Bluesquare.com Grosvenor Grand Prix: Day 1a At A Glance

[danafish]

Hi everyone! Greetings from, er, London, but tomorrow afternoon at 3pm we'll be up in Walsall to bring you all the action from the Grosvenor Grand Prix. Here's a list of all the players so far registered as far as we can see (not all playing on Thursday! Their respective starting days are next to their names), so let us know if you'd like us to follow anyone in particular. I'm off to enjoy a tasty supper made by Chef Beagle and then we'll be heading Midlands-wards. See you tomorrow...


Tony Fellone       1b - Friday 26th
Gareth Westcott    1b - Friday 26th
Saison Lambe         1a - Thursday 25th
Ian Barnett    1a - Thursday 25th
David Diggler    1a - Thursday 25th
Ashfag Ahmed    1a - Thursday 25th
Rob Stevens    1a - Thursday 25th
H Tran             1a - Thursday 25th
L Birchall    1a - Thursday 25th
Stephen Holden      1a - Thursday 25th
Martino Libertini    1a - Thursday 25th
M Damavandy     1a - Thursday 25th
Antonio di Cesare    1a - Thursday 25th
Michael Jones       1a - Thursday 25th
Chris Bruce        1b - Friday 26th
Chris Williams        1b - Friday 26th
John Burberry        1b - Friday 26th
B Boulden        1b - Friday 26th
Ian Woodley        1b - Friday 26th
Lam Trinh        1b - Friday 26th
Bambos Xanthos        1a - Thursday 25th
C Kadji        1a - Thursday 25th
Yunus Umarji        1b - Friday 26th
Barry Grimme        1b - Friday 26th
Gehan Zaib        1b - Friday 26th
Neil Rutter        1b - Friday 26th
Abed Eid        1b - Friday 26th
Matthew Haden        1a - Thursday 25th
George Wainburg    1a - Thursday 25th
E Macit        1b - Friday 26th
C Khajuria         1b - Friday 26th
M Arnold         1b - Friday 26th
L Windish         1b - Friday 26th
Josh Biedak         1b - Friday 26th
Lisa Scotney           1a - Thursday 25th
Javed Iqbal            1a - Thursday 25th
Matthew Sheils        1a - Thursday 25th
Jon Hewston         1b - Friday 26th
Anthony Kennedy     1b - Friday 26th
Richard Fleissner     1b - Friday 26th
Stephen Lennon     1b - Friday 26th
Waseem Ahmed          1a - Thursday 25th
Kevin O'Leary        1b - Friday 26th
Doig Rudling        1a - Thursday 25th
Ash Hussain        1a - Thursday 25th
Dylan Herbert       1b - Friday 26th
Henry Griffiths     1a - Thursday 25th
N Saunders          1a - Thursday 25th
Satnam Sandhu             1a - Thursday 25th
R Reece            1a - Thursday 25th
Marcus Bebb-Jones          1a - Thursday 25th
D Page                1a - Thursday 25th
Andy Johnson           1b - Friday 26th
V Madan           1b - Friday 26th
T Harman            1b - Friday 26th
Mohammed Hussain       1b - Friday 26th
Dave Welch        1b - Friday 26th
L Sun                   1b - Friday 26th
Daniel Rudd         1b - Friday 26th
Ghassan El Hoss       1a - Thursday 25th
Richard Gilby            1a - Thursday 25th
Paul Parker            1b - Friday 26th
John King        1a - Thursday 25th
Robert Ellis        1b - Friday 26th
Chao Li        1b - Friday 26th
Syed Zaidi         1b - Friday 26th
Carl Williams       1a - Thursday 25th
Richard Bent           1b - Friday 26th
Carl Limbert         1b - Friday 26th
Paul Georgiou        1a - Thursday 25th
Ish Patel               1b - Friday 26th
Kassim Kurbanall    1a - Thursday 25th
Alex Kong          1a - Thursday 25th
Paul Jackson       1a - Thursday 25th
Osman Mustanoglu    1a - Thursday 25th
Richard Simmonds     1a - Thursday 25th
John Boughey              1a - Thursday 25th
Rumit Somaiya         1a - Thursday 25th
Dharmesh Thakkar    1b - Friday 26th
Paul Taylor       1a - Thursday 25th
Dave Penly         1b - Friday 26th
Greg Hill              1a - Thursday 25th
Tom McCready     1b - Friday 26th
Piers Whyman       1a - Thursday 25th
Vu Nguyen             1b - Friday 26th
Simon Baskerville    1b - Friday 26th
David Mitchell              1b - Friday 26th
Andrew Harding       1a - Thursday 25th
Lawrence Gosney     1a - Thursday 25th
Robert Alden              1b - Friday 26th
Chris Smith               1a - Thursday 25th
Jasvir Perdesi               1a - Thursday 25th
Mo Muse              1a - Thursday 25th
Trevor Payne         1b - Friday 26th
Paul Rayner        1a - Thursday 25th
Matt Tyler        1a - Thursday 25th
Frode Gjesdal       1b - Friday 26th
T Dong               1b - Friday 26th
Paul Rodgers       1a - Thursday 25th
