Recent murmurings have hinted at the magical powers of the Black Belt Poker badge, and this month it would appear as though those rumours are indeed true. Despite my cynicism of its mystical prowess, the Black Belt Poker logo has been running rampant through the poker world with Neil Channing winning the Luton GUKPT, Richard Ashby a WCOOP, and Nik Persaud the World Heads-Up. Even Owen Robinson utilised its formidable powers to bring home two titles back from the Irish Poker Awards!
However, this month has revealed that its powers aren't confined to the Black Belt Poker team, as exhibit one, Jason Herbert, proves. Since being given the badge by Neil Channing a few weeks ago, Jason has run amok amid the tournament circuit, chopping the Irish Winter Festival in Dublin, winning a satellite into the GUKPT Blackpool Main Event, and cashing in the DTD Deepstack for November. Then, last weekend, he capped off a series of impressive results with a second place finish in the €500 Deepstack Open (part of the WPT Chilipoker Marrakech Festival) at the Casino de Marrakech in Morocco for a whopping 289,000 Dirham (£21,938, according to our good friends at xe.com)!
A 39-year old (although creeping up to 40 this December) semi-pro from Scunthorpe, Jason is a satellite specialist who has qualified for no fewer than 20 big events, cashing in over half of them to give himself an ROI that would make even Phil Ivey weep. Recently, he signed up to Black Belt Poker and decided to give one of our satellites a crack. Shortly after, he was on a flight to Morocco to battle it out against 420 other hopefuls for a prize pool of just under €200,000.
"I am not a sponsored player at Black Belt Poker," confirmed Jason, "more of a friend of the site, and I particularly have a lot of time and respect for Neil Channing for everything he does and gives back to poker."
"I was warned of the poor standard of play by several French players," he recalled, "so I played ABC poker throughout and only came across half a dozen people in the entire tournament who were above an average standard. Most were there to bluff and gamble, so I just waited for cards."
Although Jason's journey to heads-up was a relatively comfortable affair, he did encounter one major scare, pushing A-9 on the button and running into A-A in the big blind. Fortunately, Jason made a straight, and it seemed like the title had his name already etched in gold. However, with just one final hurdle to jump, it wasn't to be, Jason snapping up the runner-up spot when he moved all in with J-9 on a Q-J-T flop before failing to improve against J-T for two pair.
"The Swede [Henrik Granlund] had his fair share of luck on the final," he claimed. "He rivered a king with K-K versus A-A, a deuce with 2-2 v J-J, and runner-runner to make a straight with another. I guess it was just his day. At least I've saved my 'one time' for heads-up in an EPT or WSOP event."
Jason was playing regularly at his local casinos a year or two back, but within the space of 18 months, he went from having no kids, to having three young boys, and his time for poker became severely limited. However, his success in the few tournaments he does play has enabled him to purchase a shiny new Porsche, and his lucrative trip to Marrakesh means he is now eyeing up various events on the EPT circuit.
"I spend a lot of time looking after my family so only play twice a month. I used to play five nights a week for about ten years, driving up and down the M62 grinding rebuys and playing dealer's-choice if the comp came to a premature end. This all stopped when the twins came along but I don't have any regrets and much prefer playing bigger buy-in events with more play."
It would seem as though there is no stopping the Black Belt Poker badge at the moment, and with the GUKPT Grand Final (click here to view the live feed) kicking off today at the Grosvenor Victoria, it could be making yet another final table.
1st Henrik Granlund (Sweden) -- €39,897
2nd Jason Herbert (England) -- €24,936
3rd Najib Bennis (Morocco) -- €17,954
4th Othman Bangeloun (France) -- €13,963
5th Ronan Monfort (France) -- €9,974
6th Mauro Biancifiori (Italy) -- €7,979
7th Fouad Mouhajir (Morocco) -- €5,984
8th Roger Hairabedian (France)-- €3,491
9th Kevin Noblat (France) -- €2,991
10th Amine Lakhsassi (Morocco) -- €2,493
If you would like follow in the footsteps of Jason, and qualify for a major event, then make sure you check out all the satellites on offer at Black Belt Poker. To open an account is easy: just download the poker client and follow the simple step-by-step process provided.
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