Print Page - Bluesq.com GUKPT Brighton FINAL DAY: At A Glance

Welcome back to the Brighton Grosvenor for the culmination of the first leg of the GUKPT tour.

The initial 280 entrants have been boiled down and concentrated to these final 9 competitors who will have spent their sleeping hours last night dreaming of what could be when they return today to duke it out for the title.

Here are our celebrated finalists, including of course William Hill's own Julian Thew, whose superb run in recent times shows no signs of abating as he returns today in fourth spot, well placed and well fancied to take down the title. He will have to get past the meaty stacks and assembled talent of Jim Reid, Karim Louis and Joe Grech first though, who are all going to have a big say in who prospers today.

The smaller stacks are also only a double up or two away from catching up, and will doubtless have formulated their own battle plans for success today. The good structure means they have the ability to play themselves back into contention if they bring their A game along today...

We will bring you some pictures of today's Finalists shortly but for now, here are the players themselves and their chip counts.

James Reid 678000
Karim Louis 574500
Josef Grech 454000
Julian Thew 400500
Micheal Bolger 180500
Nik Persaud 173000
Marcus Bebb-Jones 158500
Fabio Esposito 146000
Roberts Cowen 136500

Good luck everyone. An explosive final beckons. Join us for the fun and frolics...

Quote from: Card_Shark on January 20, 2008, 02:51:13 PM

Does anyone what time they are due to start?

They are right this second announcing the players; it should be starting any second. I am not bothered that all this is going on downstairs while I am up in the press room, because Jon Raab has most kindly given us permission to set up one laptop from each updating company downstairs, right by final table, and Junglecat is there even now. Joy!

Yes, indeed, Grosvenor have kindly provided us with a cordoned off area next to the final table which will facillitate the updates immensely.

They have introduced the players, who have already rescued their chips from their overnight plastic sleeping bags, and are sitting there chatting merrily away as they eagerly wait for the start.

Here is how the table is laid out.

In Seat One..Michael Bolger.

Seat Two.....Karim Louis

Seat Three...Fabio Esposito

Seat Four....Joe Grech

Seat Five.....Jim Reid

Seat Six......Nik Persaud

Seat Seven..Julian Thew

Seat Eight...Roberts Cowen

Seat Nine...Marcu Bebb-Jones

Seat 1: Michael Bolger

Michael is a professional poker player and spread better. He mainly plays the big cash games down at the Vic with the likes of Neil (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=302) Channing (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=302) et al, although he is also involved in spread betting - "I can lose money at any given game," he laughs. In fact it was watching them play big events like this one that first got him into tournament poker - "I thought, if those muppets can do it, so can I," he says jovially. His biggest live result so far was the €800 event at the 2006 Irish Open, which he chopped with 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) and a few others, and although he wins online (mainly on the Ladbrokes site), he's never won over $10k and this could well be his biggest ever cash.

Seat 2: Karim Louis

Karim only started playing poker two years ago after spending some time "just being into the roulette". He learned to play on the internet and progressed to live poker, often playing tournaments at the Vic and the Sportsman. He has only played one GUKPT before - it was Brighton this time last year, when he came 18th, and thought he'd come back to see if he could improve on that result.

Seat 3: Fabio Esposito

Fabio has a full-time management job in local government and spends his weekends being a part-time lone parent so he doesn't have that much time for big tournaments, but he likes to play them when time permits. He played two GUKPTs and an EPT last year - no results, but he made Day 2 down here in Brighton. Day 3 now! No word on whether he has a water bed, for our readers who were enquiring yesterday.

Seat 4: Joe Grech

Joe Grech is one of the most successful long-term festival players in the UK. A regular on the scene, he is a consistent winner who never surprises when he reaches a final table.