W Berry       1a - Thursday 25th
N Shellard       1b - Friday 26th
Ed Arees       1a - Thursday 25th
David Owston           1b - Friday 26th
Alan Davies             1a - Thursday 25th
Dave Knight        1b - Friday 26th
Thomas Dunwoodie    1b - Friday 26th
Zafar Aslam        1a - Thursday 25th
Amjad Aslam        1a - Thursday 25th
Lee Horton       1a - Thursday 25th
Kim Callow        1a - Thursday 25th
Andy O'Flaherty    1a - Thursday 25th
M Robinson         1b - Friday 26th
B Pottiwal         1b - Friday 26th
P Baldock         1b - Friday 26th
Mark Keightley         1a - Thursday 25th
Jonathon Butters     1b - Friday 26th
Dave Clark (Jnr)     1b - Friday 26th
Willie Tann        1b - Friday 26th
Yilfer Shevket        1b - Friday 26th
Michael Greco         1b - Friday 26th
Ariel Adda        1a - Thursday 25th
Dave Clark (Snr)     1b - Friday 26th
Gordon McArthur     1b - Friday 26th
Chris Gavriel         1a - Thursday 25th
Joseph Koumi        1a - Thursday 25th
Gurinder Purewal    1a - Thursday 25th
Peter Sibroski           1a - Thursday 25th
Jason Simpson         1a - Thursday 25th
Ian Herbert        1a - Thursday 25th
Jeff Kimber         1a - Thursday 25th
David Lissner        1b - Friday 26th
Nathan Foley         1b - Friday 26th
Johnny Pescod         1b - Friday 26th
Charles Denton         1b - Friday 26th
Nick Gibson         1b - Friday 26th
Karl Mahrenholz     1a - Thursday 25th
Rob Sherwood        1a - Thursday 25th
Anthony Cartwright     1a - Thursday 25th
Micheal Lott         1b - Friday 26th
Andrew Booth         1b - Friday 26th
Kevin Zarandi         1b - Friday 26th
Alan McLean         1a - Thursday 25th
Amrat Patel        1a - Thursday 25th
Dan Bamford         1a - Thursday 25th
Mohammed Ghani         1b - Friday 26th
Mike Moore         1b - Friday 26th
Yucel Eminoglu     1b - Friday 26th
Richard Wilcox        1a - Thursday 25th
John Marles         1b - Friday 26th
Harpit Gurnham     1b - Friday 26th
Anna Hastley         1a - Thursday 25th
Olabode Ayegun         1a - Thursday 25th
Khayam Ezzat        1a - Thursday 25th
Terry Owens         1b – Friday 26th
Robert Nightingale    1a - Thursday 25th
Malcolm Atkins         1a - Thursday 25th
Garry Wilson Snr    1b – Friday 26th
Kryiacos Dionysiou     1b – Friday 26th
Kevan Simock        1b – Friday 26th
James Moult         1a - Thursday 25th
Graham Whytell         1b – Friday 26th
Andrew Bradshaw         1b – Friday 26th
Phil Smith              1a - Thursday 25th
Ben Callinan        1b – Friday 26th
Lucy Rokach         1a - Thursday 25th
Roberto Romanello     1b – Friday 26th
Maurice Nicholson     1a - Thursday 25th
Mike Arnold         1a - Thursday 25th
Gregory Garrett     1b – Friday 26th
Andrea Buzzigoli     1b – Friday 26th
William Davies         1b – Friday 26th
Stuart Pearson         1b – Friday 26th
Simon Zach         1a - Thursday 25th
Ash Pervais         1b – Friday 26th
Mark Gogerty         1a - Thursday 25th
Meng Ong         1a - Thursday 25th
Gary Chatterton     1b – Friday 26th
Anthony Adderley        1b – Friday 26th
Chris Sokrati         1a - Thursday 25th
Reyaaz Mulla         1a - Thursday 25th
Mick Fletcher         1b - Friday 26th
Richard Barber     1a - Thursday 25th
Hamid Rowshanaei     1b – Friday 26th
Des Jonas              1a - Thursday 25th
Peter Evans               1a - Thursday 25th
Paul Dobson         1a - Thursday 25th
Martin Green         1b – Friday 26th
Russell Jones         1a - Thursday 25th
Steve Jelinek        1b – Friday 26th
Alwyn Powell           1a - Thursday 25th
Mark Clare         1b – Friday 26th
Ian Baker          1a - Thursday 25th
Mark Lowe         1b – Friday 26th
David Smith         1a - Thursday 25th
Jeff Burke           1b – Friday 26th
Martyn Cavanagh    1a - Thursday 25th
Rick Trigg         1b – Friday 26th
Stephen Basri         1a - Thursday 25th
Richard Gray         1b – Friday 26th
Alan Rudge         1a - Thursday 25th
Glynn Rees         1b – Friday 26th
Stuart Fox         1a - Thursday 25th
Tim Hiskett         1b – Friday 26th
Alan Dean         1b – Friday 26th
Mickey Wernick         1b – Friday 26th
Paul Mccue         1a - Thursday 25th
Paul Vicary        1b – Friday 26th
Royce Law         1a - Thursday 25th
Nick Risdale    1b – Friday 26th
Paul King         1a - Thursday 25th
Alan Armitage         1b – Friday 26th
Matt Cartwright     1a - Thursday 25th

