Day 7 - Bristol (£2,500 Main Event Final Day)

 

Bristol GBPT Grand Final - £2,500 Main Event (Day 3)

 

The players picked up exactly where they had left off just 13 hours earlier when the final eight sat down on the GBPT TV final table to play down to a winner.

 

Play commenced at 3pm with the blinds rolled-back to 2000/ 4000 with a 400 ante.

 

With a table such as this, we had plenty of play, with sizable pots passing between the players, until, 3 hours in when Channing raised all-in behind Palanca and de Wolfe, only to be followed by Xanthos, who’s 52 makes a set on the flop to beat Channing’s JJ. Having looked very strong throughout, Neil walks away in 8^th with £8,000.

 

 

Chip counts at 6pm:

Name	Chip Stack
Charalambos Xanthos	319,000
Manuel Palanca	280,000
Rob Akery	213,000
Roland de Wolfe	238,000
Barny Boatman	124,000
Matt Tylar	162,700
Joe Beevers	192,000

 

By 8pm Tylar had seen his stack dwindle further and was next to fall. He raised all-in with AQ, and Xanthos re-raises all-in, and when everyone else folds, his AA stands up and Matt walks in 7^th with £9,250.

 

Chip counts at 8pm:

Name	Chip Stack
Charalambos Xanthos	409,000
Manuel Palanca	225,500
Rob Akery	252,500
Roland de Wolfe	261,000
Barny Boatman	199,000
Joe Beevers	153,000

 

Just on 10pm, Palanca is next to fall. Raising all-in with AK, Beevers call with QQ slightly ahead. The flop was no help to Manuel, and running Qs gave Joe quads and Palanca was out – to a big hand at least. Manuel goes home with £11,000, well rewarded for his efforts.

 

Chip counts at 10pm:

Name	Chip Stack
Charalambos Xanthos	352,000
Rob Akery	229,000
Roland de Wolfe	114,000
Barny Boatman	174,000
Joe Beevers	631,000

 

De Wolfe departed soon after, raising all-in with 52, Barny calling with K3. AA626 gives Roland nothing and he leaves with £16,000 and a bonus seat to a GBPT 2008 Festival Main Event.

 

Chip counts at 10.20pm:

Name	Chip Stack
Charalambos Xanthos	352,000
Rob Akery	229,000
Barny Boatman	174,000
Joe Beevers	650,000

Just 15 minutes later Xanthos is all in with J9 and Akery duly calls with JJ, but the board gave him nothing, and the chip leader at the start of the final day saw his stack dwindle to the felt, and he was off, but not without collecting a tidy £22,250, as well as a seat in a £500+£50 main event at a GBPT 2008 Festival of his choice. Beevers retains his strong lead with 3 remaining but Akery has more than doubled his stack in the last 15 minutes.

 

Chip counts at 10.35pm:

Name	Chip Stack
Rob Akery	552,000
Barny Boatman	227,000
Joe Beevers	684,000

Down to three, again all players are involved in the play, winning pots, and 50 minutes later, positions remaining the same, Akery and Boatman have both profited at Joes expense, although he still holds a 60k chip lead. Just before midnight, with blinds 15000/30000 and 3000 ante, Akery bets 50k after a Q29 flop and Barny is all-in. Joe folds but Akery makes the call, and his 2-pair beats Barny’s pair and he is the next to fall, in 3^rd place, winning £36,500, and a package to a 2008 EPT circuit event!

 

Chip counts at 11.55pm:

Name	Chip Stack
Rob Akery	1,050,000
Joe Beevers	450,000

After a short break, we are now down to heads up, with Bristolian Rob Akery taking on Joe ‘The Elegance’ Beevers for the first prize of £87,500 and title of ‘Great British Poker Champion, 2007’. Rob had a dominating 2-1 chip lead and was surely a firm favorite after taking out both Charalambos and Barny.

 

We proceed , and after 15 minutes Joe has made it all square with a masterclass of strong betting and raising which left Akery severely weakened. Joe’s aggression is giving him the upper-hand, and after 15 hands of heads-up play, Rob responds, going all-in over the top of a 100k bet on the turn and Joe calls. With a board of 95T6, Joe’s T5 gives him 2-pair against 82, and a T on the river gives Joe a full house and he ends the tournament with all the 1.5m chips in play.

 

First prize is £87,500 plus a package to the Five Diamond World Poker Classic in Vegas in December. For his hard work and excellent play, Rob pockets £53,250 as well as a package to the Aussie Millions in Melbourne in January.

 

So there is the end of the Grand Final and indeed the Tour for 2007. What a fantastic series of events, pitting local amateur talent among some of the best in the world. And in the end, on of Britain’s best poker players emerges as the champion. And rightly so.

 

GBPT Grand Final Main Event 2007 Finishing Positions:

Position	Name	Prize Money
1st	Joe Beevers	£87,500
2nd	Rob Akery	£53,250
3rd	Barny Boatman	£36,500
4th	Charalambos Xanthos	£22,250
5th	Roland De Wolfe	£16,000
6th	Manuel Palanca	£11,000
7th	Matt Tylar	£9,250
8th	Neil Channing	£8,000
9th	Mark Stuart	£6,250

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