blonde poker forum

Welcome to Waterford guys!

This is Junglecat, just using Snoopy's laptop temporarily till I get down to the casino...

If the super satellite run yesterday evening is anything to go by then today should prove very enjoyable. There's plenty of blondites out in force here as you would expect. Paul (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=324) Garnham (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=324) aka M3boy, Dave Shoelace and several other blondes went through in the €50 super satellite rebuy last night but there are plenty of others lurking in the wings, not least of which are our two intrepid updating colleagues, Jen Mason and Snoopy.

Arriving late yesterday, both Jen and Snoops spent the evening in low key fashion carefully preparing for today's tournament (lol) Still a few alka seltzers will sort the pair out and great things are expected of them - no pressure you two!

Colchester Kev, Tightend, Tikay, IrishDenis (and his impeccable hair) will be here to help things run smoothly

Myself and the irrepressible Dana are eagerly anticipating the 7.30 pm start so we can get stuck into all the action. 15,000 starting chips and an hour clock await the players and a superb day of fun poker awaits!

Join us down in Waterford and find out how your friends, fellow blondites and the big names all get on...

Greetings greetings from the Woodlands Hotel! I am absolutely full of sandwich, and all set for a fun-filled few days. Players are just now taking their seats, and I expect that some shuffling up and dealing will take place shortly.

In the meantime, please enjoy this tournament structure:

Level        Blinds         Antes

1             25/50
2             50/100
---BREAK---
3             75/150
4             100/200
---BREAK---
5             150/300
6             150/300       25
---BREAK---
7             200/400       25
8             300/600       50
---END OF DAY 1 - 4.30AM---
9             400/800       75
10           500/1000      100
---BREAK---
11           600/1200      100
12           800/1500      100
---BREAK---
13           1000/2000     200
14           1500/3000     200
---BREAK---
15           2000/4000     300
16           2500/5000     400
---BREAK---
17           3000/6000     500
18           4000/8000     500
---BREAK---
19           5000/10000    500
20           6000/12000    1000
---END OF DAY 2 - 2.15AM---
21           8000/15000    1000
22           10000/20000   2000
---BREAK---
23           15000/30000   3000
24           20000/40000   4000
---BREAK---
25           25000/50000   5000
26           30000/60000   5000
27           40000/80000   5000

Well, the competition is underway!

We kicked off bang on time at 7.30 pm and after a short while we will bring you a seating plan showing all the players and how they are arranged over the 31 tables in play.

What I can tell you is that the fearless Ms Merton Mason has drawn the same table as Dewi so it will be interesting to see if these two blondites stay out of each other's way or get stuck into each other. There could be fireworks if they do!

Tikay wanted us to let you know he was up to 17k early on. This was 10 minutes before the start of the competition though so quite how he managed this, no one is quite sure...he said he had "nicked a few pots." We are still receiving mixed reports of the numbers. 274 players sat down initially but as late arrivals get here, this is increasing all the time, and an excess of 300 is very likely.

One fascinating question is how long will it take for casualties to fall. On the one hand the players have been given a whopping 15,000 chips to play with, which should ensure they have enough depth to survive quite comfortably through the early blind levels. On the other hand, there defiinitely seems to be a spirit of gambling permeating through the hall, so I wouldn't be suprised to see one or two casualties ( at least!) in the early levels. Let's see how it pans out!

Myself and Dana have taken some snaps of the venue which we will post up shortly. As we work our way round the tables, we'll relate all the interesting tales, thought-provoking hands and give you some interesting pictures as we come across them. Enjoy the update, I've a feeling this will be a cracker!

Good luck all!

Ok, well very early on we have our first significant morsel of information...and it's a cracker!

We were busy uploading our photos when the loud microphoned voice of Neil Kelly boomed out "We have an ALLIN on table 19. A-Q versus....9-2!"

