioned, Darren Campbell is here and he'll obviously be quick out of the blocks....boom boom. I will try and keep weak jokes like this down to a minimum, but some may slip in unavoidably.

Sunny Chattha was seen looking chilled out in the lobby, the spiky haired and sun-glassed Robert Williamson III,  was heard saying "I like the look of this" although not quite sure what he was referring to. He did seem to have his head angled toward by blonde hoody at the time though so I'll take it as a compliment.

Anyway, a great day's action is in prospect, the players are now seated, cards are being shuffled and we are off!

Full player list as at start of play is as follows. I'll post the table layout just after this...

Anthony Abdullah
Tim Blake
Nicholas Bower
Johnathan Butters
Darren Cambell
Neil Channing
Michael Clees
Anthony Croalla
Mate Dale
Priyan De Mel
Jason Defreitas
Danny Dodds
Andy Doran
Antonio Esfandiari
Stan Essen
Andrew Feldman
Jeffrey Flewitt
Ian Fraser
Mark Freeman
Paul Gardner
Marc Goodwin
Josh Gould
Peter Gould
Paul Gourlay
Rakesh Gupta
David Harris
Jason Ho
Stephen Holden
Ian Holwill
Kevin Hudd
Ja, Johansson
Neil Kilgour
Phil  Laak
David Lloyd
Carl Wahlberg
Mark Mcgill
Manuel Palanca
Trevor Pearson
Jim Reid
Lee Richardson
Roberto Romanello
Stuart Rutter
Albert Sapiano
Mark Seagal
David Smith
Surinder Sunar
Jim Tierney
Jennifer Tilley
Luke Trottman
Matt Tyler
Joshua Tyler
Ram Vaswani
Samuel Wan
Robert Williamson III
Daniel Wilmer-brown
Hussein Yilmaz

Play has now begun, and Neil Channing seems to have already done a deal with Robert Williamson III giving him 40-1 to win the tournament, he was also attempting to give Antonio Esfandiari 33-1. I'd offer Robert evens for winning the 'Most Colourful Shirt' award though.

Roberto Romanello, who I almost didn't recognise with a stubbly beard and a injured leg, has already lost what looks to be around half his stack with a bluff against Jonothon Butters' trip Jacks.

101   Nicholas Bower
102   Josh Gould
103   Antonio Esfandiari
104   Ja, Johansson
105   Neil Channing
106   Danny Dodds
107   Mark Seagal
108   Anthony Croalla
109   Joshua Tyler
110   Phil  Laak
201   Tim Blake
201   Andy Doran
202   Samuel Wan
203   Mark Mcgill
204   Mate Dale
205   Trevor Pearson
206   Manuel Palanca
207   Anthony Abdullah
208   Neil Kilgour
209   Surinder Sunar
210   David Smith
302   David Harris
303   Robert Williamson III
304   Matt Tyler
305   Stuart Rutter
306   Paul Gourlay
307   Kevin Hudd
308   David Lloyd
309   Rakesh Gupta
401   Hussein Yilmaz
402   Albert Sapiano
403   Andrew Feldman
404   Ian Holwill
405   Ian Fraser
406   Jason Defreitas
407   Darren Cambell
408   Priyan De Mel
409   Lee Richardson
501   Luke Trottman
502   Ram Vaswani
503   Daniel Wilmer-brown
504   Jason Ho
505   Paul Gardner
506   Jim Tierney
507   Carl Wahlberg
508   Marc Goodwin
509   Jim Reid
601   Stan Essen
602   Peter Gould
603   Jennifer Tilley
604   Johnathan Butters
605   Jeffrey Flewitt
606   Michael Clees
607   Mark Freeman
608   Roberto Romanello
609   Stephen Holden

A big hand has just been played out between Stephen Holden and Stan Essen.

Stephen raised in early position to 125 and was reraised to 425 by Stan.

He called as did Mark Freeman.

The flop fell 3h Td 5h.

Stephen bet out 600, which was called by Stan but passed by Mark.

The turn was the potentially flush-making Jh.

Stephen bet out 1,200, which Stan now raised to 3,200.

Stephen called after a short dwell.

The river came the 3c.

Stephen checked and Stan now moved allin for just over 10k.

Stephen huffed and puffed "QQ, KK, AA?" he asked to no response. "Will you show if I pass?" he asked and Stan told him "if you like"

Ultimately he passed and Stan showed Q-Q for queens and threes, whilst Stephen showed his outdrawn J-T...

"I expected to see more than that for an allin" said the reserved Roberto. "Looked like a bluff in the end!"

I'm taking a photo of Robert (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=723) Williamson III (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=723)'s admittedly acid-trippy shirt, who Matt (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=274) Tyler (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=274) claims he and Stuart (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=421) Rutter (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=421) are 'owning', though I did see Rutter call a river bet on a 7-J-3-Q-9 board with A-Q, ahead of Williamson's A-7.

