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Greetings poker fanatics and welcome to the At A Glance live update of the BlueSquare.com London GUKPT.

On this thread we shall publish just the bare details: double ups, exits, chip counts, etc.

For a fuller update, and the opportunity to interact with the updates in whatever shape or form you wish, then please visit our Interactive update by clicking the link below.

Yoohoo! Click me. Click me. :-P (http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=31812.new#new)

Play for Day 1B commences at 2pm.

Yes yes indeedy we're here, except for Snoops who seems to have got lost somewhere between Edgware Rd station and the Vic while Junglecat was buying a lighter and I was in M&S getting a fruit breakfast...

Anyway, they're just about to get started, so we're heading down there. Hopefully full player list will be with us shortly...

----------

It would appear as though we have an early elimination in the form of Jason Ho. No further information, although I expect if we wanted to extract the hand details we could find him vomiting in the toilet.

I actually haven't been down to the cardroom yet because I've been typing up this monstrous seating plan:

Table 1
Fran Egan
Jim Reid
Fuad Serhan
Jonathon Baylis
Antonio Romanello
Ben Roberts
David Barraclough
Hugh Kirton
Laurence Houghton
Spencer Lawrence

Table 2
Suzanne Pyefinch
Cunningham-Brown
Ryan Fronda
Paul King
Carlton Joseph
David Rudling
Rumit Somaiya
Alex Blackwood
Chris Sokrati
Walid Salim Khalil

Table 3
Chris Bruce
Maria Demetriou
Daniel Kerridge
Robert Rees
David Clark
Mark Tomblin
Albert Kenny
Fabio Esposito
Paul Hambleton
Dan Carter

Table 4
Luke Spalding
Charles Denton
Anu Mikkola
Vincent Mather
Nik Stylianou
Andrew Teng
Barbara Gibson
D Jones
Jonathan Kalmar
Ketu Nathwani

Table 5
Brian Prescott
W Cheung
Peter Hansen
John Burberry
Glen Ashworth
James Woodruff
Will Kassouf
Woody Deck
Mick McCool
Edna Adams

Table 6
Nick Goodall
Mike Panteli
Dave Colclough
Jenyue Chiang
Simon Eastwood
Christoffer Nilsen
Bernard Litman
Daren Braddick
Robert Boon
Frank Pini

Table 7
Marius Hogtun
Trevor Pearson
Lalit Khajuria
Simon Zach
Sam George
Glen Altham
Mark Harris
Tony Kelly
Davood Mehrmand
Ian Broadrick

Table 8
Simon Taylor
Dr Aris
Jonathon Martin
Russ Cawley
Johnathon Reynolds
Alan Armitage
Stewart Clutterbuck
Chris Rhodes
Tariq Arees
Rob Taylor

Table 9
Jason Ho - honoured to be first OUT, so seat now occupied by alternate
Praz Bansi
Ed Arees - apparently on here twice, will hopefully get revised, truthful version soon
Frank Romanello
Michael Vassiliou
Yilfer Shevket
Lars Eidissen
Chandrakant Khajuria
Simon Wickenden
Lam Trinh

Table 10
Laurie Tyler
Trevor Lawson
James Ballantyne
Koroush Nikkhahe
P Mcintyre
Jeff Kimber
Farid Badiemansour
Stuart Rutter
Steven Chandler
P Ruddy

Table 11
Sunny Chattha
Tom Camp
Daniel Burgess
Dave Penley
Harpit Gurnam
Mark Rayson
Osman Hasan
F Javed
Jeraint Hazan
Anthony Chapman

Table 12
Martino Libertini
Derick Block
Sasha Rosewood
Mark Friedman
Keith Hawkins
Stephen Bayliff
Richard Wheatley
Aaron Barry
John Wright
Richard Simmons

Table 13
Liam Boland
David Maudlin
Ali Mallu
Jason Powell
Frank Doyle
Paul Bracken
John Hadjinicolaou
Ray Wyre
Ian Holman
Paul Rosati

Table 14
Fran Creed
Chris Huyton
Derek Miller
John Fletcher
Steve Jelinek
Keir Fitzgibbon
Ramazanali Abbassi
Ian Gerrard
Neil Channing
Clive Layton

Table 15
Anthony William Hardy
Mark Steer
Carlo Gabriele
Neel Chudasama
Tim Blake
Jan Lundberg
Andrew Johnson
Alan Stearn
Sean Gregory
Hugo Martin

Table 16
Jaced Ghazi
Matthew Waddington
Warren Wooldridge
Frode Gjedsal
Iwan Jones
Richard Fuller
Liam Flood
Alan Ivinson
Tony Cascarino
Davijay Sadarangani

Table 17
Jerome Bradpiece
Lawrence Windish
Fahid Ali
Albert Sapiano
Teddy Sheringham
Victoria Coren
James Morgan
Terry Chapman
Carlo Citrone
Lawrence Morley

Table 18
M Mcelhinney
Konstantin Sobol
Eftichios Neocleous
Ghassan Elhoss
David J Lloyd
Rob Garfield
Ghassan Chehbi
Anthony Phillips
Craig Owen
Simon Ashdown

Table 19
John Rigolli
Stephen Walmsley
Stuart Nash
David Laronde
Jonathan Huckle
Patrik Selin
Alan Rawling
Martins Adeniya
Frank Callaghan
Micheal Bolger

Table 20
Kyriacos Dionysiou
Andrew Booth
John CHambers
Louise Fennell
Pascal Henssen
Sayil Zulhayir
Trevor Reardon
David Welch
Sal Ghozali

Table 21
Johnel Bracey
Mark Survila
Pete Singleton
Barry Carter
Anooj Sareen
Lloyd Rees
Jason Shellum
Roberto Romanello
Karl Mahrenholz

...Total 208 players, starting on 21 tables, instead of 20 as they did yesterday. Also, because someone in the cardroom screwed up the structure yesterday, they will be playing the screwed-up version today too, jumping straight to the 600/1200 level and skipping the 500/1000 level. They will most likely replay the 600/1200 level tomorrow.

There have been several casualties early doors.

One of those was the imposing figure of Richard Wheatley, described by one of my colleagues as "The Andy Fordham of poker."

He raised preflop and was called by the camel, Keith Hawkins.

The flop came 2-4-4 and every street was bet until Richard moved in on the river to be called by Keith. Keith flipped over the mighty 2-4 for a flopped full house and although Richard mucked, rumour has it he held K-K.

I guess that's what you call implied odds!

Here is Richard shortle after his demise, possibly pointing to another leak from the roof, although that is yet to be confirmed.

"Maybe we have the same hand?" muses gangly 'Mantis' Karl Mahrenholz before going through all the possible hands Anooj Sareen might have.

Karl then glances back down at the 5c 8c 6s 8s 9h board.

"We could have the same hand," he adds.

Anooj, meanwhile, looks cool under pressure, his hands occupied as he slips the top card under the other and vice versa.

Karl smiles and mulls his decision further, his remaining 4,725 fanned out in front of him.

The pot's about 8k, and it's 4,725 to call, but Karl thinks he's beat and even highlights Pocket Fives as a possible hand.

The banter continues, with Karl commenting, "I'm tempted to call just out of curiosity." At one point, they even discuss a previous comp where Karl eliminated Anooj, although how that would be relevant here is a mystery.

In the end, Karl folds what I expect was a straight, only to be shown Jc 7c by Anooj, even though he initially claimed he wouldn't be able to show.

As fellow Hit Squadder Praz Bansi looked on, a disgruntled Karl sighed, the eyebrows twitched furiously and the game continued.

Iwan (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=180) Jones (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=180) is another early casualty, his executioner being the exotically named Davijay Sadarangani. Details of his exit are unknown at this point in time...

-----------

Captured rising from his seat, Mark Harris is now OUT. The only guy who could give a monkeys was assassin Lalit (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=240) Khajuria (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=240), his stack receiving a nice reward as his Qd Jd all-in pre-flop outdrew Harris' Ac 5c on a Qc 5s 7d 7h Th board.