Myself and Dana dropped laptops and cameras, donned pens and pads and launched ourselves into the action. Once we had fought our way through the crowds also rushing over to see what was going on, we foudn the dust had settled and the A-Q had held up against Eddie Stuart's 9-2, meaning he is the first elimination of today. Whilst it may seem an unlikely hand to put all your chips in with, it seems he was crippled in the hand before, perhaps mitigating his play slightly.

Mike Lacey, the Green Poker Joker guru, who seems to know every face in poker is off to a flier. He told us he flopped the nut flush with Ah5h and managed to eke a juicy 3k out of his opponent, who I beleive was Michael Dorin, before Michael mucked the river...

You'll be delighted to know that a seating plan has arrived! Rod is even now making the assorted bits of paper into a spreadsheet of some sort, which we then shall post up here somehow. There were 274 players seated at 7.30, a little short of capacity, but new ones are appearing. We'll know numbers for sure at some point in the next hour or two.

Wow, people here are not afraid of getting involved pretty much as soon as they've sat down. I see a bunch of 1000 chips in the middle of the table and a flop reading Td 9c Th out, and I pull up by the table just in time to see the below gent, George Soumelios, bet out 5k. The below lady, one Vera Duffy, flat calls. The turn is the 7c - again, the gentleman bets 5k and the lady calls. They both hurriedly check the 8s river, and Ms Duffy shows  Aspades Ahrt - Mr Soumelios mucks, and looks dejected.

Actually, I've just seen him in the queue at the cash desk, so I'm assuming he never quite recovered from that...

Mr Padraig Parkinson is with us today - I saw him button-raise and find a caller in a gent listed on the seating plan only, mysteriously, as "Stefan". Padraig had to lay down his hand when Stefan raised his continuation bet on the  Ahrt 6d 8c flop.

Whilst we are on the dinner break, I was speaking to a few of the players.

M3boy is building his stack slowly and steadily and has around 17,500.

Tightend has also has a promising start. The main hand of note he played he held A-Q on a Q high flop with two clubs.

After getting check raised to 2.5k after betting out 600, he called "hoping to keep the pot small." The turn blanked and his opponent again bet out 3.3k which tighty called.

The river was a third club and his opponent now moved in for his last 4k...Richard was worried but after watching his opponent for a while, he picked up soemthing which made him think his hand was good and now called the rest of his stack off. His opponent gave him credit for a good call as his Q was good and Tighty was up to 22k.

Snoopy has started slowly and after seeing a few flops that he missed has been reduced down to 12k or so.

Jen has also had a bit of a nightmare, despite the fun she is having on her table, losing a big pot with K-K.  Apparently she passed on a flop that didn't have an ace.

She raised to 450 with KK, having raised the last two hands she expected some action and found it as someone in late position called. The flop came Js 8c 4s. Jen bet 500 and was re-raised to 2k. She now made it 6k and her opponent shoved. She passed the Kings face up convinced that her opponent had 8-8 or J-J..."When I get 4 bet by that guy, I'm behind", she told us...

Compo is up to 40k as well. "playing your usual tight game then?" I inquired. "Of course, I only ever play premium hands" he replied, somewhat misleadingly since he then added "6-7, 2-4, nothing out of order!"

The players are just re-seating now after the break. Let's see what happens in the 75-150 level!

Ok, here we have the full player list along with table layout.

Now I'm expecting there to be multiple spelling and typing errors, so if you see one, let me know and I will correct it...