Joe has adapted his game over the years to one that is more aggressive, particularly early on, and is prepared to gamble to get a chip stack from which he can apply pressure. This was a conscious decision borne of deep thought into the changing nature of festival fields and the skills required to remain a winner. Most recently Joe final tabled in the inaugural GUKPT event in Bolton. In 2006 he hit over a dozen final tables including winning the February 2006 Broadway festival Main Event outright after a titanic heads-up struggle with Paul Jackson. However Joes biggest career result was achieved in April 2005 when he finished second in the WPT Five Star World Poker Classic at the Bellagio.

An absolute chip monster through almost all of Day 2, it would have taken a miracle to keep him off the final table.

Seat 5: Jim Reid

Officially Irish (although he's hiding that accent pretty well), Jim Reid is one of those players who is truly due a big win, and if his talent for the game and the respect he garners from his peers is anything to go by, then that scoop should be just around the corner.

Having said that, however, Jim has frequented many a final table, his strongest performance being in the 2005 Irish EPT where he took home just under 50 thousand Euros for his 6th place finish. Prior to that, Jim became the Grand Prix Champion in 2004, earning £40k for his troubles.

Touted by Richard Prew as a very talented and aggressive player, father-of-five Jim lives in Bedford where he runs a transport business.

And we're off!

First hand, Jim Reid raises to 30k from UTG+1. Roberts Cowen reraises an enticing 20k to 50k....ACTION FIRST HAND!

Everyone else passes...

Jim Reid calls the extra 20k.

The players see a flop of Jd 4s 4h.

Jim checks and Roberts now moves in for his last 70 or 80k...

Jim instantly calls him with an unbeleivable 4-4 for quads! First hand!

Roberts looks understnadably dejected as he shows Q-Q and a 3 on the turn leaves him drawing dead, meaning .......

Roberts Cowen is OUT, elminated in 9th Place for £5,600

Seat 6: Nik Persaud

You can't ignore Nik Persaud, whose think-out-loud style of tournament play has both tilted the sensitive amongst his opponents, and revealed him to have a card-sense thought-process which, while not always working, is undoubtedly fairly sophisticated. Cashing in last year's WSOP and coming 10th in the £1,000 GUKPT Bolton tournament, expect him to show up at a good deal more of these well-structured events.

An extrovert personality without crossing the line into outright annoying, Nik is a genuinely enthusiastic player who will happily discuss concepts of double-flop Pot Limit Omaha while playing 'Red or Black' for more money than is in the pot.

Likely to: Recover fast after throwing toys out of pram; be heard shouting one-word exhortations like, Gamble! or Coinflip! or, Lucky! while playing online cash with his whole bankroll.
Unlikely to: Leave Gutshot for more than a fortnight; not have time to talk to you about poker. Has amusing glasses.

Seat 7: Julian Thew

A Nottingham native, Julian has had a phenomenal year by any standards. Winner of the Plymouth leg of the GUKPT in 2007, he added an EPT title to his list of achievements later in the year on Baden. Known of course as "Yo-Yo", his performance in this event has so far been uncharacteristically un-yoyo-ish - he doubled up early, and remained one of the larger stacks pretty much all the way through. Leading to his alternative nickname, "Goldenbollox". Whichever way he does it, Julian has now added another juicy cash to his record, which will no doubt please his very excellent sponsors at William Hill.

Seat 8: Robert Cowen

I'm afraid we didn' t really get much of a chance to speak to young Robert Cowen before he busted, but from what we understand he is a local player, with a unique and aggressive style at the table. His aggression is tempered by caution occasionally, however, via the medium of a piece of paper urging him to STOP AND THINK. WP, Robert.

Seat 9: Marcus Bebb-Jones

Marcus Bebb-Jones is apparently 44 years old and "looking for sponsorship..." A familiar face on the circuit, he has been playing poker for 2 1/2 years, live poker for 18 months, and although he says he's read 30 books about the game, the best education he's had is playing live with good players. He still works selling gas and electricity ("Cheapest in the country!"), but made more money last year playing poker than he did working, so perhaps we'll see him turn pro one of these days...

