Luton Christmas Cracker: Day 1 - At A Glance

[danafish]

The gent on the right, who I now believe to be one Paul Ephremsen, is OUT, against Danny D'Borin's .

Board - is useless to him and he has gone to join the Saturday Night Throng baying for blood at the blackjack tables. Or something. Probably he's gone home.

[snoopy1239]

Rob Garfield -- 34,725
Darren Smith -- 33,250
Daniel Rudd -- 51,100
David Young -- 11,100
Danny D'Borin -- 43,875
Dervis Ozkarapinar -- 42,400
Andreas Georgiou -- 19,275
Mike Moore -- 29,375
Driton Haxhiaj -- 9,200
Dave Courtney -- 15,850
Ben Turnstill -- 9,150
D Shearer -- 7,000
Sunny Osman -- 6,250
Mark Segal -- 7,625
Alistair Carins -- 20,425
Graham Hiew -- 40,775
Ali Mallu -- all-in as I write
Yilfer Shevket -- 5,125
Ryan Fronda -- 36,375

[danafish]

Rookie Ben Turnstill is OUT. All in I believe preflop with against Dave Shearer's , it was looking pretty good on the flop, worse on the turn and dreadful come the river.

Board -

He hovers for a moment while the chips are counted, but he's covered and gone.

[snoopy1239]

After Mateyboy had made it 1,200 to play and Ryan Fronda had smooth called, Mark Segal saw his opportunity to pounce and pushed in his short stack with Pocket Sevens. Whilst Fronda sipped on his tea and generally looked disinterested, Mateyboy counted his chips and called with J-T off suit. A Ten on the Turn and it was home time for Segal ,whose raised arms of disgust on the Turn spoke volumes. However, he still shook hands with his assassin as he left, although I suspect the motorway will be taking the inevitable hammering.

Wondering who our mystery sniper was, I politely tapped him on the shoulder like a praying vulture and made a request for his name. Oddly, he was hesitant at first, and for a moment, I actually thought he'd forgotten his name. Eventually, he conceded his forename as being Arco, but cringed when he moved onto his surname before asking, "Do you need my surname?" "Nah, should be able to work it out from your first name," I replied. On returning to the pressroom and, subsequently, the player list, I suddenly realised why he'd acted so reluctantly.

With 33 points, we have a new challenger to the Scrabble Man throne with...

Arco Zuyderduyn

"I'm Dutch, you see," he later confessed.

"Oh, so you travelled all the way from Holland to play at the Luton festival," I joked, fully expecting him to say that he lived in these parts.

"Yes," he replied sternly. "I did."

"Oh."

[snoopy1239]

As I watch Alistair Carins survive an all-in on a 9-8-T Flop (Ryan Fronda folded) and Dervis Ozkarapinar re-raise Mike Moore off a hand pre-flop before showing the American Airlines, D Shearer chooses now to double up, courtesy of neighbour Danny D'Borin. I joined the action as the board was being dealt out, but chances are that it was all-in on the Flop.

D'Borin =

Shearer =

Flop =

Turn =

River =

[snoopy1239]

Table 1:

Seat 1: Darren Smith -- 22,200
Seat 2: Andreas Gerogiou -- 17,700
Seat 3: D Shearer -- 37,200
Seat 4: Danny D'Borin -- 50,100
Seat 5: Mike Moore -- 22,700
Seat 6: Dervis Ozkarapinar -- 45,400
Seat 7: Derek Lawless -- 35,100
Seat 8: Richard Robinson -- 12,000
Seat 9: Daniel Rudd -- 39,300

Table 2:

Seat 1: David Young -- 10,300
Seat 2: Graham Hiew -- 37,900
Seat 3: Ali Mallu -- 22,000
Seat 4: Alistair Carins -- 16,700
Seat 5: Yilfer Shevket -- 9,300
Seat 6: Dave Courtney -- 19,700
Seat 7: Rob Garfield -- 31,900
Seat 8 Arco Zuyderduyn -- 26,900
Seat 9: Ryan Fronda -- 18,400

[danafish]

Meatloaf impersonator David Young is OUT. He raised preflop and was called by Arco Z (i'm not even going to try). He shoved on the flop, which must have delighted Arco as he insta-called with his two pair.

