blonde poker forum

Yes, we're up and running, with the help of a very long internet cable, and a kind lady who sorted out our press stuff in double quick time.  I cannot begin to describe the annoyance of spending four fruitless hours arguing with different people over the phone at Heathrow yesterday, only to find that I had to drag poor Chris back for a 4 hour sleep before heading back out airportwards.  Again.

I would like to add that nobody, nowhere, nohow should EVER use Southall Travel.  Ever.

OK Chris is taking photos and getting up to speed with your requests; meanwhile I am going to start a 'lite' thread, get a cup of coffee, and count the chips of your favourites.  That I know of.  Phew.

Micky Wernick -- 3,700
JP -- 3,750
El Blondie -- 2.8k
Ram Vaswani -- 11k

Others noted, occasionally with their chips too -

Marc Goodwin
Mark Boudewijn
Ramzi Jelassi       (says he's redeeming himself for that Jack-high hand with some tightness - "I passed two red Queens to an utg raise, and re-raise..."
Praz Bansi          (The bracelet-holder had just 900 when I saw him, and a sad expression, last seen walking downstairs in an 'out' sort of way)
Karl Mahrenholz   13,600   (Stacked in annoying tower; was tablemate of Praz)
Rob Hollink         16,000
Jim Kerrigan        11,000
Johan Storakers   6,000
Jin CaiLin            14,200
Jan Heitmann     13,200    (On a table being very heavily filmed at the moment.  Wonder if it's because of him.)
Tony Chessa       8,500    (Also on table film-y, looking a little flustered)
Bad Girl              10,600
Jonas Molander     (Just pushed her off a pot)
Mickey Wernick    3,850
Steve Vladar       21,200

Mr. Kerrigan says he's had quite a day already, from being on the wrong side of a KK vs. AA confrontation, to then picking up 10 10 which he raised under the gun.  The big blind called.
Flop:  7 8 9  So not unreasonable... the big blind was prepared to move for all his chips, though, and did, with 5 6 for the flopped bottom straight.
Turn:  10
River:  9

Well, that's one way to do it.  The laconic Kerrigan remarked, "Very nice."

Guess who else is here?  Woody Deck!

He's on 22,000 after what he admits as "The sickest outdraw.  Against this young tight kid.  All the way from Australia."  Do you vultures want to hear it?  Course you do...

Woody finds Ac Jc under the gun.  Calls.  Then the doomed player raises to 900.  Woody calls.
Flop:  Kd Tc 4h  Woody checks, Matey bets, he calls.
Turn:  8s   I can only quote him now - "I think for a second I have a double gutshot, then realise it's still just a gutshot.  And now that completes the rainbow.  So... I bet out 2,300."
Matey raises to 5,000 (leaving himself 2,400).  Not feeling, perhaps, that he's committed, Woody makes "a bad read."  He moves in, call with set of Kings from Mateyboy.
River:  Qd   Ouch, and goodbye....

Willie Tann -- 1,600
Pascal Perrault -- 10,575
Marc Goodwin -- 20,500 (though just had to fold Js Ts on a  Ad Jd Tc 2s after his opponent moved all-in on the turn then showed  Jh)

El Blondie doubles up news now. After receiving 4 limpers on his BB, Dave pushed for 2,375 with blinds now 150/300 Ram folded, but the 2nd limper immediately pushed for his 4k or so. Everyone else passed.

DC ("Show me tens," he said packing up his stuff):

 Ks Jc

Matey:

 Qh Qd

Board:

 Kc Js 5c 5s Tc

Dave on over 5k now. Julian just told me he was down to 525 earlier holding 55 on a 9-2-5 rainbow flop. Matey had 99.

John Kabbaj -- 25k

Willie Tann spotted doing the Slow Exit Walk. 

Micky Wernick is OUT. Moved in from the button with AQ but one of the blinds had pocket cowboys.

Willie Tann had 44 vs QJ

Jen here - we are kind of rotating one internet cable with another poor unfortunate, so you may get Collective Posts occasionally -

Dave Colclough triples up:

Having built up his stack from under 2k when we arrived to what must have been around 7k just now, he got it all in with 7d 7s against, er, Qd Qs (for Ram) and Ks Kd...
Flop:  5s 8s 4d
Turn:  2s
River: 7h   Which NoFlops reliably informs me was, in fact, the case seven (the other having been folded next to him!)

22,000 for the Blonde One.

