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Righteo, I'm off to Ireland on Monday for the Dublin EPT, so I shall be handing the update baton over to NoflopsHomer for the final two days.

On that note, I shall leave you with the overnight chip counts heading into Day 2 and wish everyone the very best of luck.

Toodle pip. ;snoopy;

Paul Rodgers   84200
Andrew Bradshaw   80600
Y. Umarji   72300
J. Iqbal   72300
Ved Madan   71600
Ash (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=38) Hussain (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=38)   70800
M. Ghani   65200
Andy (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=31) Johnson (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=31)   61700
Chris (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=72) Smith (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=72)   54000
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)   53900
Lee Birchall   52700
Kevin (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=235) O'Leary (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=235)   51900
Richard Gray   50100
A. Kennedy   49800
Roberto (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=376) Romanello (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=376)   46700
Lee Horton   45600
Martin (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=269) Green (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=269)   43300
Jeff (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=194) Burke (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=194)   41000
M. Damavandy   40700
Karl Limbert   40100
Chris (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=73) Sokrati (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=73)   37900
Jonothon Butters   36300
Jamie Moult   35500
Michael Lott   34900
G. Westcott   32600
Paul McCue   32500
Paul (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=337) Vicary (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=337)   32400
M. Shiels   32000
Paul Rayner   32000
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)   32000
Willie (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=450) Tann (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=450)   28900
Ash Ahmed   28700
G. Whytell   28400
Trevor Payne   28100
Mohammed Hussain   27800
Charalambos Xanthos   26700
P. Taylor   25300
A. Patel   24300
A. Harding   24100
Dylan Herbert   23500
C. Li   23300
Olabode (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=316) Ayegun (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=316)   23300
I. Patel   22000
Lawrence (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=243) Gosney (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=243)   21700
R. Alden   21200
S. Basri   20700
P. Baldock   20200
John Burberry   19900
Henry Griffiths   19700
Rob Reece   19000
Osman (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=688) Mustanoglu (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=688)   18800
Dave Knight   18200
J. Pescot   17900
Dean Mitchell   17700
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)   17400
Piers Whyman   16100
Rob (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=382) Sherwood (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=382)   15700
John Marles   15300
Tony Harman   14300
M. Akinson   13200
Michael Arnold   12400
Gary (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=147) Chatterton (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=147)   12300
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) Jnr   11800
Allan Rudge   10600
Mike Arnold   9600
R. Gilby   9400
Marcus Bebb-Jones   7900
Nick Risdale   7000

Morning! I've just arrived at Grosvenor Walsall and I must admit tht through my sleep-deprived haze the only thing I have thus far noticed is Kevin O'Leary's hair, glowing like a beacon. Excellent choice of colour, that man.

Oooh, Floppy's just this second arrived and he's already broken a glass. Yay! It's going to be a fun-packed day...

Yes, I'm here and have immediately managed to smash a glass all over the floor.


I know how to make an entrance...

It is action-packed here today to make up for the despairing of previous days. 3 players have already, as John Raab puts it, bitten the felt.

Nick Risdale and Mathew Sheils went out to Antony Kennedy in the same hand. I believe Risdale was all-in before the flop for his 7k microstack and Sheils got it in on the Ac Qs Jd flop, reraising to a 5k bet from Kennedy, who instacalled the all in.

Risdale - A-J

Sheils -   Ahrt Ts

Kennedy - Qd Qh

And Kennedy is shouting "No King!" - the poker gods obey and spit out the 4s and the 3s. Kennedy shouts a slightly ungentlemanly something that sounds like "Cooo tooo nwaaaahhh!" that I don't think even he understands, and the losing players make their exits. Here is the winner, recovering from the excitement.

I'm afraid he's out, I was covering a hand on the next table and turned round to see that he was getting out of his seat. Also, gone from that table already is M Arnold.

The hand in question was between Malcolm Atkins and Richard Gilby. Gilby had pushed over the top on the turn of a 7h 3d Ks 8h. Atkins eventually made the call with Jh Th. Gilby showed 7s 7c which held on a blank river. Atkins was down to the felt and left soon after.