Nik Persaud picked up a few chips off Jim Reid when he value bet his J-5 after bluffing a 8c 3s 2c but hitting a J on the river, his 40k was paid off by Jim.

Julian just raised to 30k and found a caller in Joe Grech...

The flop came down Ac Jh 3c. Joe checked and Julian bet 40k. Joe called...

The turn was the 3s. Joe checked and Julian checked.

The river was the Ts. Joe checked and Julian also tapped the table.

Joe showed Qc Tc which was good for the pot, whilst Julian showed 7c 7s..."It doesn't matter when you hit as long as you hit" remarked Joe wisely!

I was just in the loo, so missed a big pot but Dana managed to jot down most of the key information.

Karim Louis and the exotically named Italian, Fabio Esposito saw a flop, following a little preflop action.

The Jd Jh 3h may have looked slightly harmless but both players were willing to commit their chips, unsuprisingly when you saw their hands which were Jc Tc for Fabio, who must have been sick to his stomach when he saw the cold-deck that had ensued as Karim turned over 3-3!

a 4d and 9h on the river sealed Fabio's fate, meaning...

Fabio Esposito is OUT, eliminated in 8th place, winning £8,400

(No need to be too upset, that buys you a lot of waterbeds and hair spray Fabio...) Good game...

We continue 7 handed...

By the way, I had a quick word with unlucky ninth-placer Robert Cowen just now. "Do you mind if I take a photo?" I said. "Sure," he replied, "Would you like one of me crying?" He doesn't look too upset though; he said he Quadded (a real word) someone else earlier in the tournament with pocket Fours, so it was a kind of divine justice in ways.

Also, he's not, as we thought, a local, but is actually a student from Swansea who got into Hold 'Em through, unusually, playing live seven card stud for fun. He bought straight into this event "to see what would happen," and is now planning to play the rest of the tour as they are such good value. GG, Robert.

At 6k/12k with a running 1k ante there is 25k in the pot preflop, which is a nice chunk to take down and the aggressive players will no doubt be keen to get their sticky little mitts on some of these chips.

Julian leads the way raising to 36k from the sb on Marcus' big blind. Marcus quickly passes and Julian casually throws his cards into the muck...Probably aces...

Next hand Marcus limps from the small blind, only to find Michael Bolger applying the requisite limpers tax, raising an additional 40k. Marcus wants no part of this aand throws his cards away...

Nik on the small blind moves all in for his dwindling maybe-100k stack against Julian's big blind. Julian folds. "He said call!" protests Nick, which is a lie. "In your mind," says the commentatey announcey guy whose name I have forgotten - you know, Mr "'Ere Coom Them Caaards".

Very rough chip counts:

Marcus B-J (tee hee!) - 140k
Julian - 350k
Nik - 100k
Jim Reid - 700k
Joe Grech - 400k
Karim - 550k
Michael Bolger - 350k

Dana here, posting Final Tableside (those were my chipcounts too; now Junglecat owes me a pun):

Obviously, the second I post chip counts they're just all wrong.

Jim Reid found himself betting 60k preflop. Marcus B-J finds himself moving all in for that probably-around-140k.

Jim now finds himself squirming with a big decision to make. "Maybe I should fold I'm hoping I'm racing, you see." He calls anyway.

B-J - Qh Qs

Reid - Aspades Qd domination

Board - Kh 2c 8c 2h now 'ere cooms that caaaard Ad

So it may be hard for B-J to swallow but he's OUT (Junglecat, all debts are paid!) ie. Marcus Bebb-Jones finished in 7th place, winning £11,200. WP, sir.

Photos to follow as soon as uploaded...

Michael has been getting busy with mixed success. Calling a riase from Jim Reid of 36k, he found Joe Grech (whose bright red shirt is quite a marvel to behold) re-raising behind to 130k. joe's squeeze proved successful as both Jim and Michael passed...