John Kabbaj doubles someone's 5s 6h up with his Aspades 6c -
Flop: Kh 3h 4h   (so an understandably interested 5 6 for Matey)
Turn: Ac
River: 7h  - at which half the table announces, "Straight!" and the other half, "Flush!"

So now blinds are 200/400, it's level 6.
110 players remaining, according to the TV, which rarely lies, as we all know.

I was kind of joking before, but it does look like the camera crew hovering around Jan Heitmann's table is actually hovering around Jan Heitmann...

He's won the last two confrontations I saw, with the last being a small blind vs big blind type:

The sb must have raised preflop  because on the flop of Kd Td Tc he chose to bet what looked like 3,000.  BB Jan eventually called.  Maybe it's the media circle round him, but he acts like he may be raising through molasses.  Better to think things through, of course, than just rush headlong into betting the turn...
Turn:  5c   Now the small blind Matey checks, and Jan, after another deliberation, bets 3,800.  The SB can't call, and his stack reaches 23,000.

Chips in Brief:

Luca Pagano   OUT
Marc Goodwin  20,000
Mark Boudewijn  18,000
Ramzi Jelassi (pictured next to Karin Lundgren (10,300), I think)  28,500
Edgar Skjervold  11,400
Bad Girl             8,800
Jonas Molander  23,000
Gunnar Osterbrod  6,500

El Blondie takes out a shorty. AA vs 55. Board 9-9-4-4-A

Just spotted Phil Shaw, who looks quite a bit different when in full disguise (hat, glasses, ipod etc.) - in fact he started on Dave's table and has been moved to the heavily televised one...  he's on 17,000.

An Incredible thing has Just Happened - we have been given chip counts for everyone!  Yes, everyone!  As of an hour ago, so you may notice some look like they've been resurrected and DC is listed (now quite wrongly) near the bottom of the pack,  but honestly, we can't thank them enough.  Go Casinos Austria    ;cheerleader;