Here's a guy in red! John Wright, although possibly a contender for Vacant Starewatch, must surely be feeling pretty smug - he bet out the river of a T-T-8-2-T board and made gurning-man-in-blue Mark Friedman lay down his full house, accompanied by the sad sound of the phrase, "I'm laying down my full house." He shows a Deuce as he does so. Wright, raking in a bunch of chips, also shows a Deuce.

---------

Roberto Romanello is now OUT courtesy of Mr Magazine Barry Carter.

"I raised it up under the gun," declares Barry.

"Don't forget to tell him what you were raising with," nudges a neighbour.

"Er... I raised it up with 4-3 and received three callers, one of whom was Roberto. I flopped the wheel and checked. Roberto bet, I raised him all-in and he called with A-K. I think he had about four of five thousand at the time."

As a result, Barry is now up to 15k and Roberto Romanello is left to support his fellow countrymen from the rail. "Gutted," was the only word I could prise out of him.

Ah well, got him out the house.

Chip counts of some requested and non-requested but no less important players.

First off our resident current "TV celebrity" Maria is looking a tad glum as she looks to be down to 5-6k. She can turn it round I'm sure though, plenty of time...

I had a quick word with Fran "LittleMissC" Creed, who is chirpy and seemed very happy to be 100 chips above the current average. "Nothing much going on at the moment" she revealed with a smile on her face.

Stu Rutter looked a tad pensive and looks to have lost a few chips, down to 8.5 or 9k.

David Rudling is on 9.5k at the moment.

Ditto Neil Channing, his stack sitting at a "unlikely to have been involved in too many pots of note" amount of 9.5 also.

Dan Carter has a blossoming stack of grey 100 chips, indicating he has perhaps been a little busy early on, up to 11k or so at the moment.

Praz Bansi's stack hasn't fluctuated too madly in the early stages and he looks to be on around 9,250.

Jeff Kimber has opened his attempt to win back to back GUKPTs positively and is sitting on 13-14k.

Chris Moorman is grinning a little scarily, although he looks to have lost a few chips on 8.5k or so. He is sporting a bright yellow hoody today. He defended his sartorial choice to me, saying "I needed to wake myself up!"

"I'm a card rack," declares Ariston whilst assuring me that his dirty stack is still over the 20k mark.

On the other side of the cardroom, Steve Jelinek and Neil Channing cross swords, the latter betting 3k on the Turn of a 6d Kd 4s 6s board and provoking a quickfire exchange of words.

"I can't believe you'd put in 3k without a six," thinks Steve out loud as he peers pensively into the distance.

Neil, meanwhile, covers his face animatedly and jigs up and down like a child awaiting his Christmas prezzies.

He removes his hands suddenly and asks, "What you got?"

"You've got 6-7," replies Steve, perhaps not quite understanding the question.

"Have you got anything?" inquires Neil.

"Oh I've got something," replies Steve abruptly.

"Have you got a pair?" probes Neil. "Maybe a pair with the flush draw?"

After a momentarily silence (a rarity in this hand), Steve folds a Js face up (one card flipped over by mistake) before Neil inquires to the identity of the other. "A King," says Steve. "King-Jack of spades." The dealer reveals the second card to confirm.

Neil smiles, his face gleaming like a school kid who's just avoided detention. "Ooooooooh," he jokes as he reveals his Qd Td. "I was worried you had a bigger flush draw."

Consequently, Neil jumps up to 15k, leaving Steve with 8,1025 and his own mumbling of "I'd only committed x number of chips."

On the same table, Fran appears to have around 13k, whilst Keir Fitzgerald has 10,050. Also, Ian Gerrard has 10,250 and Clive Layton 5,225.

Richard (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=800) Simmonds (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=800) is a recent casualty. He was ruing not moving in on the Turn after flopping two pair, his opponent calling with a flush draw before hitting on the River. "If I bet everything on the Turn he can't call," he said berating himself.

For whoever was asking after Ariston, I can tell you right now that at the break he had 20k, not the result of a double-up but the happy result of winning a bunch of small pots. Says he, "I've got a very nice table. VERY nice."

Similarly Stuart Rutter during the break informed me that he was on 14k, an impressive feat seeing as "I've not had any hands. But it's probably better for me not to have any hands at this stage." Hysterical giggling followed.

Pictured with the Rutter is Ms Fran Creed and her breakfast beer. She is on 10,775.

(http://blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=11041&g2_serialNumber=1)

Chili back to around 10k now...

She told me the story of her up and down day. "I was up to 13k then down to 8 back to 11ish, then i played a big pot with Dave Clarke in this hand."

There were multiple limpers on 50 100 and Chili raised to 700 with A-Q. Dave Clarke, one of the initial limpers now went allin for his shortish stack of 4.4k.

Chili thought about it and couldn't put him on a decent hand so she called him eventually and her bravery was rewarded as she had caught him with his trousers down round his ankles, holding the dominated, crushed hand of A-J.

Poker's a funny old game as they say though and three outs was enough for Dave as a turned J was good for the pot and Chili was back down to 5k which is when I snapped her looking glum. Fighter that she is she recently doubled back up though hitting a runner runner full house I think she said. She was giggling as she related this to me, perhaps suggesting some sort of outdraw or fiendish luck may have been involved.

---

Dan Carter is sharing the felt at Maria's table and as I sidled by him he was keen to attract my attention.

"Write this, write this!" he beseeched me, and told me exactly how this hand should be reported. Here we go...

DAN CARTER BLUFFS CHILI!!!!

(or thinks he does anyway)

Today, during the London GUKPT, professional curly haired poker player Dan Carter became embroiled in a crucial, destiny shaping pot with young poker celebrity Maria "chili pepper" Demetriou.

Having limped preflop with 2-2, along with several other players, Dan saw Maria raise from out of her big blind a large amount. All the other players disappeared faster than a big stack in the hands of Flushy and the two protagonists were left heads up.

The flop came down Q hi and Dan bet the flop, forcing a fold from Maria.

"I knew I could push her off her hand with position I just knew it! I bluffed Chili - hooray!!!" boasted Dan cheerily, only to find out later his 2-2 was actually the best hand, Maria having missed the flop completely with 6-8.


Make of that what you will...

Liam Flood has perked up from the staring of earlier and boosted his stack to around the 14k mark, courtesy of Iwan Jones' nemesis Davijay Sadarangani.

They see a flop; that flop is 8c Th Ac and Davijay checks. Liam bets 800, and after the most medium-sized of pauses, Davijay calls.

Turn - 2c - again, Davijay check-calls, 1500 from Liam this time.

River - 4d and now Davijay bets 2k. Liam calls quickly, and Davijay mucks before Liam even turns over his Ad Ks.

Random Counts:

Chris "Soxy" Sokrati 8k
Ryan Fronda 7.5k
Des Jonas 8k
Chris "Watch it or I'll blind you with my hoody" Moorman 5.8k
Karl Mahrenholz 7.5k

One gent not faring so well is Jeff Kimber, currently down to under 5k. I'm told he's had some dreadful luck. Attempting to appear stoical though.

Also spotted - Rob Garfield on around 8k and cheery as ever.

Since Jonathan Raab isn't sending a full chip counts until the dinner break, here are a handful from my last trip down to the cardroom. I'll try to grab a few each time.

Chris (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=69) Moorman (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=69) -- 8,200
Praz (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=353) Bansi (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=353) -- 25,500
Ed (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=137) Arees (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=137) -- 800
Simon Wickenden -- 18,225
Jeff (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=195) Kimber (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=195) -- 3,150
Fari (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=142) Badimansour (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=142) -- 22,550
Carlo (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=60) Citrone (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=60) -- 8,175
JJ Hazan -- 14,050
Vicky (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=449) Coren (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=449) -- 8,050
Liam Boland -- 10,650

Feminist Russell (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=391) Cawley (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=391) is down, but not quite out, with just 2.5k, his phallic twin towers coming tumbling down when a flopped flush draw with top pair ran into an unmoving overpair. "I hit a straight draw on the Turn to give me even more outs, so couldn't get away."

I'm afraid Robert Boon is pushing up the poker daisies, his Kings running into the Aces of Nick (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=797) Goodall (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=797) who has now jumped up to 16,975 as a result.

