November 2010 Recap

SUP Guys. Again a little premature but M'EH we had no success in the opening day of the month as Mark, Steve, and I all played the £50 freezeout over Aspers (Monday 1st), then we were all joined by George for the Circus £50 freezeout (Tuesday 2nd) who managed 12th place for £100.

Note: Gary (Aspers CRM) has discontinued the £500 added tournament on the 1st Monday of every month with immediate effect, this was met with mixed reactions around the tables and over the NPF. Personally I thought it was an astute move, I supported the tournament but never agreed with the reason’s (or at least the widely recognized reason’s, true or not) it was launched or it’s timing. To me it looks like Aspers and Circus are building a healthy relationship to benefit poker in Newcastle, looking to coexist spreading the value tournaments evenly across the month over both venues rather than competing for the same custom on the same dates (or within close proximity). Gary in association with Aspers has since launched a weekly £50 (+£5) freezeout with £1,000 added every Sunday afternoon (commencing 28th November), meanwhile Circus team have launched a weekly £30 (+£3) freezeout on Friday evenings this has been added to our FTP calendar.


Then the following weekend (Saturday 6th) was the most anticipated event in the Newcastle poker calendar, the most prestigious tournament of the year for all NPF affiliates I am of course talking about the 2010 NPF Championships. I was nursing a hangover after partying with friends the evening before, but M’EH nothing too serious and I was well excited. I was drawn a tough starting table (as I guess they all were) with NPFers xenocode, FarmerDave, BGR, omahaha, and GiMac amongst others all looking to take my chips. Cliff notes for the weekend;

Saturday 6th November
- Cards in the air (15:00)
- All you can eat dinner buffet in Circus restaurant (19:00)
- Dan & Mark bust level eight (22:00)


On Sunday I was in attendance alone, whilst Mark took his lovely wife Diana out to Morpeth for a meal to celebrate their sixth year wedding anniversary.

Sunday 7th November
- Bounty side event (15:30)
- Bust level three (16:30)
- Chicken baguette & fries (17:00)
- Railing main event (17:30)
- Circus weekly £2,000 guarantee (18:00)
- Main event trophy presentation (22:00)
- Split the £2,000 guarantee with Karen Newton for £580 each (03:00)

ROB ‘BSQ’ CHARLTON 2010 NPF CHAMPION

The following day (Monday 8th) Mark was on the road down Blackpool defending is Coral sponsorship at AWOP HQ, he had qualified by being the CBMPT top money earner.

Left to right: Lam Trinh, Mark English, Dominic Mahoney, Mark O’Donnell, Mark Trett, Chris Findlay, Dave Harris, Jonny Denton, Mark McCluskey, Ross Johnson, Mark Tibbo

Unfortunately Mark bust in third on the bubble after losing A5 vs. Mark English’s AJ, however it was an injustice as the board ran out Q78K8 for a split pot which went unnoticed by everybody present. Although Mark openly admits it’s his duty as a player to recognize his hand value, it was still welcomed and nice to get a public apology over AWOP from tournament director Alistair ‘The Fox’ Findlay and table dealer Chris ‘The Cub’ Findlay whom after viewing footage confirmed it was a split pot and also failed to notice. Below we have Mark’s exit hand and interview with Phil ‘The Tower’ Heald which clearly shows the board running out a split;

I think we all agree it’s an unfortunate way to bring an end to his sponsorship defence, moving on both Mark and I would like to wish Mark English (winner) and Lam Trinh (runner up) every success in 2011 (and beyond) whilst representing Coral.

Back to the felt again the following day as Mark, Steve, and I all entered the Circus weekly Tuesday (9th) tournament, which is currently going through a refurbishment so we were unfortunately out on the casino floor rather than in the card room. This was an inconvenience and in all honesty an absolute terrible environment to play cards, however I guess as Circus regulars we just have to ride the wave and look forward to the fruits at the end of the rainbow. Anyway back to the tournament and no success to report, we all bust relatively early and headed home.

No sooner had Mark left Blackpool before he dusted himself off and was back on the road down there for the eighth leg of the GUKPT, playing the £1,000 (+£70) main event on Friday 12th. I was in two minds on whether or not to join Mark, but for a number of reason’s I opted not to and instead invest in Mark taking 50% equity. Frustrating event for Mark as he missed every draw and ran his big hands into bigger ones, before eventually busting level six.