David Young -

Arco Z -

Turn -

River -

"First preflop raise I've made all day, and he calls me with T-8," complained a disappointed David, fleeing the cardroom like, um, a bat out of hell.

[snoopy1239]

Alistair Carins has been eliminated from the tournament.

----------

Frustrating times for Rob Garfield as a battle of the blinds encounters with Arco Zuyderduyn ends in misery. I assume there was pre-flop action, but with Rob in the small blind, his 4k bet on a Flop was called by his nemesis before both players opted to check a Turn. An on the River seemed to kick everyone into gear, Rob betting out 5.5k before folding quicker than the production credits of a porn film as Arco announced all-in.

With Rob holding , it was a good fold in the end as Arco happily revealed his superior . Garfield down to 20.7k.

[danafish]

Crazy man Yilfer "James Bond" Shevket is OUT. He shoved with and got himself called by Ryan Fronda holding .

Board -

I was hoping he'd pull out a gun from his jacket or something, but he merely wandered off.

[snoopy1239]

Arco Zuyderduyn -- 65.0k
Danny D'Borin -- 52.8k
Derek Lawless -- 48.4k
Daniel Rudd -- 40.3k
Dervis Ozkarapinar -- 36.7k
Ali Mallu -- 36.5k
Graham Hiew -- 36.3k
D Shearer -- 33.2k
Ryan Fronda -- 23.7k
Andreas Georgiou -- 22.9k
Mike Moore -- 21.4k
Dave Courtney -- 19.2k
Darren Smith -- 15.1k
Rob Garfield -- 11.0k

[danafish]

Also OUT is Richard Robinson - a microstack for much of the day, he finally found Jacks and shoved for his last 2k and change. He found a caller in Dervis Ozkarapinar holding which looked pretty promising, but oh woe:

Board -

[snoopy1239]

Down to 13 now, and it's Darren Smith who is the latest to feel the wrath of the daring Dutchman, Arco Zuyderduyn (please don't make me write that name again). All-in with on an Flop, Darren probably would have welcomed a call from most, but with Arco staring you down at the other end of the table, you know you could be taking the walk of shame in a few seconds time. And that's exactly what happened, Arco making a good call with and pipping his opponent following a and Turn and River, that crucial Eight just about making the difference.

[snoopy1239]

Rob Garfield is OUT in 13th. He found himself all-in with A-T versus Arco Zuyderduyn's K-9, before a 7-K-8-2-K sent him packing. I won't repeat his expletives as he left the table.

[danafish]

Double-up for D Shearer.

Dervis Ozkarapinar raises to 2850 utg. Derek Lawless to his immediate left calls, but Shearer goes all in from the button for around 15k total. Dervis gets out of the way, leaving the decision to call with Lawless (someone please insert funny Lawless joke here), which he eventually does.

Lawless -

Shearer -

(At this point one of the cardroom guys comes over to ask whether anyone minds if they turn the volume up for the fight. Everyone sort of grunts assent.)

Board -

"Nice hand, mate," sighs Lawless.

[snoopy1239]

After a lengthy discussion, it has been agreed that play shall end for the day with 12 players remaining.

Ryan Fronda was very eager to carry on playing, one of many not keen on returning for Day 2 without a guaranteed pay.

"I think everyone was happy to give 8th and 9th 750 quid, Snoops," commented Ryan. "I reckon we could have got rid of another three with one more level, especially with this guy [pointing at Arco's stack], he's being calling with all sorts."

However, Carmel was adamant in her decision, saying that she was stopping the tournament because of the upcoming noise from the crowd watching the boxing. "It's not going to be a good atmosphere for poker," she admitted. "I'm making this decision because it's for the good of the tournament."

And on that note, the decision was made.


End of day chip counts:

Arco Zuyderduyn -- 82,375
Danny D'Borin -- 62,050
Derek Lawless -- 60,250
Ali Mallu -- 57,825
Daniel Rudd -- 44,750
Graham Hiew -- 31,375
Dervis Ozkarapinar -- 29,775
Ryan Fronda -- 26,950
Dave Courtney -- 26,425
Mike Moore -- 23,750
Andreas Georgiou -- 21,450
D Shearer -- 20,000