Arrivederchi

Contrary to common belief, Ali Mallu isn't required to see chips fly, and this last level has perhaps been indicative of a field thirsty for first.

One player who will have had his eyes firmly fixed on the title was Pratik Ghatge, but upon running K-Q into aces, the etching of his name will have to wait for another year. But whilst Ghatge's departure was proof of an action-packed day, it was little more than a precursor to what would be a wholeheartedly spicier affair...


With Giovanni Pennetta raising to 85,000 with 2h-2c from middle position, fellow chip leader Paul Pham made the call on the button with Jc-Jh. Fireworks then ensued on a 5s-9c-4s flop as Pennetta led for 120,000, Pham raised to 290,000, Pennetta pushed, and Pham called. A harmless Kh turn and 8h river later, and that was that, the two biggest stacks on the table had clashed in an epic hand with Pham achieving a number of things: (1) adding to his already monstrous stack, (2) bursting the final table bubble and eliminating Pennetta, and (3) stunning the crowd.


"I put him on the flush draw," commented Pennetta in the aftermath. "Even with jacks he thought for a good two minutes before making the call, but I was sure he had a draw."

Jeremy Baked

Jeremy Bakes has, ironically, just been coolered with an unavoidable kings versus aces encounter that sees Warren Wooldridge's stack pulsate to a chip-lead threatening 800,000. Bakes had just under 300,000 at the time, and with the blinds at 10,000/20,000, decided to open push, if only to create the illusion of a weaker hand.

But his preflop strategy was irrelevant in the end, as Wooldridge had his gun cocked and was braced to fire, the bullets hitting the cowboys head on and sending them hurtling off their saddle. The 4d-2d-5c-Ah-5d board teased a split pot, but to no avail, and a hand-shake later and Bakes was cooked.


Meanwhile, Hugo Martin just limp-raised all in from the small blind with A-5, only for Giovanni Pennetta to call with the same hand (bar the suits, of course). A raggy board proved to be of no excitement, and the pot was chopped. "Good poker," applauded Nik Persaud from the sidelines. "Good raise, good call, lots of pressure, good poker all around."

Dirty Dozen

Just moments prior to the break, a disappointed, but reflective Michael Hyam trundled towards the exit, his A-T push from the button running into pocket tens and failing to improve. "That's the way it goes," he said. "I ran really well yesterday, so I guess it just evens out in the end."


As a result, we're now down to our dirty dozen, Channing assassin Paul Pham your current chip leader and the most likely to break that million milestone:

Paul Pham - 997,000
Jack Mcdermott - 782,000
Giovanni Pennetta - 781,000
Warren Wooldridge - 485,000
Pratik Ghatge - 481,000
Dean Aldred - 459,000
Karim Louis - 402,000
Nicholas Aly - 379,000
Hugo Martin - 372,000
Daniel Laming - 340,000
Jeremy Bakes - 306,000
Roy Farranat - 200,000

It's Time for Steve to Leave

A changing of the guards in the press room seems to have triggered some action at the table as, upon my arrival, three more players depart in quick succession to leave us with an unlucky-for-some 13. Whilst I was mounting the staircase during the exits of Neil Suaraz and Peter Wigglesworth, I showcased perfect timing for the fall of Steve Dickson, whose chips were waiting patiently in the middle just as I entered the room.

But despite any claims to fame, it wasn't me who they were waiting for, but Giovanni Pennetta whose decision on the big blind had been made all that more strenuous by the all-in reraise of Warren Wooldrigde on the button. Ultimately, Penette opted for the fold, and cards were revealed.


As Wooldridge tabled Qc-Qd, Dickson smiled and signed, "I have one over", before flipping Ac-8s. "Oh my God," replied Wooldridge, seemingly haunted by past 'pair versus one over' confrontations. But he needn't have worried, as the 2d-Qs-2c flop was somewhat clinical, the Ks turn crushing any miracle hopes Dickson may have had.

A quick shake of the hand and a Weakest Link walk later and Dickson was gone, but he can leave safe in the knowledge that he'd pulled out a splendid performance and swam deeper than most through this shark-infested pool.

A fine performance from one of Black Belt's most popular members.

Lewis Loses 1mil Pot

Toby Lewis, chip leader for so much of this tournament, just finished in 17th place, winning $500. His asssassin - who else but Giovanni Pennetta, in a KK vs. JJ preflop monster of a pot which has cemented Pennetta at the top of the chip table with two actual tables left.

He Don't Hit Jack

Big flip for Jack Mcdermott, now, who after a long think preflop called the large 220k or so which Karim Louis had pushed all-in from the blinds, after button Mcdermott had made it 32k. His Td-Tc was up against Louis' Ac-Jd. Straight away on the flop came not one but two Jacks, and shaking his head Mcdermott paid the man his new 400k+ stack.


Railer Neil Channing (pictured when still in next to Louis) commented, "You flop so good."
"Yeh, don't I?" smiled Louis.
"You should play more tournaments, all you need to do is win races." Then, turning to the defeated Mcdermott, "He doesn't understand. He doesn't even know the hand rankings." Black Belt London Live, the only tournament you can get heckled by the busted pros 10 levels on...

FAyring Better

Steve 'FalconAyr' Dickson just tripled through to gain about 180k and a new lease of life for what had become a dangerously short stack. He was all in against two callers - erstwhile chip leader Giovanni Pennetta and other remaining Purple Belt Warren Wooldridge.

The flop came down 5c-9h-7d and Wooldridge now moved in himself for 170k, giving Pennetta a near five-minute dwell before he eventually passed. Wooldridge had the overpair - Tens, but Dickson had flopped a set with 5d-5h.

"I wish you had called now," lamented WW as he watched the pot slide to the short stack.

McdermOTT: Two Eliminations at Once

Jack Mcdermott has just busted both Robert Stain and Douglas Hogan in the same hand and now has over 800k. All in preflop, threeway, the large-stacked Mcdermott covered the other two stacks as comfortably as a duvet, and his Ks-Kc was equally comfortable facing Jacks (in Hogan's hand) and something that was already in the process of being mucked by the dealer when I arrived. Seeing as Stain started with a shorter stack, he finishes 20th, while Hogan takes the higher $500 payout for reaching 19th.

