£500+£50 NLHE Freeze out (day 1) Tuesday 2nd December

 

The penultimate event of the 2008 Gala Casinos British Poker Tour - the £500 + £50 two day event.  With an hour long clock and 10,000 starting chips this promised to the be the perfect warm up for the Grand Final.  129 players began and as would be expected play was cagey in the early stages.  At the first break only 9 players had been eliminated.

 

This was a strong field, with many a familiar face .  Amongst the tour regulars were a number of current and former GCBPT champions including Anthony Arlott, Neil Blatchly, Colins Pearson and Wu, and Steve Holden.  These were joined by some of poker's bigger names such as Michael Grecco, Charalambos Xanthos and Marty Wilson who was in top form as usual.

 

Around 80 players remained at midnight, although the cash tables were buzzing.  With 9 levels due to be played it was looking like it would be a long night.  13 players would be paid, with a top prize of £21,000 going to the winner.  With this in mind, players glanced at their watches, sighed and pushed on - determined to come back tomorrow and make the cash.

 

Play was suspended for the day at 3.45am after a decision was made to cut a level and give the players some well earned rest.  By this time 35 players remained.  Amongst these were Marty Wilson, who took a dent to his impressive looking stack in the last hand of the day.  Other names of note still alive included up and coming players Tom Middleton and Richard Whitmore - while the old guard showed they could still cut it with Bambos (and his wife) both looking healthy. Chip leader going into day 2 was Martin Kavanagh with an impressive 125,400 chips.

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