101   Matty Edwards
102   Donal Mullally
103   Sean Jetty
104   barry Carter
105   Rowan Gilligan
106   Martin O' Rafferty
107   Brendan HArtnet
108   Eoin Grace
109   Anna Colley
110   Alfie Baldwin
201   Kevin Fitzpatrick
202   Michael Prendergast
203   Reggie Lyons
204   Cardine Maghee
205   Tony Baitson
206   Keith McGuire
207   Dawn Dineen
208   Manus Burke
209   Darren Grownd
210   Anthony Lynch
301   Joe McGinley
302   Thomas McGarvey
303   Mats Nylander
304   Wayne Brennan
305   Roy Brindley
306   Joe McEvoy
307   Noel Mannon
308   
309   Patrick TObisa
310   Damien Kent
401   Anthony Cartwright
402   Aiden McIntyre
403   Loreen Dolley
404   Vinny O'Toole
405   Andrea Rimccson
406   Willie Clynes
407   Paul Marraghy
408   Thomas Nolan
409   Dimitrias
410   Alexopoulos Goors
501   Maurice Slattery
502   Eamonn Connelly
503   Peter Lee
504   Ketih Birmington
505   Shieley May
506   Daniel Sheridan
507   Vivian Brown
508   Stephen Mcclean
509   Ian Trohan
510   Christian McCann
601   Pat O' Callaghan
602   Andrew Draghe
603   Jay Welsh
604   Nick Right
605   Craig Stokes
606   Richard Prew
607   Mark McDonlad
608   Sideshow Bob
609   Stephen Murphy
610   Alex Coilles
701   Tony Philips
702   Feni Daily
703   Bruno Apollonio
704   John Weafer
705   Collette Murphy
706   Ralph Shalson
707   
708   Keith Hogganth
709   Tony Welsh
710   Wes Farrell
801   Gavin Stevens
802   Gex Smith
803   Mike Apollonio
804   Conor Cooney
805   Dewi James
806   Tony Wolley
807   Jennifer Mason
808   Paul Higgins
809   Glen Laming
810   Allen Mclean
901   Roger Killee
902   Tikay
903   Gary Clarke
904   Jim Ringland
905   Vincent Mcnamee
906   
907   Casimh O' Sullivan
908   Michael Muldoon
909   Dermot Jacob
910   Conor Toban
1001   Marty Smith
1002   Mark McGuinness
1003   Phil Harris
1004   Brian Nolan
1005   Mem Tam
1006   Dave MAsters
1007   Jason Darby
1008   Tony Herdman
1009   John Cullinare
1010   Stepohen Purcell
1101   
1102   Willon COnnolly
1103   Mick Doran
1104   Robert Brosnon
1105   Mark Furlong
1106   Emmett Goft
1107   Mike Lacey
1108   David Cohen
1109   Andrew Tracey
1110   JP McGann
1201   Mike Kelly
1202   Chris Frasby
1203   Corma McGinikly
1204   John O'Shea
1205   Richie Hawke
1206   
1207   Jimmy Kiernan
1208   Connie Sullivan
1209   gerom Friatis
1210   James Kenny
1301   Phill Coghlan
1302   Stefan
1303   Albert Kenny
1304   Louis Lavelle
1305   
1306   David Pagan
1307   Mike O'Keefe
1308   Niall McNamara
1309   Padraig Parkinson
1310   Eamonn McNamee
1401   Derek Williams
1402   Ciaran Wall
1403   William Collins
1404   George Soumelious
1405   Lean Tracy
1406   JP White
1407   Kevin Hickey
1408   Niki Powell
1409   Keith Lawke
1410   Vera Duffy
1501   Colm Quarry
1502   John Burke
1503   John Nolan
1504   Michee Corraran
1505   Tom Christal
1506   John Weldan
1507   Eddie Walsh
1508   John Collins
1509   John Maurice