Chips With 20 left...

Giovanni Pennetta - 725,000
Jack Mcdermott - 508,000
Dean Aldred - 470,000
Pratik Ghatge - 440,000
Daniel Laming - 334,000
Hugo Martin - 331,000
Warren Wooldridge - 321,000
Peter Wigglesworth - 320,000
Toby Lewis - 300,000
Roy Farranat - 261,000
Nicholas Aly - 256,000
Karim Louis - 255,000
Neil Suarez - 248,000
Michael Hyam - 232,000
Paul Pham - 214,000
Jeremy Bakes - 177,000
Robert Stain - 174,000
Douglas Hogan - 154,000
Stephen Dickson - 104,000
Chun Law - 95,000
Joe Laming - 93,000

The only player so far to bust this level was Orange Belt Craig Wakeham, who was another victim of Giovanni Pennetta - this time he fell victim to a preflop big raise which had Aces to back it up (Pennetta immediately called). He couldn't crack them, so heads out in 22nd.



I speak too soon: at time of writing, Joe Laming, at one point a very large stack, now is a nonexistent one. 21st, and we're nearly down to two tables.

Reid Em and Weep

Mystery of the day is Adam Reid, who left his stack untended through the entire day and finally blinded out. However his 42k, while right at the bottom, managed to see him all the way through to 31st place, where he earned $300 in the 3rd pay bracket! You can't say Black Belt structures aren't pretty good...

G.P. is Tournament Doctor

G.P. of course being Giovanni Pennetta. Racking up a 655k stack and the chip lead here in level 19. He just busted both Priyan de Mel and Jerome Bradpiece - in the last 15 minutes! That must be a record for busting GUKPT champs - vs. de Mel he flopped the nut straight, apparently, while he took a while to get it in preflop against Bradpiece.

Purple Belt Jerome had moved in for a further 95k into a pot of now 75k from the blinds and was busy talking him into something... "I'm obviously winning, let's see how lucky you are.." Pennetta sat back, arms crossed, and considered his opponent (whom he'd given plenty of credit earlier in the tournament, apparently).

"I don't know, I have a strange feeling," said Pennetta.
"Fold then, please!" replied Bradpiece, "When anyone says they have a strange feeling they tend to flop the nuts..."

Well, he did get a call from Pennetta's Q-K off, and his As-Js was instantly outflopped by a Queen. No help, and he hits the rail in 26th.

Easy Game in Theory, Tough in Pratik

Even though it looked like Pratik Ghatge had threebet shorterstacked Richard Willoughby with Jc-Js preflop, he still took his time thinking about the call when Willoughby moved in on him for 105k more. The chips were neatly laid out, and when he finally threw in the call, he was probably relieved to see Ah-Jh in his opponent's hand. No Ace for Willoughby and he exits in 32nd place, not looking too disheartened with his $300 and performance overall.

Meanwhile, Jon Neale moved in preflop with a shortish stacked A-K, only to find Scott McGovern giving him a spin with Ad-5d. That was looking good until the flop came Ac-8d-5h, and with no help from the Jh-Qs turn and river, a disappointed Neale said that although making it to the $350 pay bracket was nice and all, "It wasn't really what I was going for at this stage."

With Neale's elimination, I believe we're down to just three high Belts here: Jerome Bradpiece, Steve Dickson and Warren Wooldridge are Purple Belt and eligible to win $15,000 extra if they capture the top spot. They're currently on the same table (along with Priyan de Mel and Craig Wakeham) and it's an interesting one to watch.


Bradpiece: From short stack exit-teeterer yesterday, to 130k and a tableside steak sandwich today.

Playing The Pham Game

Neil Channing, definitely the most thematically dressed Black Belt player, has finally been eliminated, just when it was starting to look like a deep finish for the original poker blackbelt might be on the cards.

A couple of pairs, namely 77 on the button (out-raced by small blind Karim Louis' AK) and then TT the very next hand (which ran smack into Kings) were responsible for his elimination. Winning $250, he displayed the same crestfallen response to busting out as Nik Persaud did yesterday. They compared notes on the rail before his attention started being pulled in two directions - the remaining 36 players battling for the title here, and the cash game nestled in the far side of the room...

Chips at First Break

Who's vying for the lead now? Why - it's Day 1B chip leader Neil Suarez, almost doubling his stack in these last three levels to a half mil position.

Neil Suarez - 519,000
Joe Laming - 315,500
Jeremy Bakes - 252,000
Scott Mcgovern - 238,500
Daniel Laming - 226,000
Giovanni Pennetta - 220,500
Toby Lewis - 212,500
Dean Aldred - 192,500
Priyan de Mel - 188,000
Robert Stain - 169,500
Pratik Ghatge - 169,500
Jack Mcdermott - 169,500
Peter Wigglesworth - 166,000
Nicholas Aly - 161,500
Warren Wooldridge - 160,000
Douglas Hogan - 158,000
Jerome Bradpiece - 151,000
Hugo Martin - 142,000
Craig Wakeham - 126,500
Glenn Laming - 125,000
Shane Dewsbury - 124,500
Michael Hyam - 121,500
Gregory Bert - 115,500
Neil Channing - 110,000
Daniel Williams - 110,000
Paul Pham - 109,000
Roy Farranat - 108,000
Tim Magnus - 104,000
Chun Law - 103,500
Stephen Dickson - 102,500
Nicholas Stinson - 100,500
Karim Louis - 94,000
David Sparks - 92,500
Paul Zimbler - 87,500
Stephen Draper - 86,000
Jamie Roberts - 71,000
Richard Willoughby - 57,500
Tomasz Jedlecki - 51,000
Jon Neale - 42,000
Adam Reid - 41,500

This Just In.... Busted players in the money so far:

41 Diane Ambler $250
42 Ermyas Birru $250 (pictured below)
43 Lesley Kumar $250
44 Hassan Uddin $200
45 Wilson Chan $200
46 Lewis Higham $200
47 Tom Drew $200
48 Antonis Poulengeris $200
49 Mark Norman $200
50 Darren White $200

Bubble Near-Misses, then Bubble HIT

Action on table 6! Antonis Poulengeris just put Joe Laming to a big decision, moving all in over the top of three-betting big blind Jack McDermott. Laming tanked, then passed, going a bit mental when Poulengeris revealed Jacks vs. McDermott's A-K off. "Move all in with Jacks!" he fumed, "I passed Kings, what you do that for...?" Regardless of this eyebrow-raising fold, the AK hit an Ace anyway and doubled him up to 140k.

