blonde poker forum

Play is due to commence at 2.30pm.

Simon Nowab -- 222,000
Karl Mahrenholz -- 171,000
Alan Henson -- 171,000
Nick Persaud -- 156,000
Greg Howard -- 143,000
Ray Wyre -- 115,000
Joe Grech -- 110,000
Jamie Miller -- 103,000
Gary Fox -- 93,000
Damon D'Cruz -- 87,000
James Dempsey -- 82,000
Robert Bright -- 81,000
Joey Lovelady -- 77,000
Praz Bansi -- 68,000
Ian Nelson -- 66,000
Paul Higgins -- 65,000
Vincent Birt -- 65,000
Mick McCloskey -- 57,000
Stuart Nash -- 40,000

(to nearest 1,000)...


1  £65,500
2  £35,500
3  £23,600
4  £17,700
5  £13,800
6  £10,800
7   £7,900
8   £5,900
9   £4,900
10  £3,000
11  £2,000
12-15 £1,600

Play has just started, with the final tables (apart from Nik Persaud, who's apparently in a cafe round the corner) already into their second or third hand.

A deal has been struck giving £500 to the four non-moneying guys (£1,000 off first, £500 off second and third) so they aren't going home from Day Three empty-handed.

Joey Lovelady has become our first exit of the day. He made his move with K-Q, but ran into the Pocket Cowboys of Greg Howard (pictured below). He spiked a Queen, but it wasn't enough as the Turn and River brought mere blanks.

He doesn't go away empty handed, however, as, to the surprise of no one, savers were made so that everyone who made the final day went home with somesort of slice of the pie.

Three limpers on McCloskey's BB - one of them small blind Flushy.  Flop:  5h 6d 3s.  Check to Nik Persaud (limper 1) who bets 17k.  Jamie passes and Flushy announces Raise All In.  A think from Nik, but a pass when faced with calling 60k more...

Other table:  Joe Grech (My Pick since yesterday afternoon) Button raises to 18k, called by small blind Ian Nelson.  Flop:  Ad 7h Jh.  Chatty Joe announces he'd better check to see if he's got it when Ian checks to him (personally, I think he was seeing his hand for the first time) and then bets 18k.  Ian folds. 
"I've got it," he says, showing Kd Ts.
Continuing his ramble, Joe says, "We're going to be playing some games today, I'm afraid.  Cat and mouse games.  Who is the cat?  Who is the mouse?"
Crackers, but still heading steadily for the final.

Paul Higgins -- 53,300
Mick McCloskey -- 45,800

Paul Higgins finishes in 18th place -

Short stacked, he found an open space and moved in with Ad 8d.  Unfortunately for him, neighbour Vince Birt woke up with Kd Kh, and wasn't going anywhere.  The board brought no help, and the quiet Irish player is out...

Meanwhile, another pair of shorter stacks, Mick McCloskey and Stuart Nash, get it all in preflop - the former moving in with 5d 5s and the latter calling with (victorious) 8d 8s.  Double through for Stuart, and Mick is in bad shape.

And Snoopy's snaps seem to have effectively bokked the Irish - Mick McCloskey finished in 17th place after moving the rest in with Td Jd, getting it through all the way to the big blind, who called with Ac 6h and knocked him out.

Play is hand for hand.  Chip counts soon....

Double through for Praz -

Simon raises preflop to 32k, and Praz has to really think about moving in for his 60-odd - he's getting called... in the end he pushes, Simon calls, and they're on their backs...
Simon shows:  Ahrt 8c
Praz shows:  Ad Jc
Board comes out:  Ac Qs 9d Jh 9h

And after that, the chips are about so:

Alan Henson      53k
Flushy               140k
Stuart Nash       66k
Greg Howard    200k
Karl Mahrenholz  210k
Damon D'Cruz    86k
Nik Persaud        95k
Jamie Miller           64k

Joe Grech          166k
Ian Nelson         120k
Praz Bansi          120k
Robert Bright     135k
Vince Birt           101k
Ray Wyre            88k
Simon Nowab      180k
Gary Fox             61k

Jamie Miller, who'd prayed pretty tight today and dwindled to what he probably felt an unacceptable level, moved in under the gun with 7s 6h, and it probably would have gotten through if Stuart Nash hadn't found Aspades Kd and called, taking all but the big blind from the young player...
The next hand it folded round, and Nik in the small blind autocalled blind, showing Kc Js.  Jamie turned his cards over one at a time showing first the 2d.. then the 2c. Nik warns him, "I haven't lost a race all year..." and with the Jack coming on the turn, the 16th player is eliminated - Jamie Miller exits the room.