[snoopy1239]

Well, we'll do our best to locate and keep a firm eye on ol Swiss Tony's progress, but speaking of Karl Mahrenholz, I noticed that he was on a very tricky table indeed, his neighbours coming in the form of Des Jonas, Joe Koumi, Zafar Aslam and 'Bambos' Charalambos Xanthos.

In fact, as I was observing the elements of this table, we experienced our first exit of the day, a young, and understandably disheartened Gurinder Purewal retelling his tales of wooden spoon woe to Mr Bling Bling.

Although I didn't quite catch the ins and outs on first hearing, a quick recap with Des informed me that our man held a full house, but lost out to a runner runner bigger full house. Miss Marple hat on, and my detective instincts (well, he had the biggest stack) told me that our prime suspect was Mark Gogerty in Seat 3, perhaps being slightly lambasted for his play by Andy O'Flaherty. "I would still play it the same," claimed Gogerty adamantly.

"The board came Q-8-4-K-K," exclaimed Paul Jackson to another table.

[snoopy1239]

Already getting very jiggy, though, is Mr Matt Tyler, accusing tablemate Mick Jones of giving him a rubdown after Chunky Mick may or may not have laid down the best hand. "My range is huge," said Matt. Next hand, Matt becomes involved with Pires Whyman on a  board, Pires betting all the way and Matt calling him all the way. Someone at the table says to Matt on the turn that he's gone very quiet. "I know," says Matt, "I'm trying to work out if it's a tell." He calls anyway, and then again on the river. "I've played this so badly," says Matt, and mucks when Pires shows . I guess he's about even.

[snoopy1239]

It may be early doors here at the Grosvenor Casino in Walsall, but several of our not so plucky soldiers are returning to the barracks already. One of those fallen men was a victim of Paul Dobson's table. When I joined the action, the flop read and the bets in front of the players were as such:

Seat 1: Mo Muse -- around 10k all-in
Seat 2: Marcus Bebb-Jones -- 2,000
Seat 3: Majid Damavandy (would need to confirm the identity of this player) -- 8.1k

I can't say if Mo was check-raising all-in or had bet out on the flop, but either way, he was all-in and quickly called by Seat 3. As Luton player Mo revealed an unsurprising overpair ( ), Damavandy flipped an equally unrevealing set of Fours ( ).

A harmless Turn and River and Muse was a gonna. As they say in Luton part, Mo Muse is good news... except for today.

