BlueSq.com GUKPT Bolton: Day 1A - At A Glance

[NoflopsHomer]

Welcome to Bolton, home of the very first leg of last year's GUKPT which was eventually won by Praz Bansi. I've not been here before and the cardroom is a major hike from pressroom, behind every corner was another corridor or staircase or something.

John Eames and Matt Tyler have already arrived, the former having already almost smashed his car up as he parked, whilst Jen Mason is suffering the effects of eating a garage shop egg sandwich, she's gambling before the tournament has even started. Snoopy is tucking into his sandwich also, despite the fact it's from the same garage, he's a brave/foolhardy lad.

There's 124 runners total so far, so today could be a short day...

Table 1:

Seat 1: Peter Wood
Seat 2: Dean Lyall
Seat 3: Iqbal Ahmed
Seat 4: Matt Tyler
Seat 5: Stephen Montgomery
Seat 6: Steve Walmsley
Seat 7: David Amos
Seat 8: Daz Hickman
Seat 9: Steve Jelinek

Table 2:

Seat 1: Andrew Leivers
Seat 2: Simon Zach
Seat 3: Ian Cox
Seat 4: Victor Kaye
Seat 5: Terry Owens
Seat 6: Paul Gourlay
Seat 7: Paul Murhpy
Seat 8: Sammy Cheung
Seat 9: Christopher Bell

Table 3:

Seat 1: Sam Trickett
Seat 2: Jen Mason
Seat 3: Richard Swerling
Seat 4: Adam Clark
Seat 5: Susan Gallacher
Seat 6: James Mitchell
Seat 7: Osman Mustanoglu
Seat 8: Joan Lawler
Seat 9: Mark Lowe

Table 4:

Seat 1: Mick Flectcher
Seat 2: Paul Parker
Seat 3: Pete Linton
Seat 4: Tony Phillips
Seat 5: Harry Zammit
Seat 6: Owen Shiels
Seat 7: Kevin Holdstock
Seat 8: John Denison
Seat 9: Chris Wright

Table 5:

Seat 1: Steve Craig
Seat 2: Mohammed Zahour
Seat 3: Marta Pilipowski
Seat 4: Gerald David
Seat 5: Vas Theophanous
Seat 6: Joe Grech
Seat 7: Dave Penly
Seat 8: John McNeil
Seat 9: Andrew Bradshaw

Table 6:

Seat 1: Tony Cartwright
Seat 2: Julian Thew
Seat 3: Steven Warburton
Seat 4: Ali Mallu
Seat 5: Anto Farkas
Seat 6: Simon Wolf
Seat 7: Paul Bellamy
Seat 8: Abdul Patel
Seat 9: Rob Sherwood

Table 7:

Seat 1: Jonothon Butters
Seat 2: Colin Wu
Seat 3: Dave Colclough
Seat 4: Eileen Patterson
Seat 5: Gary Jones
Seat 6: Richard Sudworth
Seat 7: Michael Greco
Seat 8: John Eames
Seat 9: Lynne Beaumont

Table 8:

Seat 1: N Winther Ottesen
Seat 2: Richard Hawes
Seat 3: James Morgan
Seat 4: Anthony Shields
Seat 5: Dfyed Price
Seat 6: Andrew Andreou
Seat 7: A Shah
Seat 8: Miroslaw Klys
Seat 9: Dave Smith

Table 9:

Seat 1: Gordon Gallacher
Seat 2: Gary Parker
Seat 3: John Perrin
Seat 4: Cheung Tai Law
Seat 5: Mackay Garsia
Seat 6: Om Aggarwal
Seat 7: Karim Jomeen
Seat 8: David Paul
Seat 9: Dave Jackson

[NoflopsHomer]

A case of lol-first-hand-aments has struck the table of Ian Cox and Paul Gourlay. The under the gun player raised to 225 and Gourlay called in mid position with Cox calling from the big blind.



I missed the action at this point as an arguement was going on at the table next door, but I'm pretty sure it was checked around.



Cox checks, UTG bets 700, Gourlay and Cox both call.



Cox checks, UTG bets 2,000. Gourlay sighs and calls. Ian Cox thinks and says, "One of you must have it," and folds.