Those requests...

Barbara Gibson - 7k
Woody Deck is missing, presumed OUT. In his former seat is Mr Lloyd Rees, currently on around 7.4k.
Chili, eating probably something with chili in it - 8k, and stir-fry
Rob Taylor - 9k

Suzanne Pyefinch was just heard lamenting her bad luck in the smoking arena of the casino.

Holding 6-6 she saw a flop of Q-5-6 with another player and the chips all flew into the middle, huddling together like cold little sparrows seeking warmth, unsurprisingly as her opponent held Q-5 for 2 pair.

Suzanne's set was miles ahead of matey's 2 pair but a 2 outer Q on the turn spelled big trouble for Suzanne and she missed her now required 1 outer for quads on the river.

She immediately abandoned the table fuming, both metaphorically and literally as she lit a cigarette up outside to quell her frustration at the bad beat. "He had two outs and hit...that's poker!" she told me, feigning indifference whilst clearly as mad as a bear who has caught a small girl eating his porridge.

She still has 2k remaining though and may be able to find a way back into contention. ..good luck.

Here she is enjoying a moment of levity amongst all the angst...

(http://blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=11095&g2_serialNumber=1)

---

Vincent Mather is a recent casualty...

Chris Moorman, despite his dazzling hoody, is not dazzling with his chip accumulation skills today and is down to  6k or so (Don't make me open photoschop and get the donkeys ears out Chris...)

Next to Chris on this table, Praz Bansi has increased his stack efficiently, no sitting on a very healthy 22 or 23k "He's so lucky!" bemoaned Chris. Praz just smiled quietly.

Boy in red alert, Warren Woodridge is doing well on 17k and is keeping his table awake with an endless stream of banter.

Footballer alert, Tony Cascarino was looking concentrated and focused with circa 10k in his stack.

 

Also, contrary to what Snoops said, Ariston IS out. I was heartlessly taking terrible photos of him and actually didn't realise he was all in. Even when he said, "Well at least you're going to get my exit hand" I didn't quite twig for a moment... Anyway, he shoved an 8h 6h 7s flop with an up-and-down and an as-it-turned-out useless overcard - his Ad 5h up against Alan Armitage's  Ahrt Aspades.

Turn - 6s
River - Jd

And he's gone.


A couple of hands later Alan found himself moving in on a Jack-high flop to a reraise from Johnathon Martin, who dwelled for ages before passing. Alan showed pocket Jacks; Johnathon says he had an underpair to the Jack - a lucky escape there. Alan's on around 20k now. He's buying my CD too. :D

Also Spotted - Mr Paul King on around 20k, and most pleased.

Absolutely final and decisive correct player list, with alternates:

101   Fran Egan
102   Jim Reid
103   Fuad Serhan
104   Jonathon Baylis
105   Antonio Romanello
106   Ben Roberts
107   David Barraclough
108   Hugh Kirton
109   Laurence Houghton
110   Spencer Lawrence
201   Suzanne Pyefinch
202   Caroline Cunningham-brown
203   Ryan Fronda
204   Paul King
205   Carlton Joseph
206   David Rudling
207   Rumit Somaiya
208   Alex Blackwood
209   Chris Sokrati
210   Walid Salim Khalil
301   Chris Bruce
302   Maria Demetriou
303   Daniel Kerridge
304   Robert Rees
305   David Clark
306   Mark Tomblin
307   Albert Kenny
308   Fabio Esposito
309   Paul Hambleton
310   Dan Carter
401   Luke Spalding
402   Charles Denton
403   Anu Mikkola
404   Vincent Mather
405   Nik Stylianou
406   Andrew Teng
407   Barbara Gibson
408   Des Jones
409   Jonathan Kalmar
410   Ketul Nathwani
501   Brian Prescott
502   W Cheung
503   Peter Hansen
504   John Burberry
505   Glen Ashworth
506   James Woodruff
507   Will Kassouf
508   Woody Deck
509   Michael Mccool
510   Edna Adams
601   Nick Goodall
602   Mike Panteli
603   Dave Colclough
604   Jenyue Chiang
605   Simon Joseph Eastwood
606   Christoffer Nilsen
607   Bernard Litman
608   Daren Braddick
609   Robert Boon
610   Frank Pini
701   Marius Hogtun
702   Trevor Pearson
703   Lalit Khajuria
704   Simon Zach
705   Sam George
706   Glen Altham
707   Mark Harris
708   Tony Kelly
709   Davood Mehrmand
710   Ian Broadrick
801   Simon Taylor
802   Dr Aris
803   Jonathon Martin
804   Russ Cawley
805   Johnathon Reynolds
806   Alan Armitage
807   Stewart Clutterbuck
808   Chris Rhodes
809   Tariq Arees
810   Rob Taylor
901   Jason Ho
902   Praz Bansi
903   Edward Arees
904   Frank Romanello
905   Michael Vassiliou
906   Yilfer Shevket
907   Lars Eidissen
908   Chandrakant Khajuria
909   Simon Wickenden
910   Lam Trinh
1001   Laurie Tyler
1002   Trevor Lawson
1003   James Ballantyne
1004   Koroush Nikkhahe
1005   P Mcintyre
1006   Jeff Kimber
1007   Farid Badiemansour
1008   Stuart Rutter
1009   Steven Chandler
1010   P Ruddy
1101   Sunny Chattha
1102   Tom Camp
1103   Daniel Burgess
1104   Dave Penley
1105   Harprit Gurnam
1106   Mark Rayson
1107   Osman Hasan
1108   F Javed
1109   Jeraint Hazan
1110   Anthony Chapman
1201   Martino Libertini
1202   Derick Block
1203   Sasha Rosewood
1204   Mark Friedman
1205   Keith Hawkins
1206   Stephen Bayliff
1207   Richard Wheatley
1208   Aaron Barry
1209   John Wright
1210   Richard Simmons
1301   Liam Boland
1302   David Maudlin
1303   Alli Mallu
1304   Jason Powell
1305   Frank Doyle
1306   Paul Bracken
1307   John Hadjinicolaou
1308   Ray Wyre
1309   Ian Holman
1310   Paul Rosati
1401   Fran Creed
1402   Chris Huyton
1403   Derek Miller
1404   John Fletcher
1405   Steve Jelinek
1406   Keir Fitzgibbon
1407   Ramazanali Abbassi
1408   Ian Gerrard
1409   Neil Channing
1410   Clive Layton
1501   Anthony William Hardy
1502   Mark Steer
1503   Carlo Gabriele
1504   Neel Chudasama
1505   Tim Blake
1506   Jan Lundberg
1507   Andrew Johnson
1508   Alan Stearn
1509   Sean Gregory
1510   Hugo Martin
1601   Javed Ghazi
1602   Matthew Waddington
1603   Warren Wooldridge
1604   Frode Gjedsal
1605   Iwan Jones
1606   Richard Fuller
1607   Liam Flood
1608   Alan Ivinson
1609   Anthony Cascarino
1610   Davijay Sadarangani
1701   Jerome Bradpiece
1702   Lawrence Windish
1703   Fahid Ali
1704   Albert Sapiano
1705   Teddy Sheringham
1706   Victoria Coren
1707   James Morgan
1708   Terry Chapman
1709   Carlo Citrone
1710   Lawrence Morley
1801   M Mcelhinney
1802   Konstantin Sobol
1803   Eftichios Neocleous
1804   Ghassan Elhoss
1805   David J Lloyd
1806   Robert Garfield
1807   Ghassan Chehbi
1808   Antony Phillips
1809   Craig Owen
1810   Simon Ashdown
1901   John Rigolli
1902   Stephen Walmsley
1903   Stuart Nash
1904   David Laronde
1905   Jonathan Huckle
1906   Patrik Selin
1907   Alan Rawling
1908   Martins Adeniya
1909   Frank Callaghan
1910   Micheal Bolger
2001   Kyriacos Dionysiou
2002   Andrew Booth
2003   John Chambers
2004   Louise Fennell
2005   Pascal Henssen
2006   Sayil Zulhayir
2007   Trevor Reardon
2008   David Welch
2009   Sal Ghozali
2101   Johnel Bracey
2102   Mark Survila
2103   Peter Singleton
2104   Barry Carter
2105   Anooj Sareen
2106   Lloyd Rees
2107   Jason Shellum
2108   Roberto Romanello
2109   Karl Mahrenholz
2010     Nicos Ioannou
2110     J De Freitas
2201     J Shaw
2202     Chris Moorman
2203     Tom Nearney
2204     B Landehagen
2205     E Svanes
2206     Sebastian Saffari
2207     K Sidhu
2208     Van Hoang
2209     B Reynolds
2210     G Husnu

LittlemissC called me over as I wandered by. She was looking miserable and unhappy.