Then.... Jacks no good again, Henry Stafford getting them in against the AQ of neighbour Lewis Higham. That's it, the bubble bursts, everyone left of the 50 still in their seats is guaranteed at least $200 for their efforts!

Orange Belt Last Longer WON!

By Craig Wakeham, Toby Lewis, Tom Drew and Giovanni Pennetta.







































Congratulations gents and enjoy your extra $500! Pictures coming soon, and of Orange-bubbler Simon Morris (below), to whom our condolences go as the regular prize bubble stretches out like it's made of rubber...

Joe Laming Picks off Bounty Dave Colclough

Well, it's easier when you flop top set on a 3-6-8 flop and your opponent (who's been pretty active, I saw him all in pre (no call) twice earlier, and setting Tom Drew in on a Jh-8s-Js flop with no further action) holds a set of sixes. Dave Colclough in the big blind had seen the flop along with a second caller, and Joe Laming's lucky 888 won him a decent pot and sent El Blondie to the rail. Laming up to a respectable 230k and we're nearly bubbling, with 52 players remaining...

"Ship It To the Old-school Dinosaur!"

So said Neil Channing, after a strange hand gave him a good few thousand. "There were seven limpers. That's what we have on this table," he mused, "Seven limpers!"

Paul Zimbler and Phil the Tower overheard this and were shaking their heads. Phil said, "Wow, seven limpers in level 14..." while Zimbler complained, "I don't know how he gets away with it!"

Seconds later and we hear he's doubled up to 112k, running pret-ty good on Day Two.

Possibly on the flip side of this hand, now severely stacked Man Kit Tung moved in preflop for just 11,400, looking callable (the blinds 1.5k/3k) even to big blind Karim Louis with his Jd-2h. Tung was in good shape to double up to just super-short with his dominating Ks-2d but the deck had other ideas. The board came Ts-7d-Tc...6c... Jc and the river sent him packing.

Day Two Combines the Field, Chews it Up, Spits it Out

70 players reconvened to play first to the money (at 50th place) and then on to a winner, who'll get a $15,000 top prize, extremely impressive trophy, and place in Black Belt history as the first live event Champion!

Already we're on a bubble of sorts - the Orange Belt Last Longer is in its final stage, with just five players playing for four $500 last-longer bonuses. Hitting the rail in the first exits of the day were two of the remaining Orange Belts - John Hayes and Andrea Bocchiero, leaving in contention Simon Morris, Craig Wakeham, Giovanni Pennetta, Tom Drew and chip leader Toby Lewis!

Day 1B Concludes

At the close of Day 1B, it's Neil Suarez (pictured) who leads the way.


Neil Suarez -- 293,200
Priyan de Mel -- 176,000
Chris Wood -- 164,000
Dean Aldred -- 158,700
Jeremey Bakes -- 152,900
Daniel Laming -- 129,600
Glenn Laming -- 122,400
Robert Stain -- 121,900
Joe Laming -- 110,400
Michael Hyam -- 108,800
Mark Norman -- 100,500
Paul Zimbler -- 100,100
Warren Wooldridge -- 90,700
Lesley Kumar -- 90,700
David Sparks -- 77,500
Daniel Williams -- 77,200
Dianne Ambler -- 75,600
Jamie Roberts -- 77,100
Steve Dickson -- 76,500
Jon Neale -- 69,900
Paul Pham -- 69,000
Richard Willoby -- 63,200
Paul Garnham -- 60,900
Roy Farranat -- 57,600
Tim Magnus -- 41,700
Martin Taylor -- 40,700
John Hayes -- 39,100
Mike Tse -- 33,500
Frank Lippitt -- 32,400
Simon Morris -- 31,800
Harry Stafford -- 28,100
Gary Graham -- 27,300
Simon Tung -- 26,800
Jay Patel -- 26,500
Gregory Bert -- 25,900
Jason Lam -- 24,200

Play resumes tomorrow at 12pm, sharp... unless Channing gets on the mike.

Ghazi Down the Kazi; Stoned to Death

Deep into the final level of the night we witnessed a double whammy that bore witness to another couple of exits. When I joined the action, the hands were on their backs with two players - not coincidentally, I expect, the two with the inferior hands - all in and their tournament life on the line.

Joe Laming had both opponents by the short and curlies with Ac-Ad versus Javed Ghazi's Ks-Kh and Elizabeth Stone's 7h-7d. Despite the "one time" demand of Ghazi, the board ran out a rather dry and uninspiring 8s-5h-2c-2s-5c to give Laming the pot, and his two foes the door.


On the same table, but several hands later, we finally lost bounty Marty Smyth. Despite a dogged will to survive that would have had Bear Grylls applauding from the sidelines, he was eventually put down by Steve Dickson, the Purple Belt desposing of his man with pocket jacks holding up against threes.

A Lot of Action

The last level saw more action than a Die Hard boxset with the following players left to hail down a taxi:

Robert Weston
Simon Girling
Azzy Asghar
Simon Herrick
Gladys Long
Patryk Wlodarski
Del Snelling
Nick Mazur
Gerald Ringe
Warren Jackman
Simon Fossat
Richard Hurst
Dominic Harrison
Tristan McDonald
Gerard Harraghy
Darren Sprengers
Chris Ambler
Richard Eatock
Alan Steer
Christopher Andreou
Joel Hughes
Maxcel Verdugo

Of those, I was able to witness Girling's exit, Kd-Qh unable to topple the As-Kc of Gregory Bert on a 7s-9c-9s-2s-3d board.

One player who did evade the list though was Dianne Ambler. She was able to crack aces with pocket queens, a third lady on the turn making her push for 26,400 a lucrative one and increasing her stack two fold.

