Grading III - The Finishing Line

At the beginning of the month, snow fell heavily over parts of the UK, including London. The downfall disabled parts of the transport network and many people were forced to stay indoors - probably drinking lots of tea and hot chocolate as reportedly there was a shortage of milk in some areas! For some “hardened souls” - as Neil Channing described them - however, the snow was nothing more than a mere blip as they brushed aside Mother Nature to attend the final Grading III Workshop on Thursday, December 2.

24 graders (the Aussie Two-4) were originally hand-selected to partake in the six-week course, which started on November 1. With 10 days to go until the end, there were less than 15 warriors left standing. Enlightenment Sensei Rob Jarrett-Smith said all of the remaining Graders were still in with a shout of proving they deserve one of the three £10,000 packages up for grabs. The three winners will each get an all-expenses paid trip to fly Down Under and play in the 2011 Aussie Millions in Melbourne next month.

During the Workshop, Neil ran through the hands from a Grader-exclusive MTT. Following that were presentations from Richard Dally, Vincent Diver and Adam Stoneham respectively. Although gruelling, many of the Graders admit that the entire process has helped to improve their game and encouraged them to consider things on a much deeper level.

Neil and CEO Warren Wooldridge also took the opportunity to thank the Graders for their efforts and told them not to be disheartened even if they aren't selected for the package. Two players who have benefited from the Grading process are Blue Belts Jamie Burland (2010 UKIPT Brighton Champion) and Kevin Williams (Academy and Poker in the Park speaker/mentor), both of whom fell just short of the Irish Open Package in Grading II. Despite that, they are both currently enjoying success at the felt and are among some our most active community members.

With the finishing line in sight, many of the Graders were in a frantic race to complete the required number of hands before the deadline at 11:59pm on Sunday, December 12. To be in contention for one of the three Brown Belt packages, players will need to have completed 50,000 / 40,000 / 31,250 hands of full-ring / six-max / heads-up. The decision on who will be picked to represent Black Belt Poker in Australia will be made tomorrow, Wednesday, December 15. If you haven't already chewed them all off, keep some of your nails in tact, because the results will be announced the following day.

Here is a short video of the final Grading III workshop. Thank you to everyone that spared some time over the six-week period to chat to me.

Click for video.