Gary Chatterton, much to his chagrin, has just been forced to chop a pot with Antony Kennedy. All-in on the turn with A-Q vs A-J on an A-A-3-7 board, Chatterton was in great shape until the river paired the 3.

;kc;

Also OUT is Malcolm Atkins, with Td Jd to Javed Iqbal's 9c 9s.

Ash Hussain moves table. Says Danny the dealer, "You're on the big blind now so you get to play a hand."

He's now next to Lawrence Gosney, who announces, "Listen boys, there's 60 of us left, how about we take 5 grand a piece and f*** off out of this town?" There is some tittering, but no-one takes him up on it.

Contrary to earlier reports, Michael Arnold is still in. Still, er, plastered.

Soxy news...

In a four way pot, Soxy bets out 3k with A-Q on an Aspades Qs 9d board starting off a chain of events. One player moved all-in behind him for around 13k, another player dwelt before folding, the third, on the button flat-called the all-in and Soxy dwelt to the point where he had the clock put on him. Eventually he passed, the all-in showing A-Q also, but the button held a set of nines, though the fourth player in the hand had the flush draw which would've hit.

"It was the flat call that scared me..." said Chris.


Ashfag Ahmed had doubled up in style, Andrew Bradshaw had raised from the button with 9c 8c and was very much liking the 3c 6c 5h board that gave him two overs, a gutshot and a flush draw. The problem was that Ahmed had called with, yup, 7s 4d, for the flopped straight. As the turn and river came 3h and Qh, Bradshaw was left repeatedly muttering, "I can't get away, I can't get away..."

Just been involved in a hand with Willie Tann, he raised it up to 3,600 from early position. Willie made it 8,400 more with around 20k back.

"I've played this hand exactly the way you said I should yesterday!" said Dylan.

Willie then admitted he couldn't remember what hand it must be, but offered that since both had around the same amount of chips that if they did both get their stacks in the middle, whoever won the hand should give the other 2% of their action. Eventually though, Dylan decided that discretion was the better part of valour and folded.

A very curious hand here. I wandered over to Table 4, where there was an 8c Qs 9c flop out, and over 30k in the pot. The gentleman in Seat 7, whom I believe to be Mike Lott (pictured below, hand on mouth), had 7.4k left in front of him and was waiting for the Seat 2 gent, Mr P Rodgers, to act. I stand around for a few minutes. Nothing is happening. Eventually Seat 2 snaps, and throws enough chips in to cover Lott.

"Oh dear me," says Lott. There is silence for one of those incredibly sloooooowww minutes. "Well, I know you haven't got T-J. I don't see how I can't be ahead." He still doesn't act though. For a minute or two he looks up at the board displaying the prize structure, for guidance. "Do you have Q-8?" he asks. "Sorry, what? Q-A?" says Rodgers. "I said Q-8," says Lott. "Oh, replies Rodgers. "No." Says Lott, "How about Q-A then?"

Supervisor Danny has now sidled over to the table. "Are updaters allowed to call the clock?" I whisper. It turns out we're not, but Danny has turned up for just that purpose and Lott has one minute to act. He's now guessing every possible hand that Rodgers could have. And then, with maybe 20 seconds to go before his hand is automatically folded, he goes ahead and folds all by himself. He folds 8s 9s face up. And Rodgers shows Kh Ks, for the not-winning hand. Mike Lott is sad now, and very, very short.

While I was watching Andrew Harding take down a pot on a 4s 2c 3d flop with a cheeky all-in, Richard Simmonds said hi. He says he regards himself as lucky still to be in, considering that he really hasn't had any hands for quite some time. Does that make him lucky? Or unlucky? I can't tell. Also I think I've broken the coffee machine, it's spitting out slightly yellow water instead of coffee now.

Kevin O'Leary is up to 85k, in a re-raised pot, he correctly put his opponent on A-K and called the push on a Q-J-6 board.

Jeff Kimber is OUT, he was almost felted when Andy Johnson min-raised his 7k bet to 14k on a Js 7h Ts board. Johnson's reputation as a complete crazy play any two cards player worked for him though, as Jeff went for it with Ahrt Td, only to find him behind Johnson's Qd Jd and it stayed that way. Crippled, Jeff managed to double up once with 9d 7d against Ahrt Jc, but then his Ks 3s was no good against Roberto Romanello's Ahrt Qc.