Steve Dickson is also still in with 45,000.

It's a Funny Ol' Game

The room has been on absolute tenterhooks these past few moments as final bounty Marty Smyth has been poking his feet over the edge of the cliff and looking odds on to fall. He wouldn't be anywhere near the coast, however, if he hadn't been dealt a blow by the Poker Gods.

With a short stack pushing all in from early position with Ah-7h, Smyth made a brave, but justified call with As-9s, only to have the board come 6c-Jd-Kh-Qh... 7d for a rivered pair. A few hands later, and down to several thousand, he was all in himself, on the verge of departure wih 9h-6s versus Ad-Qc. Again, I'm going to need the dots, as the board came 4d-Js-4s-3h... 6d to keep the Irishman alive, and save the bounty from the jaws of defeat.

Meanwhile, chip leader Warren Wooldidge just raced over to the press area with an excited look on his face matched only by his offspring on Christmas Eve: "Snoops, Snoops!" he exclaimed. "You have to listen to this pot. I limped under the gun with fours and there were no fewer than six callers. It got round to the big blind who then pushed all in for 20,000."

"Tell me you folded..." I inquired.

"I made it 100,000," continued Wooldridge, "... and the limpers folded. When I turned my hand over he said, 'I've got one overcard' and showed 6-2, but the board came five straight cards to split the pot!"

Graded Down

We're two Graders - and two Irishmen - down: Gerard Harraghy and Marty Rice.

The latter was the victim of the rampaging rhinoceros that is Warren Wooldridge who is sucking up chips like a Dyson on speed. Rice was, of course, the latest recipient, three-betting Wooldridge's open of 3,000 to 11,000 from the big blind with kings, before getting his remaining 29,000 in on the jack high flop. Wooldridge, however, had flopped a set of eights, which duly held up on a cowboy-less turn and river.


Harraghy, meanwhile, had a slightly less formidable holding, calling a three-bet with K-Q before check-raising all in on a raggy flop. Unfortunately, his foe had bullets and shoved his chips in quicker than a pack of wolves on a three-legged cat. As for Gerard and his miracle runner-runner? Well, that failed to arrive, and he ended up like the three-legged cat - battered, brusied and slightly stunned.

Post-Dinner Hospital Queue

The dinner-break steaks are normally enough to leave people bloated and reluctant to move their chips upon return, but not so today as players have been falling like whippets from a plane. Within just a few hands we lost both Annabel Jones and Keir Fitzgibbon, whilst not long later Mandy Card followed suit. Faced with a min-raise (from pocket threes, it later emerged), Card shoved all in with A-J, but ran into both A-K and A-A to leave her in a situation that not even Houdini could have escaped from. A dry board later and yes, she was indeed gone.


In fact, as I write, we are still losing players. The current post-dinner hospital queue now looks like such:

George Frangeskou
Simon Wing
Samuel Fossat
Adam Frampton
Amanda Card
Dennis Vanmaanen
Laurence Houghton
Rita Gilroy
Keir Fitzgibbon
Annabel Jones
Philip Taylor Milden
Gareth Cash
Michael Carr
Paul Harrison

Dinner Break Chip Counts

Warren Wooldridge - 131,000
Neil Suarez - 102,200
Priyan De mel - 88,300
Dean Aldred - 81,800
Chris Wood - 81,500
Joe Laming - 77,700
Jeremy Bakes - 74,700
Del Snelling - 73,900
Rory Liffey - 72,800
Jason Lam - 71,600
Martin Rice - 69,900
Lesley Kumar - 66,200
Jon Neale - 62,700
Paul Zimbler - 62,600
Robert Stain - 60,400
Jay Patel - 59,900
Michael Hyam - 55,900
Gary Graham - 53,700
Richard Willoughby - 52,000
Mark Norman - 51,200
Azzy Asghar - 51,200
John Hayes - 51,100
Daniel Laming - 50,400
Keir Fitzgibbon - 46,800
Thibault Richard - 46,700
Elizabeth Stone - 46,400
Patryk Wlodarski - 46,400
Dominic Harrison - 46,100
Gerard Harraghy - 43,800
Glenn Laming - 43,600
Roy Farranat - 41,600
Chris Ambler - 41,100
Nick Mazur - 39,800
Gerald Ringe - 39,600
Kashif Shirazi - 39,100
Paul Garnham - 37,600
Jason Tennant - 37,100
Javed Ghazi - 36,100
Alan Steer - 35,300
Michael Tse - 33,400
Daniel Williams - 31,400
Jamie Roberts - 30,200
Chris Poutashi - 29,400
Rita Gilroy - 27,900
Gregory Bert - 26,900
Martin Taylor - 26,400
Robert Weston - 25,500
Marty Smyth - 24,800
Stephen Dickson - 24,100
David Sparks - 22,400
Richard Hurst - 21,600
Henry Stafford - 21,000
Frank Lippitt - 20,300
Warren Jackman - 20,000
Tim Magnus - 18,900
Simon Wing - 18,800
Man kit Tung - 18,400
Simon Fossat - 17,900
Diane Ambler - 17,300
Christopher Andreou - 17,000
Tristan Mcdonald - 16,700
Amanda Card - 16,200
Samuel Fossat - 15,400
Simon Girling - 14,800
Richard Eatock - 14,000
Joel Hughes - 13,900
Gareth Cash - 13,600
Annabel Jones - 13,400
Darren Sprengers - 13,400
Philip Taylor Mildon - 13,300
Gladys Long - 13,000
Paul Pham - 12,900
Simon Herrick - 12,200
Adam Frampton - 11,900
Dennis Vanmaanen - 11,600
Simon Morris - 11,100
Laurence Houghton - 10,900
Maxcel Verdugo - 5,100
George Frangeskou - 4,100

Persaud Runs into a Warren

As we crawl towards the break, the third bounty of the day falls in the shape of Black Belt Poker co-founder Nik Persaud. It was CEO Warren Wooldridge who lit the opening spark, raising to 2,200 from early position. Persaud (hijack) and Marty Rice (big blind) both called. After a 9c-4c-6d flop hit the felt, it was checked round to Persaud who sat back in his chair, undertook a quick count of both his chips and the pot, and nonchalently announced all in for 19,500.