UTG shows , Gourlay shows and Ian Cox folded .

Paul said to Ian, "I could've got away from it if I had been in your position and you'd called!"


Dave Smith may be the recipient of more booty than Scrooge McDuck over the last year or two, but it looks like he'll be going home empty handed this time around after being knocked down to just 2,000 courtesy of foreboding Liverpudlian James Morgan. With the board reading , James bet out just 2,000 into what was a 10,000 plus pot, and was quickly called by his GUKPT winning foe. As James showed a domineering , Dave mucked and commented, "I had trip tens." Whether we believe him not is one for the Jeremy Kyle lie detector test, but either way, he's been knocked down to the felt and will be searching for a double up in the very near future.

[NoflopsHomer]

Insta-busto on Table 9 and it's Om Aggarwal. Obviously.

Whilst watching Andy Bradshaw and Vas Theophanous argue, (apparently Theophanous was talking about the hand having already folded) I felt a prod in the back from John 'Reggie' Perrin who pointed across to the table where Aggarwal's chip were all in the middle with on a flop against Karim Jomeen's . A ray of hope on the turn but £1,000 down the swanny on the river.

Today's players.

[NoflopsHomer]

Table Jen which coincidentally also holds 100% of the ginger-haired women playing today.



Paul Parker, Tony Phillips and the awesomely named Harry Zammit have not turned up yet. Oh maybe they all think Pete Linton smells.

[NoflopsHomer]

More pots than Flushy's Cannes adventure at the moment.

First we lost Darren Hickman holding on a board against Dean Lyall's which caught the on the turn and managed to avoid the pair up.

Next to them, Paul Gourlay is telling me about the preflop action that went min-raise, min-re-raise, min-re-raise between Andrew Leivers and Sammy Cheung. The board came down where Leivers made a very cautious check behind with and had seemingly missed a bet against Cheung's .l

Mick Fletcher, so often having a reputation of an 'any two cards, big stack at all costs' has had the filthometer rebound in his face. The board read (not sure which way it had come out) and Fletcher dropped around 2,000 on the end with to Chris Wright's .

As Treguard would say..."Ooooh, nasty..."

[NoflopsHomer]

Kevin Holdstock is out. Mick Fletcher holding the nut flush draw. Kevin Holdstock holding Q-J. A K-T-x two spade flop. A on the turn and Kevin exiting with a face like a smacked bottom.

Jen and Sam Trickett have been sparring already. The board read and Sam checked to Jen, only for her to check behind having paired the six on the turn and Sam checking his on the river thinking he could only get a bet from Jen if she'd missed and had to fire a bluff.

Another pot went away from Jen soon after in a pot against Sam Trickett and James Mitchell. All three checked the flop before it was checked to Jen on the button who fired 600 when the came up. Mitchell called and Trickett folded. Both checked the river where Mitchell's was good enough for the pot.

Matt Tyler is nursing a disgustingly dirty stack, "I'm the updater's friend," he smiled. What had happened was, "I tried trapping aces with kings but slowed down because I thought he'd rivered a set of tens, should've lost my whole stack."

John McNeil is one of those who has lost his whole stack. All in on a board with , his joy quickly turning to dismay when Gerald David called with for the rivered straight, ahead of McNeil's turned straight.

[NoflopsHomer]

hi Guys, can you gice a few updates on Dave Amos, Paul Bellamy and Kris Hodgson plz?

Dave Amos -- 13k and sitting next to Womble.



Paul Bellamy -- 11k and figuring out how to work his iPod.

[NoflopsHomer]

Matt Tyler is out, apparently A-2 against A-A according to Womble.


After mothering his short-stack since level one, Dave Smith has finally been made to walk the long plank towards the door courtesy of Andrew Andreou. With the flop reading , Dave found himself in all sorts of bother with against Greekfish's dominant . As the turn and river came and respectively, Dave rose from him seat and wished his opponents "good luck". "Unlucky mate," said Greekfish. "That was just salt into wounds."

[snoopy1239]

Spoke to Jen in passing and she was still applying her pre-tournament strategy of 'tight is right' or, as she put it, "I don't want to go out early again so I just won't play a hand for the first two levels." I really go getter that one.