Darren Campbell has been a slow starter out of the blocks, he might have dropped the baton a couple of times because he's already down to just 7,000.

Also shortish early on is Marc (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=257) Goodwin (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=257), perhaps it's because of the goatee he is sporting?

And we have our first exit and it's Robert Williamson III, courtesy of the Rocketman Paul Gourlay.

Williamson limped preflop, Matt Tyler raised and Paul Gourlay called, Williamson re-raised but both the Brits called.

The flop came down J-J-6, Williamson and Tyler checked, the Rocketman bet, Williamson re-raised, Tyler passed and Gourlay called. The turn brought another Jack, Williamson checked again, Gourlay bet again and, Williamson moved in with his Aces, Gourlay called with his Q-J, "A good call," according to Matt. 56 players are left.

Said Phil Laak from nearby, "I want more Americans on my table!!!"

As expected, much of the early banter is coming from Phil Laak and Antonio Esfandiari's table.

As Robert Williamson III wandered over to tell Phil and Antonio of his early demise, they were speculating on his exit hand.

"Maybe he thought the guy had KK or QQ..." commented someone.

"Gotta go with your reads" was Antonio's astute observation.

"Yeah Antonio but for fifteen thousand!" said a surprised Laak...

"Well the blinds are getting big now" was the dry comment from Neil Channing, which brought a laugh out of the table, given that we were still on the first level...

We are now on the 50 100 level...

Roberto Romanello raises to 300 UTG and the BB, Mark Freeman calls the 200 raise.

The flop comes Qh 9d 9s.

Checked by Mark, Roberto bets a humourous 100 chips into the pot. Mark folds....

"Not even 100!" grumbles the welshman, scooping up the pot.

Next hand Stephen Holden limps UTG and is raised by his nemesis from a few hands ago, Stan Essen, raises to 400. Mark Freeman again calls, as does Roberto from the Big Blind and Stephen makes up the additional 300.

The flop comes 2h 3h 3s.

After Stephen checks, Stan bets 600, which Mark Freeman calls but both Roberto and Stephen  fold.

The turn Qs is checked by both players.

On the 4s on the river, Mark checks and Stan bets 600 which is called by Mark.

Mark shows down 4d 6h for a gutshot draw that made a pair on the river whilst Stan shows down Jd Jc, which is good for the 3.6k pot and increases his stack yet further...

For some reason, Albert Sapiano has taken a real disliking to Darren Campbell. Everyone pot Campbell is playing, Albert is telling him to hurry up, chastising him when he folds hands, trying to encourage to gamble and generally giving him a few rubdowns.

Jennifer Tilly has just taken her first scalp, calling Mark Freeman's all-in with Kh Jc on a Qh Js Jh board but finding herself up against Qd Jd. The lovely Kd came on the turn though to send him home.

"To be fair, I think we were all routing for her," said Roberto Romanello.

Ram "Crazy Horse" Vaswani, who had lost a few chips earlier, is OUT!

Although not an eye witness to the action, I was told that Ram had got involved in a raised pot preflop and when he moved allin on a Qs 9h 9c flop, and his opponent called with Kd Qd Ram mucked, as he didn't have any outs, bar long shot runner runner outs and Ram has been eliminated, free to munch on the salad he seemed to be enjoying so much in peace...

Phil Laak calls a bet on the river of a K-3-6-6-Q and Josh Gould flips over his 3-3 for the house.

Antonio, who delights in winding up his friend, says,"Yeah, good call punk...You know we call that back home, a P.O.W. A Pay-Off Wizard..."

Phil meekly bows his head and says softly to himself, "I'm such a fish..."

Just had a quick word with Matt Tyler.

"How's it going?" I enquire...

"Yeah good, except I'm Stu [rutter]'s bitch at the moment. He keeps making dodgy 2 pairs on me"

Stuart laughs this off, but doesn't deny that Matt is indeed his bitch. Sat next to each other, it will be interesting to see whether Stuart maintains dominion over Matt throughout or if Matt can turn this round and start bullying Stuart.

Meanwhile more comedy is occurring on Phi Laak and Antonio Esfandiari's table.

I join a 3 way pot as Antonio, Mark Seagal and Phil all see a flop of Kd Td Th with about 900 chips in the middle.

It's checked to Phil who asks Antonio "Are you going to abuse me if I bet"....Silence.

Phil bets 700, called by Antonio and passed by Mark.

The turn is the Jd.

Check, check.

The river is the 9c.

Antonio bets out 1,500 and Phil doesn't think for long before passing...

"Yes I'm going to abuse you, you donk" says Antonio much to the table's amusment, clearly revelling in giving his friend the rub down.

