blonde poker forum

Greetings from The Vic, where Junglecat and I are poised to run down the copious stairs and watch the copious action literally any minute now.  Players are still drifting in and signing their little forms as they pass to the New Improved card room (which isn't actually so new any more, but the first time I saw it was the EPT recently, and it was indeed improved). 

Expect an updater-filled Day One (not a typo - both Danafish and Snoopy1239 are just about to play their first GUKPT event - for the former her first ever big live event) and will undoubtedly get the full, even, unbiased coverage for which blonde is famous.

Now I can finally access the wonderful world of t'internet, may I extend my warmest greetings to you, the amassed blonde faithful.

The Vic is my old stomping ground, yet has changed considerably since my day with worn old carpets and scratched tables having been replaced, refurbished, revamped and polished till everything has a warm glow of luxuriance and sparkle surrounding it.

Much improved from a few years ago, it should be a pleasure updating from the sumptuous environ that the Vic has become.

This promises to be one of the best GUKPTs, with a field that will be chock full of stars, professionals, the odd fish and as Jen related, Snoopy and Dana(I'll let you decide which category to put them in!) will be amongst the throng. (Please let them be sharing a table.....)

The press room is a short trip from the card room, simply up the stairs, down the stairs, turn left, out of the door, through the next door, catch the no 57 bus, short climb up the Andes and you're one small parachute jump away.....(At least i should be getting fit)

Anyway, Jen has joined the ranks to catch the early action, and I will be joining her now to assist so here we go, good luck everyone!

I was wandering around, looking for interesting tables yet bemoaning the fact I couldn't find an interesting hand, when Sharplea, one of the other updaters tapped me on the shoulder to tell me to stop looking gormless and cover Snoopy's ALLIN!

Yes, you heard me right, blonde's own busy beagle had found all his chips in the middle at this early stage.

It looked as though most of the action occurred on the river of a Jh Kh 9c 3c Qd board. With about 2k in the pot the river action seemed to have gone, Snoopy had bet 1.5k, his opponent who i believe was Lam Trihn, raised this to 3.5k and snoopy pushed the rest of his chips into the pot which I would guess was about another 5k or so.....

Lam thought for ages, looked uncomfortable, and ultimately made the call. An impassive, headphoned snoopy, showed AT quietly for the nuts, whilst a headshaking Lam flashed either QT or KT for the 2nd nut straight. A nice early result for Snoopy who must be close to the 20k  mark! Keep up Dana he may be thinking (this is idle speculation on my part of course!)

Pre-recap of early action, I think it best to get the tedious spreadsheet creation out of the way, and at the same time get the full list of players blondewards.

The In Seat First Hand Silly Rule is no more, which also means that alternates are being accepted and will mess up this list a little bit by Level Two, but never mind - here are most of them, in seat order:

Table 1

1. Daniel Lewis
2. Osman Mustanoglu
3. JP Kelly
4. Peter Evans
5. John Reynolds
6. Dan Smith
7. Norman Jones
8. Robert Stain
9. Adam Wilkinson

Table 2

1. Zuhair Razook
2. Ken Garden
3. Marc Goodwin
4. Charles Denton
5. Richard Simmonds
6. Nick Gibson
7. Adam Vinson
8. Rumit Somaiya
9. Danny Dborin

Table 3

1. Jon Lundy
2. John Ioannou
3. S. Nikkhah
4. Thomas Dunwoodie
5. Dana Immanuel
6. Neil Robbins
7. Paul Ephremsen
8. Necmettin Cicekli
9. Mark Tomblin

Table 4

1. M. Bale
2. Guy Steele
3. Lee Redmond
4. Paul Alterman
5. Mike Chen
6. Paul Murrell
7. Marc Lousky
8. Christopher M. Pan
9. Richard Grace

Table 5

1. Lawrence Windish
2. John Gale
3. Ryan Fronda
4. Trevor Pearson
5. Jack Powell
6. Samir Patel
7. James Moult
8. Adam Heller
9. Raymond Nicholas

Table 6

1. John Murphy
2. Jeffrey Rogers
3. Jeff Buffenbarger
4. David Halsey
5. A. Johnson
6. Simon Mcdonagh
7. Sean Moran
8. Zack Chesses
9. Steven Hill

Table 7

1. Sultan Mahmud
2. Patrick Murray
3. W. Nosko
4. P. Mehmet
5. Lawrence Gosney
6. Mohammed Shafique
7. Eamon Delany
8. Marcus Bebb-jones
9. Damon Ioannou

Table 8

1. Tony Bedford
2. Michael Denton
3. Paul King
4. Barney Boatman
5. Paul McIntyre
6. Paul Hardwidge
7. Robert Jones
8. Paul Gourlay
9. Terence Mcgilly

Table 9

1. Bardi Rajah
2. Philip Dorrington
3. Allan Mclean
4. Talal Shakerchi
5. Donald Mccallion
6. Craig Owen
7. Bhupinder Kohli
8. Hoa Ngo
9. Bernard Litman