1510   Steve Meehan
1601   French
1602   Mike Osbourne
1603   Gary Stokes
1604   Sean Gerahty
1605   
1606   Finlan Gavin
1607   James Wlsh
1608   Paul Garnham
1609   Graham Walsh
1610   John Snarebrigg
1701   Mark Reyburn
1702   David Gearie
1703   Nolam Fallon
1704   Mike Lyons
1705   Darren Smith
1706   Ben Dooley
1707   Jemma Walsh
1708   Raj Jeffry
1709   Colim Faulkland
1710   
1801   Lloyd O' Farrell
1802   Henrick Lindstein
1803   Brian Cannon
1804   Mike O' Connor
1805   Adam Goulding
1806   James Lee
1807   Mike Ryan
1808   James Kehee
1809   Shane Flynn
1810   Keith Nolan
1901   Ian Nolan
1902   dave Luddy
1903   David Curtis
1904   Niall O'Callaghan
1905   Keith McFadden
1906   Who Man Chin
1907   
1908   John McGill
1909   Eddie Sweeney
1910   Derek Murray
2001   Ciaran Taggert
2002   Danny Guiney
2003   Athanassadis Alex
2004   Gavin Kelly
2005   David O' Mahoney
2006   Rob Taylor
2007   Mike Rossiter
2008   Dave Compton
2009   Declan Daily
2010   Pat Kelly
2101   Bobbie Brennan
2102   Dave Flemming
2103   Darren O'Reilly
2104   Pat Storan
2105   Keill O'hare
2106   matt Dobbins
2107   patrick Stephens
2108   Niall Kelly
2109   Barry Hand
2110   Mike Hennessy
2201   Henry McGrath
2202   Adam FInn
2203   Brian Coody
2204   Colm Reville
2205   Edwin Hendy
2206   Richard Ronayne
2207   Damien Kavanagh
2208   Chris Coeke
2209   Oliver Cummin
2210   Castin Martins
2301   Donnect Blene
2302   John Ward
2303   John Quinn
2304   Jason Tompkins
2305   Gee Dooley
2306   Dylan Keogh
2307   Ebde Kendrick
2308   Dave McCarthy
2309   garry Whelan
2310   Percy Kingston
2401   Jenny Byrne
2402   Derek Thorpe
2403   Bo Ps
2404   Steven Kinnen
2405   
2406   Nicky O' Donnell
2407   Matt May
2408   Derek Cunningham
2409   
2410   John Kelly
2501   Colm Kennedy
2502   Robin Materaj
2503   jay O'Toole
2504   Andre
2505   Dave Smyth
2506   
2507   Paul Fitzpatrick
2508   
2509   Keith Mcinerney
2510   Paddy Dooley
2601   
2602   Biully FItzpatrick
2603   John Costello
2604   
2605   Mick French
2606   Brenda Foley
2607   John Lyons
2608   
2609   Colin Lurdes
2610   Renan Macguire
2701   Jamie Barlow
2702   
2703   Michael Malone
2704   Ian THomapson
2705   Marty Sheritan
2706   Conor Doyle
2707   Keith Cummins
2708   Wilf Dooley
2709   Oscar Wylin
2710   Ian Witty
2801   Kevin McDonald
2802   Worn Lane
2803   Nicolas Tesikalakis
2804   
2805   Alan Kellee
2806   Iggy Dunphy
2807   Sheamus Olridge
2808   Owen Olin
2809   Jimmy McSweeney
2810   Mark Lassron
2901   barry Feley
2902   Matt Doyle
2903   Owen Lyons
2904   Sheamus Hoban
2905   Oliver Boyce
2906   Ken Conkery
2907   
2908   Denis O'Mahoney
2909   Dave Callahan
2910   Michael Godkin
3001   Vinny Gavin
3002   David Tyrell
3003   Adrian O'Donoghue
3004   Fran Cgaro
3005   Ken Powell
3006   Declan McCarthy
3007   Glenn O' Rourke
3008   Brian O'Keefe
3009   Michael Trimby
3010   Wes McGroeken

