Circus £75 (+£7.50) NLH F/O w/£500 Added

Saturday 8th May (2nd Saturday of the Month) saw the monthly £75 (+£7.50) w/£500 added over Circus, I was the only FTPer playing as Mark was in Bristol for the CBMPT & the rest were working. Although I’m a multiple winner of it’s sister £50 (+£5) w/£500 added event I’m yet to make any noise in this particular event, something I’m looking to change with immediate effect so read on to see if I was successful this month.

I arrived around 15:45 & caught up with Ally ‘8BallAlly’ Mooney, then saw Ian ‘Nemesis’ Bertram so made a point of congratulating him on his recent Tuesday success. Then just before the cards got in the air I had a chat with Ganesh Rao (below), who coincidentally was only playing on the back of my recommendation.


A reasonable turnout of 59 players ensured that 1st place was £1,535, I was drawn T7-S7 with Steve ‘fatfish’ Brennan (2), & Adam ‘Jnr. Bomber’ Matues (6), Paul Johnstone (8), & Chris ‘Kroikey’ Gibson (9). I really enjoyed my table with Steve & Adam both good kids, whom I have a lot of time for & enjoy their company. Paul is a really nice well spoken gentleman & he’s been around poker for years but anyway he was off to Thailand on Thursday so I had a good bit crack with him. Then Chris (below) just recently joined the NPF & I recognized his photo’s from my friend Arian’s Las Vegas photo’s over facebook, so I introduced myself to him & he was a real nice lad.


So nothing much going on as I fluctuate between 6,000 & 10,000 playing my usual LAGGY style, then at the 75/150 level by this time seat 5 & Jnr. Bomber (6) had gone bust & replaced with Teessiders Paul ’swampy’ Gardener & Martin Turnbull respectively;

97h vs. Martin Turnbull 33: 75/150 “19,000” (2 people limp so I come along from the C/O which prompts BTN & SB to come along for value & BB check’s his option. 6 guys see the KT4r (1 heart) flop which get’s checked round, then 3h peels off on the turn to give me a flush draw. It’s checked around to Martin who bet’s out 600 & I decided to pump it up to 2,100 with the draw rather than chase it with a call (1st mistake I suppose). An off suit 5 falls on the river so now board is reading KT435r, so a completely uncoordinated board with only 3 obscure hands making a straight. Martin check’s to me & I’m playing 9 high, there’s 5,100 in the middle which is approximately Martin’s stack so I bet 5,000 on the bluff. He goes into the tank & I’m almost certain he’s hollywooding, at least at 1st until it get’s to 2 minutes & I’m like fair enough he’s got a decision to make. Anyway after approximately 3 minutes he decides not to call but to go all in for like an extra 250, I of course can’t call & snap fold. Although he didn’t have to he showed 33 for bottom set, nice hand sir.)

Anybody familiar with me will know I very rarely tank & pretty much make all my decisions instantly, so with that in mind I kind of felt a bit slowrolled. He’s a really good kid though, going out his way to ask how my brother was getting on down Bristol. I honestly think he genuinely thought about folding bottom set so on reflection it was just a nitroll, I guess he’s a really tight player. Anyway high risk play gone wrong & I'm now short stacked, I don't mind the play as Martin need's a huge hand to call the river so as they say speculate to accumulate. Anyway after the break FTP fan Natalie Galbraith who was in Circus sweating her partner Clair Millward kindly volunteered to deal to give the lad in seat 1 a break who had been dealing from the start, I found a double up to 6,000 but remaining active I was back down to 4,500 when;

KQo vs. Chris Gibson AKo: 100/200 “10,900” (Swampy opens to 800 UTG+1 & Martin Turnbull calls, I have a perfect resteal stack & with the cold call in the middle it’s a perfect time to get them in to add 1,900 if not called & if called likely have good equity with KQo. Unfortunately Gibba (Chris) wake’s up with AKo behind, who is also short stacked but has me covered & moves in. Swampy & Martin both pass, no live Q on the board & I hit the rail)

I shake Gibba’s hand, wish the table the best of luck & head for home. I pick up an Indian takeaway on route for a late dinner & watch ‘Dumb & Dumber’ whilst simultaneously sweating Mark in Bristol via AWOP & Nutz.TV.


The tournament was eventually split by Steve ‘fatfish’ Brennan & Paul ‘swampy’ Gardener for £1100 each, both brilliant blokes & players. Other friends who were ITM Chris ‘Kroikey’ Gibson (4th £445), Hamid ‘HBoss’ Toghyan (6th £310), Paul Nixon (7th £210), & Rosie ‘rosi’ Barry (10th £125) all six are my friends & I couldn’t be happier to see them all cashing, so keep up the good work guys.

So yeah as I mentioned earlier & I’m sure all our regular readers will know my brother & fellow FTPer Mark is down Bristol playing the opening £500 main event of the CBMPT, 109 runners created a prize pool of £54,500 which is split between the final table & a tasty 1st place of £18,910. He has successfully navigated the majority of the field with 20/109 remaining & accumulating 80,125 (3rd in chips) in the process, considerably more than the 54,500 chip average. I would like to take this opportunity to wish him the very best for the final day, play commences at 14:00 this afternoon. I spoke to him for the best part of an hour at 2:00am this morning & he’s full of confidence, very excited, composed, & determine to make some noise. I have a good feeling about today & nobody with they exception of Mark & his wife will be more proud to see him become a multiple CBMPT champion then me, go get 'em bro.

Moving onto next weekend & no rest for the wicked as Mark travels to DTD, Nottingham for the £500 UKIPT main event, whilst I’ll be in Teesside on Saturday for the Gala £100 (+£10) w/£1000 added. Sunday equally busy as fingers crossed Mark would have made day 2 of the UKIPT, while George & I will be grinding the ‘Circus Grand Final £4,000 Freeroll’ which we have qualified for through their nightly leagues.

Talk to you all later guys.