Alan Henson has doubled up to over 100k courtesy of James Dempsey.

James raised under-the-gun, only to look on in dismay as Alan Henson moved all-in from the big blind with A-J.

It's another 36k more (the original raise was 23k), called with A-4.

Flop = 9-9-K

"Pair the board!" demands James, but to no avail as the Turn and River bring a Queen and a Ten.

Nik Persaud has had his share of premiums today - raising under the gun, no action, showing Aces; raising on the button, no action, showing Queens... "WTF is wrong with this table?" he complains.  Got one through without showing, too...

Robert Bright raises to 32k, and nearly gets a call from Joe Grech with his 5s 5h, but no, he decides against it (Robert shows Ahrt Kh)...

We are now on a 15 min break.

Another Irishman out, and due to a pretty sick call from Praz...

Praz raised on the button to 35k (blinds 5k/10k ante 1k).  Small blind Robert Bright moved in, for another 74,500.  This was a big decision... "You've got a pile of shit and a pair of balls," was the conclusion Praz vocally came to, calling with his Aspades 6s.
Robert showed:  Qs Td
Board:  2h 4c 3d 6c 2d

So Robert Bright  finishes in 15th place, for £1,600

James Dempsey is OUT

Eights (button) vs Karl Mahrenholz's Queens (Big Blind)

Board looked like it might bring a straight, but it didn't.

7-T-7-9-T

Joe Grech raises to 26k pre-flop (blinds are 5k/10k), only for Ray Wyre to move all-in (he hesitated this time, unlike when he had the Aces) from the big blind for 79,500.

Decent amount of time spent in the think tank before Joe folds, only to allow Ray to smugly reveal Ac 4c

Hot on his heels, Stuart Nash  is eliminated in 14th place, winning £1,600

He raised to 30k, and found Karl putting him in from the Big Blind.  Short stacked Nash thought about it a while.  Karl said, "You're either in a world of hurt, or you're very far behind."  "Neither of those is very attractive," replied Stuart, but he went for it anyway (looked pretty committed) with Ahrt 8h.  Karl showed Jc Jh.  The board showed no danger for Karl, and we're down to 13.

Good news for Irish fans as Vincent Birt has just doubled up.

He'd dribbled down a little, but he is now back up to 89k after surviving an Ac 8c vs Ray Wyre's Jd 9s battle of the blinds.

All-in preflop, the board came 7h 2h Kc 6h 3c and Vince lives to fight another day.

We have another double up.

Liverpudlian, Ian Nelson limp pre-flop with A-4 only for Greg Howard to raise it up with A-T. Ian then flat called.

All the money went in on the rather emphatic A-4-4 Flop, and Greg is down to 78,000

Rough Chip Counts (many a player here favours the giant tall towers of uncountability):

Alan Henson    165k
Ian Nelson        240k
Greg Howard      80k
Karl Mahrenholz  440k
Damon D'Cruz     55k
Nik Persaud        138k

Joe Grech          160k
Praz Bansi          370k
Vince Birt           88k
Ray Wyre           75k
Simon Nowab     92k
Gary Fox            140k

And now he's given them back.

Minimum raising to 20k pre-flop, Ian Nelson fancied taking a pop with his Ts 9s when Greg Howard moved all-in for just 58,500 and an Ac 8h holding.

The Ac 2s Qh was domineering, but the 9h Turn must have result in a few sweaty palms.

Fortunately for Gregory, nothing came of it as the River revealed a harmless Ks.

Triple all-in News Now -

Finally short stack Vince Birt makes his move in late position.  In later position, Ray Wyre moves in over the top.  In even later position (well, the small blind), Gary Fox was all in too.  That hand had to be a monster, and it was:  Ks Kh.
Vince showed Kd 7d
Ray showed Aspades 9d

Flop:  3d 6s 2d  (the crowd gathers closer)
Turn:  9c
River:  Ac  And Ray is clearly a bit excited, with the clapping and the shouting... while

Vince Birt  finishes in 12th place, winning £1,600

Simon Nowab doubles up after finally getting called on one of his many pushes with Deuces against Gary Fox's J-8.  In the process, the equally-stacked Gary  was knocked out in 11th place, winning £2,000.

