Gala £100 (+£10) NLH F/O w/£1,000 Added

Saturday 16th January saw DT & MT make the 50 minute drive south to Gala, Teesside for their monthly £100 F/O & upon arrival caught up w/NPFers BOTR, buzz, & Dom who had also made the journey. Cards in the air for 18:00 & by end of BI period there was 84 runners which w/£1000 added create a generous prize pool of £9400 which was distributed accordingly & includes a £100 bubble prize which was taken off 1st place;

1) £3150
2) £1950
3) £1350
4) £720
5) £580
6) £470
7) £380
8) £300
9) £230
10) £170
11) £100 “Bubble”

I was drawn T5-S6 & surprisingly not 1 recognizable face so I just listened to my ipod & read bluff as I hopefully waited to catch some cards however all though not at my table the field was littered w/NPFers & NE locals;

Pete “JuicyOranges” Smithson
Paul “swampy” Gardener
David “Hudders” Hudson
David Maudlin
Ian “2-cats” Woods
Dave “ChipmunkDobbs” Stephenson
John Bousfield
Lee Danaher
Dom Mahoney
Portanus “COGB Snr.”

To name a select few that I can think of from the top of my head however still a surprisingly large number of faces missing who I kind of expected to see down their but NVM still a great turnout. 1st impressions of the table were a little unethical as players not involved in hands were forcing players to show losing cards & a little slow for my liking w/TEHE villains but nothing compared to my previous outing over Circus’s £50 F/O where my summary saw me vent my frustration towards hollywooders. I found a double up during 1st level (50/100) w/6 limpers into my BB I squeeze A9o & CK my option to see 9x9r w/750 ITM & lead 600 which brings 3 callers & 8x OTT & pot now has 3150 & I lead for 2300 which induces a min 2BET to 4600 from MP & others fold now of course I fear 89 has just filled up but I’m not passing w/TK & 30% of my stack ITM so 3BET AI which after some deliberation by this time I knew MHIG he calls & shows up w/J9s & w/BOTR I scoop the pot & have double CA. I remained relatively inactive up until ante stage after that pot & actually missed 20 minutes of action as I went for a late dinner over burger king, so after letting AGRO PTR steal my BB, SB, & BTN I began playing back 3BETing air & of course my image ensured I took a couple of uncontested pot’s PF so I stay around 15,000 - 20,000...I was briefly joined by NPFer 2-cats but this was short lived as our table broke & I moved to T1-S8 w/Portanus over S5 the only face I could put a name to. This is where I single handily ruined my MTT which I was most disappointed about, blinds were 600/1200/100 & CA was approximately 18BB’s & w/2.5BB’s ITM before any action it was astute to pick these up at any opportunity so when passed round to me in the SB I moved my 14BB stack ITM knowing BB was only 8BB deep & needed a hand to find a call but I hadn’t noticed a guy had come in from MP for 3xBB & was now pot committed which after some deliberation (6BB behind so never a fold IYAM BWDIK) he made the call w/KQo & I turned over 94c as I explained my error, FML anyway board ran Qxxxx & I plummet to 5BB. The next hand I find 67s OTB & decided regardless of the action I’m getting this AIPF & when C/O limps I move AI & get called out of SB & C/O, flop falls 46Khhs so I have 1P & BDS+FD & see a little more flop action which means SB ends up AI w/K7o for TP & C/O w/34h for 1P+FD & when final board reads 46Kx4r C/O knocks us both out & I finish 30/84 around 23:00 NVM GG. So I take a quick look over MT’s stack & he has a little over CA so inform him I’m off for a CG whilst I wait & put my name on 100NL, 200NL, & 200PLO but all were full so I headed over restaurant & ordered a chocolate cake whilst I waited for a seat, good timing as I finish my food & immediately get a seat at 100NL & again I don’t recognize a single face but NVM. I sit for around 2.5hrs losing a BI w/J9s on JJ3x3 board for villain to show up w/33 & by this time it’s around 1:30 & I notice the FT has begun & is now 8 handed w/MT gathering momentum so rather than reload I head over to sweat the action & my 50% equity. From the rail I see MT giving the FT a hard time moving in from LP a large % of the time & collecting 20,000 from the middle w/o a showdown & balancing his range by also moving AI if he finds a monster, 3 showdown’s I saw from the rail which all got AIPF but was only for approximately 30% of MT’s stack were;

MT QQ vs. 108o “Steven Tarn” 7th
MT AJo vs. Q5h “Sam Grayson” 6th
MT KJo vs. 55 “Kieran Appleby” 4th

