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

[JungleCat03]

Just had a quick word with Matt Tyler.

"How's it going?" I enquire...

"Yeah good, except I'm Stu [rutter]'s bitch at the moment. He keeps making dodgy 2 pairs on me"

Stuart laughs this off, but doesn't deny that Matt is indeed his bitch. Sat next to each other, it will be interesting to see whether Stuart maintains dominion over Matt throughout or if Matt can turn this round and start bullying Stuart.

Meanwhile more comedy is occurring on Phi Laak and Antonio Esfandiari's table.

I join a 3 way pot as Antonio, Mark Seagal and Phil all see a flop of with about 900 chips in the middle.

It's checked to Phil who asks Antonio "Are you going to abuse me if I bet"....Silence.

Phil bets 700, called by Antonio and passed by Mark.

The turn is the .

Check, check.

The river is the .

Antonio bets out 1,500 and Phil doesn't think for long before passing...

"Yes I'm going to abuse you, you donk" says Antonio much to the table's amusment, clearly revelling in giving his friend the rub down.

[NoflopsHomer]

Yes, that is Mark Seagal who was the dead stack yesterday, apparently Gala told him Friday so they've agreed to let him play today meaning they've basically added an extra £2,500 to the prize pool.

[NoflopsHomer]

Matt Dale is short after running his A-J into Surindar Sunar's Jacks on a J-3-5-3-2 board, he has roughly 1,700 left.

Tablemate Tim Blake has managed to hit and two full houses, sadly both in the same hand holding on a 8-5-3-5-8 board and obviously he was unable to get paid off. He did come a bit unstuck against Samuel Wan when he check/raised an 800 bet to 2,100 on a flop. Wan made it 5,800 though and Blake insta-passed, tapping the table.

[NoflopsHomer]

A quiet start for Chaz Chattha so far, his table since the exit of Robert Williamson III. Meanwhile his friend Priyan "I'm not as reckless as Praz" De Mel is on a much crazy table due to Albert Sapiano's style of chasing just about every draw he can, no matter what the bet.



Players are now on a short break, play will restart in about 10 minutes. Jennifer Tilly is nearby being interviewed on the the perks of being a woman in poker and how sometimes, it can be hard betting the nuts at some points because in a situation where a player might raise two pair or a set on the river against a man, they'll just call against a woman.

[NoflopsHomer]

Matt Dale is now OUT, eliminated just at the start of this level, but we missed how.

Paul Gardner bets 400 on a board, Carl Wahlberg makes it 1,200. Gardner calls. Both check the turn and river. Gardner's Queens winning against Jacks. Missed value bet on the river?

Fabulous Glittering Prizes:

1st -- £87,500
2nd -- £53,250
3rd -- £36,500
4th -- £22,250
5th -- £16,000
6th -- £11,000
7th -- £9,250
8th -- £8,000
9th -- £6,250

[JungleCat03]

It seems Albert Sapiano's play has spiked the interest of his table.

after Hussein Yilmaz limps in early position, Albert raises to 550 and Hussein calls...

The flop comes . When Hussein checks Albert bets 2k to which hussein folds.

Albert shows .

"Is that ANOTHER flush draw!" yells someone at the table, suggesting Albert has been prone to playing one or two SOOOTED cards. It seems as though Albert has abandoned the usual tight rocky poker for which he is famed.

Darren Campbell has been giving Priyan De Mel tips on i-pods on his table. Priyan is heard shortly afterwards berating someone on the phone...."Thanks for telling me I needed special earphones!"

Roberto Romanello, who incidentally is wandering around on crutches, looks a little bored and unhappy as he has a relatively small stack. Something tells me he'll be getting that in pretty shortly...

Jennifer Tilley has moved into business mode by removing her jacket with a bat emblazoned on the back and putting on a black cowboy hat. Don't mess!

[NoflopsHomer]

The Honeymonsterman has just added to his stack.