Yes, that is Mark Seagal who was the dead stack yesterday, apparently Gala told him Friday so they've agreed to let him play today meaning they've basically added an extra £2,500 to the prize pool.

Matt Dale is short after running his A-J into Surindar Sunar's Jacks on a J-3-5-3-2 board, he has roughly 1,700 left.

Tablemate Tim Blake has managed to hit and two full houses, sadly both in the same hand holding 8h 5h on a 8-5-3-5-8 board and obviously he was unable to get paid off. He did come a bit unstuck against Samuel Wan when he check/raised an 800 bet to 2,100 on a 3h Js 9s flop. Wan made it 5,800 though and Blake insta-passed, tapping the table.

A quiet start for Chaz Chattha so far, his table since the exit of Robert Williamson III. Meanwhile his friend Priyan "I'm not as reckless as Praz" De Mel is on a much crazy table due to Albert Sapiano's style of chasing just about every draw he can, no matter what the bet.

(http://www.blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=3969&g2_serialNumber=1)

Players are now on a short break, play will restart in about 10 minutes. Jennifer Tilly is nearby being interviewed on the the perks of being a woman in poker and how sometimes, it can be hard betting the nuts at some points because in a situation where a player might raise two pair or a set on the river against a man, they'll just call against a woman.

Matt Dale is now OUT, eliminated just at the start of this level, but we missed how.

Paul Gardner bets 400 on a 4d Tc 3s board, Carl Wahlberg makes it 1,200. Gardner calls. Both check the 5s turn and 8d river. Gardner's Queens winning against Jacks. Missed value bet on the river?

Fabulous Glittering Prizes:

1st -- £87,500
2nd -- £53,250
3rd -- £36,500
4th -- £22,250
5th -- £16,000
6th -- £11,000
7th -- £9,250
8th -- £8,000
9th -- £6,250

It seems Albert Sapiano's play has spiked the interest of his table.

after Hussein Yilmaz limps in early position, Albert raises to 550 and Hussein calls...

The flop comes Jd 8d 3s. When Hussein checks Albert bets 2k to which hussein folds.

Albert shows Ad Td.

"Is that ANOTHER flush draw!" yells someone at the table, suggesting Albert has been prone to playing one or two SOOOTED cards. It seems as though Albert has abandoned the usual tight rocky poker for which he is famed.

Darren Campbell has been giving Priyan De Mel tips on i-pods on his table. Priyan is heard shortly afterwards berating someone on the phone...."Thanks for telling me I needed special earphones!"

Roberto Romanello, who incidentally is wandering around on crutches, looks a little bored and unhappy as he has a relatively small stack. Something tells me he'll be getting that in pretty shortly...

Jennifer Tilley has moved into business mode by removing her jacket with a bat emblazoned on the back and putting on a black cowboy hat. Don't mess!

The Honeymonsterman has just added to his stack.

He bet 4,000 out on a 2s Ts 5s flop, Ian Holwill, who had originally raised, passed his red Aces. Jason Def Freitas moved all-in for 9,450 more and Albert called.

Jason:

7s 6s

Albert:

9s 3s

And the gnomish looking man is way over 30k now...

Over on table 5, Jason Ho, who writes every single hand down in a diary, rather like Thomas Fuller did in Baden, was contemplating calling a 5k bet on the river of a Kc Ks 6d Aspades Qc board. Daniel Wilmer-Brown had made the almost pot-sized bet and Jason was inquisitively asking, "Why so much?" before running through a number of hands he, presumably was losing too. He didn't mention Kd Qd though, which is the one he was shown when he eventually called.

Peter Gould is OUT. He looked to be holding 8s 2s on a 9h 8h 4s Aspades board but was called by Jeffrey Flewitt's Ks Kd and then missed the river. Also gone is Darren Campbell, we're guessing he dropped the baton. ::)

Crutches or not, Roberto is good value for entertainment!

He is seen betting 1300 into a similar sized pot on the river of a 8d 2s 8c Qs 9d.

When his opponent, Stan Essen passed, he showed a single deuce...

"Only way I could win" said Roberto to which Stan responded several times with "MY ARSE" suggesting he had doubts about the veracity of Roberto's claim...

Stan looked to be slightly miffed and the next hand he limped and when Johnathan Butters raised to 575 he reraised him by another 1k.

The Qs 5s 2c flop was checked and a 2.1k bet on the 5c turn by Stan was sufficient to take the pot down...

Roberto (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=376) Romanello (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=376) is OUT.

He made a small raise from the cut-off and called a re-raise from Stan Essen in the small blind.

"You're tilting you are," he said as he called the raise.

The flop came Kh 6c Qs, Stan checked, bet around half the pot. Stan set him and Roberto called, saying, "If you have K-Q good luck to you."

