BBP at IPO

At the start of the month, Black Belt Poker hosted an online freeroll qualifier on the Black Belt Poker skin in which players battled like Trojan warriors for the opportunity to play in this year’s BoylePoker.com International Poker Open. The four lucky winners who headed to Ireland’s beer-guzzling capital were Ben Pooley, Kim Vernon, Grant Darnley and Steve Cash. Also joining them at the felt was 2008 Irish Open Champion and Black Belt Poker head honcho Neil ‘BadBeat’ Channing.

Incredibly, 1,440 salivating poker enthusiasts crammed themselves into host venue the Regency Hotel, all eager to spin up their initial buy-in of $225 into a rather more substantial $62,225. Unfortunately, our Black Belt Poker representatives were on a different page to the Poker Gods, and were thus unable to take advantage of the $27,000 in added money and tempting bounties that loomed over numerous heads.

First to hit the deck was Grant Darnley. Having lost a big pot during the opening levels, he made a squeeze play with pocket deuces during level four, but was swiftly picked off by pocket tens which held up on an otherwise uneventful board. “The tourist attractions made up the rest of my weekend,” reported Darnley, dejected, but keen to take advantage of his spare time. “Even as someone who doesn't drink Guinness the Storehouse was a must-see, and Temple Bar was bustling with activity on a surprisingly warm day. Some were even sunbathing on the side of the Liffey.”

Despite a plucky performance, Kim Vernon soon followed. He was graced with a very active table which witnessed an early elimination and plenty of big pots. One of those saw his stack severely dented in level two, Vernon ultimately folding A-K on a king high board only to be shown an ace. “In hindsight,” he added, “I felt I should have called.” Having clawed his way back up to 8,000, Vernon sang his swan song with pocket eights versus jacks, the board providing no further help. “It all got a bit messy in the bar later,” smiled Vernon, “listening to Mad Marty stories sitting with Matt Broughton of the Poker Show. It was a fantastic weekend but I will smuggle my own tobacco in next year: eight Euros for fags!”

Ben Pooley came armed with a smidgen of live experience, but his luck was sadly lacking. With blinds at 100 and 200, and a raise of 500 and a call before him, Pooley made it 1,200 with queens from the button. The initial raiser called and both players saw a 4-2-4 flop where Pooley was check-raised all in. He made the call and was shown an inferior pocket threes, but an ace turn and five river dealt out the cruelest of low blows and left Pooley with a paltry 1,200 in chips. A failed coin flip later with 3-3 succumbing to A-K on a dramatic J-Q-x-7-T board and Pooley was gone. “I found the standard of play a lot lower than I was expecting,” he mused. “No one on my table was doing anything crazy; I felt relaxed. The atmosphere was great and very enjoyable.”

With Neil Channing faring no better and Steve Cash unfortunately absent due to personal reasons, Black Belt Poker’s mini ambush of the International Poker Open was over, with bar-propping replacing poker as the order of the day. Ultimately, and despite a third of the field being made up of French players taking advantage of a bank holiday, the event was won by German born Markus Sippe, now residing in Luxembourg. He defeated the mammoth field, which included the likes of Andy Black, Padraig Parkinson, Surinder Sunar, Simon Trumper and Marty Smyth, to snap up the title and the accompanying spondoolies, whilst Irishman Jaye Renehan picked up $47,490 for second.

Our congratulations go to the Black Belt clan for frerolling their way to Dublin, but commiserations that their venture was short-lived and the final table remained Black Belt free. Next time, Gadget, next time.

If you like money for nothing, then be sure to check out our Depositors’ Freeroll which takes place on Sunday, Nov 1.