[snoopy1239]

Another sad face is that of Matt Catwright, last years runner upper tangling with the man that pipped him to the post, Zippy Aslam. As Matt bet out on a board, Zippy dropped the hammer on the er... Hammer with an all-in, one which I believe was too cheap for Matt to ignore. Anyhow, Matt did indeed call and was forced to show his semi-bluff of which, of course, was in need of some Poker God-esque assistance against the white jacketed Zippy and his formidable .

A non-straightening on the River left the Hammer with just shrapnel for chips and a face like a wet Sunday afternoon.

-----------------

Dave Smith, who seems to run like gold in anything Blue Square related, has now near doubled up off a rather dejected Ghassan El Hoss. With the board reading , Dave smooth called a 1.5k bet from the button before betting a rather more substantial figure on the River. El Hoss made the call, but was dismayed to see his up against a sneakily played .

"You let me in on the flop, you see," claimed Dave as he stacked his pile of chips. "A bet and I would have been gone."

[snoopy1239]

Simon Zach is OUT - didn't quite catch what happened, but I saw a 4-K-K-9-3 board and a flashed pair of Nines and I'm guessing the Nines probably didn't belong to Simon. Anyway, he's gone.

-------------

Local boy Satnam Sandu is down to just a few thousand in chips after making an ill-timed, although that is merely aided by the gift of hindsight, bluff against Paul Rayner.

The board read , with Rayner check-calling a 3k River bet from Sandhu.

As Satnam mucked, he was forced to reveal his , but what he was truly miffed about was the that Rayner revealed upon victory.

If we could step inside the head of Sandu like an over zealous numbskull, then we'd surely have heard the oh so familiar line of "How could he call with that?"

But call he did, and as a result, Satnam is down to the felt leaving Rayner to reorganise his newly acquired dirty stack.

[snoopy1239]

"I'm pleased of the speed of exits, so far..." announces a rather satisfied Danafish rubbing her hands together in glee.

And here are those exits, Sandu and Cartwright soon seeing off the bits and pieces they were left with.

Satnam Sandu
I Barnett
Matt Cartwright
Paul King
Mo Muse
G Purnell

[danafish]

Our very own blonde hero, SuperFlopsHomer, has turned up and lent me his internet card (although I would have preferred it if he'd worn a cape or something while he was doing it), so I am now Online and frantically downloading some photo software for the PC-side of my laptop. It is however running veeeeeeeery sloooooooooowly, which is probably just as well as most of the photos I've taken seem to have captured the players with expressions of total despair on their faces. Maybe it's the weather or somehting. Total Despair Montage to follow, with a bit of luck, plus a real treat for fans of Mr Spherical Tyler...

In the meantime, those not totally despairing include Lucy Rokach, who took down a big pot after moving all in to a 2k bet on a board, inducing a fold. Said her betty-foldy opponent, "I didn't want to keep calling until the end, I bet 2k to see where I stood." "I'd have liked it if you'd kept on calling til the end," she sighed, but she didn't do too badly out of the hand.

Also firmly in the not-full-of-despair camp is a youthful gentleman I believe to be Chris Smith (photo to follow as soon as, for confirmation purposes) - he has doubled up after moving all in on a board and finding a caller in Chris Gavriel. Gavriel's were no match for young Smith's , and he is a happy camper.

[danafish]

Martyn Cavanagh and Laurence Gosney found themselves all in, in the last hand before the break, with everyone else already wandering off to the bar. I'm hoping the money went in after the flop, as Martyn was holding K-9 and Laurence A-9, the 7-T-8-J-4 board giving them both a straight and ensuring they're both coming back after the break. Assuming they made it to the bar at all before break time was over.

[snoopy1239]

Richard Simmonds caught up with me during the break to share his rollercoaster ride. Apparently, he was down to 6k at one point, but managed to jump all the way up to 15 big ones after his Queens were paid off by A-T. "He flopped the flush draw and couldn't really get away from it," he confessed.

[snoopy1239]

Okey dokey, I'm going to have to post these in batches as action is exploding as I'm accruing, so here are some counts from the top 3 tables:

Rob Sherwood -- 7,525
Ian Herbert -- 12,700
A Powell -- 14,500
G Wainburg -- 12,550
Paul McCue -- 3,725
Des Jonas -- 10,975
Bambos Charalambos Xanthos -- 17,425
Karl Mahrenholz -- 8,900
Zafar Aslam -- 14,000
Herny Griffiths -- 19,900
Mike Jones -- 8,400
Stuart Fox -- 14,900
Ariel Adda -- 12,200
Matt Tyler -- 9,475

----------

Mick Jones actually doubled up to 8k prior to the publishing of that list, but although that story doesn't appear particulalry exciting on the face of it, the inclusion of A-K versus Aces with Mick holding the Big Slick does add a little more intrigue and surely a slight grimace in your face.