Michael was in no mood to slow down though and raised the next hand to 42k. Karim now woke up and re-raised him to 100k. Michael chewed his gum pensively before passing showing an Ace. Karim flipped an attractive pair of ladies over and augmented his stack. Karim is slowly rising to the top...

Joe Grech raises it up on Karim's big blind to 36k but finds Michael pushing his dwindling stack allin behind. Joe starts to think....

"Call, if you want to come from behind" suggests Michael, which arouses the interest of Flushy, who is watching from the rail.

"Just want to make you sweat a bit " laughs Joe before passing

Nik Persuad jsut played a big pot. Limping from the small blind on Julian's BB, Julian checked.

The flop came 2d 4h Js. Nik checked to Julian who bet 25k...Nik now check raised ALLIN for his remaining just-over-100k stack.

Julian quickly called, showing J-2 for a flopped two pair. Nik wasn't dead though, holding 5h 3h for an open ended straight draw.

The turn was the 9s and the river....

THE 5d, giving Nik one pair but not enough to beat Julian's Jacks and Twos, meaning...

Nik Persaud is OUT, eliminated in 6th spot, winning £14,000.

Karim Louis has been very busy during the last level, and appears to be picking on Michael Bolger a little.

After Michael raises to 45k from the cut-off, Karim, not for the first time, quickly repops to 90k. Michael is no doubt sick of this and calls the additional 45k.

The flop comes Ks 6c Th and Michael checks, finding Karim betting 150k behind him. Michael chews his gum for all he's worth but can't find salvation in his juicy fruit and passes, forced out by Karim's aggression yet again.

Next hand Karim raises again to 45k and is rewarded with the blinds as everyone passes...

On his big blind now, Karim faces a raise from Julian on the button...

"I should reraise!" he says before calling...

The flop comes Ac 8s 4d.

Check, check.

TURN: 9d

Check check

RIVER: Qs

Karim now bets 40k.

Julian looks puzzled..."Have you got the ace?" he asks, to which Karim replies "NO!"

"I can beat King high!" he suggests optimistically but Karim is giving nothing up and Julian eventually passes. Karim mysteriously shows the 8d before being overcome by the urge to show off and flips the 8c too, for a flopped set. Julian slipped away with minimal damage though.

We are on a short break for the players to gather their thoughts and strategies but will return to join the fray shortly...

Next hand Karim raises again to 45k and is rewarded with the blinds as everyone passes...

We are on a short break for the players to gather their thoughts and strategies but will return to join the fray shortly...

Karim limps on the button, Joe Grech completes and Jim checks his option.

The flop comes out Ah 4d 8c.

Joe checks, Jim checks and Karim bets 35k...Joe calls...

TURN: 4h.

Joe checks, Karim bets 40k, Joe calls.

RIVER: 6d

Joe checks and Karim also checks.

Joe shows an ace with what looks like a 3 for top pair but Karim shows 4c 3c for trip fours and takes down the pot...

Missed value bet there?

Still Karim soldiers on and increases his chip lead yet further...

It is true that the GUKPTs are no longer being televised as a matter of course. I think I heard some kind of rumour that one or two of them might end up somewhere on or near your TV screens, but it deifintely won't be in the same format as last year. I think it's mainly down to the frankly shocking cost of getting a whole TV crew down. Such is the world we live in.

It doesn't seem to have affected numbers though - a very excellent turnout here in Brighton, and the familiar GUKPT party-atmosphere buzz remains, Cheeky Vimtos notwithstanding. If you're gagging to pretend you were there, I believe the Bluesquare site has some video - interviews, highlights, etc, as does AWOP. There are definitely people lurking with video cameras, just not a full-on TV crew.

Joe Grech has upped the aggression.

After Karim limps form the SB to his BB, Joe pops it up 50k and Karim passes 4-4 after dwelling a while...