Astounding Outdraw News!

Cards on their backs before the flop, one Mr Steven K-illegible, was not really expecting his  Ad Ks to win once he saw his all-in opponent's  Kc Ks (one Mr Nicky O'Donnell).

Oh, but look!

Board - 2d 3h Kd Qd Td

And to astounded cries along the lines of "you sick sick little boy!" from those gathered around the table, an obviously delighted Mr K knocks out a rather less delighted Mr O'Donnell. O'Donnell submits to Mr K's hugging, perhaps out of shock.

On Table Tikay, Gary Clarke becomes Involved with one Roger Killear (barring spelling mistakes). The flop reads  7d 6s Ad and Gary is all in - eventually Killear calls.

Killear -  Ahrt Tc

Clarke -  9c 8c

Turn -  3c

River - Td

And with the rivered straight, Gary doubles up. Superbaaaad.

I promise I'll stop now.  :-X

UPDATER UPDATE:

Jen has been moved to Table Tikay, and is on 10,575.

Snoopy has 11.1k and didn't look very happy so I sneakily took a photo of him from behind.

Threeway all-in action!

The flop reads 6d Kc 5h and William Collins pushes; behind him one Lean Tracy calls, and one Kevin Hickey is now left with a big decision to make. He takes his time about it - eventually he has the clock called on him after five minutes or so. He calls!

Collins -  7s 8c

Tracy - Jd Ks

Hickey -  Aspades Kh

Turn -  Ad

River -  2h

So Hickey triples up. Meanwhile Collins is down, and Tracy is out.

OUTages galore over here.

I caught the outage of Mr Mike O'Keefe at the hands of Niall McNamara. The board reads 8s Ad 4c 5d Kc and McNamara bets. Mr O'Keefe dwells up, and then to mind unexpectedly moves in (admittedly not for a massive amount compared to the pot). Instacall.

McNamara shows  Kd Ks for an impressive set, and O'Keefe mucks and makes his exit.

Another OUTage - a gent we believe to be Mr Tony Wolley is gone at the hands of Dewi Now-Looking-Pretty-Cool. Mr Wolley apparently was holding Aces and bet 4k on the 8-high flop; unfortunately for him, Dewi was holding pocket Eights, and moved in. Mr Wolley just couldn't get away, and it cost him his tournament life.

Dewi doesn't look that happy about any of this as he rakes in his new chips. He looks like he means business.

Tales from Table Tikay:

Jen is now on about 12.5k, having stolen a few chips from tikay. "That was fun," says she, as tikay is silently giving us the evil eye from across the table.

I choose to ignore the evil-eyeing and walk over to chat to him. He has around 13k. At this point he loses interest in talking to me, and instead decides to raise with Js Qd from mid position. A gent whom I believe to be Vincent Mcnamee calls from the button.

Flop - Tc 9c 9d

Tikay checks, and Mcnamaybe bets 1100. Tikay makes it 3k. Mcnamee calls.

They both check the 2s turn and again the Qs river which wins the hand for tikay - his opponent shows A-T. Lucky tikay. I guess that puts him on, er... swift mental calculation... 17k.

Crazy chip-monster Anna Colley (Annette_56, according to tablemate Barry Carter  :o ) has taken out yet another unhappy punter, who this time may or may not have been Eoin Grace.

Either way, Graceyboy is holding Ks 9s and Anna is holding Jc Jd, and the flop they go in on is 8s-7s-8. A harmless non-spade Four and Three later, and Anna yells "SHIP IT!!!" which she yells every time she knocks someone out. She is very close, and extremely loud, and she has been knocking people out at a quite alarming rate. I am developing a bit of a headache.

Play is even now resuming, with blinds now at 150/300. 232 players remain, and average stack is 17,780.

And here's the all-important payout:

1        €37,000
2        €23,000
3        €13,000
4        €9,500
5        €8,500
6        €7,200
7        €6,000
8        €4,500
9        €3,000
10      €2,200
11-13  €1,700
14-16  €1,500
17-20  €1,100
21-30  €950

Snoopy filled me in on some interesting hands, one of them involving the exit of blonde's own Luckylloyd.