Stan flipped Kd Kc, whilst Roberto showed Ac Ad.

The turn was the Tc and Roberto called for a Jack, but the river was the 2s, the ultimate blank. Scant consolation for Roberto was that he was never going to win this hand, however it was played.

I've had to lend my headphones to Chaz (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=63) Chattha (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=63) after he admitted breaking his own by accidentally dipping it into his glass of coke... ::)

I'm not sure how some of these guys would cope without me to be honest...

The Phil Laak/Antonio Esfandiari abuse match continues.

This time Phil Laak offers Neil Channing £50 to bust Antonio this hand. "Please, please Neil..."


Neil passes to a 2,205 bet on a 5-3-2 rainbow board and Antonio shows the Qc.


"No Neil! He had nothing..."

As Thomas Kremser arrives and speaks to some of the players, he is warmly welcomed by Antonio Esfandiari.

"This guys gotta be the best tournament director around, he's tall, good-looking, smart...." If he keeps this sycophancy up, Antonio may undermine his reputation as a ladies man.

Underterred, he continues though....."Every time I'm near you my life equity goes up, Thomas, whilst when this guy's around [points to Phil Laak] my life equity drops. Right now, sandwiched between you it's cancelling out at zero"

Phil is more interested in what's happening on the table though. Josh Tyler folds from the small blind to Phil's big blind and shows he folded J9...

"You folded that!" exclaims Antonio astonished...

"Of course" says Phil. "he's playing good, careful solid poker"

"or he's building a good image before he starts attacking your blinds later" points out Neil.

"Why do you go and say that! I know that! Now you've tipped him off!"

All the while Josh's play and potential future play are being discussed, he just sits there smiling, clearly finding the banter as amusing as everyone else.

As I leave the table I hear Antonio calling Phil " a tard" for how he played the latest hand. The fun continues!

Luke Trottman has literally this second gone out with Kings against Paul Gardner's Aces. I took a photo then went to check on Manuel Palanca (who has about 13k having just paid off a 3k river to Samuel Wan who showed 3-3 on a 4-4-2-3-A board) sitting next to Anthony Abdullah and Surindar Sunar. I turned around and Luke was gone!

Most of the tables are fairly queit, but the Priyan De Mel/Albert Sapiano sparring battle is now almost at Laak/Esfandiari proportions, certainly it's at equal decibel level, little friendly digs at one another, but you wonder if there's just the tiniest needle involved.

******************We're now on a 45 Minute Dinner break******************

Here's Tim with his twin Dave Smith the other side of the dealer. He just re-raised a 700 bet to 2,000 a took down the pot. He's sitting on what looks to be a 13k stack.

(http://www.blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=4021&g2_serialNumber=1)

Paul Gourlay, who had been moved to Jennifer Tilly's table, now finds himself back in his old seat next to Stuart Rutter, he's got around 24k, about 1k more than Matt Tyler.

(http://www.blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=4019&g2_serialNumber=1)

Incidentally speaking of Jennifer Tilly, she's just been moved to the left of Albert Sapiano. I think the iPod came out again pretty fast!

Finally, Danny Dodds seems to be about 21k or so.

(http://www.blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=4015&g2_serialNumber=1)

Hussein Yilmaz appears to have been busy on Priyan De Mel, Albert Sapiano and now Jennifer Tilley's table.

Raising to 700 from LP, he picks up the blinds. Albert chastises the table..."That's another pot you've let him win!" Hussein shows Ad Js .

"I had Jack three" Albert continues. "I was going to call but it was too much...500 i call, 700 though, just too much...."

Continuing the aggression, Hussein raises the next hand to 700 too. Priyan De Mel calls from the big blind.

The flop of 8d 2c Ks is checked by PDM and also by Hussein.

The turn is the Ah. PDM checks again, and Hussein also checks...."How many times do I have to check before you bet!" asks Priyan.

The river is the 9s and Priyan bets 500, which Hussein calls.

"King" announces Priyan and Hussein shows T-T before mucking his cards...

Next hand it is Jennifer Tilley who shows aggression, raising to 600 preflop, called by Priyan in the small blind.

The flop comes 5d 7d 9h.

Priyan checks and Jennifer bets 1k, which Priyan calls.

The turn is the Kc.

Priyan bets 1k, which Jennifer raises to 3k..."Oh no" says Priyan, "my turn to play a big pot!" and calls.

The river comes the 5s.

Priyan bets 1k, which Jennifer calls.

"King" announces Priyan for the 2nd hand in succession, but this time Jennifer tables A-K, outkicking what appeared to be K-8 in Priyan's hand.

"Nice hand" he tells her...

The players are now on a 45 minute break for dinner so myself and floppy will scour the tables for chips counts and be back with you shortly.