Next hand Michael bolger limps from the cutoff, Karim completes and now Joe raises it up again 54k. Both pass and Joe shows 5s 3d nonchalantly, perhaps announcing "PWNED" within the confines of his own thoughts...

Julian finally stops the one way traffic from Grech though.

After raisiing preflop to 54k and being called by Joe the flop of 6-7-Q is checked by both players.

The turn is the 8s and Julian now fires out 60k after Joe checks. Joe passes and is shown T-T by Julian...

Michael raises to 40k from the cutoff and Joe Grech calls from the small blind...

FLOP: Ad Ts 7s

Joe checked and Michael bet out 40k, which Joe called.

The turn was the 7d

Check, check...

RIVER: Td...

Joe picks up some chips as if to bet, but then taps the top of his stack to indicate a check.

Michael now bets out 80k, and Jow doesn't like it but passes...

Michael shows 8-9 for a missed straight draw bluff on the river. He looks very pleased wiuth himself after getting pushed about by Joe earlier...

Joe and Michael are at it again...

After Joe raises preflop on Michael's big blind...JMichael calls.

The flop comes out Ad 3d Th.

Michael checks and Joe bets out 40k or so....Michael now check raises allin for at least 200 more and he has Joe covered at this stage...

Joe shakes his head, ponders and considers before finally....CALLING!

Joe shows Aspades 2c for top pair and a brave call, whilst Michael shows the draw-tastic Td Jd for 2nd pair and a flush draw.

The turn is the 3h, limiting Michael's outs, but the river comes the Qd, completing Michael's flush to deafening cheers from the crowd! He's a popular figure for sure!

As he had Joe covered this means...

Joe Grech is OUT, eliminated in 5th spot for £16,800

Those two have had their battles on the final table, but Michael eventually prevailed. Nonetheless congratulations to Maltese Joe, who put in a good performance all tournament...

Jim just played an exciting hand with Julian. Raising to 40k ish on the button, Julian re-raised to 100k ish and Jim prettty much immediately moved allin!

Julian thought for ages and ages before passing 9-9. The cheeky monkey Jim showed a very well played Q-T! Brave move, but it paid off and Jim adds a nice chunk to his stack...

At 10k 20k with 1k ante the 34k in the pot preflop means there is a lot of dead money there waiting to be taken...

Julian just played out a big pot.

Michael Bolger and Julian both saw a 5c 6d 7c flop. Julian bet out and was called by the initially checking Michael...

The turn is the Jc...CHECK CHECK

RIVER: 6h...

Michael checks and Julian now bets out 60k...Michael considers what to do, chewing his gum as usual and this time the hubba bubba gods tell him to call, so call he does, showing just a pair of 5s with 5-9...

Julian however has already mucked by this point, indicating a complete bluff...

WP Michael...

An interesting hand:

Michael Bolger makes it 60 utg and Karim calls on the button. Both Jim Reid and Julian fold.

The flop comes 5h Ac 4d and Michael checks. Karim bets a suspicious-if-you-ask-me 40k.

Turn - Tc and Michael checks again. Karim now bets a maybe-he's-getting-scared 100k. Again, Michael flat calls.

River - the straight-and-flushtastic 3c. Michael checks. Karim looks uncomfortable and checks too.

The hand is now over, and in the traditional manner Karim shows his cards - 5s 5c for the flopped set. Michael disappointingly mucks. I'd like to know what he had that he felt the need to raise utg, because as soon as the hand's over, Julian comes over to me and tells me that he was holding A-3, which would have made two pair, and Jim was holding 4-5, which would also have made two pair. Had Michael not raised, it could have been almost home time by now. Sigh.

---------------- 45 MINUTE DINNER BREAK --------------

Chip counts right now:

Jim Reid -- 876k
Julian Thew -- 795k
Karim Louis -- 707k
Michael Bolger -- 517k

The finalists have a nice sit-down meal laid on; the updaters have nothing. Neverends, in the parlance. Off to scrounge sandwiches somewhere...