Rice folded without hesistation but Wooldridge, perhaps influenced by the obvious lure of a belt and signed photo of his colleague, was less hospitable and dipped into the tank. "You can work out what I have," claimed Persaud. "I have an open-ended straight draw. I'm a favourite, so you can call it off now." "I call," replied Wooldrige flipping Qc-6s. He wasn't lying, confirmed the dealer as Persaud tabled 8c-7c.


"It's not coming," smirked Paul Garnham shaking his head as the 4h turn hit the felt, and he was right to be synical as the river came a Qd to give Wooldridge two pair and leave Persaud with little more than a missed monster draw.

Speaking of monsters, Wooldridge's stack has grown into a beast!

And on that note, we head into the dinner break. Back in 45 minutes.

De Wolfe in Da House

Senseis Persaud and Channing joined by Roland De Wolfe and Black Belt Poker League III winner David Meuiner.

The two jokers in the pack.

Bounty Check

Both the scalps of Nik Persaud (35,000) and Marty Smyth (26,500) are in tact, meaning the prize belts remain firmly in my grasp.



David La Ronde has been less fortunate and is now a member of the ever-incraesing list of walking wounded after running "A-K into aces" and "kings into queens."

Vasili-out

Peter Vasiliou who made the final table of the Poker Million, won't be making any final tables this week as he's just been knocked out. "Didn't get dealt a hand all day," he claimed. "And when I did get it all in Q-J for my last 3,000, someone had Q-T and hit. Barely saw a picture card for the whole time." "And then when you get two, you go out!" I replied, perhaps with poor timing.


Whilst Channing's guidance was unable to save Vasiliou, he was equally unsuccessful with current Grader Jamie Burland, who has also plummeted to his demise. The assassin this time was Black Belt Poker CEO Warren Wooldridge, who picked up aces at just the right time. Burland's A-K suited was a country mile behind, and by the turn of a 3h-8s-9c-4c-2h the fat lady had already finished her tune.


Well, at least it stayed in the company.

Cone, But Not Forgotten

Yep, we're down to 99, and the following are the latest dust-biters:

Martin Gilroy
Rinaldo Aquino
Raymond Nicholas
Daniel Sauva
Steven Bates
Nicolas Ekkesies
Harry Barber
Alexander Presthus
David Meunier
Drake Ip
Scott Shelley
Alex rousso
Andreas Ekkesies
Morgan Sorfleet
Jerome O'Shea
David cotgrave
Ross Boatman
Julian Thew
Oliver Noonan
Denison Ranson
Stan Christianmanuel
Daniel Grant
Dan Whittaker

Photos

To view more tournament photos, be sure to check out our 'Live Coverage' page on the main site where we have published photos of all bounties, as well as the bounty winners to date. Many thanks to photographer Anne Laymond who has captured some wonderful images from the event.

End of Level Six Chip Counts

Player - Chipcount
Robert Stain - 70,750
Gareth Cash - 57,475
Nicolas Ekkesies - 56,725
Tristan Mcdonald - 55,125
Daniel Williams - 54,425
Warren Wooldridge - 52,025
Martin Rice - 51,800
Neil Suarez - 51,375
Priyan De mel - 50,900
Gary Graham - 50,325
Jason Tennant - 49,250
Christopher Andreou - 47,075
Jamie Roberts - 47,075
Jay Patel - 45,700
Lesley Kumar - 42,975
Elizabeth Stone - 41,225
Richard William Char Willoughby - 40,950
Paul Garnham - 40,000
David La Ronde - 39,825
Javed Ghazi - 38,800
Del Snelling - 38,225
Nick Mazur - 38,050
Michael Carr - 37,975
Michael Hyam - 36,675
Rita Gilroy - 36,550
Jason Lam - 36,500
Paul Pham - 35,725
Dean Aldred - 34,975
Patryk Wlodarski - 34,875
Chris Wood - 34,675
Joe Laming - 34,450
Frank Lippitt - 34,300
Dominic Harrison - 33,700
Keir Fitzgibbon - 32,550
Paul Murrell - 30,425
John Hayes - 29,700
Simon Girling - 28,825
Gerald Ringe - 28,675
Paul Zimbler - 28,550
Azzy Asghar - 28,450
Lara Ramirez - 27,925
Jamie Burland - 27,600
Marty Smyth - 27,325
Daniel Laming - 27,150
Scott Shelley - 26,950
Richard Eatock - 26,625
Robert Weston - 26,525
Mehmet n Seferoglou - 26,500
Glenn Laming - 26,200
Simon Wing - 25,775
Brian Cunningham - 24,975
Jerome Oshea - 24,825
Simon Herrick - 24,650
Roy Farranat - 24,300
Simon Fossat - 23,965
Michael Tse - 23,875
Neil Wallace - 23,750
Jesse Algranti - 23,075
Mark Norman - 22,975
Joel Hughes - 22,725
Constantine Paparestis - 22,600
David Cotgrave - 22,425
Chris Poutashi - 22,250
Darren Sprengers - 22,200
Mark Lawson - 22,100
Henry Stafford - 21,675
Tim Magnus - 21,500
Annabel Jones - 20,525
Owen Robinson - 18,800
Andreas Ekkesies - 18,650
Thibault Richard - 17,800
Alan Mcbride - 17,625
Paul Harrison - 17,500
Tony Rogan - 16,850
Daniel Sauva - 16,850
Harry Barber - 16,825
Rory Liffey - 16,400
Warren Jackman - 15,850
Laurence Houghton - 15,825
Drake Ip - 15,700
Panayiotis Vasiliou - 15,650
Alan Steer - 15,625
Richard Dally - 15,500
Maxcel Verdugo - 14,675
Diane Ambler - 14,575
Steven Bates - 14,375
Dennis Vanmaanen - 14,300
Kashif Shirazi - 13,950
Man kit Tung - 13,800
Nikhil Persaud - 13,750
Ben Pooley - 13,650
Rinaldo Aquino - 13,600
Amanda Card - 13,525
Martin Taylor - 13,025
Simon Morris - 13,000
Jon Neale - 12,575
David Sparks - 12,475
Alex Rousso - 12,275
Gladys Long - 11,675
Raymond Nicholas - 11,600
Jeremy Bakes - 11,075
Stephen Dickson - 11,025
Keith Hawkins - 11,000
Richard Hurst - 10,825
Mark Valentine - 10,775
Ross Boatman - 9,500
Samuel Fossat - 9,075
Morgan Sorfleet - 8,950
Gregory Bert - 8,775
Adam Frampton - 8,700
George Frangeskou - 8,325
Alexander Presthus - 8,075
David Meunier - 7,475
Chris Ambler - 7,200
Martin Gilroy - 6,850
Philip Taylor Mildon - 5,625