Table 10

1. James Mcbride
2. Debbie Littlejohn
3. Dave Colclough
4. Joshua Biedak
5. Andrew Booth
6. Gary Nordigan
7. Lisa Scotney
8. Brian Gilbert
9. Hieu Hoang

Table 11

1. Dean Sanders
2. Simon Eastwood
3. Andrew Cruickshank
4. Peter Hedlund
5. Mark Segal
6. Alexander Martin
7. Stephen Basri
8. Jimmy Gallagher
9. Michael Ellis

Table 12

1. Nik Persaud
2. Lam Trinh
3. Paul Dobson
4. Jan Lundberg
5. Darren Fuller
6. Adam Goulding
7. Paul Cohen
8. Peter Rogers
9. Nicholas Cherbanich

Table 13

1. Adam Stoneham
2. Rory Liffey
3. Jeff Kimber
4. Michael Greco
5. Antonio Volpe
6. John Hewston
7. Ian Nelson
8. Alan Vinson
9.

Table 14

1. Paul Leckey
2. Ian Woodley
3. Carl Buskirk
4. Dan Carter
5. Nick Holbrook
6. Glen Martin
7. Robert Boon
8. Steven Walden
9.

Table 15

1. Yilfer Shevket
2. M. McElhinney
3. Rory Campbell
4. Kastriot Krasniqi
5. Bambos Xanthos
6. Erling Marthinsen
7. Ronald Seymour
8. Matt Tyler
9.

The most interesting table I noticed was table 13, as mentioned which is likely to be unlucky for some.

Adam Stoneham, Rory Liffey, Jeff Kimber, Michael Greco, Antonio Volpe, John Hewston, Ian Nelson and Alan Vinson make up what has been dubbed in the press room "THE TABLE OF DEATH"

Every player on the table has a well earned reputation and I'll be keeping a close eye on this one as the chips will undoubtedly fly between assorted World Heads Up Champions, famous ex-eastender stars and flame-haired and highly aggressive poker players.....

In the time taken to post this, given the short connection-less hiatus we just experienced in the press room, Ian Nelson is OUT!

As predicted the TABLE OF DEATH has claimed its first victim...

On a 5s Th 5d 8s, Adam Stonham bet 2.5k and Ian Nelson moved in. Quickly called by Adam, Ian showing T8 for top 2 pair, but Adam's AA gave him a superior 2 pair and a blank river sent Ian crashing to the rail.....

Osman Mustanoglu is OUT, after tangling with Ian Woodley (pictured at a previous event in a more pleasingly garish T-shirt than he's wearing today).

It looked like Mustanoglu had raised and found Woodley and another player looking up the Tc 3c Jc flop.  I caught the action from when 1,525 appeared in front of Woodley, only to find a check-raise to 4,525 coming from his opponent.  A pretty quick move all-in from Woodley, and Osman Mustanoglu called, with that old chestnut, "If you got it, you got it..."

He had it: Ac Qc to Mustanoglu's Ks Kc.  22,000 for Ian Woodley, the rail for Mustanoglu.

Incidentally, the brief recap given by the exiter to pal Rumit Somaiya perfectly sums up how busted players can tell a story in such a way that they seem most hard done by.  "Pair of Kings vs. Ace-Queen.  He made a flush on me."  Just the right amount of ambiguity to imply horrible outdrawing and potential donkeying on the part of the opponent. 

___________________________________________________

Snoopy might be the level One chip leader, but his special lady friend is up a few thousand too - thanks to some well-timed good cards (Aces, first hand).  She raised preflop and found one caller in position on her in the form of Mark Tomblin.  She bet the flop of 9h Kc 3d, and then 500 on the Jc turn.  The river brought the 5k and she once again bet out, this time 1k, called by Tomblin with his shown Ts Th, while here Instaboots - Aspades Ad took the first good-sized pot.

Also making an early exit was Mohammed Shafiq, whose final hand, I noted, was Jc 6c.  The beneficiary of most of his chips looked to be Patrick Murray, who'd ended up with a higher flush and may have been the player who said as soon as Shaf was out of earshot, "Well he shouldn't be playing them cards then should he..." implying, probably rightly, that he'd gotten himself into trouble raising with 'interesting' starting hands, as is his modus operandi.

Passing Dan Carter's table, and he says as the cards are dealt, "Hang on, I've got Aces here..." He limped as did Richard Grace, and blinds Paul Murrell and Marc Lousky.
Flop: 2s Ad 6s  Small blind Murrell bet out 275, called by Lousky.  Grace then raised to 900 - over to last to act Dan Carter, who pondered for a minute before re-raising to 2,500.  Three instafolds later and another pot to the Kid.  "Nice flop for Aces," he continues, despite the fact that that wasn't what he held at all.

Jeff Kimber looks like he has lost a few jaffacakes, appearing to have around 5k. I was just about to have a quick chat with the Heads Up supremo, when Barry Neville appeared, larger than life and twice as ugly, guzzling the hot buffet.

"ere, you gotta try t'chicken, it's luoovly". I accede to the request happily and can confirm that indeed the hot buffet being handed round amongst players and thieving press members such as myself, is immensely tasty. Congrats to the Vic catering staff.