Chip Counts:

Tim Blake -- 13,500
Samuel Wan -- 15,250
Michael Clees -- 13,275
Manuel Palanca -- 14,000
Anthony Abdullah -- 17,875
Surindar Sunar -- 30,000
Neil Kilgour (I think) -- 7,500
Dave Smith -- 13,850

Yilmaz Husseyin -- 24,700
Albert Sapiano -- 65,200
Andrew Feldman (Dead Stack) -- 12,350
Jennifer Tilly -- 25,200
Ian Holwill? -- 8,500
Nicholas Bower -- 5,850
Jeffrey Flewitt -- 36,100
Priyan De Mel -- 22,925
Lee Richardson -- 11,875

Trevor Pearson -- 16,400
Daniel Wilmer-Brown -- 28,200
Jason Ho -- 9,650
Paul Gardner -- 32,000
Jim Tierney -- 27,775
Carl Wahlberg -- 11,975
Jonothon Butters -- 21,600
Jim Reid -- 19,850

Stan Essen (We think) -- 40,000
Stephen Holden -- 10,300
Antonio Esfandiari -- 16,700
Jani Johansson -- 12,100
Neil Channing -- 16,600
Danny Dodds -- 22,575
Anthony Croalla -- 11,250
Joshu Tyler -- 18,300
Phil Laak -- 16,900

Andy Doran -- 6,400
David Harris -- 19,200
Matt Tyler -- 22,700
Stuart Rutter -- 18,300
Paul Gourlay -- 25,175
Kevin Hudd -- 3,525
David Lloyd -- 11,175
Rakesh Gupta -- 21,100
Chaz Chattha -- 25,500

And we are about to restart. 44 players remaining, avg stack is 19.4k. Blinds 150/300.

Stephen Holden, who won the Nottingham leg of the Gala tour, bets out 600 on a Ts Ahrt 6h flop. Neil Channing makes it 1,700. Holden adds a further 3,500 on top of that. Neil Channing thinks and says, "Verrrrrrrry Interrrrrrresssssting," as though he's an evil Bond villain. He then just calls, which is the scariest move of them all and should've set alarm bells off in Holden's head.

Inevitably, Holden bets most of his stack on the 8c turn and Channing immediately puts him. Joshua Tyler has been whispering to Phil Laak, and as Holden shows his Ad Th and Channing flips his 6d 6s, he says, "I told you!" Blank river and Stephen Holden is OUT.

Almost immediately, Antonio says, "I passed A-8," Joshua says, "I passed A-9." Then Phil Laak says, "I passed 9-7."
 
Channing replies, "Why didn't you call? Or you? Errr...not you though," indicating Laak.

(http://www.blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=4027&g2_serialNumber=1)

150/300 now.

I notice Albert Sapiano limping on Priyan de Mel's big blind so I stick around to see if it all kicks off given these two have been crossing swords a fair bit...

Jennifer Tilley gets in the way of their confrontation, raising Albert's limp to 1300. Priyan passes after a rueful glance towards Albert that might be summed up as "don't limp my blind son."

Albert calls the extra 1k from Jennifer, who he earlier said he was "taking a shine to" and everyone else passes.

The flop comes Kc Kh Jd.

Albert Sapiano checks, Jennifer bets 1k, he calls...

The turn is the 3h.

Albert checks, Jennifer bets 2k, Albert calls...

The river is the 4s.

Albert checks, Phil Laak's better half bets out 4k now, and, yes, no prizes for guessing that once more Albert calls.

Jennifer shows A-K for the nut trips whilst Albert mucks his hand, leaving it a mystery as to what he had. J-Q is my guess, although I may be doing him too much credit...

Another nice pot to Jennifer who is doing better than her partner Phil Laak at the moment.

A few players limp on Priyan's big blind.

They see a 8d 6c 2c flop.

Jeffrey Flewitt bets 500, Priyan makes it 2,000. Everyone else passes.

The turn is the Qc, now Jeffrey check/calls an oddly smaller 1,125 before both check the 6h river. Priyan's Qh 8h miles ahead of Jeffrey's missed 5s 7h.

Jason Ho is OUT. Manuel Palanca has recovered up to 23k, but desperately needs a drink. Waitress!

Albert Sapiano appears to be going through leaner times now after hitting the early heights of chip leader.

Although I wasn't able to do a proper count of his chips it looked like he was nursing a stack of only 30k at most, quite a bit less than his 60k of earlier.

The 150 300 level has obviously hit him hard!

Matt Tyler is doing well though, up to 25k ish at this point.

"I've bin a look box mate" he tells me. "Although I went for dinner and managed to eat a whole piece of garlic..." which prompts Stuart Rutter to say, after losing a pot to Matt, "...at least I didn't have to kiss you!"

