Gala Poker Tour Grand Final : Day 2 - At A Glance

[JungleCat03]

The players are now on a short break.

We will resume on 800 -1600 -100, 36 players remain and the average stack is 41,700.

Back soon guys!

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[NoflopsHomer]

Andrew Feldman gets moved to the right of Ian Woodley and it's passed to him in the small blind.

"I should be raising this hand but I just can't," and Andrew passes. "What did you have?"

"T-8," says Woodley.

"You were ahead then."

"Well, damn right you shouldn't be raising there!"

"I had 8-7 suited."

"You had 8-7 suited and you didn't raise?" says Joe Beevers.

"I know he'll move in on me," replies Andrew, "I've seen him play on the telly."

"Yeah, so you know I'm a f**king idiot," laughs Woodley.

[NoflopsHomer]

Ian Woodley is OUT. his no good against Joe Beever's . Matt Tyler has also knocked a short stack with Aces against J-T.

David Harris has been taken out by I think Marcus Farthing against on a board that then bricked out.

Four remaining tables.

[NoflopsHomer]

Blinds start at 400/800/75

We've just lost one of the two dead stacks, Jim Reid raising from the small blind to knock out Stu Rutter in the big blind, showing but finding himself behind to a pair of fours until he hit a nine on the flop to knock out one of them.

im confused. is stu out? or just the dead stack?

Sorry my bad, he knocked Stu out of the pot. I'll word it better next time.

Is this a worthwhile steal with a dead stack all-in?

Also, isn't the dead stack's hand dead because he is not at the table when the last card is dealt?

The official rule is that when a stack is all-in, his cards are always live.

Jennifer Tilly and Joe Beevers look to be the chip leaders with roughly 80k (It's really hard to count the chips, and almost impossible for JC because they have no numbers on them and he is colourblind).

GB - Antonio looks to have around 55k at the moment.

[JungleCat03]

Jim Tierney was jsut seen raising Albert Sapiano's blind, which Albert, yes, called.

Albert checked the kh flop and a 3k bet by Jim was sufficient to take the pot down.

Next hand Jim raised to 4.6k UTG and after a logn period of chip counting he was reraised by Manuel Palanca another 10k to 14.6k. Everyone else scarpered out of the way and Jim passed showing A-K face up.

Manuel tapped the table to indicate a good pass but didn't show his cards.

Meanwhile Albert's been involved in a big pot and again Manuel Palanca was involved.

Albert raised Manuel's big blind with about 39k back to 6k. Manuel, who had albert covered, looked at his cards and saw Kings. He pushed allin and Albert, possibly influenced slightly by that earlier hand Manuel played against Jim........called of course!

Manuel's K-K was comfortably ahead of Albert's J-J and when a scareless board transpired, and the dust settled, Manuel scooped up the 90k pot and Albert Sapiano was OUT!

Manuel is the chip leader now with about 120k and is  understandably looking pretty happy with how things are going...

[NoflopsHomer]

Jennifer Tilly raises it up in midposition, Antonio Esfandiari - It seems so utterly bizarre I'm reporting on a hand between these two players on a wet Saturday night in a casino in Bristol - repops it 16k more. Jennifer passes and Antonio shows , and begs me like a mischevious schoolboy to go and tell Phil Laak in the cash game what he's just done.

Here is the affore-mention Manuel Palanca, whose overbet with Kings was bound to catch Albert with any decent hand.

[JungleCat03]

hi,

updates on manuel palanca would be appreciated

12 seconds for the requested update to arrive. Sorry for the delay, I had to resolve world hunger, finish a rubik's cube and order a coke first 

He's looking very sprightly at the moment, as you would being the chip leader with just 29 players remaining.

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The blinds have just risen to a whopping 1k-2k-200. Average stack is 51,700 and we are down to 4 tables.





Things are hotting up...

[NoflopsHomer]

Roland is giving this guy 'evils' because he's just been floated off a pot by this chap, (whose name we don't know).

He button raised, Roland called in the small blind and then bet 8,400 on the board. The button flat-called this bet after a think, Roland checked the turn to him, and the button thought for a bit before betting out 12,000. Roland folded quickly and was shown for his troubles, although it's very possible he's bluffing with the best hand here.

[JungleCat03]

Antonio is obviously enjoying bluffing Jennifer.

Raising her 7k bet on a flop by 15k or so, Jennifer passed before Antonio showed her ...

"Make sure you tell Phil about that hand guys" says Antonio, loving pushing Jennifer about.

Manuel Palanca is chip leader on about 120k.

Antonio's aggression levels have upped his stack to 90k ish...

Jennifer's stack is moving the wrong way after all those Antonio bluffs but is still in good shape at about 80k or so.

Joe Beevers, Mark Stuart and Bambos are not far behind, all hovering about the mid 70k's.

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Incidentally I believe the chap in the photo Homer posted there, being given the evil stare by Roland, is Paul Gardner.

[NoflopsHomer]

Roland's laggy reputation works for him too though. On a board, he bets 9k against DaMatrix,

"Busted flush draw?" but Roland is silent.

DaMatrix calls, only to be shown the rivered Broadway , DaMatrix now short.

[NoflopsHomer]

DaMatrix is OUT. Kings into Ace Jack which hit both cards, more annoying was the fact that another player had also passed Ace Jack.

Antonio Esfandiari has just lost a 30k+ pot setting his opponent in with on a board and getting a call from , until the river was the . Matey with his coat on (obviously) was forced to take it back off.

[JungleCat03]

I just spoke to Omar Ghandur who is sitting pretty on 69,000 at the moment.

He told me "I'm doing well, but the table hates me now" and a general murmur of assent from the table confirms this!

Omar's story is an interesting one. He doesn't play much poker but when a canadian friend came to visit him he played in a £20 competition at his friend's suggestion.

He won, but discovered it was actually a satellite to a £200 satellite to get into this competition. He duly won that satellite too to find himself playing a £2,500 event with not much poker experience. He has acquitted himself well so far. After the early luck he had of hitting a one out in a set vs set coup, and surviving losing a bit pot at a the end of day one to a 2 outer, he now finds himself in contention with just 26 runners remaining.

Not bad for someone who doesn't play much...

He told me earlier his strategy for today would be to "get drunk and enjoy myself" It looks like his strategy is working so far!

[JungleCat03]

Andrew Flemming is OUT!

I didn't see the preflop action but he had all his chips in on a flop with -Kd versus Bambos' .

a turn and river did nothing to change the status quo, Bambos' Jacks holding and sending Andrew to the rail.

Bambos is now nursing a very large stack and will be up there with the chip leaders at this point.

We are down to 24 runners with an average of just over 60k. 10 minutes remain of Level 12 before the players will be breaking for 45 minutes for dinner.

The level after will be 1500-3000 with a 300 ante...

[NoflopsHomer]

Matt Tyler raises to 6,300. Roland asks him for a count and then calls. Joe Beevers in the big blind starts to think,

"Time for a squeeze Joe?"

Joe decides to just call making an enticing 20k pot.

Flop:

.

Checked to Roland who bets 12k and Matt and Joe both pass. How boring after all that build-up...

Jim Tiernay moves in for about 30k on a board. Neil Channing decides to give it up.

[NoflopsHomer]

************** 45 minute dinner break *******************