Out of the Pub, Into the Casino

At the start of the Nottingham Genting Stanley National Poker Championships, I was blown away by the support given by the Poker in the Pub players. We had 12 PITP players register for the £100 freezeout on Wednesday night, with a total of 84 runners, and six PITP players for the £500 tournament on Friday.

The £500 tournament had 89 players registered, playing for a prize pool of £50,000. Jeremy Wright (Nuts) was excited and raring, but unfortunately the cards were against him and he bowed out as the first Poker in the Pub player to exit, followed very closely by The Enigma. JDangerous was the next to go (54th) with a very unlucky hand, and, sadly, David Bellamy went out immediately thereafter (52nd).

Two Poker in the Pub players were left for the start of day two: Vicky Ward, sitting comfortably with a chip count of 19,000, and Gary (Verbal Volley) Figg, with 8,000. With the average chip count of 17,000, things were looking good for Vicky.

From the start of play, Vicky couldn't seem to do anything wrong, nearly doubling her count to 33,000, and then, suddenly, within half an hour, she lost a pot worth 40,000 and limped along for a few more hands before going out, finishing a respectable 35th. Gary, starting off slowly, just kept chipping away, building his stack. I have never seen such a patient man, as by now, the pressure was on. The Poker in the Pub crowd was really getting behind Gary and willing him on. Having not seen much action, he was suddenly in the middle of it, and trebled his chip count with a straight flush to secure his place in the final 15. At the final table, Gary finally went out in fifth place, but what an achievement.

The Southend event was well-represented by our players in the South West and South East regions. They were Frank Jones, Sue Norsworthy, and Jim Weekes.
The £500 tournament on Thursday saw 84 runners. Frank Jones started the main tournament ready to go with his packet of sweets and cowboy hat. He got off to a slow start but took the cricket player heads on, and finally Nadeem had to be content with 83rd place. Frank was gradually stacking up the chips and qualified for a place on Saturday.

During the semifinal, Frank was seventh in chips out of 64 runners. After losing a few hands, his chip count slowly dwindled and he eventually finished 30th out of a total of 167 -- something to be very proud of. After the tournament, we had a little chat with him, and he told us that if anything, it had made him more determined about the nationals. He thought that if he could do that well against regular cash players and poker pros, he should not have a problem in May.

The Saturday tournament started off with 41 players, including the first-ever Poker in the Pub female regional winner, Sue Norsworthy, who had a chip stack of 14,000.
Unfortunately, toward the end of day 1B, with 26 runners, Sue was beaten. She was very disappointed to be knocked out, believing the cards just didn't go her way all day. She played the best that she could, and the rest I guess is up to chance. Well done, Sue.

Our last Poker in the Pub representative, Jim Weekes, did very well. Playing in the Friday game, he managed to last most of the day, but was unfortunately knocked out toward the end of the evening.

Dave "The Hat" Mitchell, representing Rio Café, brought his typical measured game to the GSNP Championships in Manchester, as he attempted to repeat the successes of previous Poker in the Pub qualifiers at big events. Joining him was Marc Darcy from Pro-Lane Bowling, who was playing in his first major tournament. They both knew there was more at stake than a typical regional final, with an £83,500 prize pool and £27,000 for the winner.

Marc was definitely thrown into the deep end, sitting just two seats away from Lucy Rokach, who is eighth in the world on the all-time women's money list. Unfortunately, Marc was never really able to get going, but I am sure that it was a good experience for him. He has already said that he hopes to return and do better next time.

Dave has much more experience playing, and quickly settled into his stride, finishing day one with 19,600 chips, leaving him in a decent position for day two. In this particular tournament, the poker gods were not smiling down on Dave, and he found himself unable to build his stack. Eventually, the blinds forced him to make a move. It was a good performance by the two-time Scottish Poker in the Pub champion, who finished 30th.

Both players can be happy knowing that they played in a tournament with the likes of Dave Colclough, Marc Goodwin, and Lucy Rokach, and in Mitchell's case, he outlasted all of them.

During the tournaments, the atmosphere was electric, and the Poker in the Pub players were exceptional.