As you may have guessed from my inane culinary ramblings I am somewhat short on interesting poker details.

Just to bring you up to date there are 113 players remaining out of the initial 130/131 (one player is likely to be removed shortly for non-appearance) and the current level is 50 100. Average stack is at 11,600

Dana and Snoops both remain in, ahead of the current average.

I join snoops for a quick chat. He looks happy following his early double up. Nick Persaud (who is un-bespectacled today) makes a raise and shows AQ. "It's an easy game, if I raise I've got a big ace or a big pair"

"Or 83" adds Snoopy laconically to a few chuckles....

Here we see the lens-less Nikhil Persaud...

Barny Boatman has bitten the dust. After his near big result, and cash in Barcelona, he was an unfortunate victim of mateyboy...

Holding 66 on a 6 A x A flop and turn, Barny pushed allin and his optimistic opponent called with....not the Ace as expected but QQ?

A dagger-to-heart-like queen on the river though, gave him the higher full house and sent the unfortunate mobster spiralling out of the tournament.

The players are enjoying a short break now and the atmosphere is convivial as players enjoy the lovely buffet and swap funny stories with each other.

I suspect that given a few days of climbing the umpteen flights of stairs between card room and press room, I will have calves like an olympic sprinter and will thus be resigning as a blonde updater to become a professional sock model.

Here is the first photo of my future CV. All suggestions welcome....

A couple of selected chip updates before we get the full whack courtesy of the wonderful Raabian Break Counting System:

Adam Stoneham -- 8,800
Alex Martin -- 12,350
Matt Tyler -- 22,000
Snoopy -- 16,750
Jeff Kimber -- 7,050
Michael Greco -- 13,700
Marc Goodwin -- 12,800
Dave Colclough -- 9,700
Paul King -- 9,525
Jeffrey Rogers -- 19,000
JP Kelly -- 21,500
Paul Gourlay -- 8,200

Big pot for Nik Persaud:  His opponent - Nicholas Cherbanich, who was in the cutoff vs. Persaud on the button, on a board of Kh 8c 9s 6h.  There was already about 6k in the pot (which is what draws updaters like free coffee)...and now check to Nik who bets 3k.  Pretty fast call.
River: Aspades.  Bit of a dwell from Cherbanich, who then asks, "Can you beat two pair?"
"Have you checked?" rejoinders Nik.
"I was asking can you beat two pair..." Pause. "Check."
Nik moves all in for his last remaining 3,275.  Back to Cherbanich who thinks for a while longer before deciding that Nik wouldn't risk it with nothing, and passes.

_______________________________________________________________

Blind vs. bllind Blitz

People are going out all over the place on the blinds against the other blinds at the moment.  In the case of Bambos flopping Aces full on the small blind and getting his opponent's whole stack in, apparently, on a flush draw, that stands to reason.  Elsewhere the action kicks off preflop - Christopher Pan re-raises all in on the big blind for 3,075 (after an initial thousand came in from small blind Marc Lousky).  Lousky topped up his bet to call, and showed 6d 6h against the all-in player's Ahrt Kd.  The flop brought 5s 6c 3d, and all hope for the straight chop vanished when the 9h and then totally irrelevant 3s came next.  Quite a bit of table reshuffling has already been going on, and it looks like a pretty fast start to this leg of the GUKPT.

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) has a bit of a wincing exit with Aspades Ad... it looks like he was the aggressor until the turn with his only opponent being Glen Martin.  I caught this hand just as the Jc was coming down to join the Jh 2s and 2d already flopped.  Glen Martin then moved in, and it was just a small stack which Simmonds had left to shove with his Aces, only to be shown Ahrt Js which had raced firmly into the lead with the second Jack falling.  Another one out.

Chip Counts in Chip Order... (from the end of the first break)