"What's up Fran?" I asked, offering a sympathetic ear, whilst also mentally noting her stack had taken a hit...

"Just lost a big pot with Jacks. I raised it up preflop and got one caller. The flop came Q72 and I bet out, receiving a call, which I thought was a bit weak, so on the blank turn I bet out again...but got called again! Argh! Anyway the river was a 2, i checked and he [she indicates someone in a flatcap who I think is Keir Fitzgibbon] bet 9k, setting me allin...I passed :("

She looked glum but still had around 4 or 5k i think so can still claw her way back into things potentially.

At the dinner break, Fran Creed was back up to 9.2k.

-----------

"Sick!" exclaims Hugh Kirton as he reveals Pocket Sixes on a 2d 9h 9s 6h Tc board only to be greeted by Jonathan Baylis' Th 9d. "Nothing you can do," adds a table mate. Baylis up to 12,500, Kirton down to 3,450.

-----------

Many thanks to our ringside reporter, Dena, for the following report.

Chris Rhodes was a pre-dinner break casualty, all-in with A-K vs. J-J, rollercoaster 7-K-A-J-5 board.

More chippy counts:

Dave (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=117) Welch (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=117) -- 5,000
Rob Taylor -- 6,550
Fran Creed -- 9,125
Hugh Kirton -- 3,450
Barry (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=1143) Carter (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=1143) -- 12,175
Jonathan Baylis -- 12,500
John Wright -- 22,700
Will Kassouf -- 5,350
Dave (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=92) Clark (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=92) -- 11,750
Dan (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=86) Carter (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=86) -- 10,575
Jim (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=599) Reid (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=599) -- 28,650
Des (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=129) Jonas (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=129) -- 14,100
Jim Morgan -- 8,200

----------

Barbara Gibson is OUT. I joined the action just in time to see Glen Altman eliminate last year's finalist with 9h-8h versus 8d-8c on a 9s-6d-7s-Kc-2d board.

Alan Armitage has just sealed the deal and bought one of my CDs. What a lovely man. He's on 22k at the moment.

There is a board on his table that reads Ad Jc 6h Qc and a gentleman I believe is Robert Boon moves all in. "Oh, I folded K-T," whispers Alan to me. "After the flop." Rob Taylor is considering the call, but doesn't make it in the end. Mr Probably Boon (couldn't see his card, sorry) shows 6c 7c.

-------- 40 MINUTE DINNER BREAK ---------

Mmm cheap hamburgers.  ;kev;

Snoops wrestled the camera back out of my greasy paws (ohh, those dirty hamburgers) so I'm afraid you'll have to wait for the photo, but Chris Rhodes has 14.5k currently. His card was obscured by his MP3 player. "Excuse me, are you Chris Rhodes?" "WHAT?" Removal of massive headphones follows. Still for some reason at top volume: "WHAT?" He is Chris Rhodes. (Possibly greasy) photo coming from beagle.

Meanwhile, Micheal Bolger is OUT (spotted in bar), as is Alex Blackwood (exit card handed to me by Bluesquare blogger Pete).

Rob Taylor has 5.5k.

Announcement Of The Day - "Elvis and Christian to the card room please."

Liam Flood has moved to Paul King's table, where Paul makes it 1k utg. Says Liam, "You have a lot of chips." Says Paul, "I've been very lucky." Liam makes it 3.5k, and Paul folds  Ahrt Jd up. Continued good-natured banter, I'm sure you know the sort.

---------

Meanwhile a double-up for Andrew Booth, who shoves for his remaining 1650 and gets himself called by Joh Burberry, who as it turns out is ahead with  Ahrt Ks - Booth has 9h Td.

But oh the flop! It is Qd Jh 8c 6s 7s and Booth is now up to the heady heights of around 4k.

Double-up also for an incredibly sleepy-looking, and a before-the-hand-incredibly-short-stacked Jerome Bradpiece.

A flop, 5-way, that flop being 2h 5c Th, is checked around.

Jerome bets 1k on the 2c turn; only Stuart Nash calls.

Jerome now has only 2950 behind, and he sticks it all in on the 3h river. Stuart calls.

Jerome shows no signs of emotion and only the barest signs of wakefulness as he flips  Ahrt 4h for the nut flush. "Yup," says Nash.

Think I found your man...shaved head, large earphones, bright shades with some sort of sparkly diamond looking things embedded in the sides.

Sound familiar? He's on 12.5k at the moment.

Snoopy has the camera so no photo yet, although I'm sure we can sort one out pretty soon...

EDIT: In the course of finishing this post, Snoopy has returned with a picture of Chris

(http://blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=11128&g2_serialNumber=1)

---

Chris Moorman doubled up just before the dinner break. "I' doubled up to 9.5k..." he told me, "so you can tell I'm doing well!" An AA v TT coup doubled up Chris, and fresh back from the dinner break, Chris was to face a big decision.

There was a raise from UTG+1 to 900 from Rob Garfield, which Lam Trinh had re-raised another 3k-3.5k, leaving only about 3k back...

Chris was sat in the small blind and took a while, shaking his head and examining Lam before ultimately passing reluctantly...

Rob Garfield FLAT CALLED the raise.  The flop came A-T-7

Rob checked, Lam moved in and Rob called. Lam shook his head and showed Q-Q, probably expecting Rob to show up with some kind of Ace, but instead Rob had T-T and had checked his set on the flop.

Lam was being led to the slaughter, but a moist juicy Q on the turn resulted in an ecstatic and relieved fist pump from Lam and a sit back down again, before a meaningless 7 filled both players up on the river, but didn't change the direction the pot was travelling in.  Lam scooped the pot for a welcome double up, propelling him to 13 or 14k or so. Rob looked relatively calm and unfazed.

Moorman, incidentally, passed A-K in that coup and was no doubt happy to have avoided the carnage...

---

Solitary random chip count...

Steve Jelinek has 9 or 10k at the moment.

Chip counts at the dinner break, from the fine chipcounting Bluesquare elves:

Jan Lundberg   42150
Sam George   37675
Farid Badiemansour   33200
Jim Reid   32375
Keith Hawkins   30825
Praz Bansi   28550
J Shaw   28550
Alli Mallu   26650
Fran Egan   26625
Mark Friedman   26525
Paul Rosati   25600
Victoria Coren   25450
Ian Gerrard   24800
Davijay Sadarangani   24225
Michael Mccool   24000
Daniel Burgess   23800
Alan Stearn   23400
Steven Chandler   23100
Paul King   22500
John Wright   22150
Stewart Clutterbuck   22125
Mike Panteli   21675
Simon Wickenden   21475
Glen Altham   21375
Antony Phillips   21275
Terry Chapman   20500
Tony Kelly   20275
Tom Camp   20275
Neil Channing   20075
Keir Fitzgibbon   19825
Frank Romanello   19500
Jonathan Huckle   19275
Javed Ghazi   18850
Sunny Chattha   18350
Daniel Kerridge   17900
Andrew Teng   17850
Van Hoang   17625
Carlton Joseph   17600
Marius Hogtun   17450
Louise Fennell   17400
David Rudling   17100
Des Jones   16975
Koroush Nikkhahe   16800
Frank Pini   16750
Barry Carter   16700
Alan Armitage   16700
Stuart Nash   16700
Daren Braddick   16650
Jeraint Hazan   16550
Craig Owen   16475
Liam Flood   16050
Davood Mehrmand   16000
Teddy Sheringham   15875
Fahid Ali   15750
Robert Garfield   15550
Ian Holman   15500
Nick Goodall   15325
Anthony William Hardy   15100
W Cheung   15025
James Woodruff   15025
Trevor Reardon   14900
Christoffer Nilsen   14800
Nicos Ioannou   14625
Chris Rhodes   14575
Frank Callaghan   14425
Sebastian Saffari   14225
Dave Colclough   14225
John Rigolli   14225
Albert Kenny   14200
Nik Stylianou   14025
Paul Hambleton   13975
Sean Gregory   13775
Spencer Lawrence   13600
Jonathan Kalmar   13200
Yilfer Shevket   13050
Dave Penley   13000
M Mcelhinney   12925
Walid Salim Khalil   12900
Simon Ashdown   12775
Trevor Pearson   12725
Ghassan Elhoss   12675
Frode Gjedsal   12150
Jonathon Martin   12000
Lars Eidissen   11875
Anthony Chapman   11875
Chris Bruce   11825
Will Kassouf   11500
John Chambers   11500
Jonathon Baylis   11275
Anthony Cascarino   10900
Dan Carter   10800
Ben Roberts   10800
Mark Rayson   10500
Johnathon Reynolds   10350
Matthew Waddington   10350
Karl Mahrenholz   10300
Alan Rawling   10125
Maria Demetriou   10100
Brian Prescott   10075
P Ruddy   9925
Jenyue Chiang   9900
Paul Bracken   9775
David Clark   9700
Charles Denton   9600
John Fletcher   9600
Anu Mikkola   9375
Chris Moorman   9350
Fran Creed   9200
Steve Jelinek   8925
Suzanne Pyefinch   8900
G Husnu   8875
Carlo Citrone   8825
James Morgan   8725
Dr Aris   8425
James Ballantyne   8400
Carlo Gabriele   8350
John Burberry   8225
E Svanes   7900
Richard Fuller   7875
Ketul Nathwani   7800
Laurence Houghton   7775
David Welch   7750
Rumit Somaiya   7700
Stephen Walmsley   7575
Caroline Cunningham-brown   7400
Ramazanali Abbassi   7225
Mark Survila   7125
Liam Boland   7100
B Reynolds   7075
Richard Simmons   6950
Frank Doyle   6925
Mark Survila   6650
Sasha Rosewood   6550
Lloyd Rees   6425
Mark Tomblin   6325
Lam Trinh   6200
Simon Joseph Eastwood   6100
Hugo Martin   6100
Alan Ivinson   6050
Lawrence Windish   6050
Warren Wooldridge   5900
Alex Blackwood   5600
Fabio Esposito   5500
Antonio Romanello   5425
Rob Taylor   5325
John Hadjinicolaou   5125
Jerome Bradpiece   5000
Sal Ghozali   4675
Mark Steer   4425
Tim Blake   4400
Anooj Sareen   4225
Harprit Gurnam   3950
David J Lloyd   3875
Ian Gerrard   3750
Stuart Rutter   3350
F Javed   2975
David Maudlin   2900
Simon Taylor   2725
Peter Hansen   2000
Andrew Booth   1800
Derek Miller   625
Fuad Serhan   175

All-in pre-flop, 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) seems lacking in confidence as he rises from his seat in preparation for an exit, but that's probably due to being up against two other players, rather than the strength of his hand. One of those foe's was the Salim Khalil, who bet out on the 6s 4s 4h Flop to single out an encounter with the Bummie Bandit.

As Stuart learned that his Js Jd was in cracking shape against Salim's 8h 8s, he huddled closer towards his seat and held his breath in anticipation of the remaining cards. His heart pumping fast, the Turn brought a 5s, then a Qd on the River to trigger Stuart into a restrained clenched fist celebration and a much needed double through.

---------

One of the chip leaders at the moment is this furry chap, the complicatedly named Davijat Sadarangani (try saying that with your mouthful). Dav (I apologise for the abbreviation) somehow managed to send three players to the rail in one hand with Fives versus Twos versus Queens versus a shortstacker's Q-T on a 2-5-x Flop. None of of his opponents were deeply stacked, but Dav has nonetheless shot up to just under 40k. His victims, however, Stephen Fuad, Antonio Romanello and Lawrence Spencer, are forced to group together in the bar and collectively drown their sorrows.

Those requests...

Dave Penly - 9k
Jim Reid - 23k
Chili - 12k
Fran - OUT (terrible details to follow...)
Vicky Coren - 20k
Brother Carter: Barry - 11k
Brother Carter: Dan - 4.5k
Karl Mahrenholz - 11k - "Feels like the chip lead!"
Praz Bansi - 23k
Sunny Chattha - 17k
Dave Lloyd - can't find him, so for the moment presumed OUT but Snoopy's on it just in case I missed him...

Poor old Fran is indeed OUT. She was out on the terrace, smoking the Cigarette Of Angry Busted-ness when I got into the cardroom, but blondeite Greekstein filled me in. It went like this.

Steve Jelinek limped utg, and there was another limper before Fran made it 1k from the cutoff. Both limpers called.

Flop - Ac 8c 3h

It checked to Fran, who made it 1.5k. Jelinek made it 4.5k. The other guy got out of the way and Fran went all in for 6 or 7k; call. Says Jelinek, "Nice hand," and turns over 6c 7c. Fran is holding pocket Aces, obviously.

Turn - a red Five
River - Kc

Apparently then spoke up Vicky Coren, "I think that's the result we were all hoping for." Which seems a bit unnecessary. Anyway. Unlucky, Fran.

Possibly not-long-for-this-tournament are Rob Garfield (6k) and Womble (<7k).

Barry (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=1143) Carter (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=1143) -- 12,900
Maria (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=258) Demetriou (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=258) -- 11,700
Dan (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=86) Carter (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=86) -- 6,575
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) -- out
Dave (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=92) Clark (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=92) -- 6,825
Karl (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=227) Mahrenholz (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=227) -- 10,800
David (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=120) Lloyd (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=120) -- 3,000
Rob (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=381) Garfield (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=381) -- 6,475
Alan (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=14) Armitage (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=14) -- 11,125
Nick (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=797) Goodall (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=797) -- 12,750
Dave (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=95) Colclough (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=95) -- 16,425
Lam (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=241) Trinh (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=241) -- 26,500
Jon (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=214) Huckle (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=214) -- 17,375
Hugo Martin -- 13,800
Stuart (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=420) Nash (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=420) -- 14,100
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) -- 6,500
Sunny (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=423) Chattha (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=423) -- 20,000
Praz (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=353) Bansi (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=353) -- 22,200
Andrew Teng -- 17,275

David (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=120) Lloyd (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=120) is now out. I didn't catch the hand, but I did see him storm off towards the cashier, so I feel the cash games may be seeing some action.

Kenny Albert is OUT. He felt the wrath of Fabio Esposito whose A-Q held up against Albert's K-Q on a 9-8-3-6-5 board.

----------

With the Flop reading Js 6h 3h, four players see a meatylicious (yes, it's a word!) Flop that triggers Will Kassouf to fire out a 5,650 multi-coloured bet. The action passes around to Peter Hansen in late position who, after a momentary pause, slides his entire stack across the line. Back to Will, and although it's only about 6k more, he grimaces awkwardly, as if aware that he's almost certainly behind. In the end, he convinces himself that he has reached the point of no return and makes the reluctant call. As expected, Kassouf's Qc Jc is in the proverbial canine excretion, and the tide fails to turn as the Turn and River bring a harmless 7s and a very blank 2d respectively. Kassouf now down to just a few thousand.

While I was at Sunny Chattha's table attempting to take photos (it's the most awkwardly-positioned of all the tables), Harpit Gurnam shoved his microstack (around 2.5k) in on a Qd 7c Kc flop. Trevor Reardon reaaaaally, reeeeeeeaaaalllllly considered it, but passed. Harpit showed him the Kh for his trouble.

Ok first off we have Chris Moorman getting involved in a big pot...

After several limpers on 200 400, Chris, who hasn't seen many cards today, felt like he could use his relatively tight image to pick up the pot so popped it up to 2,400 with K-9, only to receive a flat call from one of the limpers...