Someone who has been playing more than the odd hand is current chip leader GUKPT Cardiff finalist Steve Craig. He surely has around 30,000 after taking down numerous pots, including the scalp of Andrew Bradshaw. I didn't catch the hand myself, but neighbour Julian Thew reliably informed that Bradshaw ran a flush draw into the turned two pair (A-Q) of Craig, which ultimately stood up on the blank river. "He's winning every pot, this guy," claimed a jealous Julian.

But not so, as just a few hands later, Julian was adding the necessary meat to his own stack, leading out for 1,100 on a board before being being looked up, very reluctantly I might add, by Joe Grech. "I missed my flush," said Joe to a bemused Julian. Joe showed to justify his call, but it wasn't quite enough as Yoyo revealed for a flopped two pair.


A quick glance down at Michael Greco's bisected stack informed me he'd been getting his hands dirty early doors, and it didn't take long for me to locate the necessary hand history. According to the former Eastender, seat three (down as Dave Colclough, who doesn't seem to be here unless he has changed skin colour, dyed his hair black and endured hours of plastic surgery) raised it up preflop to 150 with A-K, only for Richard Sudworth to make it 750 a few seats along. Michael smooth called with queens from the small blind leading to a three way flop of 9-5-3 rainbow. The action was checked around to the reraiser who continue bet 1,500, leading to a disciplined fold from Michael and an inevitable pass from seat 3. "Even the big blind [John Eames] folded A-K too," added Grego, still amazed at how the pot had remained so small.


Hovering over the balcony like a blood-thirsty vulture, my loitering was rewarded as I stumbled upon an all-in and a call from the table directly below. On a flop, and with a decent amount already lying patiently in the pot, Terry Owens found his all-in with called by Simon Zach, the latter praying for a spade as he revealed his inferior . But Simon's hopes were in vain, as the dealer popped out a harmless and on the turn and river respectively. "Yes!" exclaimed a clearly jubilant Owens as he sat back down in his seat.

Simon meanwhile, was left with just a couple of thousand, and once the blinds had passed him, he pushed over the top of Paul Gourlay's initial raise of 400. Paul made the near obligatory call with , and was possibly relieved to see that he was coin-flipping against Simon's . Although the board looked to seal the fate of Simon, the kept him alive and drew a rye chuckle from his frustrated opponent, Paul obviously not a stranger to the familiar teasing methods of the Poker Gods.






I'm am saddened to bring you news of Marta Pilipowska, if only because she may have been deemed more than worthy for consideration by the incessantly fussy NAS. It was Joe Grech who brought her tournament to an abrupt end, The Joker calling an all-in push on a board with and being met by an in-need-of-one-of-two-outs . Thankfully for Joe, neither of the knaves arrived and Marta was gone.




No sign of any official chip counts yet (they may arrive at the conclusion of the current level), but I did grab a few miscellaneous chip counts as I trundled back to the press room, which, incidentally, is sweatier than a shot putters arm pit due to the breakdown of the air conditioning.

Steve Walmsley -- 7,425
Tony Cartwright -- 17,300
Simon Wolf -- 4,150
Dave Penly -- 5,600
Ian Cox -- 13,200
Mark Lowe -- 10,850
Richard Hawes -- 9,600
Lynne Beaumont -- 3,475
Victor Kanwar -- 16,500
Rob Sherwood -- 15,200

[NoflopsHomer]

"Only five players who started on this table remain," said Julian Thew, recounting the tale of Jonothon Butters who moved in for 7k over the top of a 2k bet on a J-x-x board with Queens, he was surprisingly called by A-K which spiked a king on the turn. Meanwhile Jen is stuck in a bit of a rut declaring two pair on a board but running into .

Alli Mallu has almost been felted getting into a blind on blind battle for an almost 20k pot with against which hit two pair.

[NoflopsHomer]

Steve Craig raises to 800 from the hijack and the big blind (who previously knocked out Jonothon Butters) called.



Craig bets 900 after the BB checks, and with no hesitation the big blind jams his 20k stack straight into the middle. Craig shrugs and folds his face up. The big blind triumphantly shows for the flopped boat. A few smiles appear from some of the more experienced players on the table.

