Jamie Fraiser Joins Team 72 in Blackpool

After last month’s successful package giveaway we decided to run one each month up until the November GUKPT event.  Similar to last time we had 19 runners which meant we had one £1,400 package and a second prize of £500.  Many people had won their seat either through winning a Friday Freezeout or through a £10 lottery satellite, Jamie had done so through a lottery satellite so quite a nice return for only £10.

My table was quite lively with Farmer Ted dominating early on, he was making some ‘brave’ calls and built up a very healthy chip lead.  I started slowly however started to build up a nice chip stack by the time we were down to the final table.  One memorable hand was my Quad Kings, after my Quad Tens Friday, followed by Quad Queens in the cash at the Pomme this time it was the Cowboys.  I’d raised the ‘Salmons’ big blind which he’d flat called with A3 suited and Farmed Ted was also in, when the flop came KK3 Salmon bet out which I flat called, the turn gave a flush on the board which we both checked and the river came another 3 giving him a full house.  With all my Hollywood acting Salmon knew there was something up especially when I bet the river big however, after hitting his full house he had to have a look at what I had..... Unlucky fish A3!!!!!

The other table was reasonably even when they joined for the final table apart from The Kid who seemed to have a very healthy chip stack, and must have been dominating the table.  Lord Whipp entered the final table as a short stack but once there he quickly doubled up, after which he found The Kid in self destruct mode when he bluffed a large chunk of his stack to Whippy.  After that he started to dominate the table taking a few scalps along the way including myself.  Jamie had been relatively quiet but every hand he was in he took it down without a showdown or had the best hand.  Whippy and Jamie ended heads up, where they both decided they wanted to go to the Blackpool tournament and did some form of a deal, however Jamie managed to take the eventual first place and is the second winner of the GUKPT Blackpool events.  Well done Jamie who joins Whippy, Soxy and myself in Blackpool.

Friday Freezout - Round 7 Report

I desperately needed some league points after missing 3 weeks to try and catch the top two Alan and Jason, so was very keen to make the final table.  The play seemed quite solid on Friday with very few ‘Double Chances’ being used in the first hour, hence Chips were pretty difficult to get hold of.  I struck lucky against Sam early on when he had raised under the gun with pocket aces, he already had 3 callers by the time it came to me in the Big Blind so I had flat called with my Pocket tens.  The flop came Ten high, and when Sam pushed all-in I called only to hit another ten by the river for Quads!!  I’d not hit quads for a while and by the end of the weekend I’d had them 3 times... strange, anyway this set me on my way to making the final table.

Diamond Dave started the final table as the short stack, and somehow managed to make his way to the final 4 cashing out in fourth place, although he was never sat with a healthy chip stack he managed to hold on for a cash prize which was great to see.  JT made the final table as one of the chip leaders, however he had been down to only 700 chips at one stage and after numerous double up’s and big pots he was running hot and looking strong on the final table.  The final 3 were Ronnie, JT and myself – Ronnie had been one of the chip leaders all the way through similar to JT, and I was a relative short stack to them.  In two consecutive hands I was up against Aces, first JT then Ronnie in two successive hands so I was very lucky to get away with only losing the blinds, it was strange to see Aces twice three handed – however it happened again with Kings, this time it was JT who fell foul losing half his stack to me with Pocket Kings then the very next hand he lost the rest against Ronnie’s pocket Kings Ouch!

Heads up I got lucky when my Ace King hit the river after Ronnie had hit top pair on the flop, this set me up and I finished it off when my Pocket Jacks held up after Ronnie hit a 9 on the flop.  It was a good timed win as it also got me my FREE seat to Mondays GUKPT Blackpool tournament too, along with the cash and the ten league points.

Bank Holiday Poker - GUKPT Blackpool Monthly Deepstack

The Chef Takes The Lead From Jason...

I've been away for the last few weeks with a couple of well earned holidays that needed taking, it seemed ages since I'd last played Poker so I was keen to get back in to it.  I had only played once while I was away which was a tournament very similar to our Monthly Deepstack £100+£10 freezeout 20k in chips, the only difference was this was a two day event and had 90 runners!  I still believe there is the capacity and the players to get a tournament of this scale in Jersey, I definitely would like to think we could get a tournament similar to this with at least 50 runners one day....
Anyway on to the Friday Freezeout - Jason Fraiser has been cleaning up while I've been away with two 1st place finishes and a 3rd meaning he had jumped straight to the top of the league.  Third placed Alan was keen to take advantage of Jason missing this week, and he did just that.  I managed to make the final table however almost double Alan up and set him up for his win when I called his All-In with AQ suited, Alan was sat with Big Slick and with the first card out a King I knew I was gone.
Alan managed to dominate the final table and ended heads-up against 'The Rock' AKA Jeremy Beadle with the Chef finally taking it down and taking the Tournament Lead by only 1 point from Jason.  There are still plenty of weeks to go and anyone could win but it looks it like being an interesting battle for Season 2.