Quickly following is Nik Persaud, whose A-3 (all in for 70k) was called by Greg Howard's A-9.
The kicker was enough to knock out Nik Persaud  in 10th place, for £3,000.  And we are now entering the grey break area of Final Table - uncertain when play is to recommence, but will get the chip counts etc. during this (fairly lengthy) pause...  they're estimating re-start at 7:30pm.

Here are the final table chip counts...

Praz Bansi -- 434,500
Karl Mahrenholz -- 414,000
Greg Howard -- 318,000
Ray Wyre -- 213,000
Simon Nowab -- 160,500
Alan Henson -- 104,500
Joe Grech -- 133,000
Ian Nelson -- 104,500
Damon D'Cruz -- 57,000

Here's the order in which they'll be sitting (a handy sheet has just appeared, but thanks to Snoopy for going the extra kilometre and getting the counts beforehand):

Seat 1  Damon D'Cruz  57,000
Seat 2  Karl Mahrenholz  414,000
Seat 3  Ian Nelson  145,500
Seat 4  Greg Howard  318,000
Seat 5  Praz Bansi  434,500
Seat 6  Ray Wyre  213,000
Seat 7  Joe Grech  133,000
Seat 8  Simon Nowab  160,500
Seat 9  Alan Henson  104,500

Apparently each event gets two 1hr shows - the first will have snippets of coverage from the whole thing, and then more detail from the money finishes, and half the final table, while the second show will concentrate on the final five players.  This means that they'll be able to cover more hands than just exitexitexit - should be more about the cards, which would be nice.

The final is now underway...

Damon has moved all-in and found a caller in Simon Nowab.

Simon held sixes, but he was outdrawn when Damon's Big Slick flopped an Ace.

Double up for Damon.

More action!!

This time it's Alan Henson who enjoys the double up.

It wasn't easy though.

Finding Ahrt Jh in early position, Alan moves it all-in, only to be called by the criminal profiler, Ray Wyre, who was sitting on a pair of Ladies.

The Qd 2h 6c Flop was ideal for Ray, that was until the Turn and River brought a Th and 7h to give Alan an unlikely flush.

Much hilarity ensued, however, as both men cheered, Ray not quite realising he'd been Rivered.

Joe Grech is OUT and becomes the 9th place finisher winning £4,900

All-in with Tens against Praz Bansi's Ace King, Joe was forced to take the walk of shame past the audience as the board came K-Q-Q-J-6.

He does receive a chip set though for his final table troubles, as do the other 8 players.

Simon moves in now for 74k, and neighbour Alan Henson counts out the call...and makes it.  Everyone else gets out of their way, and...
Simon shows:  Aspades Js
Alan shows:  Ah Ks

Flop:  Qc 9d 4s
Turn:  3h
River: 4c

So Simon Nowab is the 8th place finisher, winning £5,900

- - Inexplicable break - -

Chip counts gathered during it:

Damon D'Cruz     73k
Karl Mahrenholz   467k
Ian Nelson        136k
Greg Howard   224k
Praz Bansi       583k
Ray Wyre        81k
Alan Henson       368k

Action recommences:

Karl raises preflop and wins the blinds.
Ray raises on the button to 37k, Damon moves in - CALL

Damon shows Ahrt Aspades
Ray shows:  Ad Jh

Flop:  5d Th Jh
Turn:  5c
River:  Kh

So we have a quick post-break near-elimination, while Damon plays his second hand of the year Final.

The next hand, and Ray Wyre is of course all in for something like 2k, b.b. Karl checks after Alan makes the call preflop.

Flop:  Jd Jh 4h  Karl checks and Alan checks
Turn:  3h  check-check
River:  Kh

Karl shows K-T which is good against all-in Ray's Queen-high, so Ray Wyre is the 7th place finisher, winning £7,900.

Jon Raab lets us know that the series will be reaching us in August, after the end of Big Brother, so if you want to program your video...