The flop came 8s 4c 8d.

Chris felt like this was a hard flop to represent anything so after the limper checked, Chris also checked behind.

The turn was the 9s.

Limper now bet 3.5k, Chris was happy he was ahead and happy to take down the pot so shoved for 11.5k.

Limper thought for a while....and CALLED!

Chris's K-9 top pair was good, whilst the other player showed As Js for the flush draw...

Needing a spade, Ace or Jack to take it down, a cruel 2s fell on the river, and Chris who has grinded his stack all day without many cards, got it in as a good favourite but couldn't hold, falling by the wayside in what would have been a 30k ish pot.

"At least I made the dinner break" said Chris. "£1k for dinner, not bad!"

Bad luck Chris. No need to follow through on my threat to attach donkey ears to him, he did well today and lady luck just didn't smile on him.

Here is the man himself, showing his feelings about that last hand...

(http://blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=11170&g2_serialNumber=1)

Dan Carter - OUT! And it's blonde on blonde action!

He had got a little bit short-ish and after making a small raise preflop, found Maria re-popping him on the button. Dan's chips were instantly over the line allin and Maria's were too.

Dan had come well equipped for battle as he flipped K-K, but a harsh deal from his point of view found Maria poised to deliver the killer blow having been dealt pocket rockets.

Dan picked his coat up, ready to leave and a flop of 8-8-4-7-7 changed nothing.

"I'm sorry, didn't want to knock you out" lied Chili, but her and Dan exchanged hugs and he departed to the rail, ready to get into training for his future career as a pantomime horse.

Here is chili, stacking her newly won chips and riding high after her slow, intiial start...

(http://blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=11172&g2_serialNumber=1)

ATTENTION DAVID RUDLING'S WIFE:

MESSAGE FROM DAVID: PLEASE RECORD MATCH OF THE DAY

It's a new service we're providing. Message delivery to player's wives. Flowers are extra.

---

Paul King is looking chirpy, currrently on 13k, he had quite a bit more but ran a flush into a full house for an 18k pot. "Now I know who you are, I'll know who to come after if you slag me off!" he tells me with a note of joviality in his voice that suggests he is only joshing with me, but you never know, and in that vein, I'd jsut like to point out that the handsome, highly capable professional is currently setting the tournament alight with his bold, imaginative and downright fantastic poker.

Good work sir!

I was about to rejoin the throng in the cardroom when a couple of news bulletins come rushing in like so...

ZING!

Sunny (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=423) Chattha (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=423), hitsquad member....OUT! Sorry folks no details at the moment.

ZING!

Rob (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=381) Garfield (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=381)...ALSO OUT. Again no further details but if a little birdy happens to land on my shoulder and whisper in my ear then naturally I'll....be ******* suprised.

OMG, obviously carnage occurring upstairs. I am off to witness these happenings for myself. See you soon!!!

Vicky (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=449) Coren (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=449) ain't slowing down any. There's 11k in the pot preflop and she seems to have re-raised Javed Ghazi another 5k. After an almost endless dwell, he folds 6h 6d up. She shows the  Ahrt...

---------

Meanwhile everything's gone crazy on what is now the Former Table Rumit. Rumit is all in, Ali (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=23) Mallu (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=23) has at least called and possibly re-raised, I'm not sure because all I see as I get there is John Chambers folding pocket Queens face up, which is something that I have to say sort of pains me in most situations...

Anyway, they're on their proverbial backs.

Rumit - 8d 8h
Ali (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=23) Mallu (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=23) - Ahrt Kd

Board - 3s 7h 4c Ac Ad

John Chambers - "God I'm good!"
Rumit - OUT
Mallu - replete with chips.

Chris Bruce has been quadded right in the face.

He tells me he made it 2100 with Ad Kd, only for Ben Roberts to move in for 7k from the big blind, which he called.

"The flop was Queen, King, Queen... Er, I've forgotten the other cards actually," but it of course doesn't really matter as they were definitely not both Kings (he would have remembered that) and he is down to 16k.

End Of Level 6 Chipcounts from magic Bluesquare chipcounting fairies:

Mark Friedman   70050
Fran Egan   58200
Jan Lundberg   47975
Stewart Clutterbuck   47175
Neil Channing   44675
David Rudling   38275
Steve Jelinek   37600
Davijay Sadarangani   36950
Farid Badiemansour   36050
Ketul Nathwani   35275
Tony Kelly   34900
Steven Chandler   34075
Daniel Burgess   33400
Marius Hogtun   32200
Frode Gjedsal   32100
Peter Hansen   30600
Praz Bansi   30575
Yilfer Shevket   30000
Mike Panteli   29700
Jonathan Kalmar   28225
Alan Stearn   26775
J Shaw   26300
Carlton Joseph   26275
Jeraint Hazan   25700
Paul Rosati   25500
Frank Romanello   25500
Davood Mehrmand   25050
James Morgan   24950
James Ballantyne   24125
Maria Demetriou   24025
James Woodruff   24000
Alli Mallu   23800
Nicos Ioannou   23725
Jim Reid   23625
W Cheung   23400
Chris Bruce   22975
Terry Chapman   22950
Daniel Kerridge   22175
Keith Hawkins   22100
Louise Fennell   21900
Walid Salim Khalil   21450
Christoffer Nilsen   21125
Victoria Coren   20975
Fabio Esposito   20900
Keir Fitzgibbon   20850
Jonathan Huckle   20350
Nik Stylianou   19625
Sebastian Saffari   19450
Javed Ghazi   18775
Martins Adeniya   17575
Tony Kelly   17475
Jonathon Martin   17000
Andrew Teng   16800
Koroush Nikkhahe   16775
Chris Rhodes   16575
Simon Wickenden   16575
Dave Colclough   16300
John Rigolli   16175
Paul King   15975
Trevor Reardon   15550
Nick Goodall   15450
Antony Phillips   15425
Harprit Gurnam   15275
Glen Altham   14700
Sunny Chattha   14400
Frank Doyle   14200
Stuart Nash   14075
Carlo Citrone   13850
Lam Trinh   13850
Craig Owen   13650
John Chambers   13350
Hugo Martin   13275
E Svanes   12950
Jerome Bradpiece   12900
John Burberry   12575
Ghassan Elhoss   12400
Simon Ashdown   12100
Fahid Ali   11875
Anthony William Hardy   11725
Tom Camp   11200
Dr Aris   11025
Paul Hambleton   10550
Daren Braddick   10300
Jonathon Baylis   10100
Barry Carter   10100
Simon Taylor   9500
Ramazanali Abbassi   9400
Anthony Chapman   9350
Frank Pini   9250
John Fletcher   9150
Alan Rawling   8725
B Reynolds   8475
Mark Rayson   8300
Teddy Sheringham   7750
Paul Bracken   7650
Rumit Somaiya   7175
Alan Ivinson   7175
Simon Joseph Eastwood   7100
Johnathon Reynolds   7100
Ben Roberts   7075
Charles Denton   7025
Lloyd Rees   6700
Liam Flood   6600
Mark Steer   6600
Laurence Houghton   6500
Dave Penley   6300
Alan Armitage   6225
Derek Miller   6150
Mark Survila   6100
Van Hoang   5775
Lawrence Windish   5700
Matthew Waddington   5625
Robert Garfield   5600
David Welch   5550
David Clark   5225
Des Jones   4950
Caroline Cunningham-brown   3850
G Husnu   3300
Karl Mahrenholz   2675
Will Kassouf   1700

Breaking news overheard from the AWOP folk:

Fabio (FAAAABIOOOO!) Esposito has just knocked out Dave (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=92) Clark (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=92). From the tournament, not with fists or anything.

Also just now OUT - Mr Trevor Reardon.

Dave (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=117) Welch (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=117) is OUT. "Sick game, sick, sick," he exclaims as he heads to the rail. "I had A-9 of hearts against K-Q. Two hearts hit the Flop and I still didn't win."

---------

Paul Hambleton and Nick (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=797) Goodall (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=797) are both OUT.