Boatman Rocked

Ross Boatman has left the playing area, meaning he's either been eliminated or is answering an emergency call from the fire department. Of course, I jest, it's the former, and Lesley Kuman was the lady responsible, cold-calling Boatman's three-bet shove with A-J, and subsequently out coin-flipping his pocket fives.

Room Without a Thew

Our second bounty of the day has fallen into the lap of Nicholas Ekkesies, who not only earns himself the scalp of Julian Thew, but also a fan which the double GUKPT winner donated to his assassin as an additional prize. Whether it's an EPT winning fan and a genuine item of memorabilia, we remain unsure, but either way, pocket jacks were no good against tens on a ten high board, and PokerStars' latest recruit is out.


Two bounties remain: Nik Persaud and Marty Smyth.

Swan Song for Carroll

The more astute of our community members will have noticed Green Belt current Grader Mike Carroll lurking within the previously published list of casualties. Although he departed just moments ago, most of the damage was inflicted way back on level four, Carroll running two pair into a turned straight.

Part of him feels as though it could have been avoided, though, as he opted to button-steal with 3-2 of clubs. Once the button defended, the two remaining players saw a 3s-4d-8s flop where the big blind led for 1,000. Believing that his opponent would have three-bet a set-hitting hand preflop, Carroll raised to 2,500 and was duly called.

On the 2h turn, all the chips flew in, Carroll adamant that his foe was on a flush draw: "It wasn't until he called quickly that I knew I was probably in trouble, and although I was right about the flush draw, he unfortunately had made a straight on the turn with A-5 of spade."

Six missed outs later and Carroll was down to 1,100, and although he made it last for a further three hours, he eventually succumbed to the torture of being a short stack and joined the rest of the early victims at the bar.

Raising 3-2 of clubs from the button, the big blind called and both players saw

The Fallen

After early resistance and a three-level spell of mine-dodging, they're dropping like lemmings on a tight-rope now, the latest telegram informing us of that the following players have recently been lost in battle:

Darren Smith
David Gutfreund
Darren Cottrell
Gary Davies
Ramsey Ajram
Adam Saunders
Michael Doyle
Mike Carroll
Ian Broadrick
Andrew MacLeod
James Akenhead
Chris Roadknight
Jamal El-Shetob
Benjamin Stern
Lara Ramirez

First Bounty Drowned by the Liffey

James Akenhead rising from his chair and heading towards the rail signifies the fall of the day's first bounty, Irish pro Rory Liffey the man enjoying the coconut chocciness of the 2009 WSOP finalist. "I flat called with kings," told Akenhead. "He had tens, and of course the flop came with a 10. I hit a straight on the river as well, but he already had a house."

This wasn't the first time Akenhead had been busy, as a few orbits earlier he became immersed in a big hand with former Vegas 8 member Jamie Roberts. With Roberts raising under the gun, Akenhead called one seat down with pocket kings, as did two others. On the 10d-8-7 flop, Roberts bet out 1,500, only for Akenhead to make it 4,500. Roberts called.


The Ad on the turn was an interesting card, and one which triggered an all in of 10,400 from Roberts, followed by a sabbatical in the tank from Akenhead. However, despite tanking, Akenhead eventually made the fold, leaving the table, and your curious-as-ever blogger, to wonder as to the holding of the former Vegas 8 member.

Peaks & Troughs

There are a number of Graders playing today including the likes of Gerard Harraghy and Jamie Burland. During the last break, I managed to catch up with the only player in the Dublin Two-O who was also a member of the Vegas Five-O last year, Ramsey Ajram. According to the horse's mouth (please note that I am by no means calling Ajram a horse), Ajram has been "up and down" and certainly not experiencing a smooth opening few levels..



Trough: At one point, Ajram dropped to 13,000, predominatly due to running top pair into an overpair. Ajram had min-raised the turn for control pot and a "cheap showdown", which duly arrived when the river filled up the draws and both players checked.

Peak: Ajram is currently on 28,000, however, most of that arriving in what he desrcibed as a "sick hand". Having raised it up preflop and taken a shot at the flop, Ajram bet his black aces on a 9-6h-4h-2h-Kh, and, having been called by Gerard Harraghy, pointed to his opponent and conceded the hand. However, to his surprise, he was actually ahead, as Harraghy was attempting a hero call with jacks (no heart), which fell inches short.

Should have claimed a value bet, I say.

Gone, But Not Forgotten

"Taxi!" for the following players:

Grant Darnley
Gareth Mitchell
Siegfried Hodgson
Marius Lietuvnikas
Ross Vandersloot
Phil Curtis
Niall Farrell
Chiang Jenyue
Scott Kenyon
Terry Simpson
Jay Patel
Liam Flood
Abishek Khaitan

Opening the Floodgates

We're a third of the way through Level Three, and have only witnessed two casualties, the second of whom being Irish poker legend Liam Flood. "I had a set," regaled the former Irish Open Champion in his slow, but precise manner, "but unfortunately the other guy had a flush. It's OK, it's not the end of the world, as long as I do well in the Irish Open I'll be happy. The interesting thing about the hand was that when I arrived, someone had sat in my seat by mistake, but because the game had already started, I sat in seat eight instead, which was his seat. In the end, it was him who knocked me out."

And as I conclude the post, we lose our third man: Jay Patel.

And as I write that, we lose our fourth: Terry Simpson. Gosh, they're like buses!