Gould   Peter    GBR            44900
Brolin   Tomas   SWE           32925
Schuler   Thorsten   D   31375
TÓTH   Richard   HUN          30675
Olsen   Jan Arilo   NOR     28500
Pollak   Hans-Martin   AUT   25825
Jelassi   Ramzi Alexander   SWE   25450
Judah   Melvyn   AUS            25075
Stieger   Matthias   D       24975
Molander   Jonas   SWE   24925
Kabbaj   John   GBR             24800
Minieri   Dario   ITA                24600
Goodwin   Marc   GBR           23700
Bellusci   Sandro   ITA       22100
Vladar   Steven Nicholas   GBR   21750
Boudewijn   Mark   NL    21475
Eskeland   Sigurd   NOR   20950
Sogaard   Lars   DK             20850
Deck   Woody   LAT           20250
Carbone   Michele   ITA          19625
Bösch   Oliver   AUT             19525
Mouritsen   Rene   DK   19000
Klein   Jürgen   D               18950
Brummelhuis   Michiel   NL   18750
Dodet   Daniel   BEL             18650
Fiore   Stefano   ITA             18450
Jaka   Faraz   USA              18425
Rongits   Thomas   AUT          18325
Orlov   Grigorij   LTU       18225
Slade   Nick   GBR               18050
KARKUS   András   HUN          17450
Biorac   Sasa   D                17150
Jedlicka Nikolaus   AUT     17125
Strandli Aleksander   NOR   17125
Hofling   Johan   SWE            16100
Bihl   Thomas   D              15550
Togsverd  Christian   DK   15475
Jin   Cai Lin   PRC                 15475
Toth   Janos   HUN            15250
Sehlstedt   Bo   SWE   15200
Yafaoui   Khalil   DK              15125
Heitmann   Jan   D   14975
Fischer   Peter   DK             14950
Vaswani   Ram   GBR          14825
Zhang   Yi   AUT             14775
Gueorguiev Atanas Stoyanov  BUL  14700
Green   Martin   GBR             14675
Bondo   Jes   DK              14625
Aktell   Greger   SWE             13825
Polarski   Sven   NL       13375
Laukkanen   Ville   FIN       13050
Tutev   Yavor Anastasov   BUL   13000
Müller   Götz   D                   12950
Ruthenberg  Sebastian   D     12775
Iversen   Torstein   NOR      12700
Stadlbauer   Bernd   AUT     12450
Seidelin   Tune   DK         12400
Cherednichenko   Rodion   RUS    12400
Schou   Karsten   DK                12350
Hirsch   Yakov   USA                 12200
Hollink   Rob   NL                   11925
Zohnesen   Thomas   DK   11800
Lupker   Remco   NL              11800
Hansen   Askild   NOR               11650
Perrault  Pascal   FRA         11575
Sathren   Vivi   NOR                 11550
Yeh   Philip   SWE                  11550
Vladar   Xuyen   GBR                10875
Lohs   Wolfgang Uwe   D      10625
Truby   Christopher   GBR      10400
Shaw   Phil   GBR                  10400
Rutenskold   Fej   SWE       10225
Mahrenholz   Karl   GBR        10150
Bjorklund   Eirik   NOR         10150
Pfenninger   Aldo   CH       10125
Pagano   Luca   ITA                9975
Manole   Mihai   RUM                9975
Kerrigan   Kerry   GBR        9925
Juhl   Jacob   DK                   9850
Lisandro   Jeffrey   ITA         9800
Novak   Istvan   HUN                9775
Berggren   Adam   SWE     9750
Ammann   Philipp   CH               9675
Storakers   Johan   SWE     9625
Giaroni   Gianni   ITA                 9575
Kuremszki   Csaba   HUN      9250
Grospellier  Bertrand   FRA        9225
Provaznik   Peter   AUT       9150
Balla   Andrea   ITA                  8950
Detterbeck   Christian   D   8925
Marki   Per   NOR                    8375
Sorensen   Jan V.   DK        8175
Vallo   Martin   DK                   7950
Soble   David   USA                  7900
Jorgensen   Theo   DK        7800
Sverrisson   Halldor Mar   ISL   7800
Hansen   Tommy Dender   DK   7625
Dyrstad   Allan   NOR                   7525
Roth   Christopher Alan   USA   7500
Skaarup   Dennis Friis   DK            7100
Rybachenko   Sergey   RUS       7050
Cascarino   Anthony   IRL          6500
de Hoog   Flemming   D         6200
Keston   Robin   GBR                   5925
Sjogren   Per   SWE                  5825
Saneystra   Joachim   AUT        5800
Pecorella   Matteo   ITA          5500
Nygaard   Vegard   NOR                 5425
Johansson   Birgitta   SWE   5375
Theisen   Jonathan   USA         5225
Sonesson  Christoffer   SWE        4925
Lundgren   Karin   SWE           4825
Bergmann   Richard   AUT        4700
Studer   Daniel   CH                     4600
Stockinger   Siegfried   AUT   4550
Ostebrod   Gunnar   NOR         4225
Sörensen   Henrik   DK           3400
Colclough   David   GBR           2975
Borén   Dan   SWE                    2900
Keiner   Michael   D                       2550
Salonen   Jari   FIN                        1800

45 minute BREAK now, and as I recall a very large room off the central hallway will just about now be filling with foodstuffs.  I'm off.  See you when the players return...

Players are now on a 45-minute break. There's around 90 players left, blinds will be 300/600 when we return.

Bad Girl is OUT. Well she's not in her seat.

Woody Deck lost a big stack of chips with A-K to A-Q all-in preflop. Board: A-Q-J-J-. No sympathy here after that AJ hand...

El Blondie has just taken down a big pot in one of the last hands before the break.

With the board reading  3d Qs 9c Js 8s, matey bet 3k into the 5k or so pot. Dave raises to 10k and matey is forced to call.

Dave:  Ks Ts

Matey:  3s 4s

Well we are back. Blinds are now 200/400 with a 50 ante.

Karin Lundgren Resteals Preflop News Now -

There was a mid-position raise to 1,200 (blinds were at the tail end of 200/400), call from Karin, raise to 3,100 from neighbour Ramzi.  After a think, the original raiser passed, but Karin's whole stack moved over the line (about another 13k or so).  Despite a bit of a think, the chip leader passed.  "Better situation?"

Speaking of Mickey Wernick, he's in a cash game along with other exiter Willie Tann, and others.  The back room has been cleared of tournament tables, leaving the cash players to start up a variety of very pricey looking games. 

A couple more stacks on the increase:

Dave Colclough who says he's feeling "drained," and is drinking coffee while his 27k stack doesn't look to be going anywhere soon.  "Did you know I was down to 600 earlier?"  Well, actually, no - that must qualify you, El Blondie for my Climber of The Day Award! 

Also accumulating:  Pascal Perrault - 17,000
Steve Vladar (although infinitely more slowly)  - 24,000
Ram Vaswani - 17,650.