I Patel is OUT, K-Q into Paul Taylor's A-K.

Current Big Stacks (70k plus) include Ash Hussain, Ashfag "Dana Must Resist The Childish Urge To Call Him Fagash" Ahmed and Antony "Boo babby nwaaahhhhh!" Kennedy.

Yes he is, he has 36k currently.

Is this him? Are you the recipient of the text he's sending in the photo after knocking out David Knight? All in before the flop, I believe, Rick holding Kd Kh and Knight holding  Ahrt Ks.

Board - 4h Jc 5d Qd 3d

5 tables left, everyone now gets £600

Dylan Herbert just had his Kings cracked by J-T on a T-9-x board, the turn and river producing an Eight and a Queen.

Karl Mahrenholz just lost 12k after raising to 4k in MP, and having to call a push for another 8k with his Qs 4s. He was behind (surprisingly) to the short stack's Nines which tripped up on the flop and stayed good.

Payouts:

1st -- £90,000
2nd -- £50,000
3rd -- £30,000
4th -- £20,000
5th -- £15,000
6th -- £10,000
7th -- £8,000
8th -- £6,000
9th -- £4,000
10th to 13th -- £3,000
14th to 18th -- £2,000
19th to 27th -- £1,200
28th to 36th -- £800
37th to 45th -- £600
46th to 60th -- £400
61st or below -- £100

Soxy - 38k

Jim Moult - 50k

Jeff Burke - 55k

Karl Limbert - 40k

I'm afraid he's gone, out in maybe 57th place. He made his exit when there were 7 tables left, anyway.

Richard Gilby is OUT. Ace Jack into Aces. Dylan Herbert has also gone, they're dropping like Ramones here, he had Qh Th but ran into Qd Qc and Ad Kc and predictably finished third in that hand. The Queens prevailing.


Blinds 1k/2k, average 52k, just under 40 left.

Mr Amrat Patel, who I think got a mention on Thursday for being the only person who actually requested that I take his photo, has been lucking out all over the shop today.

I arrived in the cardroom just in time to see Willie Tann walking off (moving so fast you can barely see him). Apparently Mr Patel had raised preflop and Willie had re-raised all in with A-5. Mr Patel called with Q-T, and the flop came J-K-A.

Dan Owston informs me also that just before the last break, Dylan Herbert also lost most of his chips to Mr Patel - a giant 75k pot, leaving him with just 13.5k. Dylan apparently raised with Kings and Amrat calls. The flop comes T-9-Rag, and Patel bets with his T-J; Dylan comes over the top and Patel calls. Turn - Q. River - 8. Shocking.

And THEN, as I'm scribbling all this down, Dylan moves in with Ac Kc and Patel calls with  Ahrt Jc. And astoundingly, the board comes down Td Qs 3d Qd 3h for a split. Says Dan Owston to dealer Liz - "I thought you were going to be nice to him." Says Liz, "I was. It's better than losing." Poor old Dylan. Lucky old Amrat.

Soxy is OUT. He raised 15k preflop and a gentleman whom we shall for the moment call Mr M. Boy moved over the top.

Soxy - Qh Qs

Mr M. Boy - 9h 9c

Board - 5d 8s 9d 4h 8d

Richard Simmonds has doubled up off if Kevin O'Leary, getting it in on the river of a Tc 9c Qs 3s Js board. Simmonds shows Ks Th and O'Leary mucks.

Rob Sherwood has doubled up, all in preflop for 19k from the cutoff. Big blind Karl Mahrenholz, eyebrows suddenly reaching skywards at the push from across the table, sort of grins and says, "I might have to apologise in advance for this," as he calls. He turns over Ad 4d. But no apology is necessary, as Rob turns over 8d 8s and the Qh 2h Kc Jd 5c board changes nothing.

All the action is over on Ash Hussain's table. He raises to 6k, Jonothon Butter's raises the pot whilst a third player moves all-in. Ash passes his Ace King, Butters reveals a pair of Nines, whilst the third player shows Tens. Ash is annoyed at this point, and more so when the first card out is the Kh, but it's followed by the Th Qh Kc Js. Only when the Ten and two Kings are pushed up and the dealer announces 'Full House' does Ash suddenly realise he'd have lost.

