News from the European Open Poker

[SuffolkPunch]

Somewhere at Matchroom headquarters they have a problem.

"Our TV tournaments have far too much play - viewers have to wait until the last half of the programme to see players push all-in pre-flop with any two cards. This can't be what they want."

"Precisely - they want LOL flipaments right from the start."

"I have an idea - what about making the blind levels only seven hands long!"

"Brilliant - let's go home and sleep on our huge piles of Party Poker's money."

Quite funny but wide of the mark. The seven-hand blinds structure is for one heat only - for those who finished second in the main heats to have a second shot at qualifying for the semi finals.

It may be easy to take a cheap shot at TV poker production and the sponsors, but they do far more good in attracting people to the game than you seem to appreciate.

Not that I have any self-interest in this, of course.

Mr Young, how the devil are you?

And how is life treating you at, err......Party Poker?

Hope all is well with you & yours.

Hi old chap.

All good. Still catch you every now and again on Sky. They STILL haven't found you out 

[tikay]

Somewhere at Matchroom headquarters they have a problem.

"Our TV tournaments have far too much play - viewers have to wait until the last half of the programme to see players push all-in pre-flop with any two cards. This can't be what they want."

"Precisely - they want LOL flipaments right from the start."

"I have an idea - what about making the blind levels only seven hands long!"

"Brilliant - let's go home and sleep on our huge piles of Party Poker's money."

Quite funny but wide of the mark. The seven-hand blinds structure is for one heat only - for those who finished second in the main heats to have a second shot at qualifying for the semi finals.

It may be easy to take a cheap shot at TV poker production and the sponsors, but they do far more good in attracting people to the game than you seem to appreciate.

Not that I have any self-interest in this, of course.

Mr Young, how the devil are you?

And how is life treating you at, err......Party Poker?

Hope all is well with you & yours.

Hi old chap.

All good. Still catch you every now and again on Sky. They STILL haven't found you out 

I know, I know. It's like getting Aces every hand. I'll be rumbled soon enough, so in the meantime, let's just stay schtum, eh?

[kinboshi]

I know, I know. It's like getting Aces every hand. I'll be rumbled soon enough, so in the meantime, let's just stay schtum, eh?

Do as I say, don't do as I do...

[tikay]

I had another Update from this today, it read thusly......

February 7, 2008: Some of poker’s biggest names will have to wait another year to get their hands on the European Open title as the tournament heads to the semi-finals.

In Heat 8 we said goodbye to Ian Woodley and Luke Patten, Heat 9 saw the end to challenges from Andy Black and Anthony Hardy, Heat 10 was the end for defending champion Liam Flood while Ian Cox fell in Heat 11.

Perhaps the biggest story of the latest heats was the victory in Heat 9 for charity qualifier Dave Mattey, who won a heads-up with Norwegian sensation Annette Obrestad to reach the semi-finals. Annette goes into today’s Turbo Heat, while Mattey has promised to donate any winnings to charity.

Heat 8 threw up another surprise when late replacement Josh Tyler beat a field including Woodley, Patten and Tim Flanders to make the semi-finals.

Robin Keston won Heat 10 with Lascelle Barrow finishing second, while Roland De Wolfe beat Marc Goodwin to make the semis in Heat 11.

Today sees the final heat with Phil Hellmuth coming to town to take on Juha Helppi, John Magill, Roy Brindley, Paul Jackson and Darren Brown. In an action packed day the second Turbo Heat takes place after Heat 12, and the first semi final will be decided.

