It has been a busy few months, and somehow the regional finals have already come and gone. We had more players than ever taking part this time around, and we saw a mixture of both the bizarre and sublime.
The South West kicked off proceedings on Saturday, Oct. 27, with the Mint Casino in Torquay hosting its third regional final. Seventy-nine players turned out, with a good mixture of Poker in the Pub veterans and relative beginners. Ben Roberts from Reds was at his first regional final and was in a philosophical mood as he summed up his departure from the tournament: "Torquay, they call it the English Riviera, and I got screwed on the river!"
We eventually reached the final table, which contained two previous winners and two brothers. Sue Norsworthy had been playing pub poker for only six weeks, but she had been in a good position for the whole tournament, and when the final table was reached, she set about single-handedly dismantling the opposition.
Nick Henry from the Duke of Cornwall was the final hurdle for Sue, and he was not able to halt the momentum of the Friary Vaults player, as she took her final-table head count to eight players. Nick played a great game and will join his brother at the national final next May. Sue becomes our first female champion and will now find herself competing with the big guns at the £500
Genting Stanley National Poker Championships main event in March of next year.
Torquay Regional Final Results
The Circus Casino Nottingham was the venue for the East Midlands final, with 129 players sitting down to battle it out for the right to be called East Midlands champion. The first two hours saw only 20 players drop out of the tournament, but as the blinds began to increase, so did the casualty rate.
The final table was eventually reached, and with seven players left, Robert "Rab" Brookes and Deb "Golden Shoes" Hussey were dumped out of the tournament in one fell swoop by Easington Lane regular Gary Metcalfe. Gary's pocket queens held up against Rab's pocket jacks and the A-J of Lincoln's very own golden-shoed poker star.
The five remaining players could be safe in the knowledge that they had reached the national final and were now fighting for the £500 seat to the
GSNP Championships. Before long, Gary "Wiggy" Figg and Gary "The Loftman" Hides found themselves heads up for the bragging rights. What followed was a very close and exciting heads-up competition that culminated with Hides going all in with pocket sevens. Figg decided this was the moment, and made the call before flipping over A-K. A king on the flop was enough to give the Cherry Tree player the title and the chance to prove his mettle against the pros in Nottingham next March.
Nottingham Regional Final Results
The Circus Casino in Stoke was hosting its first regional final, and 78 players sat down at the start of the day, all intent on just one thing - lifting the coveted Poker in the Pub trophy. It was a cagey start, and 45 minutes had elapsed before we had our first elimination.
The blinds were 3,000-6,000 as play moved to the final table, and Vicky Ward was able to increase her lead as she knocked out Poker in the Pub stalwart Lee "The Enigma" Ball. Lee shoved with a pair of threes, on a board showing the 9
9
9
, with Vicky holding a pair of tens. A very high quality of poker was played during the final table, with experienced players such as Spencer Wiley and Graham Perrin showing their class. However, the cards went the way of Robert Knowles and Vicky Ward, who eventually found themselves heads up for the title.
Vicky was able to boss the heads-up play and the end looked nigh. On a board showing the A
J
8
, Robert went all in with the J
9
and was called by Vicky, holding the A
8
. The turn and river were both blanks, and Vicky became our second female champion just 24 hours after our first was crowned in Torquay.
Stoke Regional Final Results
Glasgow's Mint Casino was overwhelmed by Poker in the Pub players as it hosted its first regional final. Eventually, the Rangers game came to an end and the poker was able to get under way, with the Rangers fans hoping to console themselves with better performances in poker than their team had managed at Dundee.
Aileen Sherry from the Rio Café was playing in her first regional final, and with blinds of 300-600 and just 2,000 in chips, she knew she needed to make a move soon. After doubling up with pocket queens, Aileen then proceeded to go on a run of biblical proportions, and a few hours later she found herself holding one-third of the chips in play, with just 15 players remaining.
The final table was soon upon us, with eight pubs represented by the nine players. There was a surprising amount of action, which meant that in no time at all, we were down to three players. They included previous winner Dave "the hat" Mitchell, whose hobbies include golf, poker, and something involving cats. By this point, Aileen's monster stack had dwindled slightly, but she was still able to send Zong Pham home in third place. This left her heads up with Dave as she tried to become the third female champion in 24 hours.
However, Dave was not about to let this happen, and used his experience well to become the first player to win two regional finals. He played very good poker all day and was a worthy winner.
Scottish Regional Final Results
Readings Maxim Casino was the venue for the South East final, with 65 players looking to go down in pub poker history. With plenty of inter-pub rivalry, the early banter set the tone for the rest of the day.
The final-table lineup made happy reading for the Three Crowns players from Salisbury, as they all were still in contention. Only time would tell if one of them could step up to become the king or queen of pub poker in the South East. With only four players still seated, the Three Crowns still had not suffered any losses, with only Simon Marshall from the Wilton, also a Salisbury pub, standing in the way of a clean sweep. Janet Gostelow became the first casualty, as her A
10
failed to hold up against Simon's K
4
, and Martin Wallace was soon to follow when Simon took another scalp. However, the final hurdle was too much for the Wilton pub player, as Jim Weekes was able to break his valiant stand and be crowned South East champion.
Reading Regional Final Results
I can safely say that these regional finals were the best yet, and it was great to finally get not just one, but two female champions. It has been a long time coming, but hopefully this is just the beginning. Our thanks must go out to all the staff from the various Stanley Casinos, who could not have been friendlier.
If you would like some additional information on the league, please visit the website at www.pokerinthepub.com.
