Gala Poker Tour Grand Final: Day 1B - At A Glance

[NoflopsHomer]

Welcome back to Day 1B for another 2pm start.

Numbers have steadily improved, at the list from the Gala site of people who definitely are playing today are as follows:

1   Ashiq Abdullah
2   Alain Bauer
3   Tim Blake
4   Emmanuel Blanca
5   Nicholas Bower
6   Johnathan Butters
7   Darren Campbell
8   Neil Channing
9   Charles Chattha
10   Michael Clees
11   Anthony Croalla
12   Matt Dale
13   Priyan De Mel
14   Danny Dodds
15   Andy Doran
16   Antonio Esfandiari
17   Stan Essen
18   Jeffrey Flewitt
19   Ian Fraser
20   Paul Gardner
21   Marc Goodwin
22   Peter Gould
23   Josh Gould
24   Paul Gourlay
25   Rakesh Gupta
26   David Harris
27   Steve Holden
28   Ian Holwill
29   Kevin Hudd
30   Jani Johanson
31   Neil Kilgour
32   Phil Laak
33   Mark McGill
34   Carl Erik Michael Wahlberg
35   Trevor Pearson
36   Lee Richardson
37   Stuart Rutter
38   David Smith
39   Surindar Sunar
40   Jim Tierney
41   Jennifer Tilly
42   Luke Trottman
43   Matt Tylar
44   Ram Vaswani
45   Samuel Wan
46   Robert Williamson III
47   Daniel Wilmer-Brown
48   Huseyin Yilmaz

No doubt a few more will be added in due course.

If you want us to follow anyone in particular then please let us know on the interactive thread.

[NoflopsHomer]

Play is nowhere near starting just yet, it'll be at least another 15 minutes or so, we have a confirmed 53 entries so far.

[JungleCat03]

Hi there folks.

Back for day two and once again there is a plethora(I love that word!) of talent on show.

Jennifer Tilley and Phil Laak have just arrived....In fact I got to share a lift with them. There wasn't much room i must say. I'll leave you to speculate why exactly.

As Floppy mentioned, Darren Campbell is here and he'll obviously be quick out of the blocks....boom boom. I will try and keep weak jokes like this down to a minimum, but some may slip in unavoidably.

Sunny Chattha was seen looking chilled out in the lobby, the spiky haired and sun-glassed Robert Williamson III,  was heard saying "I like the look of this" although not quite sure what he was referring to. He did seem to have his head angled toward by blonde hoody at the time though so I'll take it as a compliment.

Anyway, a great day's action is in prospect, the players are now seated, cards are being shuffled and we are off!

[JungleCat03]

Full player list as at start of play is as follows. I'll post the table layout just after this...

Anthony Abdullah
Tim Blake
Nicholas Bower
Johnathan Butters
Darren Cambell
Neil Channing
Michael Clees
Anthony Croalla
Mate Dale
Priyan De Mel
Jason Defreitas
Danny Dodds
Andy Doran
Antonio Esfandiari
Stan Essen
Andrew Feldman
Jeffrey Flewitt
Ian Fraser
Mark Freeman
Paul Gardner
Marc Goodwin
Josh Gould
Peter Gould
Paul Gourlay
Rakesh Gupta
David Harris
Jason Ho
Stephen Holden
Ian Holwill
Kevin Hudd
Ja, Johansson
Neil Kilgour
Phil  Laak
David Lloyd
Carl Wahlberg
Mark Mcgill
Manuel Palanca
Trevor Pearson
Jim Reid
Lee Richardson
Roberto Romanello
Stuart Rutter
Albert Sapiano
Mark Seagal
David Smith
Surinder Sunar
Jim Tierney
Jennifer Tilley
Luke Trottman
Matt Tyler
Joshua Tyler
Ram Vaswani
Samuel Wan
Robert Williamson III
Daniel Wilmer-brown
Hussein Yilmaz

[NoflopsHomer]

Play has now begun, and Neil Channing seems to have already done a deal with Robert Williamson III giving him 40-1 to win the tournament, he was also attempting to give Antonio Esfandiari 33-1. I'd offer Robert evens for winning the 'Most Colourful Shirt' award though.

Roberto Romanello, who I almost didn't recognise with a stubbly beard and a injured leg, has already lost what looks to be around half his stack with a bluff against Jonothon Butters' trip Jacks.

[JungleCat03]

101   Nicholas Bower
102   Josh Gould
103   Antonio Esfandiari
104   Ja, Johansson
105   Neil Channing
106   Danny Dodds
107   Mark Seagal
108   Anthony Croalla
109   Joshua Tyler
110   Phil  Laak
201   Tim Blake
201   Andy Doran
202   Samuel Wan
203   Mark Mcgill
204   Mate Dale
205   Trevor Pearson
206   Manuel Palanca
207   Anthony Abdullah
208   Neil Kilgour
209   Surinder Sunar
210   David Smith
302   David Harris
303   Robert Williamson III
304   Matt Tyler
305   Stuart Rutter
306   Paul Gourlay
307   Kevin Hudd
308   David Lloyd
309   Rakesh Gupta
401   Hussein Yilmaz
402   Albert Sapiano
403   Andrew Feldman
404   Ian Holwill
405   Ian Fraser
406   Jason Defreitas
407   Darren Cambell
408   Priyan De Mel
409   Lee Richardson
501   Luke Trottman
502   Ram Vaswani
503   Daniel Wilmer-brown
504   Jason Ho
505   Paul Gardner
506   Jim Tierney
507   Carl Wahlberg
508   Marc Goodwin
509   Jim Reid
601   Stan Essen
602   Peter Gould
603   Jennifer Tilley
604   Johnathan Butters
605   Jeffrey Flewitt
606   Michael Clees
607   Mark Freeman
608   Roberto Romanello
609   Stephen Holden

[JungleCat03]

A big hand has just been played out between Stephen Holden and Stan Essen.

