GUKPT Summer Series £200 (+£20) NLH F/O

Grosvenor opened it’s GUKPT summer series with a £200 freezeout which attracted 46 runners including as expected a host of recognizable faces from both Newcastle & Teesside.


The low numbers generated a poor £9,200 prize pool with if I remember correctly £3,400+ going to the winner, anyway I took my seat approximately 20 minutes late & during the course of the tournament after occupying 4/5 of the tables in play I shared the felt with a number of familiar faces;

Steven Liu
Neil Harvey
Paul Johnstone
Dave Stephenson
Graeme Jones
Richard Howe
Adam Matues
Rob Richardson
Hamid Rowshanaei
Dave Maudlin
Dom Mahoney
Paul Gardener

All of whom I like playing against & more importantly enjoy being in the same company. I’ll move straight onto the tournament good instinct moment which gave me a courtesy level two double up, In order to set this play up I had to first make a genuine human error. I picked up 67s UTG & with deep stacks I like to peel with this hand & thought the cheapest way would be to come in for 225, of course being prepared to re-evaluate if I heard any noise behind. However I accidentally replaced a 25 value chip for a 500 chip & come in for 700 (FML), which fortunately get’s through & evidently set’s up my next play pretty well;

AA vs. ??: 50/100 “13,000” (FTP GIM: It’s folded around to me in the H/J around two/three hands after I make the above error, looking to continue my dumb ass image I open for 700. I’m looked up by the small blind, a Teessider lad who I think was called Mark James (or something along those lines) but could be wrong. Flop come’s AxKcc & I make a very small (scared looking) continuation bet of 600 which get’s check raised to 1,600 so I slow up & smooth call, fully expecting a turn bet. I know it’s a high variance move but I’m not folding if I club hits, so I’m happy to let villain lead any turn. He however checks the blank on the turn, so running out of streets to get stacks in I lead 2,000 which get’s called. Pot is now 8,700 & villain open shoves the river for my remaining 2,000ish which I of course call, open my top set & villain declares that’s good as he fold’s face down.)

Villain declares “You were very lucky, I was straight/flush drawing” which I find almost impossible giving his line, particularly the river which has absolute zero fold equity. If you ask me he was cold decked with AK for top two, which would explain shoving the remaining 1,900 in on the river for value rather than a ridiculous bluff which he’s claiming.

During the break I catch up with Paul Gardener & discuss the recent controversy that has shocked the UK poker world regarding sports trader Neil Blatchly, I won’t go into any detail as a lot of people are very passionate about the whole affair & I’m not looking to upset anybody. So were called back to our seats & I struggle to pick anything up/get anything going as I hover between 15,000/20,000 through until the penultimate table playing the below medium size pots;

KK vs. Richard Howe AJcc “25% of my stack in PF, no ace & I win 8,000ish pot”
A9s vs. Unknown JJ “25% of my stack in PF getting 2/1 on my money, I miss & take a hit”
89h vs. Unknown AKc “All in on 9xKh, I make creative semi bluff at huge pot with second pair & back door flush draw which misses & plummet 4BB”
KQo vs. ATo vs. JTs “I get my 4BB in PF & board runs xxxKx to give me a much needed treble up”
AKo vs. Dom Mahoney’s AKo “AIPF & board runs a split”

Then my run come’s to an end as I lose a pivotal race;

AK vs. Dom Mahoney’s JJ: 500/1,000/100 “37,000” (Dom comes in from mid position for 2,700 & I 3BET all in out the small blind for approximately 18,000. Dom make’s the call & it’s off to the races for an almost double chip average stack, the board ensues 3TJ3T to fill Dom up & he narrowly has me covered to send me to the rail.)


Standard exit hand & to be honest pretty standard tournament throughout with the exception of the GIM which I played a little different to the norm, so although missing the spoils it’s refreshing to know I didn’t spew my chips off with a crazy nine high bluff this time. The second day commences at 14:00 this afternoon with nine returning for the final table, of which five are really good friends of mine including Newcastle locals Adam Matues, Neil Harvey, & Rob Richardson with Teessiders Paul Gardener & Dom Mahoney completing the five. I have a lot of time for these guys & would like to wish them all the very best of luck for this afternoon, keep your composure/confidence boys & enjoy the day.

Moving on then & I’m 50/50 about whether or not to play the £150 freezeout over Grosvenor this evening, I’ll likely play that one by ear & if their’s a big enough field I’ll donate. Failing that I’ll 100% be playing the main event (along with Mark who will be home from Tenerife) on Saturday, so let’s hope that get’s well supported. I’ve been in contact with Lee Allinson of the Grosvenor regarding the start time of day two for the main event, it’s scheduled for 14:00 which clashes directly with the 15:00 England vs. Germany kick off in the last sixteen of the world cup. As efficient as ever Lee got back to me immediately & informed me the tournament will recommence at 14:00 as scheduled, however their will be a two hour break for the game after the opening level of day two at 15:00. I think I speak for 95%+ (if not 100%) of the potential main event field in saying we all welcome these changes put in place, brilliant work as always Lee.

The grind continues