Winning them all knocking all 3 villains out & now 3 handed w/55% of the chips in the play the win looked a formality. However disaster struck at 8000/16000/1500 as MT opened BTN 3xBB w/97h & got called out the BB who had approximately 35% of the remaining chips & when board fell 347cc villain 1st to act moved AI & after a chip count & some deliberation MT finds the call & villain flipped A4o so MT has 75% hand for what IYAM will almost certainly mean 1st place but Ax OTT give’s villain 2P & leaves MT drawing to miracle 5% 7 OTR which doesn’t show up & cripples MT to 20% of the chips in the play which is quickly 0% as the same orbit the very next hand he get’s dealt 2P vs. 2P BvB after SB completed w/K2d MT CK 62o & when final board read K6x2x it went AIOTR & MT hit the rail in 3rd for £1350, which all said & done is fantastic result & always nice to report success but can’t help but feel a little hard done by considering circumstances but cest la vie, poker can be a cruel game. 3rd place finisher MT recounts his MTT;

MT “On Saturday evening I took the trip down the A1 to Teesside with my bro Daniel for there monthly hundo MTT. I was seated in T6 S8 with a bunch of Teesside locals who were unfamiliar to me in the main other that Lee Danaher (whom finished 6th in the Teesside ME last year) & COGB‘s old man. Not to long into proceeding and Dom Mahoney (finished 2nd in the Teesside ME) joins the tables and we have a bit of a catch up. It’s my first game since the delivery of the Coral clothing so, kitted out in all the gear and I was determined to put in a solid performance and not spaz out. Early stages were just frustrating really as I go through the first 6/7/8 levels barely picking up a hand, although it did keep me out of trouble I guess. That said, I did find QQ in level one which won me a tiny pot but other than that biggest pair I found was JJ which I folded pre with nothing invested other than my SB after seeing a raise, call and re-raise before I acted. As the field thinned and the blinds increased I was barely keeping my head above water when the table was broke and TBH I was pleased because the table had been pretty cold for me. I was moved to T2 S4 and sat to the immediate right on Buzz. I was sitting on around the 10BB’s mark and quickly find AJ (my biggest ace of the night so far). It looks like AA after such a baron period and I stick my stack into the middle and pick the blinds up. T2 was fairly active and it’s was difficult for me to find spots to get my stack in as the blinds shot up. Not long into the 500/1000 level I look down on J9o and I’m about to throw my hand away when the dealer puts his hand in front of my stack. I realise it’s my BB and post. There’s an early position min raise and a call on the button before being passed back round to me. With only 7,000 left I can’t afford to be speculative despite the attractive pot odds and fold my hand. I would have flopped an OESD and turned the nuts. Sigh. Was a little tilted but NVM. Then next hand the dealer asks me to post BB again. FML. I’ve limped UTG with J9o in error the previous orbit thinking I had to post my BB. The blinds pass through me and I’m down to 5,500. After posting a few antes I eventually find AJ again and get my last 5 BB’s (5000) into the middle. I’m naturally looked up light in the shape of A7s and find a nice double through when my hand holds. With the blinds increasing and the average stacks about 15-20BB’s deep Buzz open shoves UTG. Passed round to me in the BB and for the first time all night I find AA and make the easy call to felt Buzz when he tables A9 and gets no help. My stack hadn’t been above 12,000 all night but my patience had finally paid off and for the first time all night I’m on over 20,000 and back up to chip average. Buzz exits in about 40th place the next hand and I begin open up a little bit and slowly start to chip up. I’ve got a nice position at the table with a passive lady in the blinds (who tanked folded everything & was a little tilting TBH) and a perfect re-steal stack size. I tried to pick my spots well and 3 bet shove a couple of times into a few late position raisers. After moving in a few times on the kid to my immediate right I move in on him again from the SB when he opens from the BTN. He decides to make a stand and makes a good call with A9o. I show up with K8o and naturally I spike a king on the turn to send him to the rail. That took my stack to about the 50,000-60,000 mark. There’s plenty of action around the card room as people and going broke. Unfortunately Daniel was one of them as he exits in 30th place. He wishes me good luck and troops over to the cash table. My stack goes up and down a little as I loosen up and try to gather some momentum. The players keep falling as the blinds and antes start to really put pressure on the short stacks and it’s quickly down to 16 players. I double up a short stack with my KQ getting no help vs. villains 99 then get my chips back a few hands later in a HU pot with TT on a 9 high flop. I pick up a few blinds and keep trying to build on my stack short handed before we eventually loose a player in 11th place then have a short break before the FT.