Celebrity qualifying heat:

1) Michael Le Vell (Coronation Street actor) – through to Heat 1, 2) Spoony (), 3) Jack Marsden (Heatbeat actor), 4) Austin Healey (Rugby Union), 5) Wayne Mardle (Darts), 6) Brandon Block ()

Heat 1

1) Craig Burgess – through to semi-final, 2) Dave Hancher – through to Turbo Heat, 3) Dave Gregory, 4) Achilleas Kallackis, 5) Simon Craig, 6) Michael Le Vell

Heat 2

1) Mike Ellis, 2) Ian Frazer, 3) John Exley, 4) Rob Cooper, 5) Graham Smith, 6) Nathan Lee

Heat 3

1) Andrew Feldman, 2) Ghassan El-Hoss, 3) Leon Loukaides, 4) David Smith, 5) Scott Fenton, 6) Andy Greekfish

Heat 4

1) Jeff Buffenbarger, 2) Barny Boatman, 3) Dave Garbacz, 4) Albert Sapiano, 5)Piers Shepperson, 6) Ryan Fronda

Heat 5

1) Nick Slade, 2) David Johnson, 3) Jonny Hewston 4) Andy Arnott, 5) Theo Dalton, 6) Christoph Haller

Heat 6

1) Dave Broadhurst, 2) Anthony Nicholl, 3) Jan Peter Jachtmann, 4) Simon Zach, 5) Darren Hickman, 6) Dale Hoy.

Turbo Heat 1

1) Ian Frazer, 2) Ghassan El-Hoss, 3) Anthony Nicholls, 4) Barny Boatman, 5) Dave Hancher, 6) David Johnson

Heat 7

1) Phil Curtis – through to semi-final, 2) Dixie Dean – through to Turbo Heat 2, 3) Ben Grundy, 4) Surinder Sunar, 5) Michael McCool, 6) Neil Channing

Heat 8

1) Josh Tyler, 2) Tim Flanders, 3) Gary Paterson, 4) Luke Patten, 5) Ian Woodley, 6) Steve Holden.

Heat 9

1) Dave Mattey, 2) Annette Obrestad, 3) John Tabatabai, 4) Andy Black, 5) Roberto Romanello, 6) Anthony Hardy.

Heat 10

1) Robin Keston, 2) Lascelle Barrow, 3) Bronwyn Campbell, 4) Marty Smyth, 5) Barry Carter, 6) Liam Flood.

Heat 11

1) Roland De Wolfe, 2) Marc Goodwin, 3) Damon Ioannou, 4) Richard Ashby, 5) Albert Kenny, 6) Ian Cox.

Still to play:

Heat 12 – Thursday, February 7

Phil Hellmuth, John Magill, Juha Helppi, Paul Jackson, Roy Brindley, Darren Brown

Turbo Heat 2 – Thursday, February 7

Dixie Dean, Tim Flanders, Annette Obrestad, Lascelle Barrow, Marc Goodwin, Heat 12 runner-up.

Semi-final 1 – Thursday, February 7

Craig Burgess, Mike Ellis, Andrew Feldman, Jeff Buffenbarger, Nick Slade, Dave Broadhurst, Ian Frazer.

Semi-final 2 – Friday, February 8

Phil Curtis, Josh Tyler, Dave Mattey, Robin Keston, Roland De Wolfe, Heat 12 winner, Turbo Heat 2 winner

Final – Friday, February 8

[quantify]

we played the semi final last night it was the most bizarre session of poker i have ever been involved in,  i tried to play a survival strategy , and when mike ellis reraised me for the umpteenth time (and i folded each time and became his biatch) i decided that keeping my heaD DOWN AND WAITING FOR A SLOT WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO.

we played for 2/3 hours without losing a player and andrew feldman and dave broadhurst went out in quick succession , then mike ellis made one move to many and fell in love with aq and my time had come to call his reraise with kk ........ and suddenly im chip leader on the bubble...................