From the sound of it, it appears as though he managed to create a few outs, Mick having the luxury of both a straight and flush draw, although it was the former he eventually hit to bust those American Airlines.

----------

On the very same table, Doig Rudling, who was down on the list as 'Dave Rudling' is now OUT. He was all-in with versus the of Peter Stibroski on a board, the lack of any Queen resulting in the Welshman's exit.

[danafish]

I saw a hand an hour or so ago which I didn't report because when I looked up the lady in question, it said that her name was Adrian Lambe, which didn't sound right at all. No woman has ever been called Adrian except for the lady in Rocky, and that was just for comedy value. Anyway, I have since discovered that her name is even more improbably Saffron Lambe, which sounds like it should be on a menu, and I wish I had found this out earlier so I could exploit it for your amusement and delight before she was sadly knocked out, in relatively ugly circumstances. Sigh.

Having lost virtually all her chips about an ago to Marcus Bebb-Jones, pushing on an flop with pocket Jacks against Bebb-Jones' pocket Kings (he hit a King on the river for good measure too), she threw her last few thousand chips in on a board and found one caller (actually I think she may have called all in). "You got full house?" she asks, turning over . He doesn't, turning over  , but the river means he does indeed got full house, and meek as a, er, lamb, Saffron wanders off.

[snoopy1239]

Paul Rayner -- 17,500
Tony Cartwright -- 12,525
Maurice Nicholson -- 12,025
Chris Smith -- 19,150
Royce Law -- 23,225
K Kurbanali -- 2,100
Lisa Scotney -- 14,500
David Smith -- 12,175
Martino Libertini -- 9,456
Ash Hussain -- 20,000
Javed Iqbal -- 13,150
Greg Hill -- 6,200
Rob Stevens -- 9,025
Stephen Holden -- 18,325
H Tran -- 11,400
Osman Mustanoglu -- 10,350
Paul Jackson -- 5,025
Marcus Bebb-Jones -- 12,400
Peter Evans -- 4,725
Lee Horton -- 13,200
Alex Kong -- 13,525
William Berry -- 2,500

[snoopy1239]

William Berry is now out after failing to double up his shortstack.

Other victims to fall foul of the last level include:

K Kurbanili
Paul Dobson
P Smith
Lucy Rokach
Reyaaz Mulla
S Lamb
Joe Koumi
I Baker
D Bamford
G El-Hoss

---------

Anna Hastley -- 3,500
Rumit Somaiya -- 19,000
Ashfag Hussain -- 8,1000
Alan McLean -- 26,250
Richard Simmonds -- 18,975
James Moult -- 17,350
Jeff Kimber -- 18,750

[snoopy1239]

Unfortunately for Henry Griffiths, he has dropped of the pace all of a sudden with what looks like just under 10k. Instead, the undeniable accolade of chip leader goes to Paul Rayner who has just eliminated Royce Law in a rather testicular crunching Queens versus Kings encounter. The T-5-3-J rainbow board looked rewarding for Law until... pop, Queen on the River.

----------

An elated (although just on the inside at the moment) Rob Sherwood is up to 15k after eliminating Mateyboy with Jacks versus A-K.

----------

He may have been battling for that chip lead early doors, but Gala Nottingham's James Moult, know to most as Bookie Jim or 'bookiebasher' on blonde, has dropped slightly and is down to 21,850. That gentle dip won't have been due to his last encounter, however, Hyena, as he is nicknamed on home turf, forcing Khayam Ezzat all-in with A-K versus A-K.

The only person to see a shining light come flop time was Ezzat, who held the King of clubs on a board. The confirmed a split pot.

----------

To the joy of the odd male onlooker, voluptuous Anna Hastley has just doubled up with Pocket Nines versus Sevens. It was an all-in on the flop jobby, the board reading before a third nine arrived on the Turn followed by a non-straight-making Ace river.

"You're on your way up," observes the astute Rumit as Anna rearranges her now 8k stack.