Last night, Tom 'Werrrrd' Drew threatened to become the Phil Taylor of the poker world when he took down the opening Leg of League VIII. A Blue Belt on Black Belt Poker after earning promotion through the recent Grading, Tom was a VIP guest at the Black Belt Poker Christmas party after winning League VII in truly emphatic style. A few weeks later, and little has changed: Tom is still slicing and dicing his way through the field like a machete through butter, and is showing no signs of slowing down.
If he were to win just one Leg this season, then the opener would be the perfect choice as past showings prove that this is easily the most popular tournament on the schedule, thus awarding the winner the most amount of points. But despite this, little did we know that the evening would provide a platform for the biggest League field to date as an incredible 132 salivating poker enthusiasts limbered up their mouse hand and braced themselves for a night of poker fun and frolics. The rewards on offer: a mouth-watering $178.20 first prize, a pace-setting start in the standings, and more bragging rights than tea in China.
As always, the field was an eclectic affair with pros and amateurs alike ambushing the virtual felt. The Blue Belts, in particular, had plenty of ammo in their gun with recent Graders Vincent Diver, Joe Roberts, Oliver Schaffmann and David Docherty, as well as former Graders Jamie Burland, Owen Robinson, Kevin Williams, Simon Mairs and Gavin Hall, the latter of whom was pipped at the post into second. Even Yellow Brick Road trotter Sam Razavi made an appearance, the Brown Belt booting up his laptop from halfway across the globe to take a well-deserved breather from his Aussie Millions adventures.
In the end, and after Paul 'paul6543' Romain felt the full splash of the bubble, 20 players squeaked into the cash for a guaranteed return. Perhaps the most monumental factor of the Leg, however, was that every single previous Champion entered the event (a feat that went unfulfilled throughout the duration of League VII), and although Andy 'RedKiteBlackBelt' Brisland, Mark 'russellhansen' Brassington and Adam 'JHobbit' Saunders fell by the wayside early doors, the other four made it into the money: Trevor 'cleavertrevor' Myers (15th), Mark '99Ranson' Ranson (13th), David 'DididavidBEL09' Meunier (12th) and, of course, our illustrious winner.
1st Werrrrd -- $178.20
2nd TFMonty007 -- $105.60
3rd hiddenacesBBP -- $66.00
4th Mrdroodle -- $52.80
5th adygolf -- $46.20
6th luckyed147 -- $39.60
7th youshouldstakeme -- $33.00
8th JimmyTheBhoy -- $26.40
9th mbdnr235 -- $19.80
10th TeeDeeEye1 -- $13.20
11th sandy1611 -- $7.92
12th DididavidBEL09 -- $7.92
13th 99Ranny -- $7.92
14th ewen51 -- $7.92
15th cleavertrevor -- $7.92
16th HermantheHermit -- $7.92
17th Ruaction -- $7.92
18th ch1paccrual -- $7.92
19th Louise02 -- $7.92
20th habbad -- $7.92
Although the devilish part of my character wanted the wonderfully named 'WTFISMATH' to be leading the way, the man at the top is, inevitably, our current king, and seemingly invincible champion, Tom Drew with 157 points, closely followed by Enlightenment Sensei Gavin Hall with Paul 'hiddenacesBBP' Hollick in third. If the standings remained the same throughout the eight legs, these 10 players would all be going away with a combination of Belt Points and DeucesCracked tokens, with Tom earning himself a seat into the upcoming Black Belt London Live II.
1st Werrrrd -- 157 points
2nd TFMonty007 -- 149 points
3rd hiddenacesBBP -- 145 points
4th Mrdroodle -- 141 points
5th adygolf -- 138 points
6th luckyed147 -- 135 points
7th youshouldstakeme -- 132 points
8th JimmyTheBhoy -- 129 points
9th mbdnr235 -- 126 points
10th TeeDeeEye1 -- 124 points
Super Tuesdays are a little different this time around, with the usual Mulligan and Donkament fixtures being replaced by satellites into the London Live. In the inaugural $40+4 super satellite, the two guaranteed seats went to Purple Belt Richard 'generalshifty' Hurst and Brown Belt Jerome 'GONGONONGO' Bradpiece. They topped a field of 18.
1st GONGONONGO -- London Live seat
2nd generalshifty -- London Live seat
3rd StilettoMafiosa -- $85.00
4th allmichips -- $51.00
5th Thekernell1 -- $34.00
Soon after, players were offered the opportunity to qualify for just $1, the $1+0.10 Donkament Rebuy guaranteeing one seat into the following week's super satellite. This time, 42 players took a shot and with Mandy 'wondrwman' Card bubbling a seat in fourth, Tristan 'tristiano' Chaplin (armed with just one rebuy), Vickie 'AngelVickie' Lambert, and Jerome, again, and perhaps looking to multi-table the Main Event, brought themselves one step closer to a visit to the Grosvenor Victoria this April.
1st GONGONONGO -- super satellite seat
2nd AngelVickie48 -- super satellite seat
3rd tristiano -- seat
4th wondrwman - $6.80
5th betyama -- $4.25
6th generalshifty -- $2.72
7th bbpjimjam -- $1.36
And so, a thrilling night of poker concluded as two more entrants were added to the London Live, and Tom Drew continued where he left off in the League a few weeks ago. Naturally, the record-breaking figures were a joy to see, and confirmation of the ever-increasingly popularity of the League, and for that, we must thank all attendees for both their presence and loyalty.
But enough of the sentiments, this is poker, and next week, Leg 2 will be equally as fierce with some of Black Belt Poker's finest seeking to topple Tom from his throne. Think you've got the cahonies? Then why not download the poker client, open an account, and give it a crack. And who knows, perhaps you could be going to the London Live as the latest League winner…
League VIII: London Live II
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