Denton, Charles    38325
Cicekli, Necmettin  25425
Shakerchi, Talal  24150
Woodley, Ian   24100
Owen, Craig  24000
Tyler, Matthew   23225
Heller, Adam   22350
Xanthos, Charalambos   22325
Robbins, Neil   21500
Kelly, John-paul  21450
Mcgilly, Terence  21425
Moran, Sean  21350
Boon, Robert  21275
Jones, Robert  21100
Mehmet, P  18550
Rogers, Jeffrey   18475
Moult, James   18425
Goulding, Adam   17875
Hoang, Hieu  17575
Campbell, Rory   17325
Vinson, Alan  17275
Bebb-jones, Marcus  17025
Gibson, Nick   16000
Nosko, W  15950
Rajah, Bardi   15850
Gallagher, Jimmy  14850
Ioannou, John   14800
Grace, Richard   14800
Somaiya, Rumit   14775
Lewis, Daniel   14600
Murray, Patrick   14400
Ioannou, Damon   14275
Carter, Daniel   14025
Lundberg, Jan   13800
Greco, Michael   13750
Lundy, Jon  13675
Delany, Eamon   13500
Alterman, Paul   13375
Wilkinson, Adam   13275
Gale, John  13100
Goodwin, Marc   12900
Krasniqi, Kastriot   12625
Dorrington, Philip   12475
Martin, Alexander   12450
Volpe, Antonio   11875
Steele, Guy   11775
Rogers, Peter   11775
Eastwood, Simon Joseph   11725
Hedlund, Peter   11575
Gilbert, Brian   11325
Nikkhah, S   11200
Booth, Andrew   11200
Liffey, Rory   11125
Seymour, Ronald   11000
Immanuel, Dana   10875
Dobson, Paul   10750
Mcdonagh, Simon   10475
Halsey, David   10375
Persaud, Nikhil   10375
Hewston, John   10300
Bale, M   10275
Scotney, Lisa   10250
Cherbanich, nicholas   10200
Sanders, Dean   10050
King, Paul   9675
Ngo, Hoa   9675
Dunwoodie, Thomas   9250
Murphy, John   9025
Colclough, David   8975
Cohen, Paul   8825
Ellis, Michael   8725
Kohli, Bhupinder   8700
Lousky, Marc   8475
Cruickshank, Andrew   8375
Powell, Jack   8250
Martin, Glen   8150
Stoneham, Adam   8150
Gourlay, Paul   8100
Hill, Steven   8000
Evans, Peter   7950
Basri, Stephen   7850
Stain, Robert   7450
Hardwidge, Paul   7250
Fronda, Ryan   7225
Murrell, Paul   7200
Tse, Chen   6875
Mahmud, Sultan   6850
Reynolds, John   6675
Windish, Lawrence   6575
Denton, Michael   6425
Shevket, Yilfer   6275
Biedak, Joshua   6225
Buskirk, Carl   6100
Kimber, J   5975
Nicholas, Raymond   5350
Dborin, Danny   5200
Pearson, Trevor   5100
Fuller, Darren   4975
Mcelhinney, M   4825
Segal, Mark   4400
Simmonds, Richard   4100
Chesses, Zack   3700
Walden, Steven   3000
Pan, Christopher M   2825
Nordigan, Gary   2600
Holbrook, Nick   2525
Leckey, Paul   2425
Patel, Samir   2275
Vinson, Adam   1375

Had a quick chat with Alex (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=1198) Martin (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=1198)...

"Yeah doing ok" he tells me. "Er I rivered a full house against a made flush" and begins giggling like a naughty schoolboy. I'm guessing a fair few of the chips went in when he was behind then!

Nonetheless, Alex looks composed and focused and had time in between talking to me to quickly raise the button and pick up the blinds.

It seems during my time updating for blonde I have been unable to avoid Barry soundbites but for good or bad, he does draw action round him like a magnet. As I pass by JP (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=222) Kelly (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=222)'s table which has been supplemented by the presence of 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) and Ian (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=176) Woodley (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=176), Barry(who plays tomorrow but is happy to wind everyone up today) is causing mischief by giving Ian (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=176) Woodley (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=176) a hard time.

"Ave you seen me wife?" says Barry pointing at one of the attractive waitresses...

"Has she seen you!" fires Woodley back. "Can you get this annoying northener out of my face" pleads Ian to one of the staff. "We need a barrier.....and a bloody big one at that!" Barry laughs before wandering off to annoy Michael Greco.

Meanwhile a hand develops between 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) and Daniel Lewis. The preflop action is unknown but facing a big bet on a 9 5 5 rainbow flop, 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) folds and shows Q Q. His opponent flips over 99 for a flopped house and Jeff's made an excellent laydown there to save his tournament. He's earnt himself a jaffacake or two with that one.

Snoopy doesn't keep his stack behind the line for long - he's been all in again this level, in these circumstances...

Threeway to the flop of Tc Ac 8h.  Snoopy checks, Kastriot Krasniqi checks, Bambos bets 1k.  Snoops check-raises to 4,000, Krasniqi calls.  Bambos gives it the full almighty think before passing.
Turn: 5d  Snoopy's remaining 10k is over the line as soon as the turn turns.  He covers Krasniqi, who eventually passes, showing Ahrt Js.  Snoops deigns to reveal the Qc.  This sets Bambos off about his hand he passed, "I was thinking about raising...if I'd done that I would have won a big pot with my 5c 8c..."  Perhaps, perhaps.  But the chips go beaglewards.

With 10k+ in the pot, I caught Mr. Cool putting a big chunk of chips in on the river, the board reading: Th 5c 4s 9c 8c.  Eventually he got paid by what looked like a set as it flashed on the way into the muck - he only had 6c 7c.  When I play suited connectors I seem to get it all in with a dominated flush draw - when Marc Goodwin plays them he gets a straight flush. 

__________________________________________________

Dana 'danafish' Immanuel is just under 19,000 in chips now, after, "That gentleman had an accident with Aces and I hit trips on the river."  To elucidate: Dana limped with A-Q after 'the gentleman' limped with A-A.  The flop brought one queen and the turn a second, meaning that a pretty good pot moved over to Dana, without her opponent actually losing his whole stack.