Stephen raised in early position to 125 and was reraised to 425 by Stan.

He called as did Mark Freeman.

The flop fell .

Stephen bet out 600, which was called by Stan but passed by Mark.

The turn was the potentially flush-making .

Stephen bet out 1,200, which Stan now raised to 3,200.

Stephen called after a short dwell.

The river came the .

Stephen checked and Stan now moved allin for just over 10k.

Stephen huffed and puffed "QQ, KK, AA?" he asked to no response. "Will you show if I pass?" he asked and Stan told him "if you like"

Ultimately he passed and Stan showed Q-Q for queens and threes, whilst Stephen showed his outdrawn J-T...

"I expected to see more than that for an allin" said the reserved Roberto. "Looked like a bluff in the end!"

[NoflopsHomer]

I'm taking a photo of Robert Williamson III's admittedly acid-trippy shirt, who Matt Tyler claims he and Stuart Rutter are 'owning', though I did see Rutter call a river bet on a 7-J-3-Q-9 board with A-Q, ahead of Williamson's A-7.

Darren Campbell has been a slow starter out of the blocks, he might have dropped the baton a couple of times because he's already down to just 7,000.

Also shortish early on is Marc Goodwin, perhaps it's because of the goatee he is sporting?

[NoflopsHomer]

And we have our first exit and it's Robert Williamson III, courtesy of the Rocketman Paul Gourlay.

Williamson limped preflop, Matt Tyler raised and Paul Gourlay called, Williamson re-raised but both the Brits called.

The flop came down J-J-6, Williamson and Tyler checked, the Rocketman bet, Williamson re-raised, Tyler passed and Gourlay called. The turn brought another Jack, Williamson checked again, Gourlay bet again and, Williamson moved in with his Aces, Gourlay called with his Q-J, "A good call," according to Matt. 56 players are left.

Said Phil Laak from nearby, "I want more Americans on my table!!!"

[JungleCat03]

As expected, much of the early banter is coming from Phil Laak and Antonio Esfandiari's table.

As Robert Williamson III wandered over to tell Phil and Antonio of his early demise, they were speculating on his exit hand.

"Maybe he thought the guy had KK or QQ..." commented someone.

"Gotta go with your reads" was Antonio's astute observation.

"Yeah Antonio but for fifteen thousand!" said a surprised Laak...

"Well the blinds are getting big now" was the dry comment from Neil Channing, which brought a laugh out of the table, given that we were still on the first level...

[JungleCat03]

We are now on the 50 100 level...

Roberto Romanello raises to 300 UTG and the BB, Mark Freeman calls the 200 raise.

The flop comes .

Checked by Mark, Roberto bets a humourous 100 chips into the pot. Mark folds....

"Not even 100!" grumbles the welshman, scooping up the pot.

Next hand Stephen Holden limps UTG and is raised by his nemesis from a few hands ago, Stan Essen, raises to 400. Mark Freeman again calls, as does Roberto from the Big Blind and Stephen makes up the additional 300.

The flop comes .

After Stephen checks, Stan bets 600, which Mark Freeman calls but both Roberto and Stephen  fold.

The turn is checked by both players.

On the on the river, Mark checks and Stan bets 600 which is called by Mark.

Mark shows down for a gutshot draw that made a pair on the river whilst Stan shows down , which is good for the 3.6k pot and increases his stack yet further...

[NoflopsHomer]

For some reason, Albert Sapiano has taken a real disliking to Darren Campbell. Everyone pot Campbell is playing, Albert is telling him to hurry up, chastising him when he folds hands, trying to encourage to gamble and generally giving him a few rubdowns.

[NoflopsHomer]

Jennifer Tilly has just taken her first scalp, calling Mark Freeman's all-in with on a board but finding herself up against . The lovely came on the turn though to send him home.

"To be fair, I think we were all routing for her," said Roberto Romanello.

[JungleCat03]

Ram "Crazy Horse" Vaswani, who had lost a few chips earlier, is OUT!

Although not an eye witness to the action, I was told that Ram had got involved in a raised pot preflop and when he moved allin on a flop, and his opponent called with Ram mucked, as he didn't have any outs, bar long shot runner runner outs and Ram has been eliminated, free to munch on the salad he seemed to be enjoying so much in peace...

[NoflopsHomer]

Phil Laak calls a bet on the river of a K-3-6-6-Q and Josh Gould flips over his 3-3 for the house.

Antonio, who delights in winding up his friend, says,"Yeah, good call punk...You know we call that back home, a P.O.W. A Pay-Off Wizard..."

Phil meekly bows his head and says softly to himself, "I'm such a fish..."