Get Pissed With the Pros

As we approach the tail end of Level Two, we've witnessed a couple of late, but notable arrivals in the form of Marty Smyth and Nik Persaud, both of whom look a little worse for wears. Sensei Persaud, in particular, confessed, albeit after being interrogated on the microphone by Neil Channing, to a few jars the night prior, and a hangover that will take more than 'rolled up aces over kings' to fix.

"James [Akenhead] suggested a new slogan," reported Channing. "Play, learn and get pissed with the pros."


On a similar note - but sightly different reason - young Darren Cottrell also made a rather late appearance, his reasoning being, "I went to the wrong place, ended up in Edgware by mistake."

Hit the Road... With Jacks

Vincent Dive may have taken an early, er... dive yesterday, but he's been matched today by Abishek's Khaitan's equally hasty departure. But whilst Diver had an feasible explanation for his lonesome shower, Khaitan's is less credible and perhaps an indicaiton that he had an afternoon date with Angelina Jolie to attend.

According to his former table mates, all of whom remain in a fixed state of flabber-gastedness, Khaitan got it all in on a Q-8-6 two diamond flop with pocket jacks, Richard Eatock check-raising his set of queen from 1,500 to 5,000, and Khaitan pushing all in. Naturally, Eatock snapped him off like an aligator with toothache and we had our first all in showdown of the day.

A third diamond on the turn had the sadists in the room licking their lips in anticipation of a backdoor flush (Paul Zimbler was the only one who made this admission), but the brick on the river was no good and Khaitan was gone. Eatock, meanwhile, doubles up to 40,000 and is the early chip leader with a smile that would require a crowbar to remove.

"The turn definitely had me sweating," he confessed.

Groundhog Day

Welcome back all to Day 1B of the inaugural Black Belt London Live. Today is essentially a Groundhog Day: same number of runners, same clock, same blinds and same snappy (cough) speech from Neil Channing. One thing different today, however, is the speaker of those immortal words. Whilst the 'Voice of Poker' Jesse May was on hand yesterday to lend his er... voice, today it's November Finalist and recent Poker Million Champion (not a bad 2009, huh?) James Akenhead who's offering that 'celebrity' touch and announcing: "Shuffle up and deal!"

James Akenhead is one of today's bounties, alongside Julian Thew, Nik Persaud and 2007 Irish Open Champion Marty Smyth. If a player eliminates a bounty they receive a black belt and signed photo, as a well as the pride of taking out one of the tournament favourites. Of course, we also have our Belt Bonuses, with any Green Belt or above who laps up the title picking up an additional $25,000!


Whilst Jen was intrepidly reporting yesterday, I'll be lurking around today to serve up sporadic updates throughout the day, hopefully offering viewers a glimpse into the tournament and sharing any anecdotes that come my way. If you would like more rapid, concise updates, then we have also teamed up with those good people at A World of Poker who are blogging the event through their written updates on the forum, and also the live streaming at thenuts.tv. To check out the updates, simply click the releveant link below:

AWOP Day 1B Written Updates
TheNutz.TV Videos and Live Streatming

Day 1A Concludes

From 150 to 34 in one action packed day... most have gone off into the night for a rest or to enjoy the start to their weekend, but those who'll be back on Sunday are here:

Toby Lewis - 312100
Wilson Chan - 197500
Antonis Poulengeris - 147600
Hugo Martin - 146900
Douglas Hogan - 137500
Nicholas Aly - 134700
Scott Mcgovern 132900
Peter Wigglesworth - 119000
Giovanni Pennetta - 118300
Pratik Ghatge - 112300
Karim Louis 103500
Lewis Higham - 99700
Saigari Balasubramaniam - 99100
Chun Law - 97200
Shane Dewsbury - 95500
Adam Reid - 95100
Hassan Uddin - 94300
Nicholas Stinson - 67300
Jerome Bradpiece - 62900
Craig Wakeham - 56000
Darren White - 52600
David Colclough - 48300
Andrea Boschiero - 47700
Tomasz Jedlecki - 45600
Neil Channing - 44700
Stephen Draper - 44200
Anson Law - 43700
Tom Drew - 43400
Dominic Kay - 38700
Peter Derrick - 37600
Jack Mcdermott - 35800
Ermyas Birru - 32100
Richard Wheatley - 27900
David Corkett - 27800

More video from TheNutz.tv tomorrow, and the odd pic and post here as day 1B takes to its seats...

He Fought the Law and the Law Lost

Dwindly Neil Channing has provided some late night drama getting it all in preflop against Antonis Poulengeris. He wasted no time threebetting all-in for 20k, and prodded Poulengeris into calling. "You've got more than enough, go on..." He passed, but Surprise Third Player Chun Law made the call very quickly.

It was a classic-ish one, Law's Ah-Ks vs. Channing's 8s-8h. The flop looked like it was waving goodbye to Neil: Jd-Qc-Kh and the table gasped a little. They gasped a little more when the turn came the 8c, and the river bricked giving him a new lease of life...

N.B. Title Copyright Phil 'The Tower.' How we appreciate him and TheNutz.tv...

The Bolden the Busted

Very odd hand just now saw Sean Bolden hit the rail in 38th place, when a threeway coup threatened to carve a hole in the lineup of Table Six. Under the gun was a gent on our list only as Balasubramaniam, which I imagine is surname only - anyhow Mr. B, as I will call him, decided to limp. Over to button Bolden, who raised. Big blind Giovanni Pennetta threebet (to 18k) and before utg Mr. B. could act, Bolden announced all in. Mr. B. who's turn it really was moved all in. This threw the table into dwelly confusion as an irritated Pennetta who eventually folded.

Mr. B showed Ad Ac against As 6s and there was no upset (apart from some crankiness from Pennetta who was mumbling something about maybe calling if the bet out of turn hadn't happened and there were some Words Exchanged with the departing Bolden).

Toby or Not Toby, That is the Question

Whether he will end the day as chip leader, as he's now just become, winning the biggest pot of the night so far and rocketing him up to 300,000, or whether he, like the leaders before him, will take the rollercoaster back down to the felt.

Reportedly the big chip boost came when he held A-3 on a flop of 3-3-5 - pretty good, but the money really went in on the Ace turn - his house was up against the mighty 2-4 which probably felt like Christmas had come for his straight but actually it was the Festival of Busto.