A couple of hands late and Roberto Romanello raises to 6k from the cut-off, Martin Green calls on the button and Ash calls from the big blind.

Flop:

Qd 7s 9h

Ash and Roberto check, Martin bets 12k with into the 19k pot, Ash folds but Roberto can't quite pass and puts Martin in with 9s 6s. Martin calls with a slow-played Kc Kd, which suddenly looks vunerable on the 2s turn, but the river is the Ahrt. Incidentally Ash had 2-2 and the small blind had Q-7. Somehow, if they had all slowplayed, the betting could've got very interesting on the turn.

(http://www.blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2774&g2_serialNumber=1)

Karl Mahrenholz has just knocked out Kevin O'Leary with Aces vs Ace Queen on a Queen high board.

More chips for Amrat Patel, doubling up off of Paul Rodgers. Amrat puts in a fairly chunky bet on the 2d 3c 5d flop. "I'll raise," says Paul, and no sooner has he said it then the rest of Amrat's chips are across the line.

Amrat Patel - Ad 8d

Paul Rodgers - Kc Ks

Turn - 4d

River - 8s

Olebode "Buddy Love" Ayegul, who is incidentally grinding by on about 21k, and whose name I now know how to pronounce because I asked him, says to Amrat, "So which do you want? The straight or the flush?" Both will do just fine. Straight flush I might have started to suspect some kind of dark pact though.

Osman Mustanoglu has just doubled through in a blind vs blind spot. Getting it all-in with Ac 7d on an 7c 6h 4c board against the Nines of Ashfag Ahmed, Jh on the turn but then came the Barry Greenstein special.

On the next table, Antony Kennedy, who after a good start today has faltered a bit, has doubled up with Queens against Ace King on a 4-J-4-5-9 board.

With 32 players left, everything has really slowed down, most pots being taken down preflop with only the above two sparks of action in the last twenty minutes or so. People really want to make that jump to the £1,200 payday.

Rob Sherwood has cruelly counterfeited a tablemate holding pocket Threes with his A-3, knocking him out as he did so. He apologised and offered a solemn handshake.

Ashfag Ahmed has knocked out a gent who I think was Martin (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=269) Green (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=269) but he was fuming so much as he walked off that I was afraid to ask him his name.

Anyway, the Soon-To-Be-Exiting gent bet the Qs Ad Kc flop, and Ashfag raised maybe 30 or 40k. Exit Man moved in. Call.

Exit Man -  Ahrt Kd

Ashfag Ahmed - Qd Qc

Turn - 7s and River - 5h

And Exit Man is now complaining about some kind of alleged slowroll. Have to say I didn't really notice one myself, but losing with top two pair can maybe do some funny things to your eyes, I guess.

Buddy Love, whose name is in fact Ayegun disregarding my random typo before, and which he told me is pronounced Ah-Ye-Gun, has somehow slipped down to 10.5k. With blinds at 1500/3000, he's going to have to get Ah-Ye-Gunning soon if he's going to get any Love from this tournament. I'll shut up now.

Welsh Heartthrob Roberto Romanello, whose stack has been hovering around the Short mark for a while now, has doubled up. He checks the 2s Ts 8d flop and his opponent bets. He moves in; call.

Opponent - 3s 4s

Roberto - a sneakily slow-played Ad Ac

The un-spadely Tc and 3d turn and river mean that Roberto lives to, er, play some more poker.

The Chief was on about 50k last I checked. Average is about 75k.

Other chip counts:

Rob (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=382) Sherwood (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=382) -- 100k
Jeff (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=194) Burke (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=194) -- 65k
Jim Moult -- 93k
Ashfag Hussain -- 170k
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) -- 165k (Just picked off a Jeff (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=194) Burke (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=194) bluff on the turn of a J-4-2-7-K board with 9-9 against T-9, both checked the river)
Roberto (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=376) Romanello (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=376) -- 130k (Just picked off a 22k Ash (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=38) Hussain (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=38) bluff on the river of a 2-7-8-8-J board with A-7 against a suspected missed flush draw)
Ash (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=38) Hussain (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=38) -- 35k

By the way we're on a bit of a dinner break now. Back shortly, I think.