Matt laughs but i sense he cries a small internal tear of sadness at this... :)

14 minutes of 150 300 remain before we move to 200 400.

The standings are that we currently have 40 players remaining and the average stack is 21,400.

Floppy tells me I may have slightly underestimated Albert's stack which apparently is still in the region of 35k-40k. He must have been hiding his pinks away from me the little rascal!

(When i say hiding away I mean putting them near any green or yellow chips where they are camouflaged from my colourblind eyes)

Andrew Feldman has turned up and in no time has got busy, getting Matt Tyler to call his river bet on a Th 8s 3h Td 7c board and then showing Jd 9s.

Next Josh (Can't remember if it's Gould or Tyler) calls Neil Channing's bet on the turn of a 4c 8s 4d Th board before firing out 3,200 on the 8d river. He instantly begins reading a poker magazine, but is flipping through the pages very fast. After a while Neil passes,

"Excellent pass, sir" says Antonio. Josh flips the 7h 6h.

(a beat)

Ok, we have an elimination.

I believe the gentleman knocked out was Danny Dodds...(although there's a small chance it wasn't)

I joined the hand as he was standing up all his chips in the middle. I know he was short prior to the hand so there wasn't a massive amount in the pot.

Albert Sapiano and Priyan De Mel had called his preflop allin.

The flop was 7d Js 9s.

The two active players, Albert and Priyan both checked.

The turn was the 8d.

Check Check.

The river was the 3s.

Bet of just 500 by Priyan, called by Albert.

Priyan showed A-T for the straight, Albert showed A-K for ace high, whilst Danny shook his head and showed 9-9 for a flopped set that was no good vs Priyan's turned straight.

Another pot heads Priyan's way and Danny exits the tournament to join the rail...

Ok, not Danny Dodds eliminated. He's still in, so all you Dodds fans out there can rest easy.

In fact the eliminee was .... Mark Seagal who found himself under siege/ marked for death/ on deadly ground but sadly not hard to kill in that last hand. (delete spurious stephen seagal reference as required)

Moving on, we have had an ALLIN!

In a raised pot, seen by Jennifer Tilley, Lee Richardson and Hussein Yilmaz, Jennifer and Lee checked to Hussein who bet 3,000 on a

4h 5s 5d flop.

Jennifer passed, before Lee called off his last 2.7k saying "need some help here!"

Indeed he did as he tabled 2s 3s, but had more outs than he thought as hussein showed Kd Qc.

The turn 7c was a blank but the river A completed Lee's straight draw and kept him in the competition.

Priyan was seen laughing, saying "two-three suited! Now I've seen it all!"

Hussein Yilmaz was crippled doubling up Priyan (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=354) De Mel (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=354). The third raise on Priyan's big blind caused the latter to call with J-9, the flop came 3-5-9. Priyan bet 1,500 and was quickly called. He bet 2,000 on the 4 turn and Hussein shoved for 12k more. Priyan instantly called due to Hussein's "filth merchant" reputation. This rep was understandale when Hussein showed J-T and missed his 3 outs for the river. No wonder the rest of the Hitsquad moan about how lucky Priyan always seems to get.

Phil (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=710) Laak (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=710) is out. He raised Kc 8c and check/raised Neil (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=302) Channing (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=302)'s bet on the turn of a 4h Tc Qc 5s board from 1,500 to 6,000 with 2,500 behind. Neil set him in with Kd Qd which held.

Phil is now in the a 5/10 cash game with 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), Roberto (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=376) Romanello (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=376), John (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=1073) Tabatabai (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=1073) and Barny Boatman which involves at least two or three of them pushing all-in preflop and it's already drawing a decent crowd.

In the first hand John (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=1073) Tabatabai (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=1073) moved all-in for from the big blind looking at his cards. 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) raised from the button to protect.

The board came 4c 6d Kc Jc 4d.

John flipped first the Jd then the Kd and cheered, until Woodley showed Aspades Ad...

15 minute break, blinds will be 200/400/25 when we return. 37 players remain.

It looks like Hussein's doubling up of Priyan was a critical injury as he has now departed the tournament arena and is sat in the crazy cash game going on.

One more down...

The green screen of information (I can't think of a witty pithy title for it) says there's 37 players remaining with an average of 23,100 chips although in actual fact there will definitely be one or two less than this as it is not updated completely yet.

Players are currently on a short break now so we'll be back with you shortly.

In the short hiatus players have been freshening up, grabbing drinks at the bar, fitting in a quick cigarette, smooching with pretty brunettes outside the casino (I'm looking at you Mr Esfandiari) but the break has ended and the players are now back in their seats doing battle.

At 200- 400 -25, the pots will  now be getting much bigger and we will either see players being very cautious or going tooth and nail to get a big stack going.

