TOURNAMENT REPORT


BL♠CKPOOL


FOUR WAY DEAL AT GUKPT


by MICKY McCLOSKEY


Blackpool has always been one of the most popular stops on the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour. The reasons?


tournament and cash action and, perhaps, the local nightlife, especially at the weekend. Blackpool is the sort of place you either love or hate. It’s certainly not known for its good weather in mid November. This year was a lot worse than normal with the seafront being battered by gale force winds for a couple of days. Inside, the poker action carried on regardless of the storm blowing in from the Irish Sea. Over the festival period, the main event and the nine side events awarded more than £465,000 in prize money. There were 246 players who anted up for the £1,000 + 70 main event, compared to the 287 runners who took part the previous year. This was not a bad result really considering the competition and the packed poker calendar in the UK and Europe these days. The main event players started play with a 15,000 chipstack this season compared to the 10,000 starting stack of previous years. This seemed to give players a lot more leeway to play poker and the average stack never seemed to be under too much pressure throughout the three day event.


 Despite this, the fi nal table was not a particularly


long drawn out affair. This was due in part to a deal being done by the fi nal four players who chopped up the prize money at this stage and then played on for the title and for points on the GUKPT leader board. The result could prove crucial for eventual Champion, David Johnson, who now sits at the top of the leader board and is in pole position to add the top prize of £20,000 to his bankroll, with only one more event to go this season. He also has a chance to win even more cash


Probably due to the popular G Casino venue itself, cheap and plentiful accommodation nearby, plenty of


in the GUKPT end of season £150,000 Champion of Champions freeroll.


The top four in the deal were, David Johnson, winning £44,000 with runner up, Richard Herbert, taking £45,000, Ronald Mussen taking £36,000 for third and Dylan Randles picking up £35,000 for fourth. I managed to have a word with the new


Champion after his victory. David is 41 years old and lives in Kettering, Northants. He works as a part time dealer in a private club and plays mostly at his local G Casino in Luton. He has been playing mostly live tournament poker for about six years and has a string of results to his name dating back to 2004. He says his favourite players are Anette Obrestad and J.P. Kelly. Indeed, he has played often with J.P. and says “I am inspired by the progress J.P. has made in his poker career.” Asked how he felt after his victory David said, “I feel a bit numb. It’s fantastic to win. It’s always been a dream of mine to win an event like this.” David intends to spend his winnings on building a new annex at his sick mother’s house so that he can move in and take care of her. A very noble gesture. The fi rst £150 side event of the festival had 122 entries and was won by Ash Hussain for £5,500. Second place and £3,890 went to Geoffrey Carleton with Ronald Mussen picking up £2,420 for third spot. Next up was a £100 rebuy event with 40 runners and 31 rebuys. Picking up £2,920 for fi rst place was Gregory Garrett with Archie Mckie taking £2,080 for second and Harry Zammit taking £1,390 for third place. The next event was a £200 freezeout with 211 entries. First place and £11,830 went to Andy Purser with Mike Millas placing second for £8,020 and Rajan Vaish taking £5,170 for third spot.


LIVE V Andy Sherwood


fi nding it a bit bright under the lights... obviously!


 18


The second biggest event of the festival was a £500 freezeout which had 106 entries. Top spot went to Mohammed Kazi who took home £16,170. Second place and £11,400 went to Thomas McDonald with Robert Day picking up £7,160 for third place. The only non-hold’em event of the week was a £150 Pot Limit Omaha rebuy tournament which attracted 50 runners who managed 69 rebuys between them. Completing a very nice double was Andy Purser, winner of the £200 event. Andy picked up another £7,170 for his win with Terry Owens taking £5,220 for second place and Menq Zen picking up £3,480 for third spot.


Thursday evening saw the fi rst of two £100 freezeouts with 176 entries. Top spot and £5,120 went to Steven Heron with Paul Grummit placing second for £3,560 and Mark Lee picking up £2,240 for third place. The second £100 event on Friday had 140 runners and was won by Jarrod Hollingdrake who took home £4,150. Second place and £2,900 went to Gareth Edwards with Darren Sutton placing third for £1,820.


The £300 two day NLH event had 117 entries and was won by Derek Kavanagh for a £10,700 payday. Second place and £7,550 went to Wass Shahid with Simon Rimmer picking up £4,740 for third place. The festival was rounded off by a £100 NLH event which awarded a £25 bounty to anyone knocking another player out of the tournament. 131 players signed up for the fi nal event which was won by Paul Bennett who took down the top prize of £2,995 as well as picking up an unknown amount in bounties. Second spot and £2,090 went to Gerard Hilton with Daniel Hook placing third for £1,300.


Trophy + J, K = winner David Johnson


Andy ‘jjcooler’ Sherwood was crowned PKR Live Champion after winning the $500 NLH Main Event


at the fi fth running of this festival. The 44 year old from Yarm, North


Yorkshire joined the fi nal table with the second shortest stack and outlasted chip leader Denis ‘OMGMrGreen’ Slaykovsky to go head to head with Spanish community favourite Jaume ‘Japete’ Pous Flor. Sherwood battled against Pous Flor for two hours before taking down the $20,000 cash prize and coveted PKR Live trophy with an As-Kd nut fl ush.


Poker Europa | JANUARY 2011 | www.PokerEuropaOnline.com


Marketing Director, Simon Prodger said “Congratulations to Andy! The last fi ve hours were intense and Sherwood managed to hold his calm through the vital hours of play. PKR Live is a great opportunity to showcase up and coming poker players and we look forward to watching closely to see what’s in store for ‘jjcooler’ over the next few months.” The Terminator tournament, where $100 went into the prize pool and $50 was on each player’s scalp, was won by 21 year old Thomas ‘bolezy’ Boles from London who took down 12 bounties along with the $4,000 fi rst prize.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48