Jan Heitmann is indeed OUT - and not looking too unhappy about it (ah the miracle of beer  :cheers:  )

His 27k turned into 0k over the course of two big hands:

One:  After two limpers for 400, Phil Shaw raised to 2,500 (a move he was going to make anyway with AQ).  Jan made it 6,000 in total, and when Phil then pushed for another 6,500, he called and found what he didn't really want to see - AK.  So there went some...

Anyhow, a round or so later, he found Qd Qc and made it 1,300 three from the button.  Matthias Stiger (?Sp) made a funny old small raise to 3,200.  A lot of debate of the interesting sort kicked off over what he should do here, but Jan eventually called and the flop was Jd 7d 3d.  So overpair and flush draw, against flopped set o Jacks- a hand which might well have laid down if re-raised preflop.

In any case, it all went in, and Jan was sent to the rail, where he mulled over his decisions and even asked the opinion of Marcel Luske....who, he was delighted to report, thought similarly to him...

Chip leader status leaning towards....Steve Vladar - on a table with several chunky stacks, it looks like his might just be the chunkiest, at 55,000.  Not the top stack over all, but something dramatic must have happened while I was looking the other way to nearly double him up.

I think Mr. Chessa is no longer playing...

But table a la Ramzi has been a sort of magnet for chips - there are certainly some big stacks on there - Steve Vladar, 61,000, Ramzi, 80,000+, also Karin Lundgren, Pascal Perrault, Karl Mahrenholz (50k, probably) and this young, aggressive, Italian dude - Dario Mineri.  Interesting lineup for the last level...

I think it's at the end of the next level - in about an hour and a half's time... I know it seems like a little short day, but actually, we missed almost three levels, due to not being in the country, and also it's an hour later in Austria (22.15 currently).  They've been playing since 12pm so that's already 10 hours (some of which has been breaks)  but yep, finish before midnight.  It's only reasonable; we're back here tomorrow at midday again.  And will be here. :)

A guy who looks like Siegfried Stockinger and Ramzi are amongst our chip leaders with around 70k and 80k respectively.

And as we enter the last half hour of play, there are just 44 left in.  Blinds 600/1,200 ante 100.

Some Selected Chips:

Karl Mahrenholz     33,000    ("Not enough")
Karin Lundgren     32,000
Ramzi Jelassi         80,000
Steve Vladar        45,500
Dario Mineri          54,000
ElkY                    22,000
Ram Vaswani        16,000
Phil Shaw             15,500   (Half asleep)
Rob Hollink           15,000
Mel Judah            20,000
Jonas Molander     70,000    (A self-counter; good at this late hour)
Marc Goodwin       23,000
Sigi Stockinger      52,000
Kristen Johanssen  21,000

More accurate accounting, perhaps, by supersleuth Stephen Bartley - 134,000 (still chip leader) and this is the Mystery Russian, who won't, apparently, give a full name when questioned.  He is simply "Rodion," which sounds like an obscure vitamin in breakfast cereal, or something which makes ants in 50s movies grow really really big.

It's the closing 15 minutes of Day 1A currently, and although quite a few short-stack all-in-or-bust moves are being made, there's not a whole lot of reportable action going on.  Just 42 remain, and look likely to do so, coming back on Day Two for the redraw in which they will be intermingled with their Day 1B brethren.

Although this event is Twice As Popular as last year, it's not actually sold out, and the field, although nice and chunky, is not unmanageable.  With under a hundred looking like they'll make it back for day 2, we should be able to cover the thing in something resembling detail..... :)

My sensitive ear catches the dulcet strains of a snatch of 'The Entertainer' signifying one minute left in today's action...this means that the 38 (will be confirmed) remaining players are Through, and we're going to see what we can do about final counts...

A Russian called 'Rodion' has over 200k and is chip leader at the end of day 1A. 38 players will return on Monday from Day 1A.

Play is now over for the day.

Right, no final chip counts have appeared as yet, and so we're going to act like we expect to be spoiled further and just wait until we get an email listing them to pass them on to you good folks.  Off to the bar and the vicinity of the rather large cash games, which I can pretend I'm thinking of putting my name up for, while drinking beer.  In moderation.  For a maximum of half an hour.

Night!

 http://www.europeanpokertour.com/EPT3_baden_day1a_survivors.html

This link to the EPT website is probably the best way of viewing your survivors from 1A - we'll compile and post the full list of players for Day 2, though, just in case you think we're slacking off a bit...