Mark’s early exit meant he was back up north the following day (Saturday 13th) in time to join my good self in the Circus monthly £50 freezeout, again no luck as Mark bust’s level four and I follow suit to the rail by level seven. Not to be deterred we were back on Sunday evening for the weekly £2,000 guaranteed, also joined in field by Steve. Neither Mark or Steven made any noise and I unfortunately bust on the bubble in eleventh after objecting to a bubble prize approximately an orbit earlier, which I’m completely at peace with and feel local prize pools are already spread too thin. We were back over again on Tuesday and I was sat to Mark’s left on a very entertaining table including Andy Blair, Karen Newton, and David Atkinson amongst a couple of Circus regulars. Mark again bust early, this time deciding to head over to Grosvenor for some 100NL action (profitable to the tune of £200 if I remember correctly). Ironically I suffered the same fate as Sunday when chip leader John Kirsopp bust me on the bubble, again what ever and you can’t win them all.


Thursday 18th I was back in Circus grinding the Christmas league they have running (although I’m falling a bit behind with that, but M’EH), anyway I bust early but caught up with Ifriker Ali and Mark Brewis before leaving. In brief Ifriker won a seat to the Genting Poker Players Championship (GPPC in future reference) but couldn’t make it due to work commitments, so he gave the seat to me (value £150) for 70/30 equity in my favour and Mark got in touch with the online guys (Gary Oakes predominantly) to ensure everything went through fine. On reflection I think I was a little generous giving way 30% considering I had to grind Genting Poker online to rake £5 in order to qualify for an additional 2,000 tournament chips, couple that with travel and accommodation but M’EH whatever.


The event was to be held on Saturday 20th November at StarCity Casino, Birmingham hosted by Mad Marty Wilson (this subsequently meant I was missing the monthly Gala, Teesside £100 freezeout for the third month in a row). I had asked Mark if he was joining me but initially didn’t seem interested, then had a last minute change of heart and decided to play late Friday evening. Although I hate travelling I was quite looking forward to this trip as I have a couple of friends there I haven’t seen in a while;

Seah Shurahi: One of my best friends from school, moved to Birmingham circa 2005 and I haven’t seen or spoke with him since.

Imtiaz Dungarwalla: Newcastle based poker player a couple of years ago, moved back to Birmingham circa 2008 to be closer to family.


As I was freerolling the tournament buy-in and Mark was supplementing the travel/accommodation with me, this in theory would be a relatively cheap visit. But then again I am Dan Trett, needless to say it got rather expensive. Cliff notes;

Saturday 20th November
- Cards in the air (14:00)
- Mark bust level one (14:30)
- Mark drives to DTD for super £50 (+£8) (15:00)
- Dan bust level four (18:00)
- Few pints with Saboo in StarCity bar (18:30)
- All you can eat dinner buffet in StarCity restaurant (20:00)
- Rang Mark to explain I was staying over & to head home (20:30)
- Bar crawl with Saboo (21:00)

Left to right: Jamie Wilkinson, Rick Gilby, Alan Barnacle, Dave Garden, Dan Trett

Note: All Sunday’s early morning activities are a result of the bar crawl with Saboo, so all events detailed he was right by my side.

Sunday 21st November
- Air nightclub for double vodka redbulls (01:00)
- Legs eleven gentleman’s club for some dances (03:30)
- Back to StarCity for some £2 blackjack (05:00)
- Checked into the Hampton Hilton, Birmingham (07:00)
- All you can eat breakfast buffet in hotel restaurant (11:00)
- Watched the Blackburn vs. Aston Villa match (13:30) Saboo Villa fan
- Said goodbyes to Saboo (16:00)
- Train: New St. Birmingham > Newcastle Central Station (16:30)
- Arrive Newcastle (19:30)
- Circus £2,000 guaranteed, two hours late (20:00)
- Bust on penultimate table (01:00)


So yeah I spent somewhere north of £1,000 all in, but M’EH I had an absolute ace memorable night with one of my best friends. It reminds me of the advert;

Night out in Birmingham: £150
Dances of strippers: £200
Night in Hampton, Hilton: £170
Train home: £80
Catching up with an old friend after five years: PRICELESS

Unfortunately I didn’t get to see Imtiaz as he had friends visiting that weekend, so if your reading buddy sorry I missed you and we will for sure hit it up next time. Both Mark and I played the weekly Tuesday (23rd) tournament over at Circus, again with no success to report. Then the closing Saturday (28th) of the month I was out celebrating my birthday, my birthday isn’t until Wednesday (December 1st) but obviously chose to go out the weekend before.


