GUKPT Walsall: The Final

[TightEnd]

Hello and welcome back to Walsall for the final of Leg 3 of the GUKPT event

Play begins at 2pm and these are your finalists


Simon Deadman 666,900

Danny Toffel 453,000

Ryan Spittles 421,100

Ben Jenkins 333,000

Martin Holmes 240,300

Adrian Eley 161,000

Craig Brugess 122,700

Nick Hicks 101,900

Alan Mansbridge 87,900

[TightEnd]

This is what they are playing for

Entries..... 172

1st .....£49,880

2nd .....£34,830
3rd .....£21,930
4th .....£13,330
5th .....£10,320
6th .....£8,170
7th .....£6,450
8th .....£4,730
9th .....£3,440
10th .....£3,010.....Dale Harper

11th .....£2,580....Rob Lacey
12th .....£2,580.....Rob Boon

13th .....£2,150.....Richard Horton
14th .....£2,150.....Fariborz Badiemansour
15th .....£2,150.....Praz Bansi
16th .....£2,150.....John Miller
17th .....£2,150.....Paul Humphries

[TightEnd]

before I continue, thanks again to www.thefirmpoker.com for helping with the cost of these updates. Thrillingly for them one of their staked players, Ben Jenkins has made the final

Over on www.thefirmpoker.com you can see my updates following Ben's progress over the past two days. Good player, nice guy and one of several I am rooting for today.


Also, before I continue, special thanks to Supernova and Dan Morgan who have helped out, entirely voluntary, over the last two days on these updates. Very appreciated.


Now then, on with the show....

[TightEnd]

So who are our finalists


Our chip leader is Simon Deadman

Click to see full-size image.

Simon broke through when he won the DTD Deepstack a few months ago having threatened to do so for several months previous, having struggled for many years since his work as a Macauley Culkin personal appearance substitute dried up.

A prolific chip getter in the early stages of tournaments he ran so well in the last two levels of yesterday (winning every flip and showndown) that he is being co-opted onto the 2012 British Olympic relay team.

Over and above that though he was already chip leader before then, and never looked like relinquishing his position. Has to be favourite today with his stack and front-running game

[TightEnd]

Second in chips is Danny Toffel

Click to see full-size image.

Toffster on blonde, Danny from Surrey is an avuncular presence on tables at events I cover, and has had several deep runs in GUKPTs and DTD major events recently. Moved through to a high chip count yesterday in two key pots, the second of which accounted for day one chip leader Steve Warburton.

In a black mark against his name Danny told me that these updates are not as funny as the DTD Monte Carlo Updates.

For that reason, and no other, I hope he has at least one bad beat today, but not one so severe as to ruin his chances as he would like to sponsor some updates. Go Danny!
 

[TightEnd]

Third in chips is Ryan Spittles

Click to see full-size image.

Ryan is the newest, and probably plumpest, member of Team Sky Poker.

 "Scotty77" on blonde and a much respected member of the Sky Poker Community.Ryan has quite a game, modelled on his hero who he does not know, David Johnson.

Many moves, much bluffage and a seriously at it image. Only has one gear, he's stuck in sixth. However to my reasonably untutored eye he looks a real one to watch, a natural talent that now has his breakthrough

[TightEnd]

Fourth in chips is Ben Jenkins

Click to see full-size image.

Staked by www.thefirmpoker.com, Ben is from the North East and shares a house with Jack Ellwood. Was the short-stack of 65 returning yesterday and with infitie patience and much skill negotiated his way through to a run good period in the late stages. the Firm have identified another tremendous talent, much respected by his peers. Poor taste in scarves and suits though

[TightEnd]

Fifth in chips is Martin Holmes

Click to see full-size image.

Finally I have a lookalike for the teutonic Martin, which i will reveal later. It's ben bothering me for two days and came to me at 4am when I woke up with a start, wrote down the name and then settled back to a deep and far more contented sleep.

What of Martin then? Martin is from the South Coast and has a string of final tables i n places as exotic as Brighton, Thanet and Luton in festivals over the past eighteen months.

Martin has never been seen without raybans, which are attached to his face by thanks to an unfortunate experience with Evostik in 2003, when slightly worse for wear.

[TightEnd]

Sixth in chips is Adrian Eley




Adrian is from Shrewsbury. Er, that's it. So a story. Shrewsbury used to play at Gay Meadow a very picturesque ground at the side of a river. As assorted players in the lower divisions had a penchant for hoofing the ball over the side stand they lost a lot of balls, and money, to the water. So, about twenty five years ago they began to employ a little man on match days to sit in a coracle on the middle of the river and every time the ball got hoofed out he would row, collect the ball and save the club a fortune.

 Sadly Shrewsbury moved grounds in 2009. The coracle is now preserved at the National Football Museum in Preston. It is unknownwhat became of the man

[TightEnd]

Seventh in chips is Craig Burgess

Click to see full-size image.

A shortstack around the bubble, Craig negotiated that period and now makes his first ranking event final. Craig is from Worcester, the town in the UK most exposed to flooding. The relevance of that to the GUKPT final will only become clear later.

[craigbetts]

For the third day running, GL to Simon Deadman. (as if he needs it!)

Excellent bio's tighty!!

[scotty77]

cheers everyone for all the updates.  surely there is at least one better pic out there ty ty ty!!!!

[TightEnd]

Eighth in chips is Nick Hicks



In controversial circumstances "Redbull" on blonde recently usurped Julian Thew for the title of "The nicest Man in Poker". Nick is a gent. From Nottingham and a DTD regular and past DTD Deepstack winner. Very very good game too, and will be a right menace where he to accumulate some chips from here.

[TightEnd]

Shortstack is Alan Mansbridge

Click to see full-size image.

Alan recently concluded a lucrative career as Peter Cushing's stunt double at which he appeared at Hammer House of Horror fairs worldwide.

Alan is another nice chap, polite and patient and will be looking for that double up to get him in the hunt for the big money here. My research tells me that this is Alan's first festival cash since 2007.

His crypt was locked for three years, I gather

[TightEnd]

cheers everyone for all the updates.  surely there is at least one better pic out there ty ty ty!!!!

An artist can only work with what appears on the cnavas before him. Good luck today.