i had 330 jeff buff had circa 190 and the other 2 had the other 180 with ian frazer being the low stack .....................THEN ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE


next hand fraz is all in with  a 10 the other shorty on 100 approx is on the bb with AA

flop 23t 6 and he river to put mr salad through as chipie to the final was   SHHHHHHHHHHHIIIITTTTT A TEN..................... ian was exiting stage left when the gasps came from the table

there was a few blind steals in between but because of the format im protecting my  stack


next hand the shorty is now craig burgess with 36 k he goes all in  qt against jeffs kj       flop blank blank blank turn blank river qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq


ffs i now have 300kkkkkkkkk and wondering when they are going top die


meanwhile ian frazer is in the "i can spot weakness " mode by going in raising ever hand , he played a great bubble game,k thennnnnnnnnnnnnnn


jeff b goes in against burgess who has become chip weak again q6 for craig kj for jeff 


flop qq6


arghhhhhhhhhhhhh  then my nightmare began ,the previous 3 all ins were bad enough ,but


ian frazer raises 40k (blinds 7500 1500) again on button, im in bb, i reriase with kq,, he rereraises me all in with aj ,, great bet by him cos i think if he has not got a strong hand he folds to protect his stack .......... now i have a big decision to make ..... do i take the shot , i have the odds to call or do i go back into my protective survival bubble . i have 125k left ...... i fold


now talk about a bubble flip .. ian is chippie, burgess is second and me and jeff are the shorties....................the main reason i went back into survival modewas, i new frazer was hittin cards and i new jeff wud take the gamble (he has more bottle thn me), he was next in the bb and they had just gone up to 10 20 and he had 90k, so it was a terrble fold when i had he odds to call but, i wanted to get to he final (were the blinds drop back to 2k 4k)

next hand ian bets, jeff goes all in at against q8 and jeffs out ..........................the final cometh.

myself and craig burgess (who is a lovely fella, i really felt for him when he had his aa cracked) both collapsed in our chairs, whilst ian was pumped up with his rush.


it took 5 hours to play ,the bubble took about one hour ...............during the bubble we were all, at some point ,forced to keep going allin to nik the blinds, it was unreal..........................AAT ONE POINT i had to drag craig back to the table and tell him to sit down and enjoy , what wont ever be repeated whilst we were at the table ,  i was chuffed to bits he made the final,,,,,,,,, unlucky on jeff who played rock solid........... unlucky to mike ellis , who ithink is one of the best players around ............and to andrew feldman who is to young succesful and good looking to say hard luck to i have one thing to sayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy


when you go all in and put your head on your fist and tilt it to one side ,,,,,, thats the reason i called you........................


so heres to the final ,  i feel drained at the moment but a certan wolfe owes me some chips from ireland ept so lets see were we end up.


the salad cometh

[quantify]

i forgot the hand before i lost to ians rereraise i went all in with 88 against craigs 99  first card out 8  second card 9 arghhhhhhhhhh

[tikay]

Here's the latest Official Update, received today.



February 8, 2008: The semi-finals of the PartyPoker.com European Open are complete, and Ian Frazer will go into the final as chip leader.

The Razor won the first semi to take 471,000 into the main event, with Josh Tyler behind him on 351,000. Annette Obrestad is third in chips with 235,000, Nick Slade fourth with 122,000, Juha Helppi fifth with 114,000 and Craig Burgess bringing up the rear with 107,000.

Frazer won the first semi-final thanks to some aggressive play when he was the short stack, with Nick Slade and Craig Burgess joining him in the final. In the second semi, Josh Tyler continued his great form as he topped a table ahead of Annette Obrestad and Juha Helppi.

Earlier we had some real entertainment from Phil Hellmuth as he lost a heads-up to Juha Helppi in Heat 12 and then went toe-to-toe with Annette Obrestad in the second Turbo Heat.

FINAL CHIP COUNTS

Ian Frazer – 471,000, Josh Tyler – 351,000, Annette Obrestad – 235,000, Nick Slade – 122,000, Juha Helppi – 114,000, Craig Burgess – 107,000.

