Gala Poker Tour Grand Final: Day 1A - Interactive

[NoflopsHomer]

We've lost Daniel Smith on an action flop.

John Tabatabai (whose surname I still can't remember) raised it up with Aces and got callers in Mark Stewart and Daniel Smith.

The flop came:



Not sure how the action went except I know that Smith and Stewart got it all-in, Smith holding and Stewart with as Tabatabai passed his Aces. Running 3's of the diamond and spade variety send Tabatabai's verbal sparring (of the friendly kind) partner to the rail.

Here's a pic of Stewart and Smith just prior to the exit.

[JungleCat03]

Barney Boatman's table is providing its fair share of laughter, much of it being generated by the banter between Barny and John Tabatabai.

I joined the table as the two were in the process of organising a prop bet whereby whoever makes a move with Q3 has to shout the other one dinner at a plush restaurant.

Barny , whose stack has dwindled somewhat partially due to Tabatabai's rivered gutshot versus his set earlier, raises to 375 UTG. Pat Donegan calls, as does Jitesh Thakker, before John Tabatabai reraises Barny's bet by 800.

Fold round to Barney who says, "Looks like I get a free dinner then" before shoving his stack of 4-5k over the line!

The two sandwiched between Barny and John get out of the way before john says, "The annoying thing is even if you showed me Q3 I couldn't call you!" before passing....

[NoflopsHomer]

So whilst Jen and Dana are hurrying around Amsterdam chasing the 400+ players or so in the Master Classics. (Shouldn't it just be the Amsterdam Masters, or Amsterdam Classic, why do they have to be greedy and have both?). We are down here in Bristol to cover the Grand Final of the Gala Poker Tour with it's chunky £2,500 buy-in. Originally, it was going to be held at the same time as the EPT Dublin event, but they wanted to avoid the clash and instead chose to send it up against Amsterdam instead. This clash however may have actually turned out to be a worse one because of the more comparable buy-ins between Amsterdam and Bristol since at the moment there are only 52 runners, though that could well change before the 2pm start time on Thursday. Also, Amsterdam already has one of the best reputations around meaning people are naturally going to go to that event and not even think about possible alternatives. Perhaps though some people playing in Amsterdam today may bust out early and decide to come back to play Bristol tomorrow?

A few of the names who are playing, however, will no doubt surprise you, as they include Antonio Esfandiari, Phil Laak, Robert Williamson III, Jennifer Tilly and 2006 WSOP Champion Jamie Gold. But this addition of 'star talent' hasn't seemed so far to galvanise people into coming to play with the big names, though we won't know this before the event starts. Obviously, if the field isn't huge, then where is the problem stemming from? Is it down to putting the tournament up against another very popular event and coming off worse? Is this another case, like Dublin, where there is simply too much poker going on and the buy-in is too big with people just deciding to wait for a better option? Or has the additional of glamorous US stars actually hurt the competition and people have seen the toughening of the field and thought they would be wasting their money?

Either way, the tournament will start at 2pm and we'll be here to bring all you all the action.

hey chris,
i enquired last week about the possibilty of reserving a seat in case i busted from the masterclassics early...was told no dice, had to show up in person at a gala & hand over the lolly.
fair enough, i know gala have some very sticky rules about buying in, but really, if they want to encourage players to participate in their flagship event then they need to be a little more flexible given the nature of the chocca-block poker calendar.

You stay at home looking through car catalogues... Fancy a curry mate? Korma for you floppy??

Are you buying?

[WarBwastard]

Is the fella in the cut-off in that picture with Roland De Wolfe about to throw up?

[kinboshi]

Top updates JC and Snoops

The best updates on the web^TM

[NoflopsHomer]

Any news on "Pedro" Pete Singleton?...

My sponsored players have had a good week so far, with Pete 7th, Lucy Rokach 4th, and Paul Munday 3rd in the £1000 event.

I'm playing tomorrow btw - decided that as it's my local casino I might have some home-turf advantage lol

Pete has roughly 13k at the moment, we've just had our first table breakage so a couple of players have just been moved over to his table.

Incidentally I've just realised I ordered a burger from the bar almost an hour ago and it still hasn't arrived.

[NoflopsHomer]

Is the fella in the cut-off in that picture with Roland De Wolfe about to throw up?

I actually think he's plastering on a fake moustache...

[Mango99]

Any news on "Pedro" Pete Singleton?...