At this stage, let me just post a reminder of the payouts awaiting out lucky 4 finalists...

1st Place £86,800 plus seat in Grand Final
2nd Place £46,200
3rd Place £30,800
4th Place £22,400

The early stages of this level have involved the players taking turns to pick up the blinds with preflop riases.

2 for Karim, 1 for Jim (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=599) Reid (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=599), 1 for Michael, 1 for Julian...THEN...we see a flop.

Karim raises to 60 from the button, Julian calls in the BB..

FLOP: Ac 3c 7d

check, check...

TURN: Ts

check by Julian, bet of 50k from Karim, call by Julian

RIVER: 8s

check and Karim checks behind.

Julian shows As 6c for top pair, whilst Karim shows....A-A!

wow...definite missed value bet at this stage. Bit too cautious I would say by Karim there! Julian could hardly believe it...the way Karim played it let him out very cheap when he must've thought it very likely that he was winning...

Dana has passed me her notepad where she has been diligently taking notes of the recent hands...

This is one such note. (brackets are my own additions)

"Jim froth raise to 65k (er....)
Julian fold (s)
Michael fold mighty full wilson GO!
FOOL!" (Run, run while you still can)

This is the kind of insanity we are dealing with people. She is now threatening me by telling me she needs to pee...? I have no idea what is going on with her but it is clear she is in dire need of some psychiatric help...

Julian raises and Karim calls from the blinds...

Karim checks and now Julian shoots 70k at the pot, only to find his nemesis check raising allin.

Julian has ben Karim-ed once again...

Karim has started this level on fire, winning about 3/4 of the hands they have played!

BUT...Julian puts an end to Karim's domination by calling a raise from Karim and getting some value out of him on 6s 9d As Jd Qh board. Karim was unlucky to have had his K-K cracked though...

And Karim has just played yet another big pot...

Michael Bolger riased allin with his shortish stack and found Karim calling with Ad 9s. Michael was caught with his hands in the till with 6h 2c but could still escape with a favourable flop...

The flop came 7s 2d 4d, giving Michael the edge to cheers from the rail and the 8s on the turn meant Michael was almost home but a 9c on the river gave Karim the winning hand with a pair of 9s and as he had Michael easily covered that means...

Michael Bolger is OUT, eliminated in 4th spot for £22,400.

Well played Michael...

Karim is involved again.

I was busily writing up the previous sequence of events so I can't tell you exactly how the hand played out but both players Karim and Jim saw the flop in what I assume was a raised pot as all the chips managed to go in on a 9c 2d 7d flop.

Jim was holding a flush draw in the shape of 6d 4d but Jim had made a bad reid as his hand was truly Karim-ed by Karim's top pair and flush draw, Qd 9d.

Jim was looking very unlikely to win and although the 6s on the turn gave him a long shot to get out of it, the blank 3s on the river was no help, meaning the monstrous stack of Karim's was bolstered once again and...

Jim Reid is OUT, eliminated in 3rd place, winning £30,800!

Well played Jim, great game.

(http://blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=8451&g2_serialNumber=2)

The above elimination left Julian Thew and Karim Louis heads up, but who will emerge victorious?

Will the Karim rise to the top? Or can Julian Thew it again?

We have just had a short break enabling the players to discuss some business...

They have done a deal, which Julian was happy to tell us about in full...Julian has taken £56,000 and Karim(who currently has roughly a 3-1 chip advantage) £66,000.

They will play on for £10,000, the seat and the glory of being the 2008 GUKPT tour inaugural champion. Good luck both!

Three-to-one chip lead for Karim or not, Julian's not going down without a fight. Do not anger thJulian! He will become Thewrious. Oh dear me.

They check a Queen-high flop, and then Julian attempts to bet the turn. "What are the blinds again?" The blinds are 15k/30k, and he bets a lame-ish 40k, which Karim calls. The river is a Five, and they check it. Julian's K-9 is good.

