East meets West at the GSNP Championships
What a week for Poker in the Pub!
I was at the Nottingham GSNP tournament and I was blown away by the support given from the Poker in the Pub players. We had 12 PITP players register for the £100 freezeout on Wednesday night with a total of 84 runners.
It was a case of East meets West with the Lincoln and Birmingham crew meeting in the middle. Vicky Ward (Vixsta) won her seat at the last Regional’s and not wanting to miss out and be outdone by his daughter, Graham Ward bought his way into the tournament. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be with Graham coming out of the tournament midway and Vicky finishing a quality 13th. She just missed out on the money because as soon as she was out the remaining 12 decided to do a deal with everyone getting a payout.
Alf Haywood suddenly appeared to my right, followed by Chris Bravender, Jim Scullion and Carl Morris. The pressure was on for the remaining PITP players, Graham Perrin (Whirlers) was short stacked for quite a while but hung in there and just when he thought he had the stack with pocket queens along came Andras Bucher with an AK and unfortunately with a K on the turn that was game over for Whirlers finishing a respectful 28th. Jamie Dyer (JDangerous) and Lee Ball (The Enigma) both played consistently but it wasn’t to be, JDangerous finishing 24th with The Enigma following in 19th place. A crowd of Poker in the Pub players had gathered around Vicky and Spencer Wiley’s table willing them both on. I can tell you it was quite a sight, black tops with Poker in the Pub and The Rivercard on everywhere. Spence just would not give up, I felt sorry for poor Alf who was driving him home.
What a final table, with some very aggressive play, Spence finally finished in 9th place and proving that Poker in the Pub players do need to be taken seriously.
Friday night and the registrations for the main event was hotting up. 88 people had registered and the atmosphere was really buzzing. All the Poker in the Pub players were ready to go with the exception of JDangerous, poor Jamie was the only one not to win a seat into the tournament. I couldn’t bear to look at him with those big pleading eyes, imagine the cat from Shrek, multiply by 10 and you had Jamie. He had been at the casino since Wednesday and really didn’t want to miss out. Recognising the commitment he has shown to Poker in the Pub, Mr Rivercard agreed he would sponsor some of the entrance fee on the condition Jamie played for charity should he be successful. By this stage I think Jamie would have agreed to anything just to be part of it. Even I was tempted, just so I didn’t feel left out. Jeremy Wright (Nuts) was excited and raring to go having won his place by playing regularly at the Foresters Arms. Unfortunately the cards were against him and he bowed out being our first Poker in the Pub player to exit followed very closely by The Enigma.
JDangerous was the next to go (54th) with a very unlucky hand. Blinds were 300/600, he was on the button everyone folded so he raised to 2300 with KQ. Small blind folded, big blind called, flop came, K J 10 (so hit top pair with open ended straight), he bet 2300 again, and got raised to 5000. He called, the turn came 4, he bet 2300 again and got called. After the River came 8, both checked the other guy flipped over aces. That left him with 1400. He doubled up to 3100, then few hands later he went all in again. His A10 called by K10 and K hit the flop. Sadly David Bellamy went out straight after (52nd) and that was the end of day one.
Two Poker in the Pub players left for the start of day two, Vicky sitting comfortably with a chip count of 19,000 and Gary (Verbal Volley) Figg with 8,000. With the average chip count of 17,000 things were looking good for Vicky.
From the start of play Vicky couldn’t seem to do anything wrong nearly doubling her count to 33,000 and then suddenly within half an hour she lost a pot worth 40,000 and limped along for a few more hands before going out to finish a respectable 35th. Gary starting off slow just kept chipping away building his stack, I have never seen such a patient man, by now the pressure was on. The Poker in the Pub crowd was really getting behind Gary and willing him on. Having not seen much action he was suddenly in the middle of it and trebled his chip count with a straight flush and securing his place in the final 15.
On the final table Gary went out in 5th place, winning £2750 - what an achievement. It just goes to show that Poker in the Pub players are not to be messed with.
During the tournament the atmosphere was electric, the Poker in the Pub players exceptional and I was very proud to say I was representing Poker in the Pub.
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