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

[danafish]

Des Jonas amazingly split a pot with continuing shortstack neighbour Matthew Haden, Jonas holding 5-7 and Haden holding 6-7 on an A-6-7-x-A board. "How do you do it, Des?" asks another tablemate.

[danafish]

Shortstack Richard Simmonds doubles up somehow with A-K against Mateyboy's Q-8, on a board that contains none of those cards.

[snoopy1239]

Where's the Henry-love?  I'm getting withdrawal haha

Ok, now I'm worrying myself with my cheerleading...

Don't worry, the love of your life is still there, and more than hanging on now as he seems to have jumped up to the dizzy heights of 23k. Next door to him is Martyn Cavanagh, who Iwan requested. Martyn is currently on 6,500 and seemingly frustrated at having to fold big hands to fast action before him. One of those occasions was the last hand I witnessed, Henry raising to 2.1k from early position only to be re-raised to 7.1k by Amrat Patel, and then again by Matthew Haden who pushed all-in. Apparently Martyn had A-Q this hand, so understandably got out of the way, as did initial raiser Henry Griffiths, but Amrat wasn't going anywhere, the extra shrapnel to call quickly zipping into the pot.

On the backs, and Haden was in seemingly good shape with versus . The created two sweaty palms, and the even triggered the odd gasp, but when the hit the River, there was an eerie silence as Matthew was left to exit the table with an understanding, but clearly broken hearted expression on his face.

[danafish]

The magic board is now displaying 46 players left in, with blinds 400/800, average stack 23k.

However I heard some people muttering that there are in fact only 42 players left, which I must admit makes my heart leap with joy, although I think they're not massively happy about whatever implications the number of players left in might have upon how they play the last level or two of the evening. Anyway, if by some miracle we haven't lost the requisite number of runners by the end of the next level, we're all going home anyway.

[snoopy1239]

The latest batch to hit the deck include:

Dave Smith
Stuart Fox
Des Jonas
P Stribroski
R Wilcox
R Barber
M Gogerty
Rumit Somaiya
M Aden
Ed Arees
Martyn Cavanagh

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Richard Simmonds -- 23,500
P Georgiou -- 19,200
Rob Sherwood -- 7,700
Jeff Kimber -- 25,000
Chris Smith -- 5,000
Chris Sokrati -- 35,700
Stephen Holden -- 20,000
Toni Dicesari -- 13,200
Lawrence Gosney -- 77,000
Javed Iqbal -- 31,000
Paul Rayner -- 30,700
Osman Mustanoglu -- 23,900
Ashfag Hussain -- 29,500
Alan McLean -- 10,400
James Moult -- 42,000
Olabode Ayegun -- 18,600
Karl Mahrenholz -- 30,800
Marcus Bebb-Jones -- 11,100

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Alan McLean was knocked down to 10k after Osman Mustangolu bust his Aces with A-K, King on Flop, another on the River.

[danafish]

Ed "The Fonz" Arees is OUT, didn't quite catch the hand (all I saw was that his opponent was holding A-Q) but I managed to get a blurry "no photos!" photo.

Russell Jones and D Page are both OUT.

And Javed 'Chief' Iqbal is indeed your new chip leader with just over 60,000 in chips. He actually gained that 'top of the tree' status from the former pace setter Lawrence Gosney, Patel check-calling Aces on a K-K-3-3 board before pumping it in on the Queen River. Lawrence mucked pretty swiftly, so I think it's safe to say that he didn't have Aces beat.

[danafish]

Double-up for Ashfag Hussain, whose A-J somehow defeated the mighty .

[danafish]

Toni Dicesare is OUT. He lost a few chips calling with when one Rick Gilby moved all in for pocket change, but his pocket Sixes held up and Toni was down to 4k or so.

A few hands later he moved in for his remaining 2.9k, again holding A-T, and got a promising call from Lawrence Gosney holding Q-J, but a Queen came on the flop and now he is gone.

Meanwhile Rick Gilby has made a bit of a comeback, going all in for 5k or so with and finding a caller with . The board came and although one tablemate was muttering bitterly that he had folded pocket Sixes, Rick Gilby now has over 10k. Which is still pretty short, but considerably better than out.

