GazAJKO’s Channing in $5,000 Freeroll

Last night, Black Belt Poker hosted its hotly anticipated Depositors’ Freeroll. As well as the mouth-watering $5,000 prize pool and $1,000 first prize, six Black Belt Poker bounties were set up as cannon fodder with players earning $100 rewards for the scalps of Black Belt Poker sponsored players Eoin Kennedy, Adam Latimer, Hugh Kirton and Jerome Bradpiece, as well as an additional $200 each for eliminating co-founders Neil Channing and Nik Persaud.

So, that’s $5,000 in the kitty and an extra $800 on top. There had to be a catch, right? Well, maybe, but only a teeny-weeny one: all you had to do was make a minimum deposit of $10 and you were free to run rampant over the Black Belt Poker skin and take advantage of the absolutely free value on offer. As a result, 275 registered for the event, including a few familiar faces in the shape of Andy Ward, Jesse May, Keith Hawkins, Paul Zimbler, Ben Grundy and recent Poker Million finalist Peter Vasiliou.

This truly was, as Dire Straits once sang, a “Money for Nothing” opportunity, and with over a third of the field paid, an impressive 99 players were able to turn something into nothing with the unlucky bubble spot splashing at the feet of ‘belovedpoker’ who was eliminated at the century mark. Out of those who did cash, however, were BBP players Adam ‘JHobbit1’ Saunders, Jennifer ‘Dejen1’ Mason, and Brown Belt Hugh ‘DianaVickers’ Kirton.

The biggest surprise, perhaps, lay in the final table line-up as both Neil Channing and Nik Persaud (“fix!” I hear you cry), as well as Adam ‘trojandonkey’ Latimer, made up the last nine, meaning three bounties were still up for grabs. With Nik dropping in eighth and Adam snapping up third, the final two were Neil and Yellow Belt Garry ‘GazAJKO’ Cargill, the Black Belt Poker co-founder holding a clear experience advantage but facing a slight chip deficit going into the tete-a-tete.

Garry had clearly been watching his Dog the Bounty Hunter boxset, as having disposed of Adam, he added the scalp of Neil to his list of victims to lap up both the title and the final bounty. The final hand was a simple affair, all the chips going in preflop with Garry’s nose inches in front with Ah-8c versus BadBeat’s Qd-Jh. The communal cards formed a minefield, but Garry somehow managed to dodge a 7d-6d-8s-9h-3s board to become the Depositors’ Freeroll Champion and gratefully collect the first prize of $1,000, as well as the additional bounties picked up along the way.

The final table results were as follows:

1st GazAJKO -- $1,000
2nd NeilChanning -- $500
3rd trojandonkey -- $400
4th Mrgingertoys -- $300
5th betyama -- $250
6th virtusxetxhonor -- $200
7th rosselini -- $175
8th NikPersaud -- $150
9th 3pieceVariety -- $125

Many thanks to all those who participated in the Depositors’ Freeroll. More fun was had than an entire series of Funhouse and we were pleased to learn that everyone enjoyed the tournament. With the weekly White and Yellow Belt freerolls and the BBP League, there is still plenty of value to be had on Black Belt Poker, and we’ll soon be looking to offer even more value as we look to introduce the Orange Belt Boot Camp Freeroll in the very near future. Watch this space for further news.