A big pot was brewing between two guys who appeared to be Simon Eastwood and Michael Ellis on Alex Martin's table.

I joined the hand on the turn where Michael Ellis was betting around 5k allin into a 6k pot on the turn of a Qd 7s 3d 3c board.

This was most of Simon Eastwood's chips and he dwelt  for a while, throwing a few questions at Ellis. Ellis could have been forgiven, given Eastwood's surname, for asking him "Do you feel lucky, well do ya....PUNK" but merely shrugged and eventually Eastwood decided he did feel lucky and made the call with 9h 7h, 2nd pair.

It proved an excellent call as Ellis showed Kd Jd for the flush draw and Eastwood was rewarded with a good, not a bad and certainly not an ugly river 9s to complete the hand and add a few dollars more to his stack, sergio-ing him up through the leaderboard and leaving Ellis' dreams of finishing the tournament with a fistful of dollars in tatters...

Dinner break approaches and in other news, Jeff Kimber has augmented his stack, taking Ian Woodley off a pot and appears to be doing relatively nicely with around 15-16k now, a vast improvement from earlier. JP was seen smiling mischievously as he raked in a pot on the same table.

Yep - we're just starting an hour's dinner break.  In advance of the full counts which will be coming at the end of it, here are a few including, I hope, all those requested.

Nick Gibson -- 39,800
John Hewston -- 10,600
Dan Carter -- 14,125
John Ioannou -- 30,400 (The last time I reported on him it was the Monte Carlo Millions.  "I only play the big ones," he explained)
Nik Persaud -- 12,650
Michael Greco -- 23,075 (Although it may be more - Barry Neville was calling him names for finding someone ready to go all in against him pre with AJ which he dominated)
JP Kelly -- 17,000
Jeff Kimber -- 15,600
Ian Woodley -- 14,500
Alex Martin -- 16,500
John Murphy -- 9,750
John Gale -- 7,500
Ryan Fronda -- 9,000
Rory Liffey -- 14,200
Paul Alterman -- 8,100
Lee Redmond -- 33,000
Dave Colclough -- 9,000
Adam 'Snoopy' Goulding -- 33,500
Paul King -- 4,775
Matt Tyler -- 15,600

:hello:

I'm here to take the reins over from Jen who can't stay too 'late', she has another thing to do this week, which I won't mention, so we're letting her get an early 'night'. So, Rod and myself will be taking over and the 'poker' is about to recommence.


Man, I'd have made a great spy.

Paul (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=946) Alterman (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=946) is OUT.

John Murphy has 9,500.

Battle of the blinds between Nick (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=305) Gibson (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=305) (SB) and John Hewston (BB) gave some chips to the former.  One of them small raised preflop, flip a coin - let's guess Gibson.
Flop: Kd Qc 8d  Nick checked, Hewston bet 1,200, call.
Turn: Ahrt  check-check
River: 6c  Nick (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=305) Gibson (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=305) bets out 2k, is called sharply by Hewston, who shows Kh 7h to Gibson's winning two pair: Aspades 8h.

Night night.

Dana, who the organisers have seen fit to sit next to her beloved snoopy (let the fireworks commence!) has just taken down a pot.

I missed the preflop action but it looked like about 1500-2k in the pot preflop.

A flop of Ks 3d 4s was bet by Dana for 1200 and called by her opponent. The turn 3h elicited a check from both players and when Mateyboy checked the 2s river, Dana also checked, her A A good enough to take down the 5k pot vs mateyboy's KJ.

MEANWHILE Barry Neville's incessant winding up of the members of JP Kelly's table, with Ian Woodley being the main target, appears to have spread some friction across the table. Ian Woodley and Hieu Hoang almost came to blows. It was related to me that Hoang threatened to throw a cup at Woodley after their dispute!

So I watched carefully as Hieu Hoang became involved in a pot with Ian and also Adam Wilkinson, who earlier passed 77 on a 5 high board to Hoang's 99. All three had reached the turn of a 5d 6d Ad flop with roughly 5k in the pot. The turn of 7d was bet by Hoang for about 5-6k. Both Woodley and Wilkinson passed,Wilkinson revelealing A7 for top 2.

Hoang later revealed he had the nut flush. There were no further threats of crockery assault.

Alex Martin is now sat at the same table and is no doubt watching events unfolding on this fiery table with great interest...

Here are the end of level four chip counts, courtesy of those fabulous folk at blue square...