[snoopy1239]

While we await the passing of the final two players (or the end of the current level), like a dog licking its lips upon hearing the crackling of tin-opener on tin, there has been a flurry of all-ins and almost-gone encounters.

The first of those came from Alan Vicary, who all-in with Pocket Eights managed to spike a third Eight on an A-J-8-9-2 board to overcome Amrat Patel's Queens. Then, just a few hands later, Alan was at it again, moving all-in for 17k after Mateyboy had made the initial raise to 3.5k, followed by Patel to 12k. Incredibly, Patel passed, showing Pocket Nines in the process, leaving the rest of the table rather dumbfounded.

On a neighbouring table, it was Chris Smith with ants in his pants, his all-in of 8k on the River of a board too much for Jeff Kimber to resist when faced with a 30k pot. Unfortunately, there's only value if you're ahead, and Jeff wasn't as he mucked in the face of Smith's . As a result, Jeff drops to circa 20k.

Finally, Allan Rudge's shortstack continues to be er... short, after only managing a split pot when his A-8 ran into a fellow A-8.

[danafish]

It's a moustache disaster! Mr Georgiou found himself all in with against Rob Sherwood's . The board did absolutely nothing for our friend Mr Georgiou, and as soon as the third Eight came out, he had his jacket on and was wandering off. Hair today, gone tomorrow.

But wait! Rob was pretty short too, and Mr Georgiou is called back to collect his change - 1k exactly. That's one big blind. "Oh good," says Mr Georgiou, "still in". And he really sounds like he means it. What a nice chap. Sadly, though, I don't think he'll be joining Red Dog on Day 2.

[danafish]

Incidentally, I believe Alan Rudge has doubled up with the mighty - all in against A-Q on a Queen-high flop with two diamonds on it, another one on the turn.

[snoopy1239]

It's Eye of the Tiger mode at the moment, as Osman Mustanoglu becomes the latest player to survive an all-in and send us bed-thirsty-bloggers into a spin. In truth, he deserved his double-up, all-in with Queens versus the A-Q of Ashfag Ahmed on a 2-4-3 Flop, a Ten Turn and 2 River providing no change.

"I don't mind taking a hit from stacks like that," confesses Hussain brushing off the defeat with panache.

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Oh look, what do we have here, oh my, would you Adam and Eve it, it's ANOTHER DOUBLE-UP!!!

This time Midlander Rob Reece is the elated recipient, his A-K outcoinflipping Bambos' Pocket Sixes on a 7-4-7-A-2 board.

[snoopy1239]

And just like Noah's Arc, everything's coming in pairs, the two double ups of previous posts being quickly followed by two welcome (if I am to be biased and favour my wish to hit the sack) exits.

The first of those was C Williams, who all-in with versus the of Henry Griffiths, was unable to find that vital slice of luck when he needed it.

Second to fall was inevitably P Georgiou, who Mr Raab informs us is a dead ringer for Ron Jermemies. Down to just two 500 chips (hey, chips and a chair!), Georgiou's hopes must have diminished quicker than a Gascoigne comeback when he found himself called in four places. By the river of a board, which, funnily enough, was checked down, the desperate shortstacker was up against , , and the leading , which stayed in front as the all-iner peeled out an ineffective .

35 remaining means it's home time for both bloggers and players alike.

[snoopy1239]

Paul Rodgers   84200
J. Iqbal   72300
Ash Hussain   70800
Chris Smith   54000
Karl Mahrenholz   53900
Lee Birchall   52700
Lee Horton   45600
M. Damavandy   40700
Chris Sokrati   37900
Jamie Moult   35500
Paul McCue   32500
Paul Vicary   32400
M. Shiels   32000
Paul Rayner   32000
Jeff Kimber   32000
Ash Ahmed   28700
Bambos Xanthos   26700
P. Taylor   25300
A. Patel   24300
A. Harding   24100
Olabode Ayegun   23300
Lawrence Gosney   21700
S. Basri   20700
Henry Griffiths   19700
Rob Reece   19000
Osman Mustanoglu   18800
Richard Simmonds   17400
Piers Whyman   16100
Rob Sherwood   15700
M. Akinson   13200
Allan Rudge   10600
Mike Arnold   9600
R. Gilby   9400
Marcus Bebb-Jones   7900