He bet 4,000 out on a flop, Ian Holwill, who had originally raised, passed his red Aces. Jason Def Freitas moved all-in for 9,450 more and Albert called.

Jason:



Albert:



And the gnomish looking man is way over 30k now...

Over on table 5, Jason Ho, who writes every single hand down in a diary, rather like Thomas Fuller did in Baden, was contemplating calling a 5k bet on the river of a board. Daniel Wilmer-Brown had made the almost pot-sized bet and Jason was inquisitively asking, "Why so much?" before running through a number of hands he, presumably was losing too. He didn't mention though, which is the one he was shown when he eventually called.

Peter Gould is OUT. He looked to be holding on a board but was called by Jeffrey Flewitt's and then missed the river. Also gone is Darren Campbell, we're guessing he dropped the baton.

[JungleCat03]

Crutches or not, Roberto is good value for entertainment!

He is seen betting 1300 into a similar sized pot on the river of a .

When his opponent, Stan Essen passed, he showed a single deuce...

"Only way I could win" said Roberto to which Stan responded several times with "MY ARSE" suggesting he had doubts about the veracity of Roberto's claim...

Stan looked to be slightly miffed and the next hand he limped and when Johnathan Butters raised to 575 he reraised him by another 1k.

The flop was checked and a 2.1k bet on the turn by Stan was sufficient to take the pot down...

[NoflopsHomer]

Roberto Romanello is OUT.

He made a small raise from the cut-off and called a re-raise from Stan Essen in the small blind.

"You're tilting you are," he said as he called the raise.

The flop came , Stan checked, bet around half the pot. Stan set him and Roberto called, saying, "If you have K-Q good luck to you."

Stan flipped , whilst Roberto showed .

The turn was the and Roberto called for a Jack, but the river was the , the ultimate blank. Scant consolation for Roberto was that he was never going to win this hand, however it was played.

I've had to lend my headphones to Chaz Chattha after he admitted breaking his own by accidentally dipping it into his glass of coke...

I'm not sure how some of these guys would cope without me to be honest...

[NoflopsHomer]

The Phil Laak/Antonio Esfandiari abuse match continues.

This time Phil Laak offers Neil Channing £50 to bust Antonio this hand. "Please, please Neil..."


Neil passes to a 2,205 bet on a 5-3-2 rainbow board and Antonio shows the .


"No Neil! He had nothing..."

[JungleCat03]

As Thomas Kremser arrives and speaks to some of the players, he is warmly welcomed by Antonio Esfandiari.

"This guys gotta be the best tournament director around, he's tall, good-looking, smart...." If he keeps this sycophancy up, Antonio may undermine his reputation as a ladies man.

Underterred, he continues though....."Every time I'm near you my life equity goes up, Thomas, whilst when this guy's around [points to Phil Laak] my life equity drops. Right now, sandwiched between you it's cancelling out at zero"

Phil is more interested in what's happening on the table though. Josh Tyler folds from the small blind to Phil's big blind and shows he folded J9...

"You folded that!" exclaims Antonio astonished...

"Of course" says Phil. "he's playing good, careful solid poker"

"or he's building a good image before he starts attacking your blinds later" points out Neil.

"Why do you go and say that! I know that! Now you've tipped him off!"

All the while Josh's play and potential future play are being discussed, he just sits there smiling, clearly finding the banter as amusing as everyone else.

As I leave the table I hear Antonio calling Phil " a tard" for how he played the latest hand. The fun continues!

[NoflopsHomer]

Hi,

updates on Manuel Palance and Luke Trottman please.............

Luke Trottman has literally this second gone out with Kings against Paul Gardner's Aces. I took a photo then went to check on Manuel Palanca (who has about 13k having just paid off a 3k river to Samuel Wan who showed 3-3 on a 4-4-2-3-A board) sitting next to Anthony Abdullah and Surindar Sunar. I turned around and Luke was gone!

