Day 4 & 5 - Nottingham Main Event

 

£500+£50 Main Event

111 runners

£55,000 prize pool, including £5,000 added = £60,500

Gala Nottingham Casino Maid Marian Way, saw host to the third leg of the tour that has captured the imagination of the poker players of this nation, and beyond. Yes the GBPT arrived at Nottingham between the 13^th – 14^th May, for the £500+£50 Main Event and the competition saw a capacity field of 111 runners making a £60,500 prize pool, including the £5,000 that Gala Casinos have added.

The tournament attracted some well-known faces, regular locals and tour followers including Maybury final tablist Steve Jelenik and Irinia Leipini. The much loved Hendon Mob also made an appearance with Joe Beevers and Barny Boatman playing at the event and talking to all players who crossed their path both on the table and at the bar. Tour lover and Primeval star Dougie Henshall was so eager to get playing he turned up a day early and bought into the £200 event on the Friday!

Kick off was at 2.30pm and the command to shuffle up and deal was met with a clatter of chips and relieved sighs as the players began to settle into what, for some, would be a gruelling 13 hours of play in order for us to find our 12 players for day 2.

The field began to thin at a relatively slow pace with players ensuring that their 10,000 starting chip stack worked for them as much as possible. It was getting on into the evening when Dougie Henshall ran into trouble on the tables. His two pair, King and Jacks had run into three of a kind Jacks and forced the Primeval star to retire to the bar. Like the gentleman that he is Dougie spent the rest of the afternoon trading Poker stories and tips with eliminated players and spectators at the bar.

The Hendon Mob were on fire throughout the first day and by 11.30pm Joe had managed to accrue 10% of the chips in play, and was looking very comfortable, and with Barny sitting just above the middle of the field things were looking up for these players. Suddenly the winds of fortune changed rapidly and at 3.15am Joe met with an outdraw of colossal proportions:

Joe Beevers: KK

N Nawab: JJ- raises all in

Joe- Calls

Flop 8 6 9

Turn 7

River Ten

This gave N. Nawab the straight, and the chip lead, winning a 128,000-chip pot and leaving Joe our 14^th Place finisher.

To add to this Barny quickly followed his fellow mobster as the very next hand saw the below clash:

Barny: 9 J raises all in

Lee Danaher: AA- calls

Flop: 4 9 7

Turn: 6

River: 7

Barny out in 13^th and play concluded for the first day.

Day 2 began again at 2.30 in the afternoon with the 12 players returning and knowing that only 8 would make it to the coveted TV table. The players quickly began making their moves with several all-ins passing uncalled. After a few hours of play we had our final 8 who were whisked off for interviews, pictures and briefing on the final table.

Name	Location	Final Table Starting Chip Count
L Danaher	Middlesborough	189,000
S Rutter	Birmingham	138,800
A Brunetti	Loughborough	101,800
A Abdulah	Nottingham	78,100
J Bousfield	Stockton	96,800
M Eglintine	Hartlepool	87,800
S Holden	Telford	275,600
D Maudlin	County Durham	141,400

The final table was fast and furious, and attracted a very large (and vocal) crowd in the bar watching on a monitor we had streamed through. Steve Holden used his chip superiority to push the table, and began taking players out of the game almost as soon as the seal on the cards was broken. Having battled his way through 6 of his 7 opponents we saw a heads up challenge between Stewart Rutter and Steve Holden. The battle was short lived after a series of frantic raises and re-raises between the two saw Rutter’s pocket Tens fall foul of Holden’s Ace Queen meaning Steve Holden walked away with £20,900 and a seat in the Grand Final at the back end of the year.

Final Position	Name	Prize
1	Steve Holden	£19,900 + seat in the £2,500 GBPT Grand Final Main Event
2	Stuart Rutter	£12,700 + seat in the £500 GBPT Bournemouth Main Event
3	D Maudlin	£8,700 + seat in the £500 GBPT Bournemouth Main Event
4	Ash Abdullah	£5,300
5	Alberto Brunetti	£3,800
6	Lee Danaher	£2,500
7	J Bousefield	£2,200
8	Michael Eglintine	£1,800
9	M Nawab	£1,500
10	Martin Glew	£1,100
11	Sam Trickett	£500
12	Richard Simmonds	£500

With leg three over, our attentions turn to Bournemouth, which is a mere month away. We are expecting another sell out event, so start qualifying now online or at your local Gala Casino!

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