----------

I caught a dejected Rob (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=381) Garfield (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=381) wallowing in self pity at the bar, but I suppose he had good reason to. "I raised it up with Tens, only for this solid fella to re-raise behind me. I knew he wasn't messing around, so thought I'd smooth call and see where we go from there, perhaps get away if the Flop is dangerous. Anyhow, it came A-T-x, which is obviously good if he has something like A-K. Anyhow, I checked hoping to check-raise, but he just moved it all in. Of course I called and straight away he sighed and showed Queens. Guy next to me said he folded K-Q and of course, the River came the case Queen."

Harsh one for Rob, he looked devastated in defeat, perhaps the highs and many lows of tournament poker beginning to frustrate him.

----------

Frank Romanello stays alive... just. 7-9 surviving all-in against J-3 with an A-5-K-Q... 7 board. Still short though.

On another table, David Rudling appears to be battling for the chip lead with circa 60k in chips (not 100% accurate as we was stacking them up at the time). His victim was Paul King, the shiny topped fish fryer pushing all-in with 7s 7d on a 3h 9h 6h board and being snap called by Rudling. Rudling showed Ahrt Aspades to leave Paul praying for just one out which, not surprisingly, failed to arrive on the 8h Turn and 5h River. At least he can say he got knocked out with a flush.

Quick chip counts

I had a quick chat with Warren Wooldridge. He just lost quite a few chips - about 8k with 6-6.

"It was a blind on blind battle...I knew I was ahead, I KNEW IT! but he raised enough I would have had to go allin...it was a good bet" he conceded regretfully.

Still on 13/14k though.

---

Neil Channing looks to have 22k or so, although I couldn't get a clear view of his stack so he may have slightly more...

---

Jerome Bradpiece was just involved in a big coup. On a 8c 5c 5h, himself and Marius Hogtun committed their stacks (Channing was also involved at some point although folded on the flop to some severe heat...)

Marius showed the flushtastic Ac 6c whilst Jerome tabled the completely dominant bag of spanners connecting with flop-tastic 8h 5s for a flopped full house...

Marius needed divine intervention to save him here and the running aces or required combination of 7c / 4c / 9c  failed to arrive, meaning a huge pot headed toward Jerome, who looked to have 30-35k now.

Here is Mr Bradpiece showing his customary excitement at scooping the pot...

(http://blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=11180&g2_serialNumber=1)

I'm afraid I couldn't find Seb Saffari, which means either a) he's out, or b) he's one of the handful of players who both have their faces inconveniently towards the wall and their ID cards obscured by a variety of needless bric-a-brac on their respective tables. We should have the full official chip counts at the end of this level to confirm one way or the other though.

Meanwhile, definitely confirmed OUT are Keith the Camel Hawkins and David Welch.

Alan Rawling has doubled up courtesy of Liam Flood in a kind of dirty outdraw-y sort of way.

Rawling - 9d Td
Flood - massively dominatey 9s 9h

Board - Tc Jh Qc Ts 2s

I think not yet mentioned on this update but still in the running is Mr JJ Hazan.

"Please quote me on this. I lost lots of chips. Bollocks."

Still in though...

The Dude abides... With a bunch of chips!

Ramazanali Abbassi (try saying that when you're drunk) is all in on a 2h 9h 5d flop, and Mr Jerome Bradpiece calls.

Abbassi - Qc Ks
Jerome - Jd Jc

Turn - 8c
River - 8d

Jerome barely looks up from his fruit salad, but a slow smile creeps across his face. By the time he reaches his smiling apex, Abbassi is long gone from the table...

By some curious twist of something, Ms Vicky Coren and Mr Neil Channing are now seated next to each other. Vicky looks the more pleased about it, for some reason.

Looks like we're on a short break. The next level played will be the last of the night - it is meant to be Level 9, 500/1000, but because of an accident yesterday they'll actually be playing 600/1200, and then repeating the 600/1200 level tomorrow. We don't have a Level 9 - 600/1200 button on our tournament clock, we only have a Level 10 - 600/1200 button, so it will continue to say Level 10. Sorry.

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

Liam Flood is OUT. Found himself in a good spot for a treble up with Queens versus Big Slick x 2, but a King hit the Flop to send the Gentleman to the rail.

Hitsquad updates have been thin on the ground recently, so to bring you up to speed, just in case you hadn't realised, Karl Mahrenholz was knocked out a while ago whilst Praz Bansi is struggling to get a stack going with 10k or so to his name at the moment.

Next blinds are 600 1200 so he will be getting his stack into the middle in a s**t or bust move sooner rather than later I imagine.

Dave Colclough is prospering at the moment. He just eliminated the shortstacked Stuart Nash, swelling his already bulging stack up to a whopping 40k or so. Good work El Blondie!

Brighton regular Koroush Nikkhahe will also be looking for a good spot as his M decreases to a critical level, holding a vulnerable 15k or so at the moment. Expect fireworks to commence.

As I scoured the cardroom looking for the latest chip daddies (or mummies), I unearthed this motley crew, all of whom are doing swimmingly well.

(1) Mark Friedman -- 110k
(2) Stewart Clutterbuck -- 91k
(3) 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) -- 74.5k
(4) Dave (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=95) Colclough (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=95) -- 55k
(5) David (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=123) Rudling (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=123) -- 54k
(6) Yilfer (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=783) Shevket (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=783) -- 51.5k

----------

Well I can't give you a hand, but I can give you (1) a photo of Jon practising his yoga at the table and (2) his current chip count of 35k. The hand that lured me over the table actually involved the two players seated either side of Stretch Armstrong, Tony Phillips (left) running A-Q into the A-K of Ketul Nethwani (right). As a result, Ketul (currently resisting all kettle puns although they will appear later on) shoots up to 50k, Tony drops down to 7k and Jon pulls a muscle.

----------

Chris Rhodes was short, but has now doubled through to something slightly more playable after near felting Alan (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=14) Armitage (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=14). Alan had Ahrt 6c, but he was dominated by Chris' Aspades Kc, and even more so when a King hit the Flop.

----------

Glenn Altman is either out or experiencing one of those awkward moments where you realise you've run out of toilet paper... but it's too late.

In other news, Paul Bracken is down to the felt after losing a race against Jonathan Baylis with A-K versus 8-8. King on the Flop.

We've seen more doubles than a game of darts here at the Vic, the latest recipient being Lloyd Rees whose Pocket Rockets stood up against Mateyboy's K-Q.

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

Chris Bruce won't be receiving a Brucie bonus this year as he becomes the latest player to hit the deck. The player responsible was Derek Miller, the backwards capper finding Jacks in the small blind after Bruce had pushed on two limpers from late position with K-9 off. An A-T-Q-5-2 board later and Bruce was gone. Good game, good game. It was nice to see him, to see him...

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

Bedlam at Table Skalie as shortstacker Tony Philips pushes in the filthiest of dirty stacks, much to his own amusement.

"Let's just see if anyone's interested before we bother counting it," he suggests.

"I want a count," demands Yilfer.

As the dealer, who was actually impressively swift in his calculation, counted out the mixed bag of chips, Yilfer declared, "No, you're taking too long, I fold", thereby leaving the decision on the shoulders of Harpit Gurnam who I believe had limped.

Harpit also wanted a count, and after being informed that it was 6.1k more to call, happily threw in the chips and flipped over Aspades Td.

"Come on the Sevens!" exclaimed Tony, throwing, yep, you guessed it, a pair of Sevens onto the table.

The Flop was a good one, a Qh 7d 6h giving Phillips a set. The 6c Turn sealed the deal.

"It's the magic Sevens!" added an elated Phillips, that particular pair clearly having dealt him some good fortune more than once.

MONSTROUS, RIDICULOUS HAND ALERT!

Biggest Pot Of The Day Action!

I wander over to Table Chili because as far as I can see she has raised preflop to 4k, with at least one caller behind her in James (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=188) Morgan (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=188), and I see that Frank Doyle has gone all in for considerably more. I should note at this point that Jonathan Huckle is also in the hand - his back was to me and I couldn't see his chips, apologies apologies - I just sort of assumed he'd flat-called the 4k until Snoops and Junglecat put doubt in my mind and made me think he might have re-raised - reasons for this to become obvious soon.