Meanwhile - Ian Frazer (left) is also busto, his stack now in Wilson Chan's hands.

Also Andy Brisland (above) found a hand at the wrong moment - his pocket Jacks running smack into Aces* preflop.

*May have been alternate overpair - did not witness first hand.

Where There's a Will, Not Always a Way

Kevin Williams is out, now after a rather big bet backfired quite spectacularly, giving Douglas Hogan a double-up in the process. My attention was caught by the 60,200 laid out in neat piles of five in front of Williams as he fired hard on the turn - the board reading 6c-4d-8s-Qs. His opponent had bet out 11,100, and was now feeling the pressure which had been thoroughly applied - it would cost him his whole 20k remaining stack to call all-in.

Finally he did and was shown 7c-Td, drawing to a five or nine for the straight.... it didn't hit the river and his Qc-6s for two pair held fast. Dropping so fast now it looks like it might be just a 12-level day.

Among the recently departed (from the tournament area, into the cash game area):

Paul Storey-Smith
Dean Sanders
Kirit Patel
Bridie Gribbin
Stuart Prior
Gavin Hall
Philip Chan
Kevin Williams
Kin Yeung

Set up for Channing?

It does look like whenever our glorious leader takes a hit, the deck conspires to give him a great situation for a double up, or busts a pesky opponent - like Karl Mahrenholz. Just now he got it all in with a set of fives on a flop of A-Q-5 vs. Mahrenholz's A-J. All good for him, and he stacks his 60k while keeping up a continual flow of chat; having been moved table three times he has been able to spread the love over a very large proportion of Day 1A players...

End of Dinner Break Counts

Giovanni Pennetta - 124,000
Scott Mcgovern - 113,700
Nicholas Stinson - 104,200
Shane Dewsbury - 93,700
Hugo Martin - 93,100
Richard Wheatley - 83,400
Chun Law - 72,200
David Kavanah - 68,600
Antonis Poulengeris - 60,300
Kevin Williams - 59,000
Sean Bolden - 58,400
Hassan Uddin - 57,400
Kin Yeung - 56,000
Andrea Boschiero - 53,600
Peter Wigglesworth - 53,000
Karim Louis - 52,900
Neil Channing - 51,700
Robert Jarrettsmith - 50,925
Stephen Draper - 49,000
Jack Mcdermott - 47,900
Ryan Williams - 47,800
Gemal Husnu - 47,500
Craig McCorkell - 46,300
Nicholas Aly - 45,900
Ian Frazer - 43,000
Ermyas Birru - 41,300
David Corkett - 41,100
John Thompson - 38,700
Anthony Fraser - 38,500
David Colclough - 38,300
Oneib Saeed - 38,000
Peter Derrick - 37,600
Douglas Hogan - 36,300
Craig Wakeham - 35,500
Pratik Ghatge - 33,500
Michael Ellis - 33,400
Anson Law - 32,800
Saigari Balasubramaniam - 32,700
Kim Vernon - 32,300
Matthew Broughton - 31,900
Paul Storey-Smith - 31,700
Jake Cody - 31,300
Toby Lewis - 30,200
Anthony Fraser - 30,100
Darren White - 29,600
Anthony Magnier - 28,800
Adam Reid - 28,500
David Ellis - 28,200
Tomasz Jedlecki - 27,900
Nicholas Stinson - 25,800
Lee Clarke - 25,600
Paul Twaddle - 25,500
Karl Mahrenholz - 24,700
Stuart Prior - 24,200
Lewis Higham - 23,600
Steven Oditt - 23,600
Andrew Brisland - 22,900
James Murphy - 22,300
Gavin Hall - 21,200
Bridie Gribbin - 20,500
Philip Chan - 20,200
Tom Drew - 19,900
Charles Chattha - 19,500
Yigit Isilsoy - 18,900
Daren Lury - 18,800
Matt Perrins - 18,300
Jerome Bradpiece - 15,700
Kirit Patel - 15,600
Michael Butlin - 15,100
Alex James - 14,000
Mark Spain - 10,900
Paul Jackson - 9,300
Adam Jones - 6,800

Two who moved and were temporarily unidentified but are still definitely still in:
Dominic Kay - 23,000
Wilson Chan - 43,200

And we find that it's the beginning of Level 11 where a stack, totally unplayed, is finally blinded off. That of Adam Jones, we believe, has now been distributed amongst his tablemates and we're down to 65 players.

Cody Busts Bansi

Praz Bansi, hitsquad member, GUKPT winner, all-round feared tournament player, is out, falling at the hands of Jake Cody, new kid on the EPT winner's podium (Deauville, January). At this very moment, Praz is presenting Mr. Cody with a black belt, and they're having their photo taken with it... I hope they're treating it with the respect it deserves.

The pace of elimination in this level (400/800 with a 100 ante) is really very fast indeed. So fast that these players below too only get the briefest of photographic mentions before their chips are forgotten, merged into the stacks which are growing ever larger. Full chip counts coming after this 45 minute dinner break - but for now, farewell to Gerry Bishop (pictured below), India Storrar, James Mitchell, Andrew Miles, Catherine O'Brien, Paul Parker, and about 15 more....

OrangeWatch

Orange Belt Watch... most have been biting

Andy Brisland - 19k
Ian Frazer - 32k
Toby Lewis - 25k
Tom Drew - 23k
Andy Brisland - 20k
Paul Storey-Smith - 28k
Craig Wakeham (pictured) - 17,300
Catherine O'Brien - 5,500

Others in the running...

Natasha Dwyer - 35k
Jake Cody - 15k
Hugo Martin - 60k
Neil Channing - 50k
Dave Colclough - 30k
Praz Bansi - the sort of stack you can hold in one hand
Chaz Chattha - 30k
Karl Mahrenholz - 25k
Gerry Bishop - 9,700
Paul Jackson - 11,300

This just in: Colclough, with about 30k and Q-T, hit a Q-T-7-2 board (2 brought a third spade) - vs. a flush, he still managed to spike a Ten on the river to fill up and double up too. Back in the running.