Results

Celebrity qualifying heat:

1) Michael Le Vell (Coronation Street actor) – through to Heat 1, 2) Spoony (), 3) Jack Marsden (Heartbeat actor), 4) Austin Healey (Rugby Union), 5) Wayne Mardle (Darts), 6) Brandon Block ()

Heat 1

1) Craig Burgess – through to semi-final, 2) Dave Hancher – through to Turbo Heat, 3) Dave Gregory, 4) Achilleas Kallackis, 5) Simon Craig, 6) Michael Le Vell

Heat 2

1) Mike Ellis, 2) Ian Frazer, 3) John Exley, 4) Rob Cooper, 5) Graham Smith, 6) Nathan Lee

Heat 3

1) Andrew Feldman, 2) Ghassan El-Hoss, 3) Leon Loukaides, 4) David Smith, 5) Scott Fenton, 6) Andy Greekfish

Heat 4

1) Jeff Buffenbarger, 2) Barny Boatman, 3) Dave Garbacz, 4) Albert Sapiano, 5) Piers Shepperson, 6) Ryan Fronda

Heat 5

1) Nick Slade, 2) David Johnson, 3) Jonny Hewston 4) Andy Arnott, 5) Theo Dalton, 6) Christoph Haller

Heat 6

1) Dave Broadhurst, 2) Anthony Nicholl, 3) Jan Peter Jachtmann, 4) Simon Zach, 5) Darren Hickman, 6) Dale Hoy.

Turbo Heat 1

1) Ian Frazer, 2) Ghassan El-Hoss, 3) Anthony Nicholls, 4) Barny Boatman, 5) Dave Hancher, 6) David Johnson

Heat 7

1) Phil Curtis, 2) Dixie Dean – through to Turbo Heat 2, 3) Ben Grundy, 4) Surinder Sunar, 5) Michael McCool, 6) Neil Channing

Heat 8

1) Josh Tyler, 2) Tim Flanders, 3) Gary Paterson, 4) Luke Patten, 5) Ian Woodley, 6) Steve Holden.

Heat 9

1) Dave Mattey, 2) Annette Obrestad, 3) John Tabatabai, 4) Andy Black, 5) Roberto Romanello, 6) Anthony Hardy.

Heat 10

1) Robin Keston, 2) Lascelle Barrow, 3) Bronwyn Campbell, 4) Marty Smyth, 5) Barry Carter, 6) Liam Flood.

Heat 11

1) Roland De Wolfe, 2) Marc Goodwin, 3) Damon Ioannou, 4) Richard Ashby, 5) Albert Kenny, 6) Ian Cox.

Heat 12

1) Juha Helppi, 2) Phil Hellmuth, 3) Paul Jackson, 4) John Magill, 5) Darren Brown, 6) Roy Brindley,

Turbo Heat 2

1) Annette Obrestad, 2) Tim Flanders, 3) Phil Hellmuth 4) Dixie Dean, 5) Lascelle Barrow, 6) Marc Goodwin.

Semi-final 1

1) Ian Frazer, 2) Nick Slade, 3) Craig Burgess, 4) Jeff Buffenbarger, 5) Mike Ellis, 6) Dave Broadhurst, 7) Andrew Feldman.

Semi-final 2

1) Josh Tyler, 2) Annette Obrestad, 3) Juha Helppi, 4) Phil Curtis, 5) Dave Mattey, 6) Roland De Wolfe, 7) Robin Keston.

Final – Friday, February 8

Ian Frazer – 471,000, Josh Tyler – 351,000, Annette Obrestad – 235,000, Nick Slade – 122,000, Juha Helppi – 114,000, Craig Burgess – 107,000.

[ariston]

well done nick- a fantastic win for one of our own

[b4matt]

We have a blonde winner.... ship the $200k....

[julian]

nice one chap...methinks you have found your niche 

[quantify]

thanks fellas ..........  told you i was going to go on a thewy run 2 from 2............................lol



doesnt appear to be newsworthy on blond though!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




             

[boldie]

well done mate

[SuffolkPunch]

Yes. Well done, Nick. Cracking result

[The_nun]

Very Nice result.

[Laxie]

BRILLIANT RESULT!!!