Chili dwells. For ages. So when she finally calls (she and Doyle are roughly even in chips), James (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=188) Morgan (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=188) and Jonathan Huckle don't have to bother pretending to think about it. Four-way all in!

Frank Doyle - Qd Qc
Maria Demetriou - Kd Kc
James (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=188) Morgan (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=188) - Ac Ad
Jonathan Huckle - Aspades Ahrt

Board - oh, this is exciting, "Aces can't win!" someone is shouting - 8s Qh (OOOH!) 8d 7c - wait wait for it - Ks

And I swear the look of joy on her face is that same look that newly-crowned Misses World have - it's a look of pure happiness that says that fate has finally smiled upon her. She had 35k at the start of the hand and covered all three unfortunate all-inners; three very angry gentleman headed for the rail while she raked in a veritable mountain of chips. She is a very lucky girl, and we reckon she's our new chip leader with probably around 100k.

End Of Level 8 Chip Counts, thanks all you Bluesquare chip-counters you. Guess Chili is now second in chips, seeing as how Mark Friedman has so very many.

Mark Friedman   137925
Stewart Clutterbuck   93375
Jerome Bradpiece   76200
Dave Colclough   63500
David Rudling   53075
Yilfer Shevket   51650
Ketul Nathwani   51250
Fran Egan   51225
Mark Rayson   50975
Jan Lundberg   50325
Farid Badiemansour   49875
Steven Chandler   49200
Davijay Sadarangani   48875
John Rigolli   43950
Alan Stearn   43025
E Svanes   41075
Marius Hogtun   41000
Harprit Gurnam   37875
Jonathan Kalmar   37225
Davood Mehrmand   36500
Jonathon Martin   36100
Anthony Chapman   35925
James Woodruff   35675
Derek Miller   35675
Fabio Esposito   34600
Carlton Joseph   34200
W Cheung   32525
Maria Demetriou   31400
Mike Panteli   31100
Craig Owen   29825
Frank Pini   28850
Daniel Burgess   27800
Jonathon Baylis   27650
Jonathan Huckle   27575
Christoffer Nilsen   27300
John Burberry   26700
Jim Reid   25700
Terry Chapman   24475
Victoria Coren   23625
Sam George   23350
Matthew Waddington   22575
Simon Wickenden   22475
Louise Fennell   22375
Daren Braddick   21850
Anthony William Hardy   21800
Paul Rosati   21525
Koroush Nikkhahe   21100
James Ballantyne   20375
Jeraint Hazan   20100
Steve Jelinek   20075
Chris Rhodes   19200
James Morgan   19050
Frank Doyle   18950
Keir Fitzgibbon   18850
Alan Rawling   18350
Hugo Martin   16700
Antony Phillips   14800
Daniel Kerridge   14075
Lam Trinh   13425
Lloyd Rees   13275
Sebastian Saffari   11550
Martins Adeniya   11225
Charles Denton   11075
Neil Channing   9850
Teddy Sheringham   9150
Nik Stylianou   8550
Simon Joseph Eastwood   8175
Praz Bansi   4975
Mark Survila   4675

Two previously-not-hugely-mentioned-in-our-updates yet still-in-the-tournament players, John Rigolli and Carlton Joseph, see a flop and a turn before I become interested in what they're doing.

The board reads 9c 6d Kh Ts 7d and Carlton is betting 1.5k; soon afterwards John is calling.

River - 7d and Carlton bets 5k. John makes it 12k and Carlton calls.

Carlton Joseph - 8d 6h
John Rigolli - Qc Jd for a sneakily played straight. He takes down the chunky pot.

Sorry iorek but the mightily-biceped Des has joined the throng on the rail.

He was his normal chatty self though, his current topic of choice being the premise that brummies dress better than londoners. His case was built on the fact that many of the london players in the Vic are sporting cardigans.
He refused to be assuaged from this standpoint.

---

Big hand alert.

Sam "Bruff me" George limped in, the small blind completed and Mark Rayson checked his option in the big blind.

Flop Q 9 8 rainbow.

Check...check...check.

TURN: 8

Check, Mark bet 3k and Sam raised to 8k, small blind scarpers and Mark now chooses to move ALLIN!

I heard it was about 32k for Sam to call, and he INSTANTLY called with K-Q!!!

Mark had T-J for the nut straight, and the combination of no 8 or Q on the river and the fact Mark had Sam covered means Sam George is OUT!

I felt that this was a bit of a loose call on the face of it. I don't know whether these 2 have any history but I would have expected K-Q not to be good there myself, given the action and the stage of proceedings. Certainly not an insta-call worthy hand.

One more casualty as we approach the last moments of level 9 and the end of the day...

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

Plenty of last minute action still to report, starting with the demise of 'Rana' Harpit Gurnam, the Welshman pushing his shortstack in from late position with A-5, only to be called, after asking for a precise count, by Tony Phillips with A-K. "I had to call really," he later confessed.

Whilst the 3c-8s-Kh Flop had Rana heading towards the door, he pivoted slightly on the 2h Turn, but the hesitation was in vain as the River brought a non straightening Td.

Play has now officially finished; Snoops is posting a bunch of stuff that happened before it finished, and then we will be sticking forks in things and heading home for cocktails a la Jen...

Teddy Sheringham has also joined the walking wounded in the bar. I didn't see the hand myself, but was reliably informed by my secret source (think big overcoats, eye-holes in newspapers, and special codenames) that he had Tens and ran into the Pocket Queens of Jonathan Martin.

----------

A Stearne is a gonna, and perhaps the recipient of a late-in-the-day cooler. All-in with Pocket Jacks on a 3-3-4 Flop, he was called by an elated (well, his friend was elated when he patted him on the back and celebrated from the rail) Jonathan Baylis. "Shit," said man-of-few-words Stearne as he was shown Pocket Queens. 7 Turn and 6 River.

----------

As Junglecat mentioned earlier, Des Jonas was eliminated during the last couple of levels. He raised it to 4k with Q-9 and was put all-in by A-K. Only 5k left, he took a gamble but came up short.

----------

And finally, on the very last hand of the day, we lost a plucky Lam Trinh who had been bumping and grinding a shortstack all day. His swan song came with Kc 8c against Alan Rawling's Ac Qc, but when he needed that spot of good fortune, it didn't arrive, the 9c 5d Js 6d 5c offering no aid to either player.

Yes yes, looks like it's hometime for your sleepy, cocktail-thirsty updaters. We'll be back at the Vic at 2pm tomorrow for Day 2, so until then,  ;stickaforkinme;

Chip counts! Thanks Bluesquare.

Jerome Bradpiece   164450
Mark Friedman   125350
Maria Demetriou   95025
Jonathon Baylis   93400
Stewart Clutterbuck   82850
Mark Rayson   81675
Dave Colclough   79650
Jonathan Martin   66000
Steven Chandler   60075
Craig Owen   57375
Frank Pini   53550
Carlton Joseph   50250
Jan Lundberg   49250
Davood Mehrmand   48100
Anthony Chapman   47325
David Rudling   46900
Terry Chapman   46800
Erik Svanes   45450
Ketu Nathwani   44200
Fabio Esposito   44025
Antony Phillips   43750
Marius Hogtun   43200
Jonathan Kalmar   43100
John Rigolli   42325
Simon Wickenden   40350
Yilfer Shevket   37650
Jim Reid   36625
Daniel Burgess   32875
Nik Stylianou   32225
Steve Jelinek   29500
John Burberry   27700
Alan Rawling   27650
Chris Rhodes   27600
Derek Miller   25575
Koroush Nikkhahe   25550
Sebastian Saffari   24825
Victoria Coren   24200
Keir Fitzgibbon   23450
Hugo Martin   23050
Fran Egan   22425
Paul Rosati   21050
W Cheung   20325
Anthony William Hardy   19975
Lloyd Rees   18950
Mike Panteli   17450
Neil Channing   16525
Louise Fennell   15800
Christoffer Nilsen   13325
Martins Adeniya   11275
Daren Braddick   8750
Daniel Kerridge   8525

Back at 2pm.