My sponsored players have had a good week so far, with Pete 7th, Lucy Rokach 4th, and Paul Munday 3rd in the £1000 event.

I'm playing tomorrow btw - decided that as it's my local casino I might have some home-turf advantage lol

Pete has roughly 13k at the moment, we've just had our first table breakage so a couple of players have just been moved over to his table.

Incidentally I've just realised I ordered a burger from the bar almost an hour ago and it still hasn't arrived.

Thanks Chris

Yeah, the food can either be really quick, or really slow...

Please tell me the buffet isn't going to be: chips, jacket potatoes, chicken mcnuggest, chili con carne, and salad again... It's been the same all week, and as a veggie it means I've had chips, a potato and salad each day lol Most people went out for a meal yesterday to avoid eating the same dish for the 3rd or 4th day in a row lol...

I recommend the caesar salad and veggie burger with chips and mayonaise from the bar menu. Good stuff

[JungleCat03]

Jamie Gold has taken a bit hit to his stack. It looked like he had 4-5 on a 3-4-6-6-k board and called a bet on the river only to discover his opponent Rob Akery had K7, taking the pot down and leaving Jamie with only 5-6k....

....and as Jamie told his mate "could be over soon" he was involved in another raised pot.

After being checked to by John Bousfield on a board, Jamie bet out 475 and was check raised another 1300 by John. "Gotta get lucky now" sighs Jamie before calling. The turn came a K and as Jamie said "You setting me allin then?" John did as he was told and set Jamie in.

Jamie INSTA-called with his turned 2 pair, and , with John just showing AK for top pair.

"He's got some big outs!" Jamie observed, referring to the T or A that would get John out of the hole....but a blank river appeared and Jamie doubled back into contention to 12k or so...

...Roland De Wolfe has been stood up watching various tables over the last five minutes which led to a mild ripple of panic amongst the press as it was thought perhaps he had been eliminated under our noses without anyone noticing.

Calm was restored though, as news filtered through Roland was still sitting prettily on 35k+, just taking a few momens out to stretch his hamstrings before re-joining his table...

[ZZZZZZZROPE]

can i get an update from bennedetto passanito please? tell him good luck from grant
cheers guys

[NoflopsHomer]

And we're one WSOP Champion down.

Joe Beevers raised from the button, Jamie Gold pushed for what looked like 5k total and began his typical speech play drawing the rest of the tables to a stand-still, eventually Joe called with , whilst Gold could only show

Board:



Handshakes, a wish of good luck to the rest of the players and off he went.



Meanwhile former chipleader Mika Ollila has lost a few chips to, I think, Andrew Feenan.

Feenan's held vs the Scandie's on a board after a blank turn and river.

[NoflopsHomer]

can i get an update from bennedetto passanito please? tell him good luck from grant
cheers guys

Sure, he has about 18k, but a well chipped-up Roland De Wolfe to his left.



Do you think John Tabatabai is bored? Perhaps he's just annoyed that he only has around 6k now.

[JungleCat03]

Blinds are now 100-200, 35 players remain and the average stack is 18,400.

Mark Stewart just took down a pot on a K-9-6 flop, his 700 bet into an 800 pot sufficient to take the pot down...

Ian Woodley, Barny Boatman and John Tabatabai all saw a flop of -Jc-2s, checked round to John in position who also checked.

The turn came an to complete the rainbow and two mroe checks to John led him to bet 550.

Ian Woodley called, as did Barny Boatman.

The river came a , eliciting a 700 bet from Ian.

"I wish you'd bet more" says Barny, umming and ahhing before ultimately passing what he said was a T.

John passed and Ian picked the pot up, giving Barny a verbal pat on the back "good pass" as he showed a J for trips. "I knew if I checked top pair twice to you [John Tabatabai] you'd bet..." says Ian.

[JungleCat03]

Richard Ashby has jsut doubled up courtesy of Alex Torrance.

With Richard shortish, all his chips found their way into the middle preflop, as did Alex's.

Cards on their back, Richard showed KsKc, his hand dominating his opponent's and the cowboys held to give Richard a much needed boost and denting Alex's stack considerably...

[NoflopsHomer]

Here's an odd one from Table 1.


Marcus Farthing raises to 700 UTG playing a stack of 7,525, it's passed round to Omar Ghandur, who has roughly 25k. He simply announces all-in from the big blind. Marcus calls after a few seconds.

Marcus:



Omar:



Board:



"Sorry mate, I had to," said Marcus. I'm not so sure myself...