Vienna - The EPT FINAL

OK, bear with me while I get you up to speed.

El Blondie & Mrs C have gone back to England, so the 'ol fella is in charge today, & I will be giving you live updates from start to finish. The Final is due to start at 5pm Local, that 4pm UK. Newcastle counts, for the purpose of time, as UK. (Afternoon to YOU Mr Citrone...).

So what sort of line up have we got? Pretty cosmopolitan I'd say.

2 Brits, both, oddly, from the North West. One a regular & popular circuit player, the other a guy I don't know, I suspect he's an online player. Still a nice guy, like, but I don't know the fella.

An Austrian. That'll keep the locals happy, if my growing suspicion that Viennna is actually in Austria turns out to be correct.

A Swedish guy. And a Norweigan. Uh-uh, the regulation contingent of Scandies. Tell you what, these travelling Scandies (that assumes Vienna is not in Scandialand) are lovely guys. A big mob of 'em in Walsall cheered their 2 Finalists all the way, & I suspect they will do the same today.

Two American gentlemen, at least one of whom is actually a really pleasant & wel-mannered, even likeable, individual. Not too many Americans you can say THAT about - or so I am told.

And a Frenchman. Hmm. Well, what do you expect me to say, eh?

OK, seating order & stacks. There are 2,970,000 chips in play, so average is about 370,000. Blinds are a horrendous 5,000-10,000, plus a running ante of 1,000, and I suspect the next level will be 7,500-15,000 and a 1,500 running ante. Not sure of the rights & wrongs of it, but if we wanna see a decent Final, it'd be worth dropping the blinds back a few levels. I suppose the big stacks would object to that, eroding their advantage & all that, & I guess they'd not be wrong.

Seat 1, 129,500 chips, is Austrian Joachim Sanestra. Seems to be something of a 7 Card Stud specialist, not surprising, as 7CS is very popular out here, there were 6 or 7 cash games being spread in it here last night. Joachim has 3 or 4 Stud Finals to his credit, plus a few other odds & ends.

Seat 2, 152,500 chips. Tim Ramsay. An American who qualified via PokerStars online. Nice, well-presented, well-mannered, personable young man. Don't know anything about his history, but I suspect he has no Bricks & Mortar track record.

Seat 3, 287,000 chips. Dave Clayton, who I am told is a Blackpool lad. Stocky, about 30 maybe, fully kitted out in betfair apparel. I fancy he's qualified online via, err, betfair - smart boy, this tikay, eh? Typical Lancashire boy. Nice enough till you cross him, then he can turn. Involved in a bit of a hoohah yesterday when they were down to 10 players, and eventually, after quite a lengthy ruling from Thomas Kremser, & support from 2 or 3 of the players, the ruling went in his favour. His argumentative foe decided to prolong the verbals, so Dave responded "oi, for **** sake, the rulings been given, now get on with the ******* game - are you calling or passing?". Right. You know where you stand with these Lancashire lads, eh? He was desperately unlucky earlier, when he had almost the ultimate in poker orgasmic experiences. Dealt KK, & a geezer raised into him - whahoo! And at THAT moment, just as Dave was poised to move in, chips already being pushed, & mouth forming the words "RERAISE", that the dealer realised that a player who had just been moved to that table had sat in the wrong seat. Thomas Kremser ruled that the hand was void. "Action has taken place" chorused the railbirds & players. Thomas says "nope, there needs to be TWO actions for it to count as "action". Well, there you go, but Dave took it without a murmer, well, just a little murmer, but good as gold really, considering.....

Seat 4, 641,500 chips, Pascal Perault. Big - BIG - Frenchman, well known on the Euro Circuit, & a regular at the Aviation in Paris. Wears THE most horrendous shirts, they can only be American - you know, the sort of shirts that Howard Plant wears. Late forties, early fifties, balding, but what hair remains is tied in a bun. Had THE most extraordinary luck yesterday. Busted Noah Boeken with a regulation outdraw, OK, these things happen. But got ALL his chips in on a RR with KQ & ran into KK, it's gotta be said, that's goodnight Vienna. A flop of QQx said it all, though.....All his French buds were hooting & hollering, while the hapless KK man exited dumbstruck. Pascal piles his chips high, Marcel style, & spent the rest of the day lovingly tending the stack, admiring it from all angles, like you do when viewing a new car or summat. Cant say I blame him realy, it was a whopping stack.

Seat 5, 197,000 chips. Tim Schiffman, American. Don't know anything about the lad. Seemed nice enough as Americans go. Looks a bit startled & "lost" at the table, as if he does not quite know how he ended up sat there. Steals a lot - and I do mean a LOT. But overcooked it last half hour, the whole table had sussed him out, & he was RR'd all in FIVE hands in a row, wisely passing each time. The railbirds were saying he had "gone" & could not cope, but fair play to the lad, he clearly belonged to the try try & try again school. but when he starts all that R R R malarky today, he gonna meet resistance I fancy.

Seat 6, 301,000 Simon Nowab. Lovely lad, really lovely. Most of the circuit guys know Simon, but for those that dont do the ciurcuit, he's Burnley John's travelling companion, & "twin", they do everything together. Well, almost everything. He's a plumpish lad of Asian origins, as nice as they come, plenty of banter & great company. Solid, solid, player. When he moves in, he's got the goods. Plenty of Finals around the UK, St Marteen too, but nothing major, today will be far & away his biggest payday. There wil be a roar whenever he takes a pot, he's a very popular lad, despite coming from Burnley.

Seat 7, 450,500 chips. Mikka Puru, Norweigan. Think that makes him a Scandie. An EPT regular, but no big scores so far. This lad looks the business to me. Good player, proper player. Makes his own decisions, & is happy to play down the streets. None of this "all-in, all-in, all-in" stuff. he likes to play properly. A class act in my opinion. Watch out, he will go close unless he gets a big outdraw. Good temprement, too. Most impressive. Handles himself well, too.

Seat 8, 821,000 chips, Andreas Harnemo. Swedish. No disrespect, but got hit by the deck yesterday. Big hand after big hand, and all his coin-flips held up. Not saying he cant play, but he had a years worth of good fortune yesterday. I don't have any history for the guy, & I have never seen him before. Nice demeanour at the table, about 30 years old at a guess. Don't smile a lot, but talkative & friendly off the table. His body language suggests live play is not his thing.

OK, there you go.

Who's gonna win it? No idea, but I fancy Simon Nowab & Mikka Puru will both do well. And, to be truthful, I HOPE they do. We discovered at Walsall, that much of blondepoker's site traffic during live updates comes from Scandinavia, so we wanna keep them in, eh? And the two Brits, naturally. Truth to tell, I hope the guy who plays best wins, no matter who he is or where he comes from.

Well, whatever, well done & good luck to every one of them. And for those of you at home, enjoy the blondepoker Live Updates.

If you know anything about any of the finalists that will be of interest to our readers, post it on this thread please. And when we are under way, give us some feedback, some comments, it helps to know you guys are sat there watching.

Enjoy!