Most of the tables are fairly queit, but the Priyan De Mel/Albert Sapiano sparring battle is now almost at Laak/Esfandiari proportions, certainly it's at equal decibel level, little friendly digs at one another, but you wonder if there's just the tiniest needle involved.

[NoflopsHomer]

******************We're now on a 45 Minute Dinner break******************

Here's Tim with his twin Dave Smith the other side of the dealer. He just re-raised a 700 bet to 2,000 a took down the pot. He's sitting on what looks to be a 13k stack.



Paul Gourlay, who had been moved to Jennifer Tilly's table, now finds himself back in his old seat next to Stuart Rutter, he's got around 24k, about 1k more than Matt Tyler.



Incidentally speaking of Jennifer Tilly, she's just been moved to the left of Albert Sapiano. I think the iPod came out again pretty fast!

Finally, Danny Dodds seems to be about 21k or so.

[JungleCat03]

Hussein Yilmaz appears to have been busy on Priyan De Mel, Albert Sapiano and now Jennifer Tilley's table.

Raising to 700 from LP, he picks up the blinds. Albert chastises the table..."That's another pot you've let him win!" Hussein shows .

"I had Jack three" Albert continues. "I was going to call but it was too much...500 i call, 700 though, just too much...."

Continuing the aggression, Hussein raises the next hand to 700 too. Priyan De Mel calls from the big blind.

The flop of is checked by PDM and also by Hussein.

The turn is the Ah. PDM checks again, and Hussein also checks...."How many times do I have to check before you bet!" asks Priyan.

The river is the and Priyan bets 500, which Hussein calls.

"King" announces Priyan and Hussein shows T-T before mucking his cards...

Next hand it is Jennifer Tilley who shows aggression, raising to 600 preflop, called by Priyan in the small blind.

The flop comes .

Priyan checks and Jennifer bets 1k, which Priyan calls.

The turn is the .

Priyan bets 1k, which Jennifer raises to 3k..."Oh no" says Priyan, "my turn to play a big pot!" and calls.

The river comes the .

Priyan bets 1k, which Jennifer calls.

"King" announces Priyan for the 2nd hand in succession, but this time Jennifer tables A-K, outkicking what appeared to be K-8 in Priyan's hand.

"Nice hand" he tells her...

The players are now on a 45 minute break for dinner so myself and floppy will scour the tables for chips counts and be back with you shortly.

[NoflopsHomer]

Chip Counts:

Tim Blake -- 13,500
Samuel Wan -- 15,250
Michael Clees -- 13,275
Manuel Palanca -- 14,000
Anthony Abdullah -- 17,875
Surindar Sunar -- 30,000
Neil Kilgour (I think) -- 7,500
Dave Smith -- 13,850

Yilmaz Husseyin -- 24,700
Albert Sapiano -- 65,200
Andrew Feldman (Dead Stack) -- 12,350
Jennifer Tilly -- 25,200
Ian Holwill? -- 8,500
Nicholas Bower -- 5,850
Jeffrey Flewitt -- 36,100
Priyan De Mel -- 22,925
Lee Richardson -- 11,875

Trevor Pearson -- 16,400
Daniel Wilmer-Brown -- 28,200
Jason Ho -- 9,650
Paul Gardner -- 32,000
Jim Tierney -- 27,775
Carl Wahlberg -- 11,975
Jonothon Butters -- 21,600
Jim Reid -- 19,850

Stan Essen (We think) -- 40,000
Stephen Holden -- 10,300
Antonio Esfandiari -- 16,700
Jani Johansson -- 12,100
Neil Channing -- 16,600
Danny Dodds -- 22,575
Anthony Croalla -- 11,250
Joshu Tyler -- 18,300
Phil Laak -- 16,900

Andy Doran -- 6,400
David Harris -- 19,200
Matt Tyler -- 22,700
Stuart Rutter -- 18,300
Paul Gourlay -- 25,175
Kevin Hudd -- 3,525
David Lloyd -- 11,175
Rakesh Gupta -- 21,100
Chaz Chattha -- 25,500