After Snoopy took some chips off him, sneakily river check raising his turned set of Kings vs Lloyd's rivered set of Jacks, Lloyd re-raised allin on a Aspades Qc 2c board. Conor Doyle told Lloyd, "I think you've got a flush draw" and after vacillating for a while eventually called the extra 6k or so with bottom pair 2s 3s. Now THAT's a brave call!

He was correct Lloyd did have the flush draw, but that's not all. Holding Ac 9c for top pair to go with his nut flush draw he had Conor drawing very thin. But poker being poker, almost anything can happen and an offsuit 2 on the river to give Conor trips sent a highly disgruntled Lloyd to the rail.

He was last seen heading off to the toilets for a bit of this...

(http://studiocsk.com/data/vomit.jpg)

The players have just had a short break but are back in action, so hold onto your hats, this could get bumpy...

And while I was happily Photoshopping that, I noticed that mere feet away on Table 1, Barry (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=1143) Carter (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=1143) had moved all in on a 6s 5h 7h flop, and Anna Colley was considering whether to call or not. He'd mentioned to us in the break that she was making it a very interesting table to play on, and he was looking forward to getting an actual hand, as she would most likely pay it off. She eventually folded - no cards were shown, but Barry informs us that he was holding pocket Sevens and he is fairly sure that she was holding pocket Fours and was considering calling for the straight draw. He doesn't seem too upset that she folded though. He's on around 34k.

There has just been an elimination.

Gavin Kelly was short and down to 3k or so. He got his chips in preflop versus the even shorter David O' Mahoney's 7h-7c and showed down the dominating Ks-Kc.

Mahoney was in bad shape but things got interesting on a 9h Jh Kh flop. Gavin had made top set but the hearts gave David a flush draw. He missed the flush as the turn came the 8d and the river the Ts but this gave the lucky David a backdoor straight and left Gavin with a mere 600 chips. He shoved these in next hand with A-6 but ran into the K-K of Mike Rossiter and this time the Kings held, sending Gavin to the rail...

The three chip leaders as we stand are Michael Muldoon with 60k, Kevin Hicky on 57k and Anna Colley is down to 44k. She had been the chip leader but as Dana just related took a big hit off Barry. She remains in decent shape though...

I join Jen's table as she is raising Mclovin's big blind.  All fold and Jen takes it down. "I've ground to a halt" she tells me but I love it when it gets to 150 300 with a 25 ante! [the next level]" she tells me with genuine infectious enthusiasm.

Suddenly there appear to be a rash of allins and I run frantically about trying to catch them, almost sending several of the waitresses flying (that was the excuse I used for bumping into them anyway)

Michael Muldoon has claimed another victim.  Vincent Mcnamee appeared to have got a bit short and shoved preflop with 7-7, only to find the heavily chipped up Muldoon (who had shown down Q-Q the hand before) with K-K. When you run good...

Michael's cowboys held, consigning Vincent to the rail and increasing Michael's chips yet further. "Great call" says Jen, with just the merest hint of sarcasm and the table have a bit of gentle banter at Michael's expense. He just smiles and stacks yet more chips into his towers of glory...

Sadly the aforementioned winner of the best sunglasses in the tournament, a man who I believe is called Jerom Friatis is also out as is Sideshow Bob.

Here's how he looked as he exited

(http://www.22dakika.org/imaj/jane+doe/sideshow.jpg)

On Table 14 we have what must be for them a kind of weird creepy deja-vuey situation where Nicky (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=1228) Power (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=1228), Marty Smyth and Brian O'Keefe, who shared the final table at the Irish Open this year, are again up against each other.

On Table 14 we have what must be for them a kind of weird creepy deja-vuey situation where Nicky (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=1228) Power (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=1228), Marty Smyth and Brian O'Keefe, who shared the final table at the Irish Open this year, are again up against each other.

Snoops is on 21k, somehow. Nothing spectacular, he says, just the gentle, boring grindage that is the hallmark of so much of what he does... :)


M3Boy is back down to his starting stack - he was up to 23k, but lost it back in 3 big hands. Ouch.