Final Table
I sat down at the final table with 63,000 and I was again draw a favorable seat. With the blinds at a punishing 3000/6000/600 I was pretty active from the get go & tried to take advantage of those who were looking to ladder up the prize money and gather a bit of momentum. I may have a few of the names mixed up but AFAIK Robert Westerburg was the first player to hit the rail 3 barreling into CL Alan Storey with KJ high which was no good. We moved through a few levels nine handed without any casualties as the short stack kept finding timely doubles before we lost our next player at the 5000/10000/1000 level in the shape of Mark Wright who was on the wrong side of a coin flip for the remainder of his stack. As the blinds increased the table started to loosen up a little bit as we lost two players in quick succession. Kris Lawrence busts Jason Elliott and felts Steven Tarn in the same hand when he moved all in from EP and is looked up by both players. Jason Elliot is out in 8th place and I put the nail in Steven Tarn’s coffin the next hand when I open shove UTG with QQ and he calls off the remainder of his stack and exits in 7th place. I’d been moving my stack about quite a bit and six handed I found myself 2nd in chips with about 150,000. With the blinds still at 5000/10000/1000 Sam Grayson open shoves for her last 65,000 and I make the call from the BB with AJo. Sam tables Q6s and gets no help from the board and my stack moves over the 200,000 mark. With the blinds up to 6000/12000/1000 Kris Lawrence hits the rail in 5th place taken out by CL Alan Storey. So four handed and I continue to move my stack around and add to my stack slowly chipping up and getting closer to chip leader Alan Storey. So anyway, four handed and the action is passed round to me in the SB and I move in on the Kieran Appleby’s fairly short stacked BB with KJo and he looks me up with 55. I flop an OESD and make broadway on the turn to send him to the rail. With another increase in the blinds (8000,16000,1500) and now three handed I really open up and I start to chip up quick. I quickly become chip leader and feel in total control of the table. Alan has been getting a little inpatient with me and has started to play back at me a little and has called a few PF raises and opened shoved OOP to take down a few pots. Ok, so with 840,000 in play, I’m now sitting on about 400,000, Alan Storey has about 300,000 and Lorraine Hulse has the remaining 140,000.

FTP GIM: I again open for my now standard 40,000 with 9h7h from the button and Alan looks me up again. The flop comes down 347cc and with 92,500 in the middle he once again open shoves his last 260,000 into me. This time after a little deliberation I make the call and were on our backs for 600,000+ pot. Alan tables A4o for middle pair and I’m a 75% favorite for almost 90% of the chips in play. An Ace hits the turn, effectively costing me first place and an extra £2,000 and I’m now drawing to 2 outs on the river. No miracle and I’m down to my last 100,000 as Alan out draws me sails to over 600,000 in chips.

The very next hand I have 62o and Alan completes from the SB into my BB and I knuckle as we see a K2x flop. Check, check and a six on the turn gives me two pair. Fourth street again goes check, check as I try to induce a bet from Alan on the river. Sure enough Alan shoves the river brick and I snap call only to see him table K2o for a bigger two pair and sends me to the rail in 3rd place for £1,350. FML. I couldn’t believe it. Penthouse to outhouse in two hands. I had played perfect poker all FT and felt a large sense of injustice after my exit rather than achievement. I assume Lorraine found a few double ups before they eventually agreed a chop in Alan’s favour. All said and done I really enjoyed my night down Teesside and looking back I am happy with the score. The suck out 3 handed is part and parcel of the game and I always insist and preach that poker is about making the right decisions and not to be results orientated so in that respect I can’t complain. It was a nice confidence boost in preparation for my trip to the Bolton GUKPT this weekend. Watch out for my trip report next week and wish me luck.

Prize pool and FT payouts below :-
Entries 84 created total prize pool of £9400 (inc £1000 added)

1st Alan Storry £2700
2nd Lorraine Hulse £2400
3rd Mark Trett £1350
4th Kieran Appleby £720
5th Kris Lawrence £580
6th Sam Grayson £470
7th Steven Tarn £380
8th Jason Elliott £300
9th Mark Wright £230
10th Robert Westerburg £170
The bubble was paid £100”

As MT has just mentioned next weekend see’s him travel to Bolton for the 1st event of his Coral sponsorship where he’ll be playing the GUKPT £1000 (+£70) NLH ME which he’s really excited about & I for 1 would like to wish him the VBOL. Myself I’m torn between travelling w/MT to play in some of the side games which include a £100 (Friday) & £200 (Saturday) NLH F/O’s & enjoy some of the CG’s down their or take the weekend off & have a few beers whilst I catch up w/friends, the latter being the most probable but I’ll make a confirmed decision closer the time. Finally in regards to FTP I'm hoping to get my “Las Vegas 2007 Trip Report” wrote up within the next fortnight which will of course be found in our “Trip Reports” section & KT’s biography will be available in our “Biographies” section hopefully by tomorrow so I hope you’s all enjoy those when their published .

DT “TTYAL”