Then Julian button-steals. Karim folds, and he shows A-J. Mr Announcey Caaaards declares it to be A-K, then claims he was choking when corrected. Oops.

Then he button raises again and is called. Both players check until the Two Diamonds river - Julian bets 60k and Karim passes. Julian shows pocket Twos for a set!

I'd like to quickly point out that the pun "Thew"rious was not one of mine but was Dana at my computer causing mischief.

I would never make a shocking pun like that...

Julian and Karim have played out a big pot.

In an unraised pot, Julian led for 40k on a Td 7c 3s flop and Karim called...

The turn was the 5d, and Julian now bet 100...Karim called.

The river was the 8s and Julian now bet out 240k...again Karim called!

Cards over Julian shows T-3 for a flopped two pair and Karim 4-6 for the straight! Very conservative play from Karim again, especially heads up.

As a semi-relieved Julian said "Phew, that could have been over quickly!"

Losing 400k on that last hand hurt Julian, knocking him down to 850 or 900k, whilst Karim was up to over 2million. Since then though the naturally more aggressive Julian has picked up a few pots and has got himself back to over one million to Karim's 1.8 million or so...

Play is still cagey, with plenty of limping in to see flops on both sides, plenty of experimental small betting on flops or turns for Julian, plenty of folding and/or small river betting for Karim. Julian has clawed his way back up to around 900k to Karim's 1.9 million or so - a perfectly manageable shortstack situation with the blinds at 15k/30k.

Incidentally the blinds and clock are being displayed on a projector screen behind the table, and very occasionally a string of glowing green numbers will manifest themselves, gleaming, on Jon Raab's shiny bonce. Photos to follow, obviously, in the now-familiar time-delay fashion.

Julian riases 50k preflop on the button and Karim calls.

The flop comes K-8-6, Karim checks and so does Julian.

The turn is the 3h, Karim now bets and Julian passes. He flashes an Ace, whilst Karim flashes a K for top pair...

Julian now raises by 60k preflop on the button and Karim again calls...

The flop comes 5d 7h 6c.

Karim check, Julian bets 100k, Karim calls AGAIN!

TURN: 3c

check check

RIVER: 6d.

Karim bets 100k, Julian looks a little frustrated and folds A-Q face up. Karim meanwhile says "flopped it" and flips 8-9 for the flopped straight!!!

Julian is not looking a little low with 700k or so. Karim has definitely had the better of the cards since their heads up battle began. Can Julian recover from the battering of straights and top pairs Karim is being dealt??

Julian is currently on 1,050,000 with Karim on 1,750,000.

uh,oh, Dana has passed me her pad with another scribbled hand on it. Expect madness to ensure...

It's a biggie too.

Karim raised to 80k preflop, Julian re-popped to 300k, Karim moved ALLIN and Julian called!!!

Julian Ad Qc

Karim Ts Th

The cards came Qh Kc 4s 2c 2d, meaning Julian won the race and DOUBLED UP to over 2 million. Karim now down to 800k ish...

Flushy shouts out "Got your chips in behind again Julian!" in typical heartless flushy fashion. He'll be thrown out soon no doubt. They've already had to install a new sign in the lift "MAX 4 PERSONS (or one Flushy)"

Down to 650k, when Julian mvoed in on him, Karim had an easy call with A-Q.

Julian showed the dominated A-8.

A flop of 4-6-2-Q-T was produced, giving Karim a winning hand of TPTK, and Julian has doubled him back to to 1.3 million or so. They're almost virtually level again!

Karim refuses to just lie down and die! Both players have been playing a long time now and must surely be starting to feel Karim crackered...

Dana here.

A painful hand for Julian:

Karim bets out 60k on the 5s 7s 8c flop. Julian raises to 160k, and Karim calls.