Denton, Charles 46450
Goulding, Adam 35050
Gibson, Nick 33550
Cicekli, Necmettin 33100
Goodwin, Marc 32650
Xanthos, Charalambos 32150
Eastwood, Simon Joseph 30750
Greco, Michael 29900
Ioannou, John 29425
Moran, Sean 28050
Dorrington, Philip 27350
Mehmet, P 25425
Hoang, Hieu 23700
Campbell, Rory 23050
Owen, Craig 22025
Lewis, Daniel 21725
Rajah, Bardi 21700
Wilkinson, Adam 20800
Jones, Robert 20500
Heller, Adam 20225
Rogers, Jeffrey 19875
Chesses, Zack 19825
Moult, James 18725
Delany, Eamon 18575
Vinson, Alan 18500
Grace, Richard 18275
Gallagher, Jimmy 18050
Carter, Daniel 17725
Kelly, John-paul 17400
Bebb-jones, Marcus 17075
Gilbert, Brian 16875
Nosko, W 16850
Cohen, Paul 16600
Boon, Robert 16150
Shakerchi, Talal 15750
Liffey, Rory 15725
Scotney, Lisa 15725
Tyler, Matthew 15625
Martin, Alexander 15175
Immanuel, Dana 14550
Buskirk, Carl 14100
Lousky, Marc 14025
Kimber, J 13950
Nikkhah, S 13775
Hewston, John 13250
Murray, Patrick 12625
Reynolds, John 12600
Persaud, Nikhil 12175
Mcgilly, Terence 12175
Rogers, Peter 12075
Steele, Guy 12000
Mcdonagh, Simon 11775
Denton, Michael 11675
Booth, Andrew 11275
Somaiya, Rumit 11225
Cherbanich, nicholas 11200
Martin, Glen 11050
Murrell, Paul 10600
Fronda, Ryan 10125
Colclough, David 9675
Dunwoodie, Thomas 9600
Basri, Stephen 9225
Hedlund, Peter 9100
Woodley, Ian 9025
Murphy, John 8825
Pan, Christopher M 8000
Gale, John 7825
Cruickshank, Andrew 7825
Alterman, Paul 7500
Ioannou, Damon 7400
Nicholas, Raymond 6800
Volpe, Antonio 6775
Shevket, Yilfer 6375
Hill, Steven 6275
Patel, Samir 6050
Windish, Lawrence 6050
Walden, Steven 5300
Halsey, David 5250
Holbrook, Nick 4900
King, Paul 4675
Biedak, Joshua 3650
Bale, M 3550
Fuller, Darren 3325
Powell, Jack 2875

God clearly has a sense of humour...

(http://www.blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2201&g2_serialNumber=1)

Alex Martin in Seat 1 and JP in Seat 3. Clearly less comical than the previous photo. They look like they're concentrating. Shhhh.

(http://www.blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2198&g2_serialNumber=1)

Dan Carter is OUT. In his Miami Vice styled Poker shirt, he pushed on a Tc 4s 8h with Ad Th but ran into Qd Qh of the gentleman sitting to his immediate left, the turn and river were both blanks and he's off for some action that may involve 'late nights'.

I should really be on Alias...

Or at least 'Chuck'.

(http://www.blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2203&g2_serialNumber=1)

Explosive ACTION!

(http://www.autoimagery.com/lgfc.jpg)

On a 3-4-5 flop.

Michael Greco bets 1,500. Snoopy makes it 4,000. Greco moves all-in and Snoopy insta-calls.

Greco: 5-4

Snoppy: A-2

A blank Jack turn and a harmless 7 river take out Greco and Snoops is probably chip leader now.

Here is the "Spherical Wonder" Matt Tyler, now demanding picture approval of any photo that could possibly deem him a roundhead.

Btw, what sort of face is El Blondie pulling to cause that sort of reaction from the woman sitting next to him?

(http://www.blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2205&g2_serialNumber=1)

I join J-P who is i-podded up and smiling. "How's it going JP" I ask as I gauge his stack which is 15-18k ish.

"I just lost a pot and am being ridiculed for it. Other than that good"

Adam Wilkinson appears to be doing well with a stack of 25-28k or so.

The Blinds are currently 150 300 with a 25 ante, 65 players remain...15 minutes remains of this level....before the REAL mayhem starts....and the average stack is 20150 or so.

Snoopy has won so many pots, he is thinking of changing his name to Scoopy. It may be my imagination but is seems as though every time I join him, his stack has grown, and his carefullly cultivated quiff has grown in proportion.

If he keeps raking in pots, it will be touching the ceiling soon.

God knows what it will look like if he wins the tournament which is looking more and more credible all the time...

(http://www.webmikey.com/images/arts/bello.jpg)

Short break now. Blinds 200/400 when we come back.

Still having a few photo troubles.

Mickey Pearce and Matt Tyler are OUT.

Matt's exit was when he moved in 2h 7s 4c board and was instant called by M Bale. It's funny how poker players always assume the worst, and then always assume if someone asks them if they have a set, then the other person must have a set also.

"You have a set?" asks Matt.

"No, you have a set?" comes the reply.

Matt flips 8h 8s

Bale has Ac Ad.

Blank turn and river. And that's that.

-------

Dana is getting annoyed having big-stacked Adams' Goulding and Wilkinson either side of her. She's considering bitch-slapping Snoopy.

I'll guess she'll need this coupon.

(http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlLA/original/bitch-slap_1130536521.jpg)

JP Kelly is OUT!

On a 8d 3d 9s board, JP pushed allin and was insta called by a gentleman I beleive is Carl Buskirk.

JP showed TJo for the open ended straight draw and Carl showed pocket 8s....

JP's draw failed to hit and he shipped all his chips over to Carl, before packing up his ipod and moving away. "I felt like I wanted to gamble a little to get some chips to work with" said JP, before launching himself over to check the cash games.

Philip Dorrington is OUT. No further elaboration of his exit is available at this present time.

The blinds are now 200 400 with a 50 ante, 57 players remain and the current average is 22,800.

Big stacked Charles Denton.

(http://www.blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2209&g2_serialNumber=1)

Nick Gibson

(http://www.blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2213&g2_serialNumber=1)

Jeff Kimber thievage.

The button limps, small blind folds and Jaffa checks.

Flop:

Qh 8s 4s

The button goes to check but doesn't, so Jeff bets 800. Button calls.

Turn:

Aspades

Both players check.

River:

7h

Now Jeff bets 1,500 which scares the button off. Alex Martin remarks Jeff got away with that one...

(http://www.blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2215&g2_serialNumber=1)

Hmmm something really bizarre.

(http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/6/6d/Bizarre_Hannicap_Circus_Album.jpg)

No, not THAT sort of bizarre. More just, odd.

(http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid59/pb3166782bf86908bb2939f2f9245f05e/fc5eb39b.jpg)

That's better.

Anyway, it involves a Mateyboy squared moment.

Board reads:

7s 4h Ks 4s Jh

MB1 checks, MB2 bets 2,500, MB1 moves all-in for around 7,425 more. After a lengthy dwell, MB2 makes what looks like is going to be a crying call. But then he flips over 7h 7c and MB1 is on the rail.

The rest of the table look a little bemused and Mark Goodwin is talking to him about the hand and why it took so long to call, when says Goodwin, "You were always going to call."

MB2's reasoning, "I hadn't really invested much into the pot."

Chip counts at end of level 6 courtesy of those marvellous men at blue square.

(http://)


2   4   204   Denton, Charles   60000
2   6   206   Gibson, Nick   57525
3   6   1206   Goulding, Adam   50125
5   1   308   Cicekli, Necmettin   43575
7   10   901   Rajah, Bardi   38775
4   5   607   Moran, Sean   36725
7   5   704   Mehmet, P   34925
5   5   203   Goodwin, Marc   34600
2   1   1505   Xanthos, Charalambos   33250
4   4   906   Owen, Craig   32375
3   9   1008   Gilbert, Brian   31325
5   8   508   Heller, Adam   30275
3   4   109   Wilkinson, Adam   29225
3   2   302   Ioannou, John   26650
6   6   606   Mcdonagh, Simon   25050
1   2   1403   Buskirk, Carl   24925
2   7   807   Jones, Robert   24325
5   4   1503   Campbell, Rory   24200
2   3   1406   Martin, Glen   23775
6   9   904   Shakerchi, Talal   23450
1   5   1407   Boon, Robert   22575
3   1   1405   Holbrook, Nick   21750
7   4   703   Nosko, W   20550
6   1   601   Murphy, John   20525
7   9   1003   Colclough, David   20525
1   3   103   Kelly, John-paul   20400
1   1   1106   Martin, Alexander   20250
3   8   101   Lewis, Daniel   19100
1   4   1207   Cohen, Paul   18725
6   5   1103   Cruickshank, Andrew   17925
7   8   708   Bebb-jones, Marcus   17800
2   9   1108   Gallagher, Jimmy   17000
4   2   402   Steele, Guy   16750
4   8   1308   Vinson, Alan   16350
1   7   1303   Kimber, J   15200
5   9   1007   Scotney, Lisa   14700
1   6   1402   Woodley, Ian   14450
3   5   305   Immanuel, Dana   14350
5   7   902   Dorrington, Philip   14275
4   9   707   Delany, Eamon   13875
2   2   1305   Volpe, Antonio   13825
6   2   602   Rogers, Jeffrey   13775
3   3   1201   Persaud, Nikhil   13525
4   6   1208   Rogers, Peter   12425
7   7   1004   Biedak, Joshua   12400
1   9   1408   Walden, Steven   11400
2   5   303   Nikkhah, S   10300
1   8   507   Moult, James   10250
5   3   503   Fronda, Ryan   10050
3   7   1104   Hedlund, Peter   9775
4   1   401   Bale, M   9750
7   6   408   Pan, Christopher M   9400
6   8   608   Chesses, Zack   9050
5   2   502   Gale, John   8325
4   7   1508   Tyler, Matthew   8275
7   2   1501   Shevket, Yilfer   8075
5   6   506   Patel, Samir   7700
6   7   802   Denton, Michael   7625
7   3   1302   Liffey, Rory   6700
4   3   1102   Eastwood, Simon Joseph   5950
6   3   501   Windish, Lawrence   4950
6   4   604   Halsey, David   4825

Dana is OUT. Bah. she said she had an accident with Tens. Then she pushed her last 4k with Sevens, but the blasted Snoopy had Queens.

This was an artist's impression of her after her own dear boyfriend had knocked her out.

(http://www.tuftsprimarysource.org/issues/20/05/images/rolling.pin.jpg)

Ian Woodley has also bitten the dust.

