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