Obviously we are hoping for the latter because like this guy....

(http://static.bethsoft.com/blog/dracula.jpg)

VE VANT BLOOD!!!

Good luck everyone remaining...

Matt Tyler has just been involved in a pot with David Lloyd.

Raising to 1500 or so Matt found David moving in behind him. The dealer went to count David's stack, but David castigated him for this..."not unless someone asks for a count."

Passed round to Matt who asks "can I have a count please?" to general laughter from the table.

David has roughly 6k so getting in the region of 2-1 Matt says "I'll give you a spin" calling and showing 8-8.
David turned over A-T and one flip-tastic board of A-3-6-5-T later, David had doubled up and Matt had made a small dent in his decent stack.

"I had to call" says Matt. "Wanted some chirping chips if nothing else..." Well he's still got plenty of those.

I'm slightly concerned about Stuart Rutter, who has a large scarf wrapped round his neck, as if he is fending off the cold chill of winter, whereas we're actually sat in a warm casino. Looks like he needs a lempsip poor lad.

I'll ask him about that when I get the chance...

There's a dead stack on the Estfandiari/Channing table, in between them in fact, so Antonio is being fairly liberal with his raises in position. Button raising to 1,400, Neil called him and the bet out 1,000 on the Ks 3h Ts flop. Antonio quickly called before both checked the 3c turn. Neil asked how much Antonio had left, roughly 13k, before betting 2,500 which Antonio called instantly. When Neil showed K-J though, he quickly mucked.

Roland De Wolfe has spun up £250 into over £3,500 so far in the cash game. He just won £2,000+ pot holding Aspades Qs on a 9s Qc 6c Qh 6s board. This game is still attracting way more spectators than the tournament.

Matt Tyler just won a huge 24k pot, mostly off Paul Gourlay after hitting a backdraw flush on a Q-9-8-K-8 board with the 6s 5s. Paul Gourlay has roughly 10k left.

Priyan De Mel just limped in from the small blind on Johnothon (yes that's THREE 'O's) Butter's blind. Butters checked.

FLOP: Kh 8d 7h

Priyan bets 1k, Butters calls.

TURN: Jc Priyan bets 2k, Butters calls.

RIVER: 7c Priyan bets 2k and Butters again calls.

Cards on their back, Priyan shows K-4 and Johnothon K-6.

No kicker advantage so guess what folks, it's a ...

(http://images.jupiterimages.com/common/detail/47/28/23042847.jpg)

Next hand there is some severe limpage with Albert Sapiano and one other limper, before Nicholas Bower, sitting on a short stack decides the time is right to push. He does so for about 5k or so.

Albert breaks all the principles he holds dear to his heart and calls whilst everyone else gets out of the way.

The cards appear, both players have suited aces, though Bower has the slim advantage with Ac 7c versus Albert's As 6s.

A 7 on the turn was sufficient to give Bower a much needed double-and-a-bit up, and Albert's stack mvoes slightly in the wrong direction.

I think Albert may be slightly on tilt though...

Earlier Priyan asked one of the lovely waitresses if they were serving any fresh mint tea...

"I'll see what I can do" she replied.

...."I'll have some of that with some honey too" said Albert.

"Oh I know we've definitely got no honey"

This sent Albert into a strange rant about it being "unbeleivable" that there was no honey available and calling the imaginary people he felt had precipitated this disastrous situation an abusive term beginning with "T" and ending with "ossers."

Bizarre I know!

Samuel Wan is OUT, courtesy of Michael Clees

Queens against Aces. Uninteresting board apart from the 'Barry Greenstein' special.

Tim Blake got crippled losing with Aces against Q-T. He since doubled up, and just added another 3k or so, firing out on a 6d 6s 5d flop against Surindar Sunar's button raise. Surindar mucked and Tim showed the 5s. He's back over 10k now.

He's quiet at the moment but is sitting on a roughly average stack of 26/27k...

Most of the noise on his table is coming from Matt Tyler, who has an ever increasing stack it looks like.

Ian Woodley wanders over to ask his mate David LLoyd how it's going...

..."got some oxygen mate" he tells him, referring to his earlier double up.

Ian discusses a hand he was involved in the other day on TV, but Matt seizes the opportunity to stick the knife in.

"You been on TV again Ian"

"Yep"

"Oh that reminds me, I must set a filter on it, so my kids don't have to watch your ugly mug"

Ian laughs it off. It must be said the banter today has been of good standard with ribbing and mockery prevalent amongst the chatter that has been free-flowing between the players.

Keep it up chaps.

The cash game is still quite crazy, though I'm starting wonder if they're re-raising with cash or actually just with egos...