[NoflopsHomer]

What Are You Reading Today?

Thewy -- An article about the Nuts because he never has them, unless you call, then he does.



Sam Trickett -- An interview with Tom Dwann, "He's just too good." Success is relative it seems...

[snoopy1239]

'Refusing to take it quietly' of the day:

In fact, this photo was taken just moments after Pete Linton doubled through. It wasn't a brisk affair though, and much deliberation was undertaken before Pete pushed his remaining chips over the line. His foe was Chris Wright (pictured below), who had his man dominated with versus , but a board soon put a stop to that and swiftly turned the tide in the favour of the Nottingham pro. As you can see from the quoted picture, he was more than jubilant in victory.




Lynne Beaumont, who was last spotted in Newcastle, has recently enjoyed a double up - versus surviving an uneventful board.


'Skullman' Gerald David has also been busy doubling up his short stack (if this trend continues, we may never lose a player!). He was all in with kings versus aces, and managed to spike a set on the river to temporarily foil Sam Trickett's plans for GUKPT domination. The size of the pot (around 4.5k) means Sam is still smiling.

[NoflopsHomer]

Players are just going on their 40 minute dinner break, just as we lost Mick Fletcher to Dyfed Price's set of fives. Adam 'Clarkatroid' is short but squeezed out a bunch of limpers and then showed to add a decent chunk to his stack.

Also improving after slow starts are Julian Thew and John 'Johnes147' Eames who are both on around 15k.

************* 40 minute dinner break ***************

[snoopy1239]

While I was munching on my jam roly poly (which I'm assured is "part of the cuisine up't north"), I manged to delve deep into the internal hand history accumulator that is Richard Hawes' memory and learn of an intriguing three way pot involving Andrew Andreou. According to Richard, Andrew raised it up preflop from the cut-off to 600, only for the button to make the call and the blind to bump it up to 2,650. After tanking for a good few minutes, Andrew eventually folded pocket kings (or so he claimed), and the button called. The button then proceeded to check call 4,000 on the J-9-8 flop, and then a final 5,000 on the deuce turn before being met by pocket aces. However, a ten on the river dealt out a cruel blow to defect the bullets and send the pot sailing over to the jubilant ladies.


Richard Hawes' brains weren't the only ones I was caught picking during the break. I also grabbed hold of Jen Mason to to prise out her tales of woe. "I had aces on one hand and just flat called a raise," she started. "I then raised his continuation bet on a king high two spades flop." "Just call, for pot control," suggested NoflopsHomer admantly. "I can't give him a cheap card with two spades on the board," replied Jen. "But he doesn't often have a flush draw there," came back the Floppster. As I remained blissfully ignorant on who to side with (I think I went with Jen because she's more terrifying), I urged for the story to reach a conclusion. "Well, he flatted my raise," she continued, and then check-raised me on the king turn. "I folded, and I'm sure he had the best hand. I didn't need to see his cards."

Confident of making the correct decision, Jen was nevertheless left to nurture a depleted stack, and one which had dipped as low as 2,500, but recent times have seen it flourish to 8,000 once again, partly due to the movement in her neighbouring seat. "I think Sam Trickett moving tables was the best thing that's happened to me today. The guy who replaced him limped in from the small blind one hand, and I checked my Ad-7d. I then called his bet on every street of an ace high board, with the flush arriving on the river. I didn't want to push the river, because the board was paired."


In the dinner queue, I ran into Paul Parker, who was keen to tell me of the departure of Mick Fletcher. "I think the board was 5-9-x-J, or something. One guy bet out 500, another raised it to 1,500 and Mick called. The bettor then pushed with a set of fives and Mick called with the opened ended straight draw, but didn't hit."

Wondering whether to opt for the Fisherman's pie or the shepherd's pie (possibly the most difficult decision he's faced so far), Paul continued, "I think it was this other hand that did it though, it was all downhill from there. Mick raised with queens, and called a reraise behind. He then called a bet on an A-K-x flop, before betting the raggy turn when his opponent checked. The guy then raised to make Mick fold the hand before showing J-6 off for a total bluff. I'm not sure why he fancied making a move, I think he just decided at the start of the hand that he was. Seemed a bit risky to me."