Tightend appears to be on 17-18k or so.

He was a bit disappointed with one hand. Holding Ah 9h, he raised from the cutoff and was called from the blinds.

The flop came a nut-tastic 8h 3h 2h giving Tighty the nuts. He bet the flop and was called by his opponent, who unbeknownst to him had 8c-8s for top set.

A further heart though killed any more action for him and he was a bit dismayed at not getting fuill value for his nut flush there. He battles on though.

Tikay's on 18k or so. Jen's doing pretty well on 16k, Compo looks to have taken a hit or two after holding a large stack earlier...

I witnessed an absolutely shameful hand involving Jen Mason and Michael Muldoon, for which they both deserve a big slap on the wrist, and possibly a ten-minute penalty too for fun.

Jen raises to 1000; both Michael Muldoon and Gary Clarke call.

Flop - 4s 7d Kh

Jen bets another 1000; Gary Clarke folds and Michael calls.

At this point I was distracted by some shouting which turned out to be an "all in the bar" as Neil Kelly put it ("glasses breaking" as the rest of us call it) and I turned back to see a Tc turn out, and they were both checking the 3s river.

Michael - er, 5c 7c

Jen - errrr, 6s 7s to win!

Says Jen - "I will never bet again."

Marty (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=656) Smyth (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=656) is OUT to the lady posted back on page one, I think - Ms Vera Duffy.

Not sure when the chips went in, but Vera was holding A-K and Marty K-6 on a King-high board. There was much handshaking and hilarity. Said Neil Kelly into the mic: "The bar is still open, Marty, the bar is still open."

Edit: Here's Marty, I'm fairly sure, just after his exit...

(http://blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=4754&g2_serialNumber=1)

Mr Karabiner is OUT - he found Queens and became involved in a raising war with a tablemate. Two or three raises into said war, Karabiner became certain that his opponent had A-K. He went all in and his opponent instacalled with his A-K, and promptly hit. Unlucky, Mr Karabiner. "The bar is still open..."

I was standing in the middle of the room, blissfully staring into space, when tikay flailing around in front of me indicated a big hand going on on his table.

Dewi was Involved in a hand with Jen. Jen had bet before the flop and Dewi called, and they were looking at a board that read  Ahrt 2h Qh. When I wandered out on to the floor I'd only meant to take a few photos so hadn't brought my notebook, which now results in me not actually knowing whether Jen bet first [EDIT - Jen informs me that Dewi bet out, she raised and he shoved], but at some point on the flop Dewi declared All In, and Jen called. As you do:

Jen - 8h Th

Dewi - Ac 6d

Turn and River respectively - Qc 4s

Dewi, not so Cool right this second, is OUT. Jen might be chip leader - she must have 60k at least.

Further edit - Jen has 72k! Go, Jen!

Level 7 will be the final level.

We are now on 200 400 with a 25 ante.

It seems as though Jen Mason and Michael Muldoon are the two likely chip leaders at this stage. there are roughly 173 out of the initial 275 entries still remaining. The average stack is 23,843.




I'd estimate he is around the 13k mark or so...

After raising preflop, he was just seen betting 1.8k on a Qc 9c 8s board, but was quickly reraised by none other than Tightend and folded his cards fairly quickly...

I spoke to M3Boy at the break. He looks like he has struggled to get a stack going, after a couple of good levels early on. "Haven't seen any hands in the last two hours Rod" he told me...no crash and burn jsut yet though.

Snatiramas made a whirlwind start and was swiftly floating in the 20-25k regions but he says he hasn't seen any decent cards in the last 2 hours and is sitting jsut below average at the moment. He doesn't need chips to chirp though as the non stop stream of chat that is constantly heard from him proves!

Junglecat posting on Kev's account now. I get about a bit huh?

Dave Shoelace aka Barry (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=1143) Carter (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=1143) has just played another interesting pot with Anna Colley.

