As the players took their seats, I managed to dash outside for a few picturesque landscape pics that would put some of the world's greatest photographers to shame. Well, okay, just Jen and Dana.

Gold star for anyone who can name the long haired lover from Germany in the bottom photograph.

Too easy. Marcel Baran.

Go Neil!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would like to play poker at Dusk Till Dawn because DTD is going to be an amazing venue: a poker club run BY players FOR players. For DTD's owners, poker is a passion which they share with their prospective members. The casino environment encourages you to gamble - that is a casino's sole purpose - to take punters' money; poker is entirely different - it's about fair and open competition. Like any other sport, it's a game of skill. It is fun. It is social. Do backgammon clubs or bridge clubs need a casino licence? I have no idea but I think it's unlikely. There is certainly an element of luck in poker, no doubt about it ... but this is a tiny factor compared to the importance of skill and experience.
Ccasinos attract gamblers; poker attracts competitors. It's as simple as that and there is no comparison or common ground between the two. It is ludicrous that poker is still subject to the same laws as gaming and I urge Nottingham's magistrates to take a bold step on September 24 and officially recognise that poker and gaming are NOT the same.
If Dusk Till Dawn was being set up by a casino company, its motives might be more suspect. Casinos provide poker rooms but they are generally acknowledged loss leaders ... merely a device for pulling in players who might then later be tempted to wander over to the roulette and blackjack tables and lose money. Or, while the poker player is sitting at his table in the poker room, his partner or friends while away their time at the gaming tables (and lose money). DTD, however, is being set up by a group of poker players. They are absolutely 100% dedicated to the game and their only goal is to provide a safe, clean and appealing environment for poker enthusiasts from all over the UK to pursue their interest.

I didn't know there were so many different ways you could use your hand to prop up your head...

I didn't know there were so many different ways you could use your hand to prop up your head...

Are those three INTENTIONALLY doing the hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil thing? must be a set-up surely...

Well done on the new camera! it's like we've all had cataract operations. cheap at half the price.

Keep an eye on Duthie. but if he asks you to get him a coffee, DON'T. he played that trick on me at WSOP last year. He BEGGED me to go to starbucks (which was at least 15 miles away) and by the time i got back he was OUT.

Gotta love him, hasnt paused for a breath yet!!

it's a bravura performance.

Whilst I'm waiting for Jen to return with some poker pearls, check out this antesup.com clip of Mad Marty showing me a card trick. Mad Marty Wilson is the only person I have ever met who comes across drunk when he's fully sober. At this point, I was tired after a long long month of endless updating, sleeping in hotels and eating a couple of sandwhiches a day - I think I did well to join in though (ps, this was the 4th trick). Problem is, when he left, he promised to return later on to play what he described as "A game that is gripping the nation". No, not Poker or Deal or Deal, but 'Win With Wilson'. The mind boggles, it truly does...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_F68x7i_KMg

snoopy - is that a beard in the antesup film? and at the risk of making blonde sound self-congraulatory ie endless announcements about how great you are, i have to say: GREAT UPDATES!!!! (although i can remember how scathing you were about EPTLive constantly patting itself on the back) anyway, reading Blonde remotely it really does feel as if i was there which while not necessarily a GOOD thing is, nevertheless, very realistic.

With the heads-up encounter threatening to crawl into the early hours, I can't help but reminisce about long hauls gone by, the most notable of which was a 7 hours heads-up between Andy Bloch and Chip Reese at last year's WSOP H.O.R.S.E Event. Lasting all the way to 10am in the morning, Chip and Andy played hand after hand after hand without getting anywhere, and when did manage to stumble across a rare all-in, Andy Bloch would inevitably outdraw his opponent to return to an even chip stack ratio and the threat of another couple of hours of check check trauma.

ps. Does anyone know what the record duration is for a competitive heads up encounter?

I doubt it's a record but i endured/thoroughly enjoyed/dozed off etc during the marathon heads-up at the very first EPT event in Barcelona 2004. Alex Stevic with most of the chips, Irishman David O'Callaghan trying to get to the bar - for over four hours. i can't remember many of the hands - but i know Dave went in all with 52 off at one point and still managed to pull off full house. Stevic was getting more and more grumpy; Dave increasingly embarrassed. The whole thing was played out to a delightful sound track of happy Irishmen cheering on O'Callaghan and vociferous Swedes cheering on Alex. Alex won which was only justice. My job at the time (before i got demoted) was to keep everyone awake in the stands so it would look good on TV (and it did).

Many thanks to Mad Harper for staying up late and posting the chip counts on blonde. What a star. 

thanks Snoopy... ! i am "working from home" right now (!) but do let me know if anything ghastly happens in the media room eg internet goes down, Devilfish comes in etc (only kidding, Dave)

Placed 45 to 32. (So Gavin Griffiths did knock out Wahlroos)
33  Brown Chad 23,230
34 Wahlroos Thomas 23,230
35 Beevers Joe 23,230
36 Altbregin Sergey 23,230
37 Hermans Ernst 23,230
38 Herbert Richard 23,230
39 Goodall Nick 23,230
40 Blanco Carrasco Oscar 23,230
41 Ostebrod Gunnar 19,910
42 Gueorguiev Atanas 19,910
43 Steinberg Jesse 19,910
44 Kamar Fadi 19,910
45 Troyanovsky Vladimir 19,910

I am devastated.  Time for a nap. 