Chaz Chattha raises from utg+1 to 2,100 (We're in the last level for the day, blinds 300/600/50) Andrew Feldman calls next to him, everyone else folds.

Flop:

Kd 8h Ac

Check check.

Turn:

Th

Chaz checks, Andrew bets 3,800. Chaz passes Jh Jc face up, Andrew shows Ahrt Aspades.

(http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/0192725491.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg)

Matt Tyler just lost a big pot. He called a re-raise with nines, hoping to hit a set against a big overpair, but instead he hit the not-quite-as-good-but-still-a-pretty-darn-nice-flop of 8-7-6, check/raising all-in was the plan but his opponent made the call with Aces and Matt missed his 10 outs, and instead down to about 20k.

Jennifer Tilley is running over her table at the moment and must be amongst the chip leaders.

Now on 300 600 Albert Sapiano limps in EP and when Jennifer pops it up to 3k, he folds...nonono he CALLS of course.

The flop comes Ac Qc 4s, Jennifer bets out 4k, Albert passes...

Next few hands Jennifer was seen in another raised pot, this time betting out 3k on another Ace high board and being rewarded with a pass.

If she keeps this up no one will be able to stop her.

We have an elimination.

Nicholas Bower was shown with his chips allin with Kh Qd on a 3s 8c 8d flop, called by Ash Abdullah's pocket 7s. The Turn Jd and River 6c did nothing to change matters and ash scooped up the pot to eliminate Bower.

He seemed pleased with himself, telling Albert Sapiano "I read it right!"

I'm fairly shocked when Albert doesn't respond with "call..."

Yep and those Jennifer Tilly hands are followed by another one where she bets 8k on the turn of the 8d 6h 5d Jh board into a 15k pot, which is too much for Jim Reid.

(http://www.blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=4089&g2_serialNumber=1)

33 are left, average stack is 25.9k. 15 minutes left.

There are1 8 minutes left in the 300-600-50 level before we finish for the evening.

At present there are 33 players left i beleive, although one of them is a dead stack. Or a very small/ invisible player who is playing incredibly tightly.

Average is 25,900.

Play is understandably quite cagey at this point.

I did just see Matt Tyler involved in a fairly large pot. Raised preflop, the flop came down K-T-x and Matt was seen betting out 5k or so.

His opponent Andrew Feldman, asked a few questions of Matt before reluctantly passing his A-Q.

Matt showed him A-A as he scooped up the pot...

And as we get to the end of the night. Paul Gourlay gets pushed off a K-T-8-A-8 board when his opponent moves in on the river, then agrees to show when Paul mucks his A-J. Matey shows J-9 for a good bluff.

Speaking off being pushed off a bet, Antonio Esfandiari gets Neil Channing to pass Ad Td on a Ts 8c 5s board against his Aspades Ks. He's even more delighted when they rabbit-hunted and he finds out that he'd have missed. This 'good news' is then shouted across the cardroom in a foghorn voice to make sure Phil Laak, still involved in the barmy cash game, knows he is still in.

Play is now over for the day.

Ok, play has finished for the day.

Here are the final chip stacks for those players who will be returning to join the fortunate few who survived day one...

Stan Essen                                        53,400
Daniel Wilmer-Brown                           16,375
Antonio (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=815) Esfandiari (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=815)                               30,075
Jani Johansen
(the absentee/ small invisible tight player)  500
Neil (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=302) Channing (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=302)                                     42,625
Danny Dodds                                      19,825
Tony Carrola                                       20,400
Joshua Taylor                                      10,700
Paul Gardner                                       40,450
Tim (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=431) Blake (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=431)                                           21,675
Mark Mcgill                                          17,775
Michael Clees                                       27,625
Manuel Palanca                                    53,900
Trevor Pearson                                    26,775
Surinder (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=422) Sunar (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=422)                                      6,250
Stuart (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=421) Rutter (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=421)                                       16,650

Floppy will be posting the other two tables right after this butright now, from me its sianara, adios and goodbye.

Thanks for joining us today :)

(http://www.michaeltyler.co.uk/uploaded_images/thats-all-folks-711767.jpg)

Chip counts:

Jim Reid -- 12,600
Albert Sapiano -- 46,350
Jennifer Tilly -- 74,100
Ash Abdullah -- 26,575
Carl Wahlberg -- 10,850
Jeffrey Flewitt -- 33,200
Priyan De Mel -- 17,925
Jonothon Butters -- 47,575

Andrew Feldman -- 14,975
David Harris -- 25,050
Matt Tyler -- 21,700
Paul Gourlay -- 21,300
Jim Tierney -- 54,500
David Lloyd -- 12,000
Rakesh Gupta -- 8,600
Chaz Chattha -- 22,725


Play restarts tomorrow at 2pm...

See you there.

;stickaforkinme;