Turn - 6h - Karim looks down at his cards. He shakes his head and checks. Julian bets 280k, and Karim goes all in. There is much oohing from the crowd.

Julian - 6d 9s for the flopped straight

Karim - 9c 8d for the turned straight

RIver - an irrelevant Aspades

Chop. NOW Julian must be Thewrious.

Quote from: bigalhx1 on January 21, 2008, 12:18:26 AM

just got in after a good long drink have you got a rough chip count please level in chips 2/1 3/1 that kind of thing if can please

Julian has roughly 1.6 million to Karim's 1.2 million.

The players jsut had a quick break hence the lull in events.

Dana has passed me a hand that occurred just before the end of break. Once again I have enlisted the help of a crack squad of code breakers to decipher her hieroglyphics...

" 9h 9s Jd - ch. ch. (check check)
Td Karim ch. Julian 40k; call
Ahrt Karim 100k julian pause, raise 140k more, Karim call...
Julian 6s 9c Karim Qh 8d"

You can probably work that out, in case you can't Julian's flopped trips were beaten by Karim's gutshot, hit on the turn.

There has been a small technical hitch with the board timer, my laptop decided to die a moment ago and the players have been on a recent break hence the small number of updates recently.

Just as an overall synopsis, I can say that the play has largely consisted of small pots, or raises preflop that haven't been called. In this war, Julian is the more aggressive player and is picking up more of the chips. He is grinding down Karim, slowly but surely, but thanks to the generous nature of the blue square structure, it will take a while before he can steal enough blinds to actually leave Karim with no more chips!!

The audience has dwindled somewhat due to the slow nature of the play.

In fact, Tikay just sat down. "The audience has doubled in size!" some card says. "And quadrupled in age!" pipes in flushy in a rare moment of wit...

A big pot is just being played out as a type this....details to follow....

Karim raises to 170k on the button.

Julian repops it to 470k and Karim now moves in!

620k for Julian to call and we wait with baited breath....."OK, I call!"

Cards on their backs...

Julian shows 5s 5c and Karim the As Qc. It's a race folks...

The flop comes 9s 6c 2d.

TURN: Kh, leaving Karim needing an A or a Q to survive.

RIVER: .......the 3h!

Julian wins the pot and as he has Karim covered, this means...

Karim Louis is eliminated in 2nd spot, officially winning £46,200 (as per the deal earlier)

AND

Julian (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=225) Thew (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=225) is the CHAMPION of the Brighton GUKPT, officially winning £86,800, a seat to the GUKPT main event and the Tournament trophy!!!

Congratulations to Julian, who becomes the first player to win 2 GUKPT titles, and continues his brilliant run of late. What a star...

;tightend; ;tightend; ;tightend; ;tightend; ;tightend; ;tightend; ;tightend; ;tightend; ;tightend; ;tightend; ;tightend; ;tightend;

Ok folks, it's been a rollercoaster ride down here at Brighton. Enormous congratulations to Mr Julian "Goldenbollocks aka Thew's The Daddy aka Thewmeister aka Thew Done It Again aka Thew, Didn't Think I'd Win That Coinflip aka Thewdboy aka Soon To Be Pissed As A Thewt" Thew. Congrats also to all the finalists and many thanks to the fine fine people at Grosvenor and Bluesquare for making this an almost painless experience for we updaters. We are off to get incredibly drunk and lose our laptops playing roulette. Until next time,

;stickaforkinme;

Quote from: JungleCat03 on January 21, 2008, 01:30:06 AM

Quote from: RED-DOG on January 21, 2008, 12:49:24 AM

Words fail me. Just how good is he?

Oi! No hijacking our At A Glance thread!

(http://www.geyasports.org/baseball/bbpagearchive/No%20Dogs.jpg)

Oops, didn't notice it was At a Glance.

Great job guys.

blonde poker forum

Poker Forums => Live Tournament Updates => Topic started by: JungleCat03 on January 20, 2008, 01:22:40 PM