Seeing a 3 way raised pot with her, he led for 2.5k on a 3h 4s 8c flop after Anna and the other player both checked to him.

As the other player in the pot passed Anna commented "That's a gay bet there" and called. The turn came the 9h, checked by Anna, and now Barry said "I'm going to make a masculine check now..."

"No such thing!" laughed Anna.

The river came the Ad and now Anna led for 4.5k, Barry called pretty quickly.

"You shoulda folded there" said Anna confidently, but as Barry turned over A-J for top pair, she re-checked her cards and mucked them. "Rivered me" she claimed somewhat incredibly...!

I'm not sure I beleive her there, do you?

Mike Lacey told me about a completely bizarre hand he was involved in.

Kind of short, he decided to limp in with 7c 8c. As you do. The flop came A-5-6 and it checked around. The turn came another 6 and someone bet 1k - even though there were two callers ahead of him, he called. As you do. The river came a 9, giving Mike the straight. Someone bet 3k - and something snapped in Mike's brain, leading him to believe that he had not in fact made the straight, and he mucked his cards. Fool! There goes the Lacey double up.

The bettor showed pocket Nines for the full house.

Incidentally in the break Jen told me another bizarre hand she found herself involved in.

She limped under the gun with with Aces. Michael Muldoon limped from mid position with, um, Aces. The big blind checks.

Flop - 9-7-3 and Jen bets out 1600. Michael Muldoon calls, and the big blind raises to 5k. Jen re-raises to 10k, and Michael Muldoon re-re-raises to 25k. Jen folds her Aces face-up (ohhh, the restraint!). The big blind turns over 7-9 for two pair.

Turn - 7

River - 7

Leaving the big blind with QUAAAAAAAAAADS!!!! and Jen feeling incredibly, for once deservedly, smug.

Here's some random counts for you, although these will rapidly be superceded by the final chip counts at the end of the day...

First off Tighty is looking somewhat tired now and it doesn't look like he has been involved too much as his stack has depleted to about 17k or so.

Tikay, well ditto really, perhaps looking a touch fresher than Tighty, but a similar stack of 16k or so.

M3boy was a little annoyed when I saw him.

Holding K-K, his blind was raised and he decided to play them slow to ensure a double up. SO he flat called.

The flop came Q high and M3boy checked before his opponent bet out 2k or so. "I knew he had AQ" so I flat called.

The turn though was the A and when his opponent bet out 3.5k M3boy felt sick but folded, leaving himself 10k back...

They've all gone crazy in the last half hour or so - we currently have 163 runners remaining with 10 minutes of play left, blinds at 200/400 with a 25 ante. Average stack is 25,306. I expect at least a handful more exits before we get to go to bed.

Sorry I couldn't be bothered digging out the running aunties picture two levels back, by the way. It's been a long day.

Tightend has just passed a big pair preflop, for the first second umpteenth time in his poker career :)

Limping with Q-Q there was a raise behind and Roy Brindley shoved on the button. He reasoneed he couldn't be beating both so passed.

The raiser called quickly with K-K, validating Tighty's pass, and Roy showed that he was at it with his 6-6, which didn't outdraw the cowboys and sent Roy back to his ferrari with his tail  slightly between his legs.

TIghtend commented that he would have shoved to the original raiser's raise so Roy's ill-timed shove actually helped him there...

"I've got exactly my starting stack to come back to tomorrow!" said Tighty. "How is that possible???"

As Neil announced over the microphone..."He's called Tightend for a reason!"

Play has now finished for the night. The only thing that could make me happier right now than the prospect of my Travelodge bed would be the bar being open, but it's not, so I'm going to think about kittens instead. Chips are being laboriously bagged and tagged, so until the chip counts magically reach us by email (thanks!), I am sticking a fork in this update. Oh my God I wish we had food. Back at 2pm tomorrow, coffee permitting...

 ;stickaforkinme;