I was also looking to qualify for the Sky Poker Tour second leg which was to be held at Aspers on January 8th, so I decided to take my Apple iPad out to grind the nightly online satellite (It was the only way to qualify, or I would have just bought in direct). This would seem very strange (I agree 100%) but their was some method to my madness, I was acutely aware the 135 capacity was drawing near (approximately 116 gone at that point) and with near enough 5 seats a night going every night I had my hand forced to play if I wanted a give myself a good chance of winning a seat. Anyway I played whilst unbelievably mortal, downing treble vodka redbulls in Perdu and somehow managed to run well enough to take down a seat. Cliff notes for the night;

- Lunch and pints at Brockwell Seam, Cramlington (15:00)
- Met all Saturday Crew, about 15 in total (16:00)
- Happy hour at Three Mile Inn, Gosforth (17:00)
- Bar crawl round town (Perdu, Revolution, Floritas, etc) (19:00)
- £30 (+£3) Freezeout, Aspers (21:00)
- Won SPT seat (23:30)
- Headed home (02:00)


Finally making it home after waiting somewhere north of an hour for a taxi (loads of taxis had gone off the road due to the treacherous snow conditions), I finally got speaking to a lad from my way who had his daughter coming to pick him up (again because he couldn’t get a taxi). He very kindly offered me a lift which I snap accepted and of course gave him a few quid to thank him for the very kind gesture, anyway small world as when I was talking to him it turns out he worked with my good friends and regular FTP readers Peter Newton & David Atkinson. I didn’t get the guy’s full name, but his nickname was Pricey and he was a top bloke.


So the following morning (Sunday 29th) I was editing my FTP calendar to show both Mark and I playing the SPT Aspers leg on January 8th, when I realise I’m not even in the country as I fly to Tenerife for a week at my uncles villa on Friday 7th January. Anybody with some common sense would have checked they were available before grinding the online satellites, but because I’m a dork I didn’t and now have a seat I can’t even play but M’EH never mind. Anyway moving on and both Mark and I headed over to Aspers later that afternoon to support their new weekly £50 freezeout with £1,000 added, this promises to be a brilliant addition to our calendar although on this occasion the snow effect numbers a little bit but nothing to worry about. It still generated north of 100 entrants, unfortunately I bust in second level and headed over to Circus for their Sunday evening tournament. No luck again and I was home by 22:00 for an early night, however as far as I know Mark is still in the Aspers tournament (I’m finishing this at like 22:00 on Sunday evening) so hopefully his luck can hold up as he charges for the win.

Moving on to December which although I’m kind of a Christmas grinch, it promises to be an exciting month both on and off the felt. Not including the weekly added value tournaments over Circus and Aspers (which we will of course be supporting), here is our December schedule;

Saturday 4th December: DTD £300 (+£36) “Deepstack”
Tuesday 7th December: Circus £50 (+£5) “£500 Added”
Saturday 11th December: Circus £50 (+£5) “£500 Added”
Saturday 18th December: Gala, Teesside £100 (+£10) “£1,000 Added”
Monday 20th December: Circus Tag Team Tournament
Sunday 26th December: Circus £50 (+£5) “£1,000 Added”

Note: The Boxing day tournament over at Circus was part of their Christmas schedule, however after seeing it directly clashes with the weekly Aspers Sunday tournament I’m under the impression it is subject to change. However it was still in their schedule when I launched this post, and assuming it stays put both Mark and I will be supporting this over it’s Aspers counterpart.

So with all these added value tournaments (and a cheeky tag team in the mix for novelty) coupled with some ace nights out with friends and family, it look’s like December could be a lot of fun. That’s me signing off for 2010 guys, I’ll be making a post early January to review December 2010 but for now I’d just like to close by wishing all our friends, followers, fans, and readers a…

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year