Reaching the end of this level, and Alan Hansen raises preflop to 36k  - big blind Karl calls.
Flop:  Ad 4c 2d  Karl checks, Alan gives a short stare and a chew of his gum and bets 36k.  Karl raises to 90k total.  This prompts a countdown from Alan, and a lengthy think...and the hole card twitch makes us think it's going to be a pass...and it is - he shows J-J.  Karl may have taken the chip lead with this one.

As the blinds are raised to 8k/16k, ante 2k, I return control of the horizontal and the vertical to Snoopy...

Ian takes a chunk of chips off Praz with two pair, Aces and Queens... I was getting food for the desperate updaters who have discovered that noodles are available at the bar and energy is required for the maintaining of consciousness...

Anyway, Damon D'Cruz on the button moves in and Karl and Ian think about it...

Karl counts the chips and has a stare into the smiling face of Damon but thinks better of it, and he's got another set of blinds.  Low-stacked for days, and it looks like he's picking his spots well.  As Nik says, "The survival instincts of a panther."

Karl raises preflop on the button and Greg Howard re-raises from the big blind...good idea.  Greg gets it.

Damon raises to 36k, Praz pushes in - Damon calls!

Damon shows: Jd Jh
Praz shows:  Td Tc

Flop:  7s Qd 4h
Turn:  5c
River:  Kc

Praz is in chip trouble now (comparatively), as Damon gets his third double up...

Bit of a Prazathon at the moment, he seems to be playing everything hand.

Ian Nelson and Praz see a Flop of 9h Kh Kc

Both check and then Praz bets 16k on the 3s Turn, to which Ian responds by smooth calling.

River = 2h

Once again, Praz makes a bet, this time 20k, and Ian calls instantly with Ad 3c.

Praz takes the pot with 9s 7h

So, revised counts:

Damon D'Cruz     222k
Karl Mahrenholz   714k
Ian Nelson         178k
Greg Howard      180k
Praz Bansi          531k
Alan Henson       207k

Greg Howard is a friendly guy - apparently he's not been playing forever like some of the finalists, but has had quite a bit of online success after deciding to take up the game...look him up if you want more.  Anyway, he bet on himself £20 each way at 125-1 so he's considering this a win-win situation, being on the final and all.

Damon D'Cruz raises on the button - it works and 42k in blinds goes to him. 

Praz raises to 50k, in what passes for early position when you're six-handed.  Alan Henson re-raises all in, next to speak.  Back round to Praz, who takes his time on every decision, but has made so many good ones this tournament that we accept it.  Call for the extra 120kish.

Praz shows:  Kc Qh
Alan shows:  6c 6h

Flop: Ad Ahrt Qs
Turn: 2d
River: Kd

And with three pair Praz Bansi eliminates Alan Henson in 6th place for a prize of £10,800.

Damon D'Cruz has moved all-in...

with... Qh Ad

He's been called!!!

Ks Td = Greg

Board = 6h 3s 2h Js 9h

And the Lutonian Bulldozer doubles up... again!!!

And Damon D'Cruz has moved all-in yet again!!! And been called again!

Damon = Ad 3d

Praz = Aspades Qh

2s 7c Th Ks 6h

Which means...

Damon D'Cruz is OUT and becomes the 5th place finisher winning £13,800

It's only 34k, so Karl Marhrenholz is pretty much obliged to call from the big blind.

Karl = 5d 2s

Ian = 9c Js

Something for everyone on the flop.

2d 8c 9s

Turn = Ks

River = 6d

He must have alligator blood! Double up for Nelson, but he's still painfully short.

Big cheer from the Scousers present as Ian Nelson finds that crucial second double up!

All-in versus the Ac Jh of Greg Howard, Ian Nelson's 6d 5d found 8 more outs as the 3s Qs 4d Flop hit the felt.

Turn = Kc

Deep breath...

River = 5h

... and Nelson hit a pair to stay in the comp.

A hand plays out in record time, now, with Karl raising preflop to 90k, Greg Howard moves all in, looking for the double back with Aspades Kd.  Karl calls sharpish with Qh Qd...
Flop:  Jh Jd Qc with an anticlimactic 7s 8c turn and river so that means that...

Greg Howard finishes in 4th place, winning £17,700

Ian Nelson is now becoming a big threat in this competition as he enjoys yet another double up, this time courtesy of Praz Bansi who moved sll-in with 4s 4h.

Ian must have been terribly short chipped as he managed to find a call with 7c 6c, somehow finding himself in a rather fortunate coinflip situation.