I am gutted too 'cos Thomas Wahlroos deeply lovely. Note the player who busted him is Gavin Griffin, not Griffiths. He's a PokerStars qualifers from the US.

Once more unto the breach... Welcome to Day 4, 32 players remain. We're playing down to 8 players. Errr, that's it in a nutshell. Come join us. Chip counts and names to follow.

Hi all.... i have maxed out on all my email accounts, so rather than keep blondes waiting, i am posting chip counts for the surviving 32 here.... (Mad Harper, EPT web person/media carer!)

1 Andy Black (Ireland) 709500
2 Dean Sanders (UK) 695600
3 Antony Lellouche (France) 651300
4 Gavin Griffin (USA) 629200
5 Christian Neirinck (Belgium) 549800
6 Alexander Davd Kim (USA) 502400
7 Pete Giordano (USA) 501200
8 Jan Veit (Germany) 420500
9 Soren Kongsgaard (Denmark) 416500
10 Ram Vaswani (UK) 410700
11 Carlos Mortensen (Spain) 385000
12 Steve Jelinek (UK) 363100
13 David Peters (USA) 352600
14 Simon Johansson (Sweden) 339700
15 Kristof De Smedt (Belgium) 337300
16 Samir Rahal (France) 292900
17 Josh Arieh (USA) 286500
18 Eric Van Der Berg (Holland) 280700
19 Kristian Kjondal (Norway) 262700
20 Marc Karam (Canada) 260500
21 Christopher Ulsrud (Norway) 219000
22 Ben Callinan (UK) 192600
23 Philip Hilm (Denmark) 188200
24 Herman Zango (Costa Rica) 170200
25 Jacob Larsson (Sweden) 166800
26 Josh Prager (USA) 166700
27 Johannes Strassmann (Germany) 164400
28 Cristinel Dumitru (Romania) 157600
29 Roi Elmaliah (Israel) 146200
30 Richard Waters (UK) 141800
31 David Mobbs (UK) 140600
32 Lars Eidissen (Norway) 132400

No sign of a player list yet for any of the media, so all we have is our ability to recognise faces. In that sense, if you want a chip count of a relatively unfamiliar player, then please supply a photo of some sort so we can identify him.

Hi. Mad Harper here ... I am responsible for giving you guys the list. OBVIOUSLY I have had this list for hours and hours and am just refusing to hand it over. No, seriously, I am sorry for the delay but they are still reconciling all the dosh etc. I PROMISE the list will be with you as soon as poss. In the meantime, my compliments to jen, snoopy and foaming for excellent updates as usual.

Is Karl on the same table as Hoivold, Sundbo, Wendt, Matey etc??? Hows he coping??

The only two recognisable faces on Karl's table are Andreas Hoivold, Martin Wendt and Mark Teltscher. He seems to be coping pretty well though, staying steady with 15k.

Bit worrying. Looks like Snoopy can't count to three. Er ... let's run through that again: Andreas, Martin, Mark. Yup, that's three.

What's so bad about comparing Thomas to an almighty powerful being that almost brought the World to it's knees?

I think he'd be chuffed to bits with the comparision, just as I was when Mad said I looked like Brad Pitt.

Snoopy...this is awful. You obviously thought I was flirting with that Brad Pitt comment!!! But I actually meant Brad in "Fight Club", not the chap with highlights and a skirt in Troy.

Either way, you said I have the body of a Roman God combined with a Greek Adonis and that if I hadn't been busy that day, Michelangelo would have sculptured me instead of David - but that's neither here nor there, did NoflopsHomer bring you any sweets?

You run hiding when it comes to fridge-moving though...

What's so bad about comparing Thomas to an almighty powerful being that almost brought the World to it's knees?

I think he'd be chuffed to bits with the comparision, just as I was when Mad said I looked like Brad Pitt.

Snoopy...this is awful. You obviously thought I was flirting with that Brad Pitt comment!!! But I actually meant Brad in "Fight Club", not the chap with highlights and a skirt in Troy.

Either way, you said I have the body of a Roman God combined with a Greek Adonis and that if I hadn't been busy that day, Michelangelo would have sculptured me instead of David - but that's neither here nor there, did NoflopsHomer bring you any sweets?

i hate to drag this on... but then again, i also hate to be misquoted. there was no talk whatsoever about Gods or Adonis. We were talking about Hobbits at the time. And as you know, when I said Michelangelo wanted to sculpt you, that was for the collectable Smurf figurine collection he was creating for Asda. (lucrative Michelangelo sideline not many people know about because the collection was actually marketed under the "Made in Taiwan" label. )

 

I've done it. I've cracked Snoopy. He's been reduced to nothing more than a blubbering icon. And it only took three posts.