At 300 600 with a 75 ante, blind stealing has become a serious business. As I joined Snoopy's table, I noticed Nikhal Persaud had become rather short with 8-9k to his name and I was mentally noting how he will be forced to make a move soon. No sooner do I see this than the man on the button John Ioannou raises to 1800 and Nick pushes allin immediately from the sb. Adam Wilkinson passes what he later revealed was an ace from the big blind and John passed KQd face up. "Don't fancy doubling you up just yet" he says.... and Nick takes the pot down.

Next hand, Adam Wilkinson raises from the sb to 1800 on Snoopy's big blind of 600. Snoopy duly passes and Adam shows AdKd to show he's not messing around.

"Yep" says snoopy, "you were ahead" to laughter from the table. "I had kicker problems on both cards...."

Well if Snoopy's poker ever fails him, he has a ready made fall back career as a stand up comic...

(http://www.clipartguide.com/_small/0511-0702-2316-3527.jpg)

Everytime he raised, mad Yankeeboy next to him has re-raised him, luckily he just raised with Eights, Yankeeboy called. The flop came 8-9-K. Alex bet 3,600 Yank moved in with K-Q and Alex just doubled up to about 36,000.

(http://www.blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2220&g2_serialNumber=1)

John Gale is OUT, in the last hand before the break. He re-raised all-in with Ac Jc on a 6s 5s 2d board and fouind a caller in Adam Heller whose Sevens held.

Heller now is the chip leader.

BUT, he just lost a pot to Jeff Kimber. Alex in his own words "I'm playing like a donkey..."

Alex raised to 1800, mateyboy called in MP and Jeff moved allin for 10k more. Alex said "I INSTACALLED but Jeff had KK and outdrew me....", so he is 20-24k or so......

About to start the last level of the day. 400/800 with a 75 ante.

43 left.

Anyway, Alex (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=1198) Martin (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=1198) is down a chunk, re-raising a 2,400 to 7,400 but having to pass to a push. He was shown Aces and claimed he had Ace Queen. Here he is, channelling God, Jesus, Buddha and Mohammed all at once in a tense moment. Nick (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=305) Gibson (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=305), meanwhile was just content to twizzel his earphones.

(http://blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2222&g2_serialNumber=1)

Meanwhile over Table El Blondie...

Dave says, "I keep getting up to 20k and then the bastards knock me back down to 6k."

"How much do you have?"

"21,600."

"Ok, then I better stay whilst you get knocked back to 6k again."

Dave meanwhile, rolls his eyes as two plays get it all in in a 25k+ pot on a 2-2-4 pot. Both show A-J.

(http://blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2224&g2_serialNumber=1)

Sorry Rick but Alex Martin is in a spot of bother...

As I join his table and his much depleted stack he makes a "grrrrrr" face at me, slightly resembling a frustrated tiger whose diet is short on fruit and general roughage.

(http://www.eden-project.co.uk/images/tiger-b-Dscn3641.jpg)

He's down to about 10k or so, and when Nick Gibson raises the 800 BB to 2.2k, Alex shoves his 10k over the line. Nick ums and ahhs and calculates pot odds.

"If I had Q8 I'd call like a shot!" before passing and Alex adds to his stack.

Eamon Delaney who was nursing a short stack is out. Reraising Sean Moran's middle position raise ALLIN, he is unhappy to receive a call from Sean's AQ, understandably as his limp AJ was dominated.

A meaningless board devoid of jacks and other spicy cards ensues and Eamon hits the rail, reducing the field yet further...

38 players remain as the end of the day approaches...

Play has ended, we lost Alex (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=1198) Martin (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=1198) just before the end with A-4 vs A-K.

Here's Adam (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=11) Wilkinson (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=11) and Jim Moult (aka Bookiebasher) building their respective stacks. Snoops has finished the day with about 44k.

(http://blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2226&g2_serialNumber=1)

Chip counts to come later.

We are all off to bed. Play restarts tomorrow at 1.30pm.

;stickaforkinme;

Heller, Adam   93900
Bale, M   74475
Denton, Charles   74000
Buskirk, Carl   67675
Owen, Craig   65150
Gibson, Nick   64175
Xanthos, Charalambos   54875
Eastwood, Simon Joseph   49600
Wilkinson, Adam   48475
Goodwin, Marc   44775
Rajah, Bardi   44625
Gilbert, Brian   43450
Goulding, Adam   42950
Ioannou, John   37700
Mehmet, P   34625
Shakerchi, Talal   34450
Kimber, Jeff   33675
Cicekli, Necmettin   32700
Cohen, Paul   32100
Holbrook, Nick   32000
Rogers, Jeffrey   30775
Martin, Glen   29100
Shevket, Yilfer   27250
Cruickshank, Andrew   26475
Halsey, David   25325
Volpe, Antonio   24825
Boon, Robert   21925
Nosko, W   21075
Persaud, Nikhil   18875
Moult, James   16675
Murphy, John   14175
Colclough, David   13625
Mcdonagh, Simon   12625
Nikkhah, S   10650
Moran, Sean   3575