And it worked out for him too as the Flop gave him a lovely two pair.

Aspades 6s 7h

High fives and lots of clench fists, but it wasn't over just yet, not only could Praz hit his set, but he now had a threatening flush draw as the Turn brought the Qs.

But it didn't quite happen with the 5h River and Praz takes a slight knock.

Now the Scouse fans are starting to get excited!

Ian moves all in on the small blind... Karl, the preflop button raiser calls.
Ian shows:  Qc Jc
Karl:  Qd Jd

Chop-chop, although the lone club on the flop could have given Ian the tiniest straw-clutch of a winner for a little while.  It looks like Ian's not just going to sit there while his stack shrinks to more dangerous levels, which is good for the extremely keen audience.

Ian's all in again, re-raising Praz's 100k preflop raise...
Praz showed:  Jc Aspades
Ian: Ac 5h

Flop:  5d Ks Jd  (The Ian Nelson fanclub goes wild)
Turn:  6s  (The Ian Nelson fanclub goes quiet)
River:  9h

So Ian Nelson is our 3rd place finisher, winning £23,600

When they come back after this ten minute break, it'll be Team Members Praz and Karl heads up.  Snoopy wants to know, if one of them wins it, will they be the Leader?

Karl Mahrenholz -- 905,000
Praz Bansi -- 1,127,000

The heads-uppers return, shake hands amid production-crew staged applause.  Nothing boring about this match-up though, and the audience has thickened to watch the final stage of this tournament.  There's no doubt that both of them want to snatch the (astoundingly unattractive) trophy away from the other, and they'll be playing 'properly' while the blinds allow it.

The first hand of the confrontation is won by Karl, who bet out on the 6c Qs 9s flop (30k), called by Praz.  Praz was in fact ahead at this time with his 9-2, but when the turn and river came 7d 3c, it was Karl's 4-5 which had taken the lead and got paid to the tune of 80k.

A disgruntled audience member sneaks out of the TV area, muttering, "They'll be there all bloody night..."

Karl raises to 100k and gets some blinds.  Er... that story doesn't disprove the guy's theory.  Wait just a few moments, I am sure some more chips will change hands.

Karl has the button and calls.  Praz raizes 81k; call.
Flop:  5c Jd Qs   check-check
Turn:  5s  Praz bets out 100k; Karl calls.
River:  6c  Praz says, "that much," pointing at a row of 5k yellow stacks.  It's a big bet - 285k when counted.
Karl inspects the remaining stack of his opponent...and lets it go.  Praz shows Th 3c.

Still Jen here - I feel a strange compulsion to refer to my arms as 'guns' when Snoopy goes off somewhere. 

While some passing goes on, a word about the TV arena - it is very large-scale, with a table bigger than that used for the EPT and audience seating on three sides.  It may be an interesting logistical problem to sort out fitting this mobile stage into some of the less roomy casinos on the Tour - Bolton is the largest, we think.  I can imagine cash games might need to be set up on top of the lighting rig, like bunk beds. 

9h 8d 9d flop.  Praz checks, Karl bets 40k, Praz raises to 100k total, which wins him another pot.  The acoustics in here are weird - I can see them chatting away on the screen less than 20 feet away, but even though I could hit Karl on the head by throwing my pen (and I'm a poor shot) I can't hear a word.  Shame; they're probably tabletalking each other nicely.

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Blinds are currently 15k/30k, at which point I was told they would freeze, which seems reasonable.

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Praz raises 60k, call.  Snoopy, who can lip read, apparently, says Praz said, "Don't you want to think about it?" when Karl instacalled.
Flop 4d 9s 8h - Praz bets 100k, call.
Turn Tc  Praz checks, Karl bets 200k.  Praz announces all-in.....

Karl passes.  Chips filtering down Praz's end of the table.

It gets all in in two raises...

Karl shows Aspades 8c
Praz shows:  9h 9s

Flop:  6s 7c Qs
Turn:  Th
River:  I don't know, Karl was standing up in front of me.  Snoopy might be able to tell you.

This means, that Karl Mahrenholz finishes in 2nd place, winning £35,500

While it's Praz Bansi who's the inaugural  GUKPT CHAMPION, winning £75,500 (that includes the money added and the £3k final seat so it's really £65,500 but it's a lot of money in any case)