Huge pot between Javed Iqbal and another player whose name I do not know. 90k already in the pot with board reading Ac Jh 5s and Javed Iqbal was comtemplating calling a push for another 18k. Eventually he called with Tc Ts, and his opponent showed him Ad Td.

Straight away on the turn... Th.

(http://www.notjustfootyclub.com.au/gallery/tidy/assets/ouch.jpg)

A few dramatic  shouts of "Thankyou God" put the Chief onto around 170k.

Also OUT is Lee Horton. Out in 29th place, apparently, ever so slightly missing out on an extra £400. Not sure who came 28th.

Jim Moult has taken a hit, mucking to his opponent's Tc Qc on a 6c 9d Ac 7s 3c board.

The hand following Javed Iqbal's astounding one-outer, he probably wisely folded a pair of Tens to a bet on a Jack-high flop. "I like this hand," he said regretfully as he folded. I don't know how far God's love for Javed Iqbal stretches though...

Olebode "Buddy Love" Ayegun who has been sitting on a teeny tiny ministack for a while now, is OUT. He folded his big blind, a quarter of his total stack, to a raise from Ozman Mustanoglu, and then folded his small blind too. Forced to move eventually, he found himself all in with Ad Tc against Gary Chatterton's Kh Kc.

Board - a strangely cruel Kd Ahrt Js 3s Jd

And he's getting his coat.

Karl Limbert is OUT in 24th place, he pushed his last 30k or so in with Ace Queen but lost out to Rob Sherwood's Kings.

Ash Hussain has won a decent pot from Amrat Patel:

On a 8c 2c 7d board, Ash bet 4k, Amrat made it 14k and Ash called before check/calling another 15k on the 4d turn. Both cautiously checked the 9c river where Ash's Jc 8h triumphed over the Amrat's 7d 3c

Roberto Romanello is now just basically baiting his tablemates. "Don't do it!" he cries at Amrat Patel, who looks like he's consdidering betting a 5d 2s Kc flop. If this is reverse psychology it doesn't work - Amrat folds Ad Jd up. "You can see one card," says Roberto. "They're both the same. I swear they're both the same." Amrat turns over the 5c, but Roberto throws the other card into the muck before anyone can see it. Hmm. Not sure about any of that.

Then he becomes very vocally involved with Gary Chatterton on a 4s 5s 2c Th Jc board. Someone suggests that Roberto is holding Jack-Seven. Someone else suggests that he is holding Jack-S***. "Do you have a pair of Twos?" he badgers Chatterton. "A pair of Fours? If you've got a pair of Fives don't call me because I'll lose." Possibly that's not true though - Gary calls, and mucks to Roberto's 5c Kc.

Someone at the next table is complaining that he's going to go home with a Welsh accent from listening to Roberto narrating his hands all night....

He still doesn't look so good, but he's ok for chips. I did see him drop a few to Gareth Westcott though. Gareth called Karl's 12k raise preflop, and bet 15k on the Ts 8c Jd flop. Karl mulled it over and folded, somewhat uncomfortably. He showed A-K. Gareth showed A-J.

Mr Bookiejim Moult has doubled up, the preflop 3d 3h versus Antony Kennedy's Ad Qc tension somewhat eased for Mr Moult by the first card out - board 3s Jh 8s 9c 7h.

68th to 61st, all receving £100

N Davies
M Sheils
N Risdale
M Atkinson
M P Arnold
H Griffiths
T Payne
D Clark Jr

60th to 46th, all getting £400

J Pescod
S Basri
L Gosney
M Damavandy
R Alden
J Burberry
I Patel
J Kimber
L Smith
A Bradshaw
P Whyman
D Knight
A Harding
T Harman
P McCue

45th to 37th, receving £600 in spondoolies.

W Tann
A Rudge
T Marles
D Herbert
P Taylor
A Johnson
R Gilby
Y Umarji
L Birchall

36th to 28th, £800 a piece.

J Butters
C Sokrati
K O'Leary
P Raynor
D Mitchell
R Reece
C Li
M Green
L Horton

Poor old Karl is having a bit of trouble, he's just run A-J on the button into the small blind's Kings, a few hands later, he raises the cut-off and and has to fold to the big blind's push. He's probably lost over 100k in the last 15 minutes or so.

Ash Hussain is OUT in 23rd place, Ace Jack into Kings.

The last few exits, bringing us up to date. They all get £1,200 up to 19th place.

27th G Whytell
26th R Gray (I think)
25th O Ayegun
24th K Limbert
23rd A Hussain

Also MZ Hussain 22
Osman Mustanoglu 21

Almost out is Jeff Burke - I walked into the cardroom to see him all in against Rob Sherwood holding T-K to Rob's A-K, and an Ace on the board for good measure. He had his jacket on and was walking off, but was called back to collect his 6k change. All in blind from the small blind next hand, big blind Michael Arnold called.

Arnold - Th 6h

Burke - Js 9d ("Oh, I'm ahead!")

Board - 6c 2s 4s 3d 9h

Jeff now has 19k. Other counts from the table are 57k for Richard Simmonds and 157k for Rob Sherwood.

Comeback kid of the day has to be Marcus Bebb-Jones, he started today as the second shortest stack with just 7,900 but somehow has managed to grind his way into the bigger money.

Karl Mahrenholz treble hand news, (he seems to be in every pot), first he doubles up through Gareth Westcott, raising with Jacks and then leading out on an A-A-J board. Wescott set him in with nines, but the old runner runner quads failed to materialise. Then, a few hands later, he doubled up Richard Simmons, they seen a 7c 7s 5c flop and get it all-in, Karl holding Eights but this time it's Simmons with Fives for the flopped full house. Next hand, Michael Arnold pushes all-in and Karl pushes behind him, Karl's 6d 6s holding against Arnold's Ahrt Kc on a 4h Tc 8h 9d 7d board. Phew! And exhale.


For anyone who want's to know what Karl's expression is when he wants to pretend he doesn't have a big hand, here it is...

(http://www.blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2800&g2_serialNumber=1)

The rollercoaster that is Karl Mahrenholz's tournament life is over, courtesy of this gent, Paul Vicary. Vicary raises preflop with Kh Ks, as you do, and Karl shoves with  Aspades 7c.

Board - 3h 2d 3d Qc 4s

Climber of the moment is Mr Jeff Burke, back up to 50k from his 6k a moment ago.

By the way with Karl Mahrenholz's exit they're down to 2 tables and have had a redraw. Home time soon!

Jeff Burke has now actually doubled up to 105k. Impressive short stack management, that. Chris has the details.

Players are now on a short break. I wish I hadn't broken the coffee machine.

Break time.

Jeff Burke just doubled up before the break with Kd Td against Mohammed Ghani's Ad Jc, rivering a flush. Ghani went out soon after with K-9 against Antony Kennedy's A-5.

Chip Counts (Thanks to Danny, who got me a complete list of players and then counted the stacks. True awesomeness)

Table 1:

Rob Sherwood -- 135k
Richard Simmonds -- 161k
Javed Iqbal -- 130.5k
Jeff Burke -- 97k
Jim Moult -- 39k
Paul Vicary -- 115k
Antony Kennedy -- 109k
Gareth Westcott -- 73.5k

Ashfag Ahmed -- 270k
Marcus Bebb-Jones -- 133k
Mike Lott -- 55.5k
Paul Rodgers -- 162k
Roberto Romanello -- 138k
Ved Madan -- 124k
Gary Chatterton -- 138.5k
Bambos -- 133.5k
Amrat Patel -- 127k

Play is about to restart with 4k/8k blinds. Average stack is 127k. 17 players left.

18th to 14th -- £2,000
10th to 13th -- £3,000

Jim Moult is OUT. Gareth Westcott raised, Jim Moult re-raised and Paul (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=337) Vicary (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=337) moved in. Only Moult called.

Jim Moult - 8s Ts

Paul (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=337) Vicary (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=337) - Jh Jc

Board - 7h  4c 7s 9c Jd which was a little cruel as for a moment everyone thought Mr Moult had won with with his straight. Ouch.

Bambos is OUT. He had raised on the button to 25k with A-Q, only for Ashfag Ahmed to repop for the full pop. Bambos passed face up, and Ashfag showed his 8d 3c in triumph. This probably tilted Bambos a little as he soon got his remaining 100k in preflop with Jd Tc against P Rodger's Aspades Kh.

Board:

Ad Kc 3d 4d 7s

Jeff Burke is a kind of comeback god.

Gary Chatterton raises utg to 33k. Jeff, directly to his left, raises the pot - another 68k, almost all in. "So you got nothing then," says Gary. Replies Jeff, "Bollocks, yeah." There is some considerable tankage and eyeing up of each other, although I should add that it seems pretty good-natured. Eventually, Gary says, "I fancy a gamble," and the necessary mini-raising is accomplished that puts Jeff all in.

Jeff Burke - Kh Kd

Gary Chatterton - Qd Qh

Flop - 4h Qc 5h and Jeff makes a noise like he's been kicked in the stomach

Turn - wait for it - Ks

And the irrelevant 6d river leaves Gary Chatterton with 13.5k, and Jeff Burke deserving some kind of weird comeback medal or something.

Gary Chatterton couldn't manage a recovery and is now out.

Also gone is Roberto Romanello, he raised A-K up, as you do, Marcus Beeb-Jones called with Js Ts. And they saw a King-high, two spade flop, predictably they managed to both get most of their chips in, and Marcus hit the 2s on the turn, with the Ac river no consolation for a shell-shocked Roberto.

Rob Sherwood is OUT.

Antony Kennedy raised from the cut-off, Sherwood re-raised from the big blind and Kennedy called. The flop was K-8-8. Sherwood moved all-in and was instantly called by Kennedy's craftly played pocket Kings. Sherwood's A-T meanwhile was drawing to running Aces only, which, as you probably guessed, didn't hit.

And off the back of that, we've lost Gareth Wescott, all-in with A-9 against Jeff Burke's Queens, a third Lady on the flop for good measure.

We're now playing hand for hand before we finish for the night after the next exit.

So. Stop!

Bubbletime...

;mc;

And final table bubble play has been understandably cagey, with a lot of button-raisey blind steals, and the occasional button-raisey-one-of-the-blinds-re-raisey moment, mainly at the expense of Ashfag Ahmed, who doesn't seem to be able to find an Ace or a pair without someone having a bigger one.

Had a near-miss moment just now though. Richard Simmonds makes up the blind, and BB Javed "Chief" Iqbal raises it up. Simmonds calls.

Flop - Jd Qd 4d - Simmonds bets the pot, 56k. Chief asks for a count. Jeff Burke starts to sing, "And it's getting better..." There is now some considerable time to wait while Chief stacks and re-stacks his chips. He stands up. A crows has formed. He looks like he's going to make a speech. Jeff Burke has got up from his seat too and is now whispering to me, "He's going to fold. I predict it." But he doesn't.

Simmonds - Jc Qc

Chief - Js 9d

Turn and river - 4s Th

And Richard Simmonds has doubled up.

And ladies and gents, I am now free to play the arcades all night because our final table bubble has burst.

I'm not sure whether Javed Iqbal merely made up the blind or whether he raised, but either way big blind Jeff (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=194) Burke (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=194) raised him and he called.

Chief - 5s 7s

Jeff - Ad Kc

Board - 4h Td 2c 2h Ac

So local boy Javed "Chief" Iqbal (below) is OUT in 10th place, and I am hitting the bar for a cheeky Vimto before heading back to London. Chipcounts for our final 9 will magically appear at some point overnight, and Floppy will be bringing you a solo final table update tomorrow from 3pm, so y'all be nice to him. Adios!

 ;stickaforkinme;

Final Chip Counts:

Richard Simmonds -- 293k
Jeff Burke -- 333.5k
Paul Vicary -- 114k
Antony Kennedy -- 278k
Ashfag Ahmed -- 200k
Marcus Bebb-Jones -- 137k
Paul Rogers -- 297.5k
Ved Madan -- 142k
Amrat